Personal values in the workplace

1
Personal values in the workplace
2
Values, Attitudes and Beliefs

• Diffcult to discuss ethics without talking about
  values
• Ethics A branch of philosophy concerned with
  formal academic reasoning about right and wrong
• Provides principles and arguments drawn from
  ethical theory
• Values Commonsense, often taken-for-granted
  beliefs about right and wrong that guide us in
  our daily lives
• Lead you to an intuitive feel for the right thing
  to do

3
Values, Attitudes and Beliefs (contd)
Values are core ideas about how people should
live and the ends they should seek. They are
shared by a majority of people within a community
or society. They are simply expressed
generalities, often no more than single words
such as peace and honesty. As they are very broad
they do not give guidance on how particular
things should be evaluated.
4
Values, Attitudes and Beliefs (contd)

• Attitudes, like values, are evaluations of
  whether something is good or bad. But unlike
  values they are evaluations of particular things,
  issues, people, places or whatever. Attitudes,
  because they relate to specific circumstances,
  are more changeable than values.

5
Values, Attitudes and Beliefs (contd)

• A belief is an acceptance that something is true
  or not. This acceptance does not imply any
  judgement about whether that thing is good or
  bad.

6
Ethics and Values

• Ethics
• Drawn from the books and debates in which
  philosophical theories about right and wrong are
  proposed and tested
• Ethics are studied
• Values
• Acquired infromally from processes of
  socialization
• Values are learned from friends, family,
  colleagues

7
Overlaps between values and ethics

• The processes through which values are formed,
  adopted and modified within groups and societies
  may be influenced by philosophical debates
• Equally, the rational philosohical discourses of
  ethics may be influenced by the emotions of
  participants
• Ethical theory is disdainful of societies
• The validity of a thory is not influenced by
  whether the generality of people accepts it or
  not

8
Different types of values
Moral values concern interpersonal behaviour,
e.g. being honest is
desirable. Competence values concern ones own
valuation of ones behaviour, e.g.
behaving imaginatively is desirable. Personal
values concern the ends, of terminal states,
that are desirable of the self, e.g. peace of
mind. Social values concern the ends that one
would desire for society, e.g. world
peace is desirable.
9
Perceptions of values

• The notion of fragmented values
• The idea that things in the social world are
  disordered and disconnected
• Diverse values expressed through conflict between
  different views and opinions
• Contributer Thomas Hobbes (17th century English
  philosopher)

10
Perceptions of values

• Contrary view by Rockeach Values are simple and
  whole
• The problem a society may have clear views on
  the importance of telling the truth, but such
  simple rules may not help much
• Example Should a government spokesman tell the
  truth about a military operation if it would
  cause danger to the soldiers
• Once interpretation is necessary, simple and
  whole values become fragmented

11
Perceptions of values (contd)

• Karl Weick
• Values do not exist prior to and seperate from
  organizational life ( as Rockeach suggested)
• Values emerge and become pervasive in
  organizations as a consequence of dynamic
  processes
• A process of sense-making throgh which people
  interpret and construct a view of their
  organization and theri roles within it

12
The traditional view of values

• The possession of shared values used to define
• Groups
• Organizations
• Professions
• Country
• Value fragmentation therefore considered as
  cursed and as a contradiction

13
The traditional view of values (contd)

• A groups values
• Derive from the ancient traditions of the group
• Presented as the values of a charismatic founder
• Is inward-looking and disapproves of questioning
  of knowledge and values
• Experienced as moral traditionalism that defines
  which behaviors are acceptable in and beyond
  organizations

14
The traditional view of values (contd)

• The Bible Belt movement in the USA
• Run business according to fundamental Christian
  precepts (rules)
• Riverview Bank in Minesota set up as Americas
  first evangelical bank

15
Enlightenment

• A historical period during the 18th century
• Academics and writers began to question truths
  and beliefs that had been long held because they
  were sanctified by the Church
• Amateur geologists findings
• Finds such as fossils, rocks and minerals raised
  doudts about the date the world was created
  (around 4004 BC) calculated from the Bible
• Traditionalisms criteria of antiquity began to
  be questioned and undermined

16
Different Perspectives on Values

• Traditionalist
• Modernist
• Neo-traditionalist
• Postmodernist
• Pragmatist

17
The modernist view of values

• This position argues that the 20th and 21st
  century has been characterised by value
  fragmentation
• However, through the application of reason, the
  fragmented pieces can be put back together
• Habermas Progress possible through communication
  and rationality

18
The modernist view of values (contd)

• The modernist view of rationality, also labelled
  critical rationality
• Different from instrumental rationality of
  management
• Instrumental rationality
• Ex. Maximising return on capital by incresing
  hospital beds
• Critical rationality
• Ex. A focus on preventive health measures

19
The neo-traditional view of values

• Emphasizes the role of culture as a device for
  mediating the tensions between
• fragmented values
• the need of societies and organizations
• See values in the context of social and
  organizational cultures
• Fragmentation of values cannot be overcome by
  rational analysis which sees them as objects for
  analysis

20
The neo-traditional view of values (contd)

• Values should be seen as shared myths which are
• Simple
• Act as a glue that holds an organization or
  society together
• A form of back to basics perspective
• Ex. Peters and Waterman In Search of Excellence
• The emphasis on organizational values and culture

21
The postmodern view of values

• Sees nothing in the social and intellectual world
  as tangible or fixed
• Fragmentation accepted as part of the human
  condition
• There are no eternal truths or values
• The objective truth emerges through discourses
  that are embedded in power and knowledge
  relationships
• What emerges is uncertain because the language we
  use is opaque and carries no single, clear
  messages

22
The postmodern view of values

• Deferral The meaning of one word is always
  explained with reference to another
• Leads to the impossibility of business ethics
• There is no hope that fragmented values can be
  put together again
• Derrida Just because someone points out that
  the language used is inadequate does not mean
  that the task is unworthy

23
The pragmatic view of values

• Shares the postmodernists scepticism about the
  possibility f an objective truth and a fixed
  hierarchy of values
• The inability to ground our values in some grand
  theory such as Christianity, Marxism, Islam or
  capitalism does not prevent people making
  sensible and practical arrangements for living a
  civil and well-mannered life.

24
A summary of the five stances

• Traditionalist Sees a unified world united by
  time-hallowed values
• Modernist The ethical world is fragmented and
  unity can be restored through rational
  development of individuals
• Neo-traditionalist Believes unity can be
  restored only by return to a concern for
  neglected values
• Postmodernist Accepts the inevitability of
  fragmentation and enjoys it
• Pragmatists Learn to live with fragmentation

25
The ethical limitations of prophets

• Radical critiquers are an example of prophets who
  wish to change the world or organizations
• Limitation
• They may not have a clear idea of how to do it
• They are driven by a disapproval of what is
  rather than a vision of what might be
• They are closed to the challenges and dialogue
• They want to act without the constraint of
  comment or caution from others

26
The ethical limitations of subjectivists

• They are doubters The opposite of prophets who
  would doubt little
• They do not believe in the existence of onjective
  ethical standards
• Think everyone has to make thier own choices
  while recognising that these choices implicitly
  impose expectations on others
• Becuse they are unwilling to impose thier views,
  they end up having others views imposed on them

27
The ethical limitations of subjectivists (contd)

• The ethical risk is uncertainty and arbitrary
  subjectivism in which everyone acts for
  themselves
• Instability caused by wishing to be responsible
  for oneself
• Peter Druckers rejection of the concept of
  business ethics
• Ethical responsibility lies with individuals, it
  cannot rest with collectivities such as
  organizations

28
The ethical limitations of rhetoricians

• Enjoy debates in which some win and others lose
• They allow their skill in argument to be
  seperated from thier own convictions
• The point is not to be right, but to win
• They create façades to support their point
• Such as Performance metrics and annual reports

29
The ethical limitations of rhetoricians (contd)

• Two examples
• Shell Not disclosing that its estimates of oil
  reserves are inflated until it was forced to
• The HRD director of a retail fashion chain
• An industrial court case over discriminatory
  recruitment practices
• The new director believed the allegations were
  true BUT
• She defended the company at the court case!

30
The ethical limitations of quietists

• A disengagements from the ethical problems of the
  world to achieve contentment
• The mentor role
• Has quietist features, but allows engagement with
  the world
• Passing of traditional values
• Sees themselves as role models
• Inclined to to act against unethical
  organizational behavior

31
The balancers

• Two managerail roles
• The culture designer
• The transactional manager
• The ethical problem Maintaining the equilibrium
• If culture designers lose balane they will become
  like prophets or subjectivists
• If the transactional manager becomes unbalanced
  they will be like quietists or rhetoricians

32
The balancers (contd)

• Culture designers try to obtain both
• Employees commitment to organizational values
  and missions
• Not undermining employees own values

33
Managerial ethical roles as a semiotic square
34
Defining managerial roles