THE STRONG STUFF –

Values that Guide our Practice

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Outline

1. Quick Tour of the Key Terms.

2. What is Value? Type of Values? Types of

Practitioners’ Value?

3. What is OD Core Value?

4. Value Identification Journey

5. The reality of value dilemma and conflict

6. Application - Strengthening our value as

our practice anchor?

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1. QUICK TOUR OF KEY TERMS

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• Core Purpose

• Vision

• Values

• Culture

• Competences

• Performance

Management System

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Key Terms

• Primary role is to guide and inspire

• An effective purpose reflects people’s

idealistic motivations for doing the

organisation’s work, it doesn’t just

describe the organisation’s output or

target customers

• It captures the soul of the organisation

• We can never fulfil a purpose

• Goal - we can achieve

• Business strategy - we can complete

• Purpose - is like a guiding star on the

horizon – forever pursued but never

reached!

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Core

Purpose

(Mission)

The organisation’s most fundamental reason for existence

• A vision refers to the category of

intentions that are broad, all-

inclusive, and forward thinking

• A vision describes aspirations for

the future, without specifying the

means that will be used to

achieve those desired ends.

• The most effective visions are

those that inspire, and this

inspiration often takes the form

of asking for the best, the most

or the greatest

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Vision

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Core

Values

Are the essential and enduring

tenets of individuals

• A system of guiding principles

• It requires no external justification; they

have intrinsic value and importance to

those who process them

• Largely independent of the current

environment

• Values must stand the test of time

• “Ask if the circumstances changed and

penalised us for holding this core value,

would we still keep it?”

• Should be reflective of the organisation’s

vision, mission, strategy.

• Emanates from organisation

(leaders’) beliefs about what led

to success.

• Translates from/into core values

– “what is important to our

organisation?”

• Represented by Norms and

behaviour.

• Ultimately help to shape the

Organisation’s vision, mission,

strategic content.

“the way we do things here.”

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Culture

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Culture: - Configuration

- Constellation

Organisation ArchitectureOrganisation Architecture

Basic Assumptions(Taken for granted solution

for an identifiable problem)and beliefs, and rules and procedures)

Stories(Narratives which focus and influence

other peoples’ understanding of

situations and events. Stories are

important indicators of cultural values

and beliefs, and rules and procedures)

Ethical Codes(A set of moral principles which govern

behaviour. It carries the concern of

what is right and wrong, good and bad

in organisational decision-making)

of complex issues)

Language(Use of words and construct to promote

joint understanding and interpretation

of complex issues)

magicians, legends)

Heroes(Motivators,

magicians, legends)

Values(Timeless principles and guidelines

that determine what people think

‘ought’ to be done or not. Even though

it is intimately connected with moral

and ethical codes, it does not need

to be either)

Logos / SymbolsLogos / Symbols

Metaphors

think is and is not true)

Beliefs(Concerned with what people

think is and is not true)

Norms of BehaviourNorms of Behaviour(Norms are rules for

behaviour which dictate

what is considered to be

appropriate responses from

employees in different

circumstances) Ceremonies, Rites & RitualsCeremonies, Rites & Rituals(Relatively elaborate, dramatically

planned set of activities that

consolidate forms of cultural

expression into organised events)

10“The way people think about things around here”

Culture is the

commonly held and

relatively stable

beliefs and attitudes

that exist within the

organisation

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What is Competence / Competency?(As defined by a number of researchers)

A competence is:• An observable skill or ability to complete a definitive task

successfully

• Clusters of behaviour that are specific, observable and verifiable, and can be reliably and logically classified together –often informed by Values.

• The underlying characteristics of a person - it could be a motive, trait, skill, values, aspects of one’s self-image or social role, or a body of knowledge which he or she uses

• The relevant qualities, attitudes, and skills that lead to effective job performance

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Performance Management System

Measures and

standards

Appraise

Monitor,

assist

and control

Feedback

PlanPersonnel

decisions

Communicate

expectationsDevelop

ARE THESE KEY TERMS CONNECTED? --

Purpose, Vision, Values, Culture,

Competencies, performance management

system.

Thinking has to do with the mind;

Valuing and deciding have to do with the will.

“Valuing – uses the mental faculty and psychological

construct to discern what really matters and then

deliberately choose/decide upon a course of action”

Values are the fuel which drive the engine of desire

to make vision a reality

Vision is first and foremost concerned with values

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The Model of Effective Job Performance

The individual’s

competencies

“mind/will”

The job’s

scope &

working

condition

The

organisational

environment –

culture/value

Effective

specific

actions or

behaviour

Performance and Behaviour are both VALUE IN ACTION

2. WHAT IS VALUE? TYPES OF VALUES?

TYPES OF PRACTITIONERS’ VALUE?

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“A values is an enduring belief that

a specific mode of conduct or end-

state of existence is personally or

socially preferable to an opposite

or converse mode of conduct or

end-state existence.”

“A value system is an enduring

organisation of beliefs along a

continuum of relative importance”

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(Robeach 1973:5)

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� “Values are psychological – they

are internal to a person.”

� Organisations as such don’t have

values.

� The values of person shape

his/her behaviour and

organisational behaviour not to

mention the direction taken by

organisations.

� Organisation has to have a high

degree of shared values, or the

organisation and the people in

them flounder and fail.

Therefore an

understanding of

values on the

individual, team,

leadership team, and

the organisational

level is crucial to the

effectiveness of all

OD/LD activity.

Types of Values

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- “What do I want to see happened - achieve?” - a value as a preferred end-state of existence or …

- “How do I want to

achieve it?”- values guide the process of

attaining the terminal values. (Our mode of

conduct)

Type of Values?

• Moral and ethical valueMoral and ethical valueMoral and ethical valueMoral and ethical value

• National and cultural valueNational and cultural valueNational and cultural valueNational and cultural value

• Organisation cultural valueOrganisation cultural valueOrganisation cultural valueOrganisation cultural value

• Professional valueProfessional valueProfessional valueProfessional value

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Types of Professional Value

Milbrandt & Keister (2014)

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OD/LD/HR Legacy Values

These are foundational to our field,

dominant in our founders’ writing;

believe if we stick to these core

values, we will create legacy in our

work place, community, society and

in the world

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Those attributes/characteristics

used as a basis for designing

and executing interventions

These are foundation for

practitioners’ approaches in

their work – as to contribute to

the growth of the field

Intervention Values

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Practitioners’ Values

Authenticity Respect

Compassion Empathy

These are practitioner’s values – as an

expression of personal (individual)

attributes or characteristics belonging

to the practitioners, e.g.

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Issues

Value

Practice

Cody (2014)

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Value

in

action.

3. WHAT IS OD CORE VALUES?

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Shull, Church, Burke (2014) Research

• Replicate their 1992 research

• 388 respondents

FINDINGS:

• Practitioners remain largely focused on employee welfare

and driving positive change in the work place

• 5 top values remain as top values in 2014 as in 1992

• empowering employees,

• creating openness of communication,

• promoting ownership and participation

• continuous learning

• Humanistic values

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• Humanistic – belief that people should have opportunities to develop

their full potential

• CHOICE

• Balance between the needs of the organisation and the needs of

the people who work within it

To sum up (Burke 1998:3-4)

• Human development – all people in the organisations should have the

opportunities to learn and grow.

• Fairness – people in organsations should be treated equitably, with

dignity and without discrimination.

• Openness – people in organisations should communicate with one

another in a forthright and honest manner

• Choice – people in organisations should not be subject to coercion and

the arbitrary use of power and authority.

• Balance of Autonomy and Constraints – people in organisations

should have sufficient freedom to perform their work responsibilities as

they see fit, yet must also support the organisation and from time to

time conform to organisational demands for good of the

Founding OD value

Humanism

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• A central tenant in our field

• Working with principles behind how human behaviour, human dynamics operate within the work context – to ensure – if possible – and “all wins” outcome

• Focuses us in building inclusive and

developmental processes that help to bring out the

best in people

• “The value of being human-centred; acknowledge the needs, desires and concerns related to the human system”

Optimism

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• This value would require us to operate from a

“possibility and hopeful” perspective

• When given the right opportunities most human beings can achieve their potential and want to make impact in their world

• Progress is possible and desirable in human

affairs

• The value posits that people are willing to participate and contribute to improve the system they belong to

Participation

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• Strong beliefs that people within the system are

capable to solve their own problems and often are

in possession of both the drive and creative ideas

about how to improve the system they live in

• This value is about people being given an

opportunity and a role to shape the

outcome of the future which will affect them

Fairness

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• The job of the practitioner is both to be vigilant

and to proactively create opportunities to address

the structural inequality and to build inclusive and

fair practices and polices to ensure there is a fair

and thriving work place, society for all

• Focus on the inherent value of all people

regardless of the demographic as well as

cultural differences

Duality of organisation effectiveness

and sustainable organisation healthThe value focus on balancing the work to make the organisation high performing as well as building sustainable healthy organisation

Help the organisation to be both externally focused to do best work for those they serve as well as internally focused – achieving sufficient coherency within the organisation for the people who work there

How to support the organisation to be in a continuous

“developmental” stage

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Global cross-cultural and cross-racial

understanding and collaboration

This value is about not letting FEAR,

JUDGEMENT, ASSUMPTION but rather

CURIOSITY, ANTICIPATION,

LEARNING drive our interaction with

people who hold beliefs, cultural norms

and behavioural patterns that are

different from our norms

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4. VALUE IDENTIFICATION

JOURNEY

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So what are your values that inform your practice

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Sources of values and

cultural behavioural

patterns

What are my

CORE VALUE?

What are the

priorities of these

values?

Any evidence

that they are in

action?

My cultural pattern

OD and professional

values as framed by my

own cross cultural

upbringing (14 years in

USA and then 34 years in

Europe - Oxford, UK)

Personality preference

(as shown in multiple

testing on MBTI, Firo B,

16 PF through three

decades)

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5. VALUE DILEMMA AND

VALUE CONFLICT

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Value Conflict

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We want to believe our values are the right ones

We develop a vested interest in our

values

We feel negatively toward people and

experiences that negate our values

We feel positively toward people and

experiences that affirm our values

We care about our value

Once embraced, our value becomes

part of our identity as a person

Value Conflict and Dilemma

Dilemma = A situation in which a difficult CHOICE has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially ones that are either equally desirable or undesirable.

CONFLICT = A serious incompatibility between

two or more opinions, principles,

or interests

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Go back to types of Values

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Moral Moral Moral Moral and ethical valueand ethical valueand ethical valueand ethical value

National and cultural valueNational and cultural valueNational and cultural valueNational and cultural value

Organisation cultural valueOrganisation cultural valueOrganisation cultural valueOrganisation cultural value

Professional valueProfessional valueProfessional valueProfessional value

Soul searching Questions1. Which of my values are negotiable?

Make a distinction between different types of values.

2. How do we navigate through our intrapersonal value dilemmas?

3. How do we navigate through our interpersonal value dilemmas?

4. How to not make others wrong, nor ourselves wrong in the midst of conflict.

5. Make maintaining relationship as our top work.

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Practical Application

Get to know what are the core value that inform our work

Share our core value that informs your work with colleagues and clients – both to educate and create accountability

Pay attention to the gap between our espoused theory and our theory in use

Work on strengthening our value muscle but without getting rigid

Use value to shape outcome that will benefit the system gain

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Research evidence on value based benefits• Profits are higher when personal and organisational values are aligned

(Gallup poll)

• Values for trust and camaraderie increase shareholder value (by 37%) (Levering and Moskowitz (2000)

• Companies with an enduring core ideology outperform the stock market and give superior market performance (without making “making profit its primary value”. (Collins and Porras)

• Firms that consider the interests of employees, customers, and stockholders greatly outperform those that do not (Kotter and Heskett)

• Organisation change efforts fail when culture is ignored (Cameron and Quinn)

• Value based leadership increases job satisfaction and bottom line performance (69% of employee job satisfaction stemmed from the leadership skills of managers and 39% of bottom line performance can be attributed to employee satisfaction (Leimbach)

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Leadership skills are VALUES put in action

So why do we call

this “STRONG

STUFF?”

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Strengthening Our Value as Our

Practice Anchor…..to inspire.

Be that practitioner whose values are in action and are

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f) Support the Organisation

to be a high performing,

vision inspire, purpose

focus, value driven and

highly petent productive

organisation

e) Be an encourager,

stimulator, inspirer to

those whom we serve

d) Serve as a role

model for others

c) Aim for collective

goods of most

b) Give a missing

presence of key

value

a) Recognisable by

others