VALUES --CAN THEY BE MEASURED
VALUES are beliefs in what is best or good for the organization
and what should or ought to happen. The value set is engineered
from the top and driven through the organization / shared by all.
The stronger the values, the more they will influence behavior
Implicit values are that are deeply embedded in the culture of the
organization and often reinforced by management behavior can be
highly influential.
Explicit values that are idealistic and not reinforced by management
behavior may have little or no effect.
IT IS "VALUES IN USE" values that drive desirable behavior, that
are relevant / important.
Some of the areas in which "VALUES IN USE" can be expressed,
implicitly or explicitly are
-PERFORMANCE
-COMPETENCE
-COMPETITIVENESS
-INNOVATION
-QUALITY
-CUSTOMER SERVICE
-TEAMWORK
-PEOPLE SATISFACTION
These can be evaluated / measured.
"VALUES IN VALUE" are translated into the REAL ORGANIZATION
through behavioral norms , feelings, language etc.
SO VALUES THEMSELVES CANNOT BE MEASURED BUT ONLY
THROUGH OUTCOMES/ RESULTS AS SHOWN ABOVE.
HOPE THIS IS USEFUL TO YOU
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
260VALUES are beliefs in what is best or good for the organization
and what should or ought to happen. The value set is engineered
from the top and driven through the organization / shared by all.
The stronger the values, the more they will influence behavior
Implicit values are that are deeply embedded in the culture of the
organization and often reinforced by management behavior can be
highly influential.
Explicit values that are idealistic and not reinforced by management
behavior may have little or no effect.
IT IS "VALUES IN USE" values that drive desirable behavior, that
are relevant / important.
Some of the areas in which "VALUES IN USE" can be expressed,
implicitly or explicitly are
-PERFORMANCE
-COMPETENCE
-COMPETITIVENESS
-INNOVATION
-QUALITY
-CUSTOMER SERVICE
-TEAMWORK
-PEOPLE SATISFACTION
These can be evaluated / measured.
"VALUES IN VALUE" are translated into the REAL ORGANIZATION
through behavioral norms , feelings, language etc.
SO VALUES THEMSELVES CANNOT BE MEASURED BUT ONLY
THROUGH OUTCOMES/ RESULTS AS SHOWN ABOVE.
HOPE THIS IS USEFUL TO YOU
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
Dear Sir
The concept of measuring values through the individuals behaviour comes into question when the individual starts working for the organisation ..but if the organisation wants to know whether an individuals value system is in sync with the organisation (which may be advantageous to the organisation) then would that be possible ?
From India, Mumbai
The concept of measuring values through the individuals behaviour comes into question when the individual starts working for the organisation ..but if the organisation wants to know whether an individuals value system is in sync with the organisation (which may be advantageous to the organisation) then would that be possible ?
From India, Mumbai
MEASURING VALUES
HERE you are referring to measuring values at the first point
of contact with the person.
AGAIN, values are beliefs of the individuals, which cannot be
seen or felt.
You can only measure it by outcomes . FOR this you need
a checklist of questions for the first contact.
EXAMPLE
1.LOYALTY [ HOW WOULD YOU MEASURE IT ]
BY NUMBER OF YEARS SERVICE.
BY PROVISING EXCELLENCE SERVICE , WITHOUT ANY BLEMISH.
2.HOLDING RESPONSIBILITY
BY PERFORMING WITHIN BUDGET
3. TOLERANCE
BY PERFORMING UNDER VARYING CONDITIONS.
ETC ETC.
IN THIS WAY, YOU HAVE TO IDENTIFY THE LIST OF
VALUES THE CO. IS LOOKING FOR
AND CORRELATE THESE VALUES WITH THE OUTCOME
AND TAILOR QUESTIONS.
THE ANSWERS SHOULD MEASURE THE VALUES.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
HERE you are referring to measuring values at the first point
of contact with the person.
AGAIN, values are beliefs of the individuals, which cannot be
seen or felt.
You can only measure it by outcomes . FOR this you need
a checklist of questions for the first contact.
EXAMPLE
1.LOYALTY [ HOW WOULD YOU MEASURE IT ]
BY NUMBER OF YEARS SERVICE.
BY PROVISING EXCELLENCE SERVICE , WITHOUT ANY BLEMISH.
2.HOLDING RESPONSIBILITY
BY PERFORMING WITHIN BUDGET
3. TOLERANCE
BY PERFORMING UNDER VARYING CONDITIONS.
ETC ETC.
IN THIS WAY, YOU HAVE TO IDENTIFY THE LIST OF
VALUES THE CO. IS LOOKING FOR
AND CORRELATE THESE VALUES WITH THE OUTCOME
AND TAILOR QUESTIONS.
THE ANSWERS SHOULD MEASURE THE VALUES.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
Sir, can you tell me whether the organizational culture has an effect on the values. Also be kind enough to suggest a tool to measure the role of values on organization’s success.
From India, Pune
From India, Pune
ORGANIZATION CULTURE
HOW AN ORGANIZATION's CULTURE CAN BE KNOWN ?
Organization culture can be a set of key values , assumptions,
understandings and norms that is shared by members of an
organization.
Organization values are fundamental beliefs that an organization
considers to be important , that are relatively stable over time,
and they have an impact on employees behaviors and attitudes.
Organization Norms are shared standards that define what
behaviors are acceptable and desirable within organization.
Shared assumptions are about how things are done
in an organization.
Understandings are coping with internal / external problems
uniformly.
=================================================
LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE
LEVEL 1---VISIBLE, that can be seen at the surface level
-dress codes
-office layout [ open office]
-symbols
-slogans
-ceremonies[ monthly / annual awards/long service/birthdays etc.
etc etc
LEVEL 2- INVISIBLE , that can be cannot be seen but only felt.
-stories about people performance
-symbols [ flag, trademark, logos, etc]
-corporate mission statements
-recruitment/selection [ methods used]L
-fairness in treatment
-social equality
-risk taking in business deals
-formality in approach
-discipline
-autonomy for departments
-responsiveness to communication
-empowerment of staff.
etc etc.
===============================================
FROM THE ABOVE, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE ''VALUES''
IS A CORE FACTOR OF CULTURE.
===============================================
Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent an individual’s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces.
Value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave with each other in the organization. They are statements about how the organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value statements describe actions that are the living enactment of the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization.
Values exist in every workplace. Your organization’s culture is partially the outward demonstration of the values currently existing in your workplace. The question you need to ask is whether these existing values are creating the workplace you desire.
================================================== ========
Examples of Workplace Values
These were developed by several of my clients.
A Human Resources Development office chose:
Integrity
Belonging/Caring
Helping/Contributing
Inner Harmony, Peace of Mind
Personal Growth, Learning, and Self-Actualization
Achievement /Accomplishment
Financial Stability
Fun
*Integrity
*Compassion
*Accountability
*Respect
*Excellence
The following are examples of values. You might use these as the starting point for discussing values within your organization.
ambition, competency, individuality, equality, integrity, service, responsibility, accuracy, respect, dedication, diversity, improvement, enjoyment/fun, loyalty, credibility, honesty, innovativeness, teamwork, excellence, accountability, empowerment, quality, efficiency, dignity, collaboration, stewardship, empathy, accomplishment, courage, wisdom, independence, security, challenge, influence, learning, compassion, friendliness, discipline/order, generosity, persistency,optimism, dependability, flexibility
================================================== =====================
Why Values, What Values?
"Our people are our most important asset." You’ve heard these words many times, if you work in an organization. Yet how many organizations act as if they really believe these words? Not many. These words are the clear expression of a value, and values are visible through the actions people take, not their talk.
Values form the foundation for everything that happens in your workplace. If you are the founder of an organization, your values permeate the workplace. You naturally hire people who share your values. Whatever you value, will largely govern the actions of your workforce.
Sample Workplace Value-based Actions
If you value integrity and you experience a quality problem in your manufacturing process, you honestly inform your customer of the exact nature of the problem.
You discuss your actions to eliminate the problem, and the anticipated delivery time the customer can expect. If integrity is not a fundamental value, you may make excuses and mislead the customer.
If you value and care about the people in your organization, you will pay for health insurance, dental insurance, retirement accounts and provide regular raises and bonuses for dedicated staff. If you value equality and a sense of family, you will wipe out the physical trappings of power, status, and inequality such as executive parking places and offices that grow larger by a foot with every promotion.
Whatever You Value Is What You Live in Your Organization
You know, as an individual, what you personally value. However, most of you work in organizations that have already operated for many years. The values, and the subsequent culture created by those values, are in place, for better or worse.
If you are generally happy with your work environment, you undoubtedly selected an organization with values congruent with your own. If you're not, watch for the disconnects between what you value and the actions of people in your organization.
As an HR professional, you will want to influence your larger organization to identify its core values, and make them the foundation for its interactions with employees, customers, and suppliers. Minimally, you will want to work within your own HR organization to identify a strategic framework for serving your customers that is firmly value-based.
Strategic Framework
Every organization has a vision or picture of what it desires for its future, whether foggy or crystal clear. The current mission of the organization or the purpose for its existence is also understood in general terms.
The values members of the organization manifest in daily decision making, and the norms or relationship guidelines which informally define how people interact with each other and customers, are also visible. But are these usually vague and unspoken understandings enough to fuel your long term success? I don’t think so.
Every organization has a choice. You can allow these fundamental underpinnings of your organization to develop on their own with each individual acting in a self-defined vacuum. Or, you can invest the time to proactively define them to best serve members of the organization and its customers.
Many successful organizations agree upon and articulate their vision, mission or purpose, values, and strategies so all organization members can enroll in and own their achievement.
================================================== =========
If you want the values you identify to have an impact, the following must occur.
People demonstrate and model the values in action in their personal work behaviors, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction.
Organizational values help each person establish priorities in their daily work life.
Values guide every decision that is made once the organization has cooperatively created the values and the value statements.
Rewards and recognition within the organization are structured to recognize those people whose work embodies the values the organization embraced.
Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values.
Adoption of the values and the behaviors that result is recognized in regular performance feedback.
People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with the values.
Only the active participation of all members of the organization will ensure a truly organization-wide, value-based, shared culture.
================================================== ==================
FOR EVALUATING VALUES, THERE IS NO DIRECT METHOD BUT
BY THE OUTCOMES ONLY.
1.CONDUCT A BUSINESS AUDIT, WHICH INCLUDE
-vision/ mission/objectives/strategies etc.
which should highlight values in it.
2.CONDUCT EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY
which would reveal employees practices/ expectations/dissatisfaction.
3. MAKE AN OBSERVATION SURVEY OF THE IMPACT
OF VALUES ON
-recruitment/selection
-customer service
-sales results
-promotions
etc etc
=================================
=========================================
====================================
regards
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
HOW AN ORGANIZATION's CULTURE CAN BE KNOWN ?
Organization culture can be a set of key values , assumptions,
understandings and norms that is shared by members of an
organization.
Organization values are fundamental beliefs that an organization
considers to be important , that are relatively stable over time,
and they have an impact on employees behaviors and attitudes.
Organization Norms are shared standards that define what
behaviors are acceptable and desirable within organization.
Shared assumptions are about how things are done
in an organization.
Understandings are coping with internal / external problems
uniformly.
=================================================
LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE
LEVEL 1---VISIBLE, that can be seen at the surface level
-dress codes
-office layout [ open office]
-symbols
-slogans
-ceremonies[ monthly / annual awards/long service/birthdays etc.
etc etc
LEVEL 2- INVISIBLE , that can be cannot be seen but only felt.
-stories about people performance
-symbols [ flag, trademark, logos, etc]
-corporate mission statements
-recruitment/selection [ methods used]L
-fairness in treatment
-social equality
-risk taking in business deals
-formality in approach
-discipline
-autonomy for departments
-responsiveness to communication
-empowerment of staff.
etc etc.
===============================================
FROM THE ABOVE, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE ''VALUES''
IS A CORE FACTOR OF CULTURE.
===============================================
Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent an individual’s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces.
Value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave with each other in the organization. They are statements about how the organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value statements describe actions that are the living enactment of the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization.
Values exist in every workplace. Your organization’s culture is partially the outward demonstration of the values currently existing in your workplace. The question you need to ask is whether these existing values are creating the workplace you desire.
================================================== ========
Examples of Workplace Values
These were developed by several of my clients.
A Human Resources Development office chose:
Integrity
Belonging/Caring
Helping/Contributing
Inner Harmony, Peace of Mind
Personal Growth, Learning, and Self-Actualization
Achievement /Accomplishment
Financial Stability
Fun
*Integrity
*Compassion
*Accountability
*Respect
*Excellence
The following are examples of values. You might use these as the starting point for discussing values within your organization.
ambition, competency, individuality, equality, integrity, service, responsibility, accuracy, respect, dedication, diversity, improvement, enjoyment/fun, loyalty, credibility, honesty, innovativeness, teamwork, excellence, accountability, empowerment, quality, efficiency, dignity, collaboration, stewardship, empathy, accomplishment, courage, wisdom, independence, security, challenge, influence, learning, compassion, friendliness, discipline/order, generosity, persistency,optimism, dependability, flexibility
================================================== =====================
Why Values, What Values?
"Our people are our most important asset." You’ve heard these words many times, if you work in an organization. Yet how many organizations act as if they really believe these words? Not many. These words are the clear expression of a value, and values are visible through the actions people take, not their talk.
Values form the foundation for everything that happens in your workplace. If you are the founder of an organization, your values permeate the workplace. You naturally hire people who share your values. Whatever you value, will largely govern the actions of your workforce.
Sample Workplace Value-based Actions
If you value integrity and you experience a quality problem in your manufacturing process, you honestly inform your customer of the exact nature of the problem.
You discuss your actions to eliminate the problem, and the anticipated delivery time the customer can expect. If integrity is not a fundamental value, you may make excuses and mislead the customer.
If you value and care about the people in your organization, you will pay for health insurance, dental insurance, retirement accounts and provide regular raises and bonuses for dedicated staff. If you value equality and a sense of family, you will wipe out the physical trappings of power, status, and inequality such as executive parking places and offices that grow larger by a foot with every promotion.
Whatever You Value Is What You Live in Your Organization
You know, as an individual, what you personally value. However, most of you work in organizations that have already operated for many years. The values, and the subsequent culture created by those values, are in place, for better or worse.
If you are generally happy with your work environment, you undoubtedly selected an organization with values congruent with your own. If you're not, watch for the disconnects between what you value and the actions of people in your organization.
As an HR professional, you will want to influence your larger organization to identify its core values, and make them the foundation for its interactions with employees, customers, and suppliers. Minimally, you will want to work within your own HR organization to identify a strategic framework for serving your customers that is firmly value-based.
Strategic Framework
Every organization has a vision or picture of what it desires for its future, whether foggy or crystal clear. The current mission of the organization or the purpose for its existence is also understood in general terms.
The values members of the organization manifest in daily decision making, and the norms or relationship guidelines which informally define how people interact with each other and customers, are also visible. But are these usually vague and unspoken understandings enough to fuel your long term success? I don’t think so.
Every organization has a choice. You can allow these fundamental underpinnings of your organization to develop on their own with each individual acting in a self-defined vacuum. Or, you can invest the time to proactively define them to best serve members of the organization and its customers.
Many successful organizations agree upon and articulate their vision, mission or purpose, values, and strategies so all organization members can enroll in and own their achievement.
================================================== =========
If you want the values you identify to have an impact, the following must occur.
People demonstrate and model the values in action in their personal work behaviors, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction.
Organizational values help each person establish priorities in their daily work life.
Values guide every decision that is made once the organization has cooperatively created the values and the value statements.
Rewards and recognition within the organization are structured to recognize those people whose work embodies the values the organization embraced.
Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values.
Adoption of the values and the behaviors that result is recognized in regular performance feedback.
People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with the values.
Only the active participation of all members of the organization will ensure a truly organization-wide, value-based, shared culture.
================================================== ==================
FOR EVALUATING VALUES, THERE IS NO DIRECT METHOD BUT
BY THE OUTCOMES ONLY.
1.CONDUCT A BUSINESS AUDIT, WHICH INCLUDE
-vision/ mission/objectives/strategies etc.
which should highlight values in it.
2.CONDUCT EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY
which would reveal employees practices/ expectations/dissatisfaction.
3. MAKE AN OBSERVATION SURVEY OF THE IMPACT
OF VALUES ON
-recruitment/selection
-customer service
-sales results
-promotions
etc etc
=================================
=========================================
====================================
regards
LEO LINGHAM
From India, Mumbai
hi leo.
this was really a great one which helps us in understanding organisation values.can yopu assist us in knowing about core values in leadership training.
plz its very urgent.
thankyou
happy weekend
From India, New Delhi
this was really a great one which helps us in understanding organisation values.can yopu assist us in knowing about core values in leadership training.
plz its very urgent.
thankyou
happy weekend
From India, New Delhi
RAJEEV,
MY APOLOGY FOR THE DELAY.
HERE IS SOME USEFUL MATERIAL.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
====================================
LEADERSHIP
Leaders are often born with certain traits/ personality.
Example
-Drive
-Vision
-Leadership motivation
-Integrity
-Self confidence
-Knowledge in some fields
etc
But this does not ensure success as a leader.
There are other characteristics, that helps to make a
leadership success, like
-group leadership
-organizational talent
-sensitivity
-collaboration
-persuasiveness
-rapport building
-analyzing
-making judgement
-decision making
-planning
-delegating
-empowering
-controlling
-appraising
-communicating
-iniating
-flexibility
-adaptability
etc etc
Most of these are needed for managing situations and people.
Most leaders are not born with all these factors, but trained
either in classrooms or self taught on jobs.
Most of the above factors are learnable.
Hence leadership is a combination of born talents and
trained skills/ knowledge.
================================================== ====
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES LEADERSHIP IS THE ETHICAL BEHAVIOR.
What Are CORE Virtuous Values?
CORE Virtuous values are those values that help people determine the difference between ethical and unethical behavior. As a subset of managerial leadership values, they help guide a leader’s decisions and actions toward the ethical high ground.
Before you tackle the task of identifying and clarifying your own virtuous values, however, let’s review some good reasons for you to want to espouse and affirm them.
Why Bother with CORE Virtuous Values?
Shaping and sustaining a strong ethical workplace culture is advanced when people throughout your organization share a set of virtuous values. Among the reasons for managerial leaders to pursue the identification, communication and delivery of actions that reflect virtuous values is the VALUES>>>NEEDS>>>ATTITUDE>>>BEHAVIOR CHAIN. Values exert influence over our attitudes, and our attitudes influence our behavior. Because ethical choices and behavior are linked to values, it is important that virtue oriented values are strong. They will help drive ethical behavior among an organization’s leadership and fellowship. Identifying and modeling your virtuous values can impact the organization in several ways:
Employees Do What Leaders Model. Managerial leaders’ actions are critical determinants in influencing employee ethical behavior. This finding underscores the importance for managerial leaders to communicate their virtuous values and to demonstrate them through their actions. Sales managers who accurately report their expenses in a timely fashion encourage their salespeople to do likewise.
It is the Right Thing to Do. As people in organizations embrace virtue, it becomes a self-reinforcing dynamic in which “doing the right thing” becomes “the right thing to do.” This connection becomes its own reward and enhances the lives of those within this virtuous value oriented environment. Taking actions to produce goodness becomes a priority. Creating mentoring programs to help others become their best can facilitate the building of a culture in which doing the right thing, i.e., helping others, becomes the right and normal thing to do.
Ethical Policies Create Competitive Advantage. An organization’s approach to ethics can differentiate it in such a way as to create a competitive advantage. Strategic goals linked to a set of virtuous values can present an inviting and comforting picture to potential customers as well as employees. This ethical tone, supported by such a set of core values, is consistent with the public’s desire for ethical conduct on the part of businesses and their leaders. Organizations that commit to superior customer service such as Nordstrom’s has done can distinguish themselves by this ethic of caring for their customers.
CORE Virtuous Values and Actions Build Trust and Confidence. Trust is an organizational resource that is advanced by managerial leaders who consistently espouse a set of virtuous values and subsequently act in accordance with their assertions. Employees and customers want to have confidence in leaders and see them as trustworthy. In fact, the virtue of honesty has been found to be a critical quality that key stakeholders look for in their leaders. Ethical behavior and laudable corporate citizenship expand in a trusting work environment characterized by such virtues as honesty, fairness and kindness. CEOs who ensure that strategic goals are reinforced by specific action plans and follow-up activities help build trust and confidence. Their “say - do” approach is clear for all to see.
How Do You Develop CORE Virtuous Values?
Managerial leaders need to clarify, espouse and put into practice a set of virtuous values. To help you achieve this end, a seven-step approach:
1.Determining Your Possibilities. During this step you need to select a short list of virtues.
-honesty
-courage
-fairness
-kindness
-wisdom
-self control
-humility
-optimism
-self reliance
-service
When you have identified your short list, you are ready to take the next step.
2.Playing Devil’s Advocate. With your list of 10 to 15 virtues in hand, you are now ready to play devil’s advocate. The goal of this step is to challenge each of your possibilities by asking yourself a series of questions about each virtue. For example:
Would I be willing to quit my job if I were asked to take action inconsistent with this virtue?
To what extent is this virtue a “non-negotiable?” That is, would I ever consciously act in ways that were opposite of this virtue?
What evidence do I have over the past 12 months that this is one of my core virtuous values?
How would others who know me best rate me on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being highest) on acting in ways that reflect this virtue?
“Which of the virtues on my list would people be least surprised to see me violate?”
3.Picking Your Core Virtues. With the information gleaned from Step 2, you are now ready to narrow you list to a set of core virtuous values.
4.Defining What These Virtues Mean. This step will help you verbally communicate what the virtue means for you as well as provide guidance for action. For example, if you adopt “service” as a virtuous value, you may choose to define it as “being helpful, respectful and responsive to those you serve.” The goal of this step is for you to have working definitions for each of your core virtuous values.
5.Bringing Your Virtuous Values to Life. Building upon your work in Step 4, you should now be able to cite real world examples of how these values reveal themselves in the workplace. The goal of this step is for you to associate each of your virtue oriented values with clear workplace examples. If one of your virtuous values is “service” and you have defined it as “being helpful, responsive and respectful to those you serve,” you might identify specific situations in which this virtue occurs. For example, a manager of a restaurant might explain why he walks around asking customers how they are enjoying their meal and inquiring about how he might be able to assist them. When delivered with respect along with a pledge to be responsive, this proactive offer to be helpful is aligned with the espoused virtue of “service.”
6.Putting Your Virtuous Values To Ethical Tests. The goal of this step is for you to test the strength of your core virtuous values and to apply them to ethical dilemmas. The best way to do this is to describe several scenarios that you are likely to encounter at work. Once you have developed these situations, determine which of your core virtuous values apply. Next, with your values in mind, suggest a course of action. Rate your actions on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being the highest) regarding how well your actions align with your espoused core virtuous values. You are encouraged to engage others in this process of developing scenarios and in delineating ethical courses of action.
7.Committing to Practice. Finally, having completed steps 1 through 6, you are now ready to undertake two important commitments. First, you will need to commit yourself to the understanding that each of the core virtuous values that you identified in Step 3 is truly important to you. You should rate each value from 0 to 10 (10 being the highest) for the extent to which you are committed to espousing and affirming this value through your actions. You should reconsider any value that is rated less than 8 and determine if it is really a core virtuous value for you. As an external reality check, you are encouraged to seek a trusted colleague or performance coach to help you review and reflect upon your personal rating. This person can play the role of devil’s advocate to help you more objectively assess your commitment level.
Second, you now need to commit to practice espousing and acting in alignment with your core virtuous values. This commitment will lead to congruence between what you say and do.
With the completion of the first six steps and the commitments made in Step 7, you are positioned to effectively apply your core virtuous values. The successful implementation of this process is integral to achieving a value-centered ethical workplace.
Conclusion
Virtuous core values are vital to the development of programs that seek to shape and sustain ethical organizational behavior. Managerial leaders need to clarify, espouse and affirm their virtuous core values in order to strengthen the practice of value centered ethics."
================================================== ===
Values drive behavior and therefore need to be consciously stated, but they also need to be affirmed by actions.
Ethics is about behavior. In the face of dilemma, it is about doing the right thing. Ethical managerial leaders and their people take the "right" and "good" path when they come to the ethical choice points.
The purpose of this article is to steer your thinking and action toward creating and sustaining an ethical workplace culture. Managerial leaders and their people are invited to explore how values, actions, and behavioral standards can help steer organizational behavior.
Values Drive Behavior
A well-used axiom in organizational behavior thought asserts that values ultimately drive our behavior. In a nutshell, values exert influence over our attitudes, and attitudes influence our behavior. Values are integral to attitude formation and to how we respond to people and situations. Extensive literature exists dealing with how values relate to effective managerial leadership. A review of this body of work leaves us with the clear picture that values are a key component of effective managerial leadership.
There seems to be a subset of core virtuous values that align with ethical behavior. These values as they apply to ethics follows:
Wisdom and Knowledge: The capacity to take information and convert it to something useful. Wisdom comes from capitalizing on one's experience to interpret information in a knowledgeable manner to produce wise decisions. A prerequisite to doing the right thing when facing an ethical dilemma is knowing what to do, knowing the difference between right and wrong.
Self Control: The ability to avoid unethical temptations. The capacity to take the ethical path requires a commitment to the value of acting with temperance. Ethical people say "no" to individual gain if it is inconsistent with institutional benefit and goodwill.
Justice and Fair Guidance: The fair treatment of people. Justice is served when individuals perceive that they receive a fair return for the energy and effort expended. For example, a leader's commitment to justice is tested continually with the allocation of organizational resources. Are certain individuals and groups given special treatment without regard to objective criteria by which to judge fairness? Ethical leaders value and embrace fair advice and guidance.
Transcendence: The recognition that there is something beyond oneself more permanent and powerful than the individual. Without this value, one may tend toward self-absorption. Leaders who are motivated predominately by self-interest and the exercise of personal power have restricted effectiveness and authenticity.
Love and Kindness: The expression through words and deeds of love and kindness. Researchers have documented that there appear to be different types of "love." In an organizational context, love refers to an intense positive reaction to another co-worker, group and/or situation. An organization "with heart" allows for the expression of love, compassion and kindness among and between people, the goodwill which can be drawn upon when one faces ethical challenges.
Courage and Integrity: The courage to act ethically and with integrity. These values involve discerning right from wrong and acting accordingly. They impel one to consistently do what is right without concern for personal consequences, even when it is not easy.
In practice, these six categories of virtuous values are intertwined. For example, the capacity to administer resources fairly and offer fair guidance to stakeholders along the way is supported by courage and integrity. Difficult decisions surrounding the allocation of limited resources leave some individuals and groups with less than they would prefer. The redeeming grace is the perception that such decisions are made with fairness and integrity. Unpopular decisions are easier to accept when they are perceived to be derived fairly and with integrity.
Driving ethical behavior with values and attitudes requires that there be alignment among values, attitudes, and behavior. Examples of this alignment between each of the virtuous values, associated attitudes, and behavior are offered
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.VALUE
Wisdom and Knowledge
ATTITUDE
Experience promotes wisdom that helps convert information to knowledge.
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAIN
Using knowledge to solve problems ethically and to do what is right.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2.VALUE
Self-Control
ATTITUDE
Self-control means effectively managing reactions to challenging situations and temptations
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Putting personal motivations aside and acting with objectivity by doing what is right.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.VALUE
Justice
ATTITUDE
Acting justly and fairly is a long-term driver of ethical behavior; remember the "Golden Rule."
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Establishing just and mutually agreed upon criteria and administering them fairly to all people
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.VALUE
Transcendence
ATTITUDE
The belief in a power and source outside oneself reduces self-serving actions and increases humility.
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Putting institutional and/or stakeholder interests above self interests. Identifying a personal purpose that is aligned with organizational mission
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5.VALUE
Love and Kindness
ATTITUDE
Treating people with kindness helps increase the reservoir of positive affection and love
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Recognizing and encouraging others for their contributions
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VALUE
Courage and Integrity
ATTITUDE
Ethics requires the courage to do the right things consistently without regard to personal consequences
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Making unpopular decisions based on fair consideration of the facts.
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ATTITUDE
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
ATTITUDE
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAIN
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Putting Virtuous Values into Practice
"What can managerial leaders do on a proactive basis to encourage ethical behavior? At least five practices help leaders steer their organizations toward ethical conduct.
First, any gap between knowledge about what to do and actual actions needs to be closed. If you know what is the right thing to do, just do it. Unfortunately, too often "white collar" criminals will tell us that they knew what was right, yet they failed to do it. There are various reasons for ethical transgressions, including that people just rationalize their choices with relativism. While the reasons for the transgressor's actions are varied and complex, the simple truth is that they failed to "do the right thing" in spite of their knowledge. They did not act with wisdom.
Second, managerial leaders must be very deliberate about who joins their organization. Many organizational leaders believe that selecting people for their values is as important as selecting for skill sets. Long-term success depends on putting the right people in place. Selecting people who share your virtuous values is critical to building an ethical culture and long-term business success.
Third, new personnel need to be socialized into the organization so as to advance virtuous values. As a way of promoting and influencing ethical behavior, it is very powerful for new employees to hear managerial leaders espouse core virtuous values and to see those values affirmed through the actions of others in the organization.
Fourth, accountability and follow-up are critical in putting virtuous values into practice. Systems and procedures can remind people of commitments and help connect words or promises with deeds. In organizations with behavioral integrity, words and deeds count. When virtuous values are driving behavior, the alignment of words and deeds serves to advance the creation of an ethical work culture.
Finally, managerial leaders can positively impact the practice of ethical behavior by fairly allocating organizational resources and linking them appropriately. All managerial leaders have five key resources to manage: people, money, capital assets, information, and time. Allocation of these resources and the process managers use to accomplish such distribution can create perceptions of equity and fairness, or inequity and unfairness. Managerial leaders who value justice and fairness are more likely to deal the cards fairly -- thereby modeling ethical behavior -- than are those who do not.
Behavioral Standards and Codes of Conduct: The Safety Net
Ideally, managerial leaders and their people will act ethically as a result of their internalized virtuous core values. I like to think of this as ethics from the "inside out." Relying solely on this "inside out" approach, however, is simply naïve in many circumstances.
Established behavioral standards and written codes of ethical conduct can help bolster virtuous values and promote ethical organizational behavior. Behavioral standards usually incorporate specific guidelines for acting within specific functional workplace areas. For example, a sales department may clearly outline criteria for expense reimbursements.
Codes of ethical conduct have received varying degrees of attention . They can be categorized into three types:
Type 1: Inspirational-Idealistic codes of conduct specify global themes such as "Be honest," "Show integrity in all matters," "Practice wise decision making," etc. Such themes are not anchored to specific behavior or situations.
Type 2: Regulatory codes of conduct proscribe clearly delineated conduct. This type of code is designed to help as a jurisprudential tool when disputes occur. It is more of a "do and don't" approach.
Type 3: Educational/Learning-Oriented codes of conduct offer principles to guide decision making and behavioral reactions into likely situations. This approach is compatible with building a learning organizational culture. For example, the principle and value of fairness might be applied to allocating a bonus pool. Managerial leaders responsible for this process could be engaged in scenarios wherein they would be asked to take "fair action" in making these allocations. Such learning experiences can serve to enlighten and inform so as to foster ethical decision making.
Behavioral standards and codes of ethical conduct can help steer ethical behavior by offering a cue or written rule to remind personnel of the right thing to do--an "outside in" process for ethical behavior management. These standards and codes trigger peoples' internalized values, thus gaining strength through firm yet fairly administered consequences.
The Ethical Behavior Formula
Taken together, virtuous values, actions, and behavioral standards/codes can produce a "formula," such as that illustrated below, that may increase the likelihood of ethical organizational behavior:
CORE Virtuous Values + Aligned Action + Behavioral Sandards/Codes --> Increased Ethical Behavior
Consider adapting the six core virtuous values and aligning them with key managerial leadership actions such as selection, employee orientation/socialization, and allocation of resources. Behavioral standards and/or codes of ethical conduct can be added as appropriate. Acting on these three formula components may serve to increase the display of ethical organizational behavior.
Three Good Reasons to Apply the Formula
There are at least three good reasons to practice ethical behavior in your organization. These reasons may motivate you to adapt the "formula" into your managerial leadership practice repertoire.
First, it is the right thing to do. Employees and external stakeholders alike want and deserve to be treated ethically. Taken to the extreme, a culture allowing unethical behavior can breed all manner of damaging and even criminal activity.
Second, it makes economic sense. A mounting body of evidence shows that an emphasis on the softer sides of business, including ethics, positively influences the harder traditional bottom line. By listening to employees, effectively recognizing their work, and practicing good ethical behavior, managers have given a boost to such hard measures as operating earnings, ROI, and stock price.
Third, in line with a growing trend to look beyond shareholder value to a broader stakeholder perspective, organizational ethical behavior becomes the socially responsible thing to do. Just think for a moment about the impact of Enron's, Tyco's and World Com's unethical behavior on their respective communities, workforces, and other stakeholders.
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THE APPLICATION OF CORE VALUES VARIES WITH THE INDUSTRIES.
HERE IS A SAMPLE WHICH IS APPLIED IN SUCH INDUSTRIES LIKE
''SERVICE'' / ''HUMAN SERVICES''/ ''HOSPITALITY''/ ETC ETC
CORE VALUES AND CONCEPTS
1. VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
Focus on leadership commitment to mission and ways it is reinforced throughout organization; ways leaders are held accountable for effectiveness of leadership and values; leadership role in strategic planning; leadership structure and how it supports quality improvement and learning; how leaders address accountability to all stakeholders needs; how leaders create continuous learning and development opportunities; leaders are role models for ethical performance and customer focus.
Senior leaders key functions:
• Setting direction
• Creating a customer focus
• Creating clear and visible values
• Creating high expectations
Evidence that leaders ensure the existence of:
• Organizational strategy
• Defined key systems
• Methods for achieving excellence, stimulating innovation and building knowledge
Senior leaders roles relative to:
• Inspiring and motivating staff
• Encouraging involvement, development and learning, innovation, and creativity by all staff
Senior leaders personal involvement regarding:
• Modeling ethical behavior
• Planning
• Communications
• Coaching
• Developing future leaders
• Review of organization performance
• Staff recognition
• Role modeling
• Reinforcing values and expectations
• Building leadership
• Building commitment
• Building initiative
2. CUSTOMER DRIVEN
Focus on how mission and plans drive customer quality; resident and family education about long term care and what to expect; relationship of staff and other providers to residents; resident/family ability to participate in decisions; tools/measurements to listen to customers and understand market changes; ways you keep the resident feeling involved and useful; customer focus of routine admission, billing, care planning, and service delivery systems; use of new technology in response to resident needs; ways that you provide services that differentiate between customer needs.
Evidence that quality and performance are key in determining customer satisfaction
Evidence that the applicant views satisfaction and value to residents and patients as key for other customer as well
Descriptions of how satisfaction and value are influenced by key elements of service including:
• health and functional status outcomes
• quality of life
• resident relationships with provider
• cost of services
• responsiveness
• continuing care
• attention to individual customers
• participation in health care decisions
• participation in daily schedule
Description of resident education efforts
Description of characteristics that differentiate one provider from another
Description of customer focus as a strategic concept
Evidence of customer focus per measures of customer loyalty
Evidence of customer focus per referral of new customers
Evidence of customer focus per market share gain
Evidence of rapid and flexible response to customer desires and marketplace
requirements
Description of measurement of other factors that assure customer satisfaction
Demonstrated awareness of new technology and new modalities for housing and delivery of LTC services
3. ORGANIZATIONAL AND PERSONAL LEARNING
Focus on facility approach to support continuous improvement at all levels of organization; how you generate ideas for improvement from staff; routine learning opportunities provided to staff; how you train staff to find root cause of problems and engage in process improvement; how you benchmark other facilities and companies; how you use research and learning as sources to improve services and processes; how you focus on prevention of problems to eliminate waste and rework and improve value; system to provide quality learning opportunities for staff and incentives to participate.
Facility approach to organizational and personal learning
Organizational and personnel learning as a goal of leaders
Learning embedded as an organizational characteristic
Continuous improvement of existing approaches and processes
Evidence that learning is:
• a regular part of daily work
• practiced at personal, work unit, and organizational level
• results in problem solving at the source
• focuses on sharing knowledge throughout the organization
• driven by opportunities to do better
Sources of learning cited, may include:
• staff ideas
• health care research
• resident input
• best practice sharing
• benchmarking
Organizational learning results, may include:
• new and improved care services
• new healthcare and housing opportunities
• reduced errors, defects, and waste
• increased responsiveness and time performance
• increased productivity and effectiveness of use of resources
• increased community health and public responsibility
Staff opportunities for learning
Organizational investment in personal learning
Personal learning results, may include:
• satisfied and versatile staff
• opportunities for cross functional learning
• enhanced environment for innovation
• more responsive
• more adaptive
• more efficient
• performance advantage
4. VALUING EMPLOYEES AND PARTNERS
Focus on approach to staff development at all levels; specific training requirements for all staff; specific training requirements for leaders; staff involvement in quality improvement; approach to performance measurement and evaluation; ways you encourage learning; support for health care education in community; formal staff recognition programs; approach to employee safety; creation of internal partnerships within staff; resident advisory groups and employee advisory groups; process for promoting higher satisfaction and efficiency; special agreements and arrangements with other health care providers ; special product and service agreements and relationships ; special processes to communicate and review relationships with suppliers and other external partners.
Organization’s commitment to the staff – their satisfaction, development, and well being
Flexible, high-performance work practices tailored to the staff
Leaders commitment to staff
Efforts for recognition of staff
Opportunities for development and growth for staff
Sharing knowledge with staff
Evidence of existence of risk taking environment, mistakes as opportunities
Internal partnerships, may include staff development, cross training, work teams
External partnerships, may include effort directed towards suppliers, business associations, 3rd party payors, strategic partnerships
5. AGILITY
Focus on unique features of admission and other processes focused on time and understanding; how response time is continuously reviewed for nurse call system, meal delivery times, individual requests, resident/family complaints, needs for equipment, treatments, etc.; how response time is continuously reviewed for employee evaluations and performance issues, employee complaints, employee needs for equipment, etc.; process to continuously review and simplify key processes; how strategic planning process assesses community and resident needs for additional services, better information, and quicker response.
Efforts to create capacity for rapid change and flexibility
Faster and more flexible response to residents and other customers
Timely design of care delivery systems to meet the special needs of the residents
Designs that allows for continuous improvement
Designs that value the individual needs of residents
Evidence of effective means for gauging improvement of health status and quality of life
Timeliness of process changes
Evidence of time performance as a key process
6. FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
Focus on how strategic planning is accomplished and linked to the mission and key success factors; how you assess and improve organizational structure and systems; process for anticipating and implementing changes in regulatory requirements; process for understanding potential changes in community needs, labor force changes, competitor’s strategies, and technology changes; how resources (human, financial, and space) are allocated to support changing services and to prevent waste and rework.
Strong future orientation
Willingness to make long term commitments to key stakeholders
Evidence of strategic planning
Both short and long term plans
Efforts for developing staff
Efforts for developing suppliers
Efforts seeking opportunities for innovation
Community investment relative to fulfilling public responsibilities
Evidence of efforts to sustain an assessment system focused on health care outcomes
Evidence of familiarity with current research
Ongoing application of assessment methods
7. MANAGING FOR INNOVATION
Focus on how external and internal resources are used to stimulate innovation in the design of housing and service delivery; how staffing assignments and work processes are reviewed and designed to meet the needs of individual residents; how employees are empowered, trained, and encouraged to listen to the customer and recommend change.
Evidence of meaningful change to improve an organization’s services and processes
Effort focused on creating new value for the organization’s stakeholders
Specifics of leadership of organization to new dimensions of performance
Incorporation of innovation as part of daily work
8. MANAGEMENT BY FACT
Focus on systems for identifying and routinely gathering key data and information; the specific measurements routinely used to assess performance of key success factors; how these results are distributed to various levels of organization for action; data and information is analyzed; development and use resident assessments and care plans; sources for data comparisons and benchmarking; process to measure and analyze process results for process improvements.
Measurement and analysis of performance
Linkages between measurement as derived from organization’s strategy
Measurements of critical data and information about key process, outputs and results
Measurement areas may include:
• healthcare outcomes
• quality of life outcomes
• critical pathways
• practice guidelines
• administrative measures
• payor measures
• staff measures
• cost measures
• financial measures
• competitive comparisons
• customer satisfaction data
Evidence of data analysis
Evidence that data is used to determine trends, projections, cause and effect
Methods of data analysis and use
Evidence that measures of indicators selected linked to:
• improved customer satisfaction performance
• operational performance
• financial performance
Comprehensive set of measures tied to performance which are in turn tied to organizations goals
Evidence that measures or indicators are evaluated and changed to better support organization’s goals.
9. PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY AND CITIZENSHIP
Focus on process for compliance with federal, state, and local regulations; efforts to promote or support community health and services; ways to support public access to information and consumer choice; how you share information and support community development; how leadership and staff are active in contributing to the health needs of community.
Leadership’s clear indication of responsibility to the public and community
Existence of indicators of organizational responsibility to community, may include descriptions of:
• ethical practices
• protection of public health
• protection of public safety
• protection of the environment
Resource conservation measures
Waste reduction measures
Appropriate care in use and disposal of waste and biohazards
Evidence that the facility goes beyond mere compliance
Use of appropriate measures in managing performance
Examples of good citizenship practices by leaders
10. SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
Focus on role of mission to focus on the customer; how you align key strategies; how you align individual decisions; the process for developing and aligning key strategies and action plans; how cross-functional processes are improved; how you allocates resources to achieve improvements focused on all stakeholders; the process of orienting employees to understand and support mission.
Evidence that systems described consider the organization as a whole
Evidence that systems focus on what is important to the whole enterprise
Evidence that systems concentrate on key organizational linkages among the key elements of:
• leadership
• strategic planning
• customer and market focus
• information and analysis
• human resources
• process management
• business results
Evidence that leaders are focused on strategic directions
Evidence that leaders are focused on customers
Evidence that seniors monitor, respond to, and build on performance results
Key strategies are clearly linked or aligned to key processes
Evidence of alignment of resources to improve overall performance and satisfaction of customers
Evidence that management of whole facility geared toward achieve high performance
11. FOCUS ON RESULTS AND CREATING VALUE
Focus on how you maintain balance in results between interests of all stakeholders; leadership review of key performance results and the process for taking action on inadequate performance results; how complaints are processed and results achieved for individual customers.
Performance measures focus on key results
Results focused on creating and balancing value for all stakeholders
Organizational strategy includes all stakeholder requirements
Actions and plans meet differing stakeholder needs
Use of balanced lagging and leading performance measures
Data described in prose form and illustrated using graphs, tables or charts.
Provide business results; consider:
• Government survey (deficiency) results over time
• Overall positive responses to resident and family satisfaction surveys
• Market share data over time -- total occupancy rates, private pay census growth, or comparisons to competitors
• Overall positive employee satisfaction survey responses over time.
• Employee turnover rates or retention rates over time (employee loyalty; cost)
• Number of Worker’s Compensation claims and/or amount of Worker’s Compensation claims over time (safety).
• Key quality indicator results over time and improvement strategies (health care).
• Net operating income (before income taxes, depreciation, amortization, interest, and building lease) as a percentage of revenues over time.
• Total labor and benefit cost as a percentage of revenues over time (labor productivity).
• Percentage of private pay revenues to total revenues over time (quality of revenues).
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From India, Mumbai
MY APOLOGY FOR THE DELAY.
HERE IS SOME USEFUL MATERIAL.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
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LEADERSHIP
Leaders are often born with certain traits/ personality.
Example
-Drive
-Vision
-Leadership motivation
-Integrity
-Self confidence
-Knowledge in some fields
etc
But this does not ensure success as a leader.
There are other characteristics, that helps to make a
leadership success, like
-group leadership
-organizational talent
-sensitivity
-collaboration
-persuasiveness
-rapport building
-analyzing
-making judgement
-decision making
-planning
-delegating
-empowering
-controlling
-appraising
-communicating
-iniating
-flexibility
-adaptability
etc etc
Most of these are needed for managing situations and people.
Most leaders are not born with all these factors, but trained
either in classrooms or self taught on jobs.
Most of the above factors are learnable.
Hence leadership is a combination of born talents and
trained skills/ knowledge.
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WHAT DIFFERENTIATES LEADERSHIP IS THE ETHICAL BEHAVIOR.
What Are CORE Virtuous Values?
CORE Virtuous values are those values that help people determine the difference between ethical and unethical behavior. As a subset of managerial leadership values, they help guide a leader’s decisions and actions toward the ethical high ground.
Before you tackle the task of identifying and clarifying your own virtuous values, however, let’s review some good reasons for you to want to espouse and affirm them.
Why Bother with CORE Virtuous Values?
Shaping and sustaining a strong ethical workplace culture is advanced when people throughout your organization share a set of virtuous values. Among the reasons for managerial leaders to pursue the identification, communication and delivery of actions that reflect virtuous values is the VALUES>>>NEEDS>>>ATTITUDE>>>BEHAVIOR CHAIN. Values exert influence over our attitudes, and our attitudes influence our behavior. Because ethical choices and behavior are linked to values, it is important that virtue oriented values are strong. They will help drive ethical behavior among an organization’s leadership and fellowship. Identifying and modeling your virtuous values can impact the organization in several ways:
Employees Do What Leaders Model. Managerial leaders’ actions are critical determinants in influencing employee ethical behavior. This finding underscores the importance for managerial leaders to communicate their virtuous values and to demonstrate them through their actions. Sales managers who accurately report their expenses in a timely fashion encourage their salespeople to do likewise.
It is the Right Thing to Do. As people in organizations embrace virtue, it becomes a self-reinforcing dynamic in which “doing the right thing” becomes “the right thing to do.” This connection becomes its own reward and enhances the lives of those within this virtuous value oriented environment. Taking actions to produce goodness becomes a priority. Creating mentoring programs to help others become their best can facilitate the building of a culture in which doing the right thing, i.e., helping others, becomes the right and normal thing to do.
Ethical Policies Create Competitive Advantage. An organization’s approach to ethics can differentiate it in such a way as to create a competitive advantage. Strategic goals linked to a set of virtuous values can present an inviting and comforting picture to potential customers as well as employees. This ethical tone, supported by such a set of core values, is consistent with the public’s desire for ethical conduct on the part of businesses and their leaders. Organizations that commit to superior customer service such as Nordstrom’s has done can distinguish themselves by this ethic of caring for their customers.
CORE Virtuous Values and Actions Build Trust and Confidence. Trust is an organizational resource that is advanced by managerial leaders who consistently espouse a set of virtuous values and subsequently act in accordance with their assertions. Employees and customers want to have confidence in leaders and see them as trustworthy. In fact, the virtue of honesty has been found to be a critical quality that key stakeholders look for in their leaders. Ethical behavior and laudable corporate citizenship expand in a trusting work environment characterized by such virtues as honesty, fairness and kindness. CEOs who ensure that strategic goals are reinforced by specific action plans and follow-up activities help build trust and confidence. Their “say - do” approach is clear for all to see.
How Do You Develop CORE Virtuous Values?
Managerial leaders need to clarify, espouse and put into practice a set of virtuous values. To help you achieve this end, a seven-step approach:
1.Determining Your Possibilities. During this step you need to select a short list of virtues.
-honesty
-courage
-fairness
-kindness
-wisdom
-self control
-humility
-optimism
-self reliance
-service
When you have identified your short list, you are ready to take the next step.
2.Playing Devil’s Advocate. With your list of 10 to 15 virtues in hand, you are now ready to play devil’s advocate. The goal of this step is to challenge each of your possibilities by asking yourself a series of questions about each virtue. For example:
Would I be willing to quit my job if I were asked to take action inconsistent with this virtue?
To what extent is this virtue a “non-negotiable?” That is, would I ever consciously act in ways that were opposite of this virtue?
What evidence do I have over the past 12 months that this is one of my core virtuous values?
How would others who know me best rate me on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being highest) on acting in ways that reflect this virtue?
“Which of the virtues on my list would people be least surprised to see me violate?”
3.Picking Your Core Virtues. With the information gleaned from Step 2, you are now ready to narrow you list to a set of core virtuous values.
4.Defining What These Virtues Mean. This step will help you verbally communicate what the virtue means for you as well as provide guidance for action. For example, if you adopt “service” as a virtuous value, you may choose to define it as “being helpful, respectful and responsive to those you serve.” The goal of this step is for you to have working definitions for each of your core virtuous values.
5.Bringing Your Virtuous Values to Life. Building upon your work in Step 4, you should now be able to cite real world examples of how these values reveal themselves in the workplace. The goal of this step is for you to associate each of your virtue oriented values with clear workplace examples. If one of your virtuous values is “service” and you have defined it as “being helpful, responsive and respectful to those you serve,” you might identify specific situations in which this virtue occurs. For example, a manager of a restaurant might explain why he walks around asking customers how they are enjoying their meal and inquiring about how he might be able to assist them. When delivered with respect along with a pledge to be responsive, this proactive offer to be helpful is aligned with the espoused virtue of “service.”
6.Putting Your Virtuous Values To Ethical Tests. The goal of this step is for you to test the strength of your core virtuous values and to apply them to ethical dilemmas. The best way to do this is to describe several scenarios that you are likely to encounter at work. Once you have developed these situations, determine which of your core virtuous values apply. Next, with your values in mind, suggest a course of action. Rate your actions on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being the highest) regarding how well your actions align with your espoused core virtuous values. You are encouraged to engage others in this process of developing scenarios and in delineating ethical courses of action.
7.Committing to Practice. Finally, having completed steps 1 through 6, you are now ready to undertake two important commitments. First, you will need to commit yourself to the understanding that each of the core virtuous values that you identified in Step 3 is truly important to you. You should rate each value from 0 to 10 (10 being the highest) for the extent to which you are committed to espousing and affirming this value through your actions. You should reconsider any value that is rated less than 8 and determine if it is really a core virtuous value for you. As an external reality check, you are encouraged to seek a trusted colleague or performance coach to help you review and reflect upon your personal rating. This person can play the role of devil’s advocate to help you more objectively assess your commitment level.
Second, you now need to commit to practice espousing and acting in alignment with your core virtuous values. This commitment will lead to congruence between what you say and do.
With the completion of the first six steps and the commitments made in Step 7, you are positioned to effectively apply your core virtuous values. The successful implementation of this process is integral to achieving a value-centered ethical workplace.
Conclusion
Virtuous core values are vital to the development of programs that seek to shape and sustain ethical organizational behavior. Managerial leaders need to clarify, espouse and affirm their virtuous core values in order to strengthen the practice of value centered ethics."
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Values drive behavior and therefore need to be consciously stated, but they also need to be affirmed by actions.
Ethics is about behavior. In the face of dilemma, it is about doing the right thing. Ethical managerial leaders and their people take the "right" and "good" path when they come to the ethical choice points.
The purpose of this article is to steer your thinking and action toward creating and sustaining an ethical workplace culture. Managerial leaders and their people are invited to explore how values, actions, and behavioral standards can help steer organizational behavior.
Values Drive Behavior
A well-used axiom in organizational behavior thought asserts that values ultimately drive our behavior. In a nutshell, values exert influence over our attitudes, and attitudes influence our behavior. Values are integral to attitude formation and to how we respond to people and situations. Extensive literature exists dealing with how values relate to effective managerial leadership. A review of this body of work leaves us with the clear picture that values are a key component of effective managerial leadership.
There seems to be a subset of core virtuous values that align with ethical behavior. These values as they apply to ethics follows:
Wisdom and Knowledge: The capacity to take information and convert it to something useful. Wisdom comes from capitalizing on one's experience to interpret information in a knowledgeable manner to produce wise decisions. A prerequisite to doing the right thing when facing an ethical dilemma is knowing what to do, knowing the difference between right and wrong.
Self Control: The ability to avoid unethical temptations. The capacity to take the ethical path requires a commitment to the value of acting with temperance. Ethical people say "no" to individual gain if it is inconsistent with institutional benefit and goodwill.
Justice and Fair Guidance: The fair treatment of people. Justice is served when individuals perceive that they receive a fair return for the energy and effort expended. For example, a leader's commitment to justice is tested continually with the allocation of organizational resources. Are certain individuals and groups given special treatment without regard to objective criteria by which to judge fairness? Ethical leaders value and embrace fair advice and guidance.
Transcendence: The recognition that there is something beyond oneself more permanent and powerful than the individual. Without this value, one may tend toward self-absorption. Leaders who are motivated predominately by self-interest and the exercise of personal power have restricted effectiveness and authenticity.
Love and Kindness: The expression through words and deeds of love and kindness. Researchers have documented that there appear to be different types of "love." In an organizational context, love refers to an intense positive reaction to another co-worker, group and/or situation. An organization "with heart" allows for the expression of love, compassion and kindness among and between people, the goodwill which can be drawn upon when one faces ethical challenges.
Courage and Integrity: The courage to act ethically and with integrity. These values involve discerning right from wrong and acting accordingly. They impel one to consistently do what is right without concern for personal consequences, even when it is not easy.
In practice, these six categories of virtuous values are intertwined. For example, the capacity to administer resources fairly and offer fair guidance to stakeholders along the way is supported by courage and integrity. Difficult decisions surrounding the allocation of limited resources leave some individuals and groups with less than they would prefer. The redeeming grace is the perception that such decisions are made with fairness and integrity. Unpopular decisions are easier to accept when they are perceived to be derived fairly and with integrity.
Driving ethical behavior with values and attitudes requires that there be alignment among values, attitudes, and behavior. Examples of this alignment between each of the virtuous values, associated attitudes, and behavior are offered
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.VALUE
Wisdom and Knowledge
ATTITUDE
Experience promotes wisdom that helps convert information to knowledge.
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAIN
Using knowledge to solve problems ethically and to do what is right.
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2.VALUE
Self-Control
ATTITUDE
Self-control means effectively managing reactions to challenging situations and temptations
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Putting personal motivations aside and acting with objectivity by doing what is right.
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3.VALUE
Justice
ATTITUDE
Acting justly and fairly is a long-term driver of ethical behavior; remember the "Golden Rule."
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Establishing just and mutually agreed upon criteria and administering them fairly to all people
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4.VALUE
Transcendence
ATTITUDE
The belief in a power and source outside oneself reduces self-serving actions and increases humility.
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Putting institutional and/or stakeholder interests above self interests. Identifying a personal purpose that is aligned with organizational mission
---------------------------------------------------------------------
5.VALUE
Love and Kindness
ATTITUDE
Treating people with kindness helps increase the reservoir of positive affection and love
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Recognizing and encouraging others for their contributions
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VALUE
Courage and Integrity
ATTITUDE
Ethics requires the courage to do the right things consistently without regard to personal consequences
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
Making unpopular decisions based on fair consideration of the facts.
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ATTITUDE
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAINVALUES
ATTITUDE
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR CHAIN
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Putting Virtuous Values into Practice
"What can managerial leaders do on a proactive basis to encourage ethical behavior? At least five practices help leaders steer their organizations toward ethical conduct.
First, any gap between knowledge about what to do and actual actions needs to be closed. If you know what is the right thing to do, just do it. Unfortunately, too often "white collar" criminals will tell us that they knew what was right, yet they failed to do it. There are various reasons for ethical transgressions, including that people just rationalize their choices with relativism. While the reasons for the transgressor's actions are varied and complex, the simple truth is that they failed to "do the right thing" in spite of their knowledge. They did not act with wisdom.
Second, managerial leaders must be very deliberate about who joins their organization. Many organizational leaders believe that selecting people for their values is as important as selecting for skill sets. Long-term success depends on putting the right people in place. Selecting people who share your virtuous values is critical to building an ethical culture and long-term business success.
Third, new personnel need to be socialized into the organization so as to advance virtuous values. As a way of promoting and influencing ethical behavior, it is very powerful for new employees to hear managerial leaders espouse core virtuous values and to see those values affirmed through the actions of others in the organization.
Fourth, accountability and follow-up are critical in putting virtuous values into practice. Systems and procedures can remind people of commitments and help connect words or promises with deeds. In organizations with behavioral integrity, words and deeds count. When virtuous values are driving behavior, the alignment of words and deeds serves to advance the creation of an ethical work culture.
Finally, managerial leaders can positively impact the practice of ethical behavior by fairly allocating organizational resources and linking them appropriately. All managerial leaders have five key resources to manage: people, money, capital assets, information, and time. Allocation of these resources and the process managers use to accomplish such distribution can create perceptions of equity and fairness, or inequity and unfairness. Managerial leaders who value justice and fairness are more likely to deal the cards fairly -- thereby modeling ethical behavior -- than are those who do not.
Behavioral Standards and Codes of Conduct: The Safety Net
Ideally, managerial leaders and their people will act ethically as a result of their internalized virtuous core values. I like to think of this as ethics from the "inside out." Relying solely on this "inside out" approach, however, is simply naïve in many circumstances.
Established behavioral standards and written codes of ethical conduct can help bolster virtuous values and promote ethical organizational behavior. Behavioral standards usually incorporate specific guidelines for acting within specific functional workplace areas. For example, a sales department may clearly outline criteria for expense reimbursements.
Codes of ethical conduct have received varying degrees of attention . They can be categorized into three types:
Type 1: Inspirational-Idealistic codes of conduct specify global themes such as "Be honest," "Show integrity in all matters," "Practice wise decision making," etc. Such themes are not anchored to specific behavior or situations.
Type 2: Regulatory codes of conduct proscribe clearly delineated conduct. This type of code is designed to help as a jurisprudential tool when disputes occur. It is more of a "do and don't" approach.
Type 3: Educational/Learning-Oriented codes of conduct offer principles to guide decision making and behavioral reactions into likely situations. This approach is compatible with building a learning organizational culture. For example, the principle and value of fairness might be applied to allocating a bonus pool. Managerial leaders responsible for this process could be engaged in scenarios wherein they would be asked to take "fair action" in making these allocations. Such learning experiences can serve to enlighten and inform so as to foster ethical decision making.
Behavioral standards and codes of ethical conduct can help steer ethical behavior by offering a cue or written rule to remind personnel of the right thing to do--an "outside in" process for ethical behavior management. These standards and codes trigger peoples' internalized values, thus gaining strength through firm yet fairly administered consequences.
The Ethical Behavior Formula
Taken together, virtuous values, actions, and behavioral standards/codes can produce a "formula," such as that illustrated below, that may increase the likelihood of ethical organizational behavior:
CORE Virtuous Values + Aligned Action + Behavioral Sandards/Codes --> Increased Ethical Behavior
Consider adapting the six core virtuous values and aligning them with key managerial leadership actions such as selection, employee orientation/socialization, and allocation of resources. Behavioral standards and/or codes of ethical conduct can be added as appropriate. Acting on these three formula components may serve to increase the display of ethical organizational behavior.
Three Good Reasons to Apply the Formula
There are at least three good reasons to practice ethical behavior in your organization. These reasons may motivate you to adapt the "formula" into your managerial leadership practice repertoire.
First, it is the right thing to do. Employees and external stakeholders alike want and deserve to be treated ethically. Taken to the extreme, a culture allowing unethical behavior can breed all manner of damaging and even criminal activity.
Second, it makes economic sense. A mounting body of evidence shows that an emphasis on the softer sides of business, including ethics, positively influences the harder traditional bottom line. By listening to employees, effectively recognizing their work, and practicing good ethical behavior, managers have given a boost to such hard measures as operating earnings, ROI, and stock price.
Third, in line with a growing trend to look beyond shareholder value to a broader stakeholder perspective, organizational ethical behavior becomes the socially responsible thing to do. Just think for a moment about the impact of Enron's, Tyco's and World Com's unethical behavior on their respective communities, workforces, and other stakeholders.
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THE APPLICATION OF CORE VALUES VARIES WITH THE INDUSTRIES.
HERE IS A SAMPLE WHICH IS APPLIED IN SUCH INDUSTRIES LIKE
''SERVICE'' / ''HUMAN SERVICES''/ ''HOSPITALITY''/ ETC ETC
CORE VALUES AND CONCEPTS
1. VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
Focus on leadership commitment to mission and ways it is reinforced throughout organization; ways leaders are held accountable for effectiveness of leadership and values; leadership role in strategic planning; leadership structure and how it supports quality improvement and learning; how leaders address accountability to all stakeholders needs; how leaders create continuous learning and development opportunities; leaders are role models for ethical performance and customer focus.
Senior leaders key functions:
• Setting direction
• Creating a customer focus
• Creating clear and visible values
• Creating high expectations
Evidence that leaders ensure the existence of:
• Organizational strategy
• Defined key systems
• Methods for achieving excellence, stimulating innovation and building knowledge
Senior leaders roles relative to:
• Inspiring and motivating staff
• Encouraging involvement, development and learning, innovation, and creativity by all staff
Senior leaders personal involvement regarding:
• Modeling ethical behavior
• Planning
• Communications
• Coaching
• Developing future leaders
• Review of organization performance
• Staff recognition
• Role modeling
• Reinforcing values and expectations
• Building leadership
• Building commitment
• Building initiative
2. CUSTOMER DRIVEN
Focus on how mission and plans drive customer quality; resident and family education about long term care and what to expect; relationship of staff and other providers to residents; resident/family ability to participate in decisions; tools/measurements to listen to customers and understand market changes; ways you keep the resident feeling involved and useful; customer focus of routine admission, billing, care planning, and service delivery systems; use of new technology in response to resident needs; ways that you provide services that differentiate between customer needs.
Evidence that quality and performance are key in determining customer satisfaction
Evidence that the applicant views satisfaction and value to residents and patients as key for other customer as well
Descriptions of how satisfaction and value are influenced by key elements of service including:
• health and functional status outcomes
• quality of life
• resident relationships with provider
• cost of services
• responsiveness
• continuing care
• attention to individual customers
• participation in health care decisions
• participation in daily schedule
Description of resident education efforts
Description of characteristics that differentiate one provider from another
Description of customer focus as a strategic concept
Evidence of customer focus per measures of customer loyalty
Evidence of customer focus per referral of new customers
Evidence of customer focus per market share gain
Evidence of rapid and flexible response to customer desires and marketplace
requirements
Description of measurement of other factors that assure customer satisfaction
Demonstrated awareness of new technology and new modalities for housing and delivery of LTC services
3. ORGANIZATIONAL AND PERSONAL LEARNING
Focus on facility approach to support continuous improvement at all levels of organization; how you generate ideas for improvement from staff; routine learning opportunities provided to staff; how you train staff to find root cause of problems and engage in process improvement; how you benchmark other facilities and companies; how you use research and learning as sources to improve services and processes; how you focus on prevention of problems to eliminate waste and rework and improve value; system to provide quality learning opportunities for staff and incentives to participate.
Facility approach to organizational and personal learning
Organizational and personnel learning as a goal of leaders
Learning embedded as an organizational characteristic
Continuous improvement of existing approaches and processes
Evidence that learning is:
• a regular part of daily work
• practiced at personal, work unit, and organizational level
• results in problem solving at the source
• focuses on sharing knowledge throughout the organization
• driven by opportunities to do better
Sources of learning cited, may include:
• staff ideas
• health care research
• resident input
• best practice sharing
• benchmarking
Organizational learning results, may include:
• new and improved care services
• new healthcare and housing opportunities
• reduced errors, defects, and waste
• increased responsiveness and time performance
• increased productivity and effectiveness of use of resources
• increased community health and public responsibility
Staff opportunities for learning
Organizational investment in personal learning
Personal learning results, may include:
• satisfied and versatile staff
• opportunities for cross functional learning
• enhanced environment for innovation
• more responsive
• more adaptive
• more efficient
• performance advantage
4. VALUING EMPLOYEES AND PARTNERS
Focus on approach to staff development at all levels; specific training requirements for all staff; specific training requirements for leaders; staff involvement in quality improvement; approach to performance measurement and evaluation; ways you encourage learning; support for health care education in community; formal staff recognition programs; approach to employee safety; creation of internal partnerships within staff; resident advisory groups and employee advisory groups; process for promoting higher satisfaction and efficiency; special agreements and arrangements with other health care providers ; special product and service agreements and relationships ; special processes to communicate and review relationships with suppliers and other external partners.
Organization’s commitment to the staff – their satisfaction, development, and well being
Flexible, high-performance work practices tailored to the staff
Leaders commitment to staff
Efforts for recognition of staff
Opportunities for development and growth for staff
Sharing knowledge with staff
Evidence of existence of risk taking environment, mistakes as opportunities
Internal partnerships, may include staff development, cross training, work teams
External partnerships, may include effort directed towards suppliers, business associations, 3rd party payors, strategic partnerships
5. AGILITY
Focus on unique features of admission and other processes focused on time and understanding; how response time is continuously reviewed for nurse call system, meal delivery times, individual requests, resident/family complaints, needs for equipment, treatments, etc.; how response time is continuously reviewed for employee evaluations and performance issues, employee complaints, employee needs for equipment, etc.; process to continuously review and simplify key processes; how strategic planning process assesses community and resident needs for additional services, better information, and quicker response.
Efforts to create capacity for rapid change and flexibility
Faster and more flexible response to residents and other customers
Timely design of care delivery systems to meet the special needs of the residents
Designs that allows for continuous improvement
Designs that value the individual needs of residents
Evidence of effective means for gauging improvement of health status and quality of life
Timeliness of process changes
Evidence of time performance as a key process
6. FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
Focus on how strategic planning is accomplished and linked to the mission and key success factors; how you assess and improve organizational structure and systems; process for anticipating and implementing changes in regulatory requirements; process for understanding potential changes in community needs, labor force changes, competitor’s strategies, and technology changes; how resources (human, financial, and space) are allocated to support changing services and to prevent waste and rework.
Strong future orientation
Willingness to make long term commitments to key stakeholders
Evidence of strategic planning
Both short and long term plans
Efforts for developing staff
Efforts for developing suppliers
Efforts seeking opportunities for innovation
Community investment relative to fulfilling public responsibilities
Evidence of efforts to sustain an assessment system focused on health care outcomes
Evidence of familiarity with current research
Ongoing application of assessment methods
7. MANAGING FOR INNOVATION
Focus on how external and internal resources are used to stimulate innovation in the design of housing and service delivery; how staffing assignments and work processes are reviewed and designed to meet the needs of individual residents; how employees are empowered, trained, and encouraged to listen to the customer and recommend change.
Evidence of meaningful change to improve an organization’s services and processes
Effort focused on creating new value for the organization’s stakeholders
Specifics of leadership of organization to new dimensions of performance
Incorporation of innovation as part of daily work
8. MANAGEMENT BY FACT
Focus on systems for identifying and routinely gathering key data and information; the specific measurements routinely used to assess performance of key success factors; how these results are distributed to various levels of organization for action; data and information is analyzed; development and use resident assessments and care plans; sources for data comparisons and benchmarking; process to measure and analyze process results for process improvements.
Measurement and analysis of performance
Linkages between measurement as derived from organization’s strategy
Measurements of critical data and information about key process, outputs and results
Measurement areas may include:
• healthcare outcomes
• quality of life outcomes
• critical pathways
• practice guidelines
• administrative measures
• payor measures
• staff measures
• cost measures
• financial measures
• competitive comparisons
• customer satisfaction data
Evidence of data analysis
Evidence that data is used to determine trends, projections, cause and effect
Methods of data analysis and use
Evidence that measures of indicators selected linked to:
• improved customer satisfaction performance
• operational performance
• financial performance
Comprehensive set of measures tied to performance which are in turn tied to organizations goals
Evidence that measures or indicators are evaluated and changed to better support organization’s goals.
9. PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY AND CITIZENSHIP
Focus on process for compliance with federal, state, and local regulations; efforts to promote or support community health and services; ways to support public access to information and consumer choice; how you share information and support community development; how leadership and staff are active in contributing to the health needs of community.
Leadership’s clear indication of responsibility to the public and community
Existence of indicators of organizational responsibility to community, may include descriptions of:
• ethical practices
• protection of public health
• protection of public safety
• protection of the environment
Resource conservation measures
Waste reduction measures
Appropriate care in use and disposal of waste and biohazards
Evidence that the facility goes beyond mere compliance
Use of appropriate measures in managing performance
Examples of good citizenship practices by leaders
10. SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
Focus on role of mission to focus on the customer; how you align key strategies; how you align individual decisions; the process for developing and aligning key strategies and action plans; how cross-functional processes are improved; how you allocates resources to achieve improvements focused on all stakeholders; the process of orienting employees to understand and support mission.
Evidence that systems described consider the organization as a whole
Evidence that systems focus on what is important to the whole enterprise
Evidence that systems concentrate on key organizational linkages among the key elements of:
• leadership
• strategic planning
• customer and market focus
• information and analysis
• human resources
• process management
• business results
Evidence that leaders are focused on strategic directions
Evidence that leaders are focused on customers
Evidence that seniors monitor, respond to, and build on performance results
Key strategies are clearly linked or aligned to key processes
Evidence of alignment of resources to improve overall performance and satisfaction of customers
Evidence that management of whole facility geared toward achieve high performance
11. FOCUS ON RESULTS AND CREATING VALUE
Focus on how you maintain balance in results between interests of all stakeholders; leadership review of key performance results and the process for taking action on inadequate performance results; how complaints are processed and results achieved for individual customers.
Performance measures focus on key results
Results focused on creating and balancing value for all stakeholders
Organizational strategy includes all stakeholder requirements
Actions and plans meet differing stakeholder needs
Use of balanced lagging and leading performance measures
Data described in prose form and illustrated using graphs, tables or charts.
Provide business results; consider:
• Government survey (deficiency) results over time
• Overall positive responses to resident and family satisfaction surveys
• Market share data over time -- total occupancy rates, private pay census growth, or comparisons to competitors
• Overall positive employee satisfaction survey responses over time.
• Employee turnover rates or retention rates over time (employee loyalty; cost)
• Number of Worker’s Compensation claims and/or amount of Worker’s Compensation claims over time (safety).
• Key quality indicator results over time and improvement strategies (health care).
• Net operating income (before income taxes, depreciation, amortization, interest, and building lease) as a percentage of revenues over time.
• Total labor and benefit cost as a percentage of revenues over time (labor productivity).
• Percentage of private pay revenues to total revenues over time (quality of revenues).
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From India, Mumbai
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Values and culture.ppt