TERM PROJECT- WEIGHS 40% OF FINAL GRADE Step-by-step1: Identify a Failed Collaboration with Significant Issues/Stakes Identify a specific case of collaboration failure for an in-depth analysis. The ca
CHAPTER 3
HOW TO ASSESS VALUES?
There are different types of values, some of which capture our entire value system while others focus one particular aspect of our value system, such as cultural values. As a result, depending on the type of value you are interested in measuring, the instrument that you should choose should also be different. For those who are interested in capturing the entire value system, your best choice would be Milton Rokeach's value survey, which can be found here (Rokeach's value survey).
Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)
The RVS assesses values by categorizing them into one of two types. The first type, labeled terminal values, refers to goals that individuals would like to achieve during their lifetime. The second type, labeled instrumental values, refers to the preferred modes of behaviors, or means for achieving the terminal values. Categorizing values into terminal and instrumental values reflects the assumption, and to some extent, the reality that people place value on both the ends and the means.
Terminal values:
A comfortable life
An exciting life
A sense of accomplishment
Equality
Inner harmony
Happiness
Instrumental values:
Ambitious
Broad-minded
Capable
Courageous
Imaginative
Honest
Hodgson's General Moral Principles
To the extent that we look up to our values for guidance and inspiration for how we can be good decent people, there is almost always a moral aspect to people's value system. Therefore, values and morality are inherently intertwined, and sometimes instead of measuring the global value system, people choose to focus specifically on moral values, which can be measured by Hodgson's general moral principles.
Kent Hodgson identified seven general moral principles that individuals should follow when making decisions about behaviour:
Dignity of human life: people are to be respected
Autonomy: all persons are intrinsically valuable and have the right to self-determination
Honesty: the truth should be told to those who have a right to know it
Loyalty: promises, contracts, and commitments should be honored
Fairness: people should be treated justly
Humaneness: our actions ought to accomplish good, and we should avoid doing evil
The common good: actions should accomplish the greatest good for the greatest number of people
Because morality is a topic of high subjectivity, you don't necessarily have to accept Hodgson's moral principles in its entirety. That being said, research has identified a few traits (such as honest, humaneness, fairness) that most people seem to perceive as definitive of one's moral character.
Cultural values
Values vary greatly across different cultures. To assess cultural values, Hofstede's framework for assessing cultural values has been proven to be quite useful. Hofstede's framework captures values from different cultures in the following five dimensions:
Power distance
Individualism vs. collectivism
Masculinity vs. femininity
Uncertainty avoidance
Long term vs. short term orientation
Indulgence vs. restraint
Power distance:
The degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally
Individualism vs. collectivism:
The degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups and believe in individual rights above all else. Collectivism emphasizes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.
Masculinity vs. Femininity
The degree to which the culture favors traditional masculine roles, such as achievement, power, and control, as opposed to viewing men and women as equals.
Uncertainty Avoidance
The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations
Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation
This dimension refers to a society’s devotion to traditional values. Research has found that long-term orientation values thrift, persistence, and tradition, whereas short-term orientation values here and now.
Indulgence vs. Restraint
This dimension refers to a society’s devotion to indulgence. It has been shown that cultures that appreciate indulgence encourage relative free gratification of basic and natural needs, whereas cultures that appreciate restraint favor need for control and gratification of needs.
Cultural intelligence
Understanding cultural values is key to success in the modern business world, as businesses nowadays have no boundaries whatsoever. Given the large number of distinct cultures on this planet, it is certainly not easy to navigate the different values appreciated by different cultures. One way to assess if we are effective in this multicultural world is through the lens of cultural intelligence, defined as the ability to understand someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures in the same way as would people from his or her culture. Interested in your own cultural intelligence? Proceed to EXHIBIT 3-8 of the e-textbook for quick cultural intelligence questionnaire.
Interpretation: An average less than 3 would indicate an area calling for improvement, while an average of greater than 4.5 reflects a true CQ strength. Depending on the scores, people can be categorized into different profiles:
Provincial: Work best with people of similar background, but have difficulties working with those from different backgrounds
Analyst: Analyze a foreign culture’s rules and expectations to figure out how to interact with others
Natural: They use intuition rather than systematic study to understand those from other cultural backgrounds
Ambassador: Communicate convincingly that they fit in, even if they do not know much about the foreign culture
Mimic: Control actions and behaviors to match others, even if they do not understand the significance of the culture cues observed.
Chameleon: High levels of all three CQ components. Chameleon could be mistaken as being from the foreign culture. Only 5% of managers fit this profile.
MANAGING DIVERSITY AT WORK
At this point, I hope you have realized from our discussion on personality and values earlier that individuals differ significantly from one another, and it has become crucial for managers to be aware of the diverse nature of the modern workplace and to master the necessary skills and knowhow on managing diversity at the workplace. Before discussing how managers can manage diversity, let's first clarify what diversity is. Diversity comes in different forms. In general, the following types of diversity are most commonly in in the workplace.
Biographical characteristics: Differences in age, gender, race, disability, and tenure
Differences in religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity
Differences in ability
Creating effective diversity programs
Effective Diversity Programs should include:
Legal framework for equal employment opportunity and encourage fair treatment of all people
How a diverse workforce will be better able to serve a diverse market of customers and clients
Personal development practices that bring out the skills and abilities of all workers
ATTITUDES IN THE WORKPLACE
Attitudes are everywhere in our lives. We may have an attitude toward our family or friends. Three types of attitudes are particularly noteworthy in term of the workplace, and we will focus on them in this section:
Job satisfaction
Organizational commitment
Job involvement/employee engagement
Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction refers to an individual’s positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. Job satisfaction is perhaps the most important workplace attitude, as it has been associated with a host of workplace outcomes such as employee physical well-being and organizational performance. According to a recent survey, 36 percent of Canadians said they were thinking about leaving their employers and 20 percent were ambivalent about staying or going, which begs the question "what causes job satisfaction?" Research has provided us with the following three sources of job satisfaction:
Work itself: whether the job is interesting and rewarding
Pay advancement opportunities: whether there is room for sustainable increase in salary/wage
Supervision: how one is treated by his/her supervisors also plays an important role in shaping his/her job satisfaction
Co-workers: how one is treated by his/her peers is also very important
As shown above, money is important for job satisfaction, but it certainly has its limitations. Research has shown that
Enjoying the work itself is almost always most strongly correlated with high levels of job satisfaction
Once a person reaches the level of comfortable living the relationship between pay and satisfaction virtually disappears.
People who believe in their inner worth and basic competence, are more satisfied with their work.
Workplaces that provide interdependence, feedback, social support, and ample opportunities to interact with colleagues are most likely to give rise to high job satisfaction
Job satisfaction and job performance
Job satisfaction is positively associated with the following:
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), defined as discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s job requirements, and is not usually rewarded, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organization
Customer satisfaction and loyalty, because satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, responsive
and less likely to quit.
Job DISSATISFACTION is positively associated with the following responses:
Exit: Leave the organization
Voice: Attempt to improve conditions
Loyalty: Passively but optimistically wait for conditions to improve
Neglect: Allow conditions to worsen
Organizational commitment
A state in which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.
Three types of commitment
Affective commitment: An individual’s emotional attachment to an organization and a belief in its values
Normative commitment: The obligation an individual feels to stay with an organization for moral or ethical reasons.
Continuance commitment: An individual’s perceived economic value of remaining with an organization.
Benefits of organizational commitment
Firms that have employees with a higher level of commitment tend to see positive results:
Higher customer satisfaction
More productive employees
Higher profits
Lower levels of turnover and accidents
Job Involvement/Employee Engagement
Job involvement/employee engagement measures the degree to which people identify psychologically with their job and consider their perceived performance level important to self-worth. Job involvement/employee engagement increase job performance through psychological empowerment, defined as employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job and their perceived autonomy.
