Values - organisational behaviour

AJ/Ajay K Raina, PGDM 2012-14 Batch

Era Business School, New Delhi

A CASE STUDY




“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.”

― Mohandas K Gandhi



Scope of the Presentation

Introduction to the subject of VALUES.

A hypothetical case situation and analysis.

Conclusion.





What do we mean by „Values‟?



Lets see some basics Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to

understanding….

how, why and to what degree people value things;

whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else.

This investigation began in ancient philosophy, where it is called axiology or ethics.

Early philosophical investigations sought to understand good and evil and the concept of "the good".

Today much of value theory is scientifically empirical, recording what people do value and attempting to understand why they value it in the context of psychology, sociology, and economics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_and_evil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics



So, What do we mean by „Values‟?



So, What do we mean by „Values‟? Important and lasting beliefs or ideals shared by

the members of a culture about what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable.

Values have major influence on person's

behaviour and attitude.

Values serve as broad guidelines in all situations.

Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work.

They (should) determine your priorities, and, deep

down, they're probably the measures you use to tell if

your life is turning out the way you want it to.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/beliefs.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/member.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/culture.html

http://www.investorguide.com/definition/good.html

http://www.investorwords.com/10253/major.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/influence.html

http://www.investorwords.com/14646/person.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/behavior.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/attitude.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/guideline.html

http://www.investorwords.com/6221/all.html



Values: Differ Culture to culture. Life stage to stage

Society to society Religion to religion

Circumstances

But effectively, certain core values, though not all, do remain common.


Era Business School, New Delhi Listing a few….

Accountability

Accuracy

Achievement

Altruism

Ambition

Assertiveness

Balance

Belonging

Boldness

Calmness

Excellence

Excitement

Expertise

Exploration

Fairness

Faith

Thoughtfulness

Carefulness Challenge Cheerfulness Commitment Community Compassion Consistency Contentment Contribution Control Cooperation Correctness Courtesy Creativity Curiosity Generosity Goodness Serenity Service Shrewdness

Decisiveness Dependability Determination Devoutness Diligence Discipline Discretion Diversity Dynamism Economy Effectiveness Efficiency Elegance Empathy Enjoyment Enthusiasm Equality Growth Happiness Soundness

Hard Work Health Helping Society Holiness Honesty Honour Humility Independence Ingenuity Inner Harmony Inquisitiveness Insightfulness Intelligence Intuition Irreverence Joy Justice Leadership Legacy Love Simplicity

Loyalty Mastery Merit Obedience Openness Order Originality Patriotism Perfection Piety Positivity Practicality Prudence Reliability Restraint Rigor Security Self-control Selflessness Self-reliance Sensitivity



Case Study….

Dateline : Mar/Apr 2014

A group of four Eraians of 12-14 Batch read an ad on the CRC notice board.

The job seems perfect for all of them. They've got all the qualifications the company is asking for.

Oh wait!

What does that say? Hmmm…… the company wants someone who has some prior work experience with that.

"Well, I can do that," all of them think to themselves individually, "I just haven't done it before. But, I'm sure I can learn."



….Case Study….

All of them have had thoughts like this float through their minds. However, each of them may choose a different course of action. Let's see how:-

Student No#1 thinks: "Oh well. I guess I don't qualify for this job." He or she moves on and decides to wait for the next ad/vacancy.

Student No #2 thinks: "O.K., so I don't have the experience they're asking for….but I can just make something up. After all the last company I worked for isn't in business anymore. This new one will never find out what I did or didn't do there."

Job Searcher #2 is, thus, just a few keystrokes away from adding fictional responsibilities to his or her resume.



….Case Study…. Student No#3 thinks: "It's obvious I don't have the

experience they want but I do know I can easily pick up the skills I need to do the job. The only thing I can do is take a chance and apply for the job anyway. I'll use my cover letter to explain that I don't have the required skills but I am willing to do whatever is necessary to acquire them. I'll explain that I do have related skills. What have I got to lose anyway?“

He fills in online details and hopes for the best.





Which one, out of these students, would you identify yourself with?



Analysing the Reactions… Student No#3, apparently, has made the wisest

choice.

Student No#1 may be missing a great opportunity.

Even though he lacks the necessary skills, he may have related skills.

He should assess those skills, even listing what they are and how he acquired them.

He can then write a cover letter that shows his potential, as Student No #3 did.

The worst that can happen is that his resume will end up in that big circular file. The best that can happen is that the prospective employer will see the potential in this applicant and decide that experience isn't as important as initiative.



Who's the loser?

Student No #2 ……Liar, liar pants on fire.

Lying is never a good idea. You may feel it's not morally wrong to lie, and perhaps a little white lie isn't that bad.

However, calling in sick is a little different than making believe you're someone you're not.

Lies have a way of snowballing. It's kind of like eating potato chips — you can't stop with just one.

…Analysing the Reactions



The above analysis may/may not hold true in all cases.

For one student, truth was the priority value.

For another, familial responsibilities may be the priority.

For one, being truthful while being optimistic may be the essence.

For yet someone else, being an adventurist may hold the key.

What is happening in society around us may dictate our actions under similar circumstances.

Going beyond the shackles of this case study, say by stepping into real life, buying bread may be a higher priority value for someone than seeking truth.

Case Study: Conclusions….


Era Business School, New Delhi Conclusions

Values guide us BUT may not really dictate our actions.

A person falling for a temptation may understand the sin but may still do it because of any reason.

Understanding „virtue‟ as a tool of values is, thus, equally important.

People from similar age groups, similar social backgrounds, from same religion, from similar work profiles and with established similar value benchmarks, may still choose a different option under similar circumstances.

Genetic influence on our value-virtue relationship is still a mystery in many ways.





Thanx!