Values in Organization - A Call to Action
By Ken O'Donnell
When significant changes have happened in the history, they were always accompanied by two phenomena - sufficiently great pressures and changes in the values systems of human beings.
Amidst the superstitions of the Middle Ages, we sought our roots in ancient Greece and Rome and the Renaissance happened. With the coming of the so-called Age of Reason two significant events took root - the French revolution which changed the form of government forever and the Industrial Revolution which changed all our lives as well as the face of our planet. We have now reached a time in which the paradigms that served to create the current world have lost their power and direction.
The golden period of the industrial epoch finished a long time ago. Although the business community has specialized in generating employment and wealth, it has also contributed to the dysfunctions in our economical, social and environmental systems. For something that has so much impact on human society it could not be otherwise.
The mad race for economic survival of countries and corporations, especially over the last twenty years, has left shameful evidence of wars and conflicts, a biosphere more and more unsustainable and an increasing number of people humiliated by unemployment and / or exclusion. Many executives who have managed to keep themselves ' well-employed' find themselves doing actions against their personal values and principles or are just exhausted from living out hallucinatingly busy and techno-dependent lives. Wherever we look, we are witnesses to the price that we have paid for having overly mechanized human life. Where are the values we once held to be true in our treatment of each other and nature?
When doing a study on 21 civilizations that failed of the past, the English historian, Arnold Toynbee discovered that one of the main factors was their inability to make the necessary changes ahead of time.
In today's chaotic reality, especially in the light of terrorism and possible wars, the more sensitive and concerned human beings are seriously questioning our institutional and personal models of power, progress and leadership. Developing the values that can underpin sustainability with more rational consumer habits affects business practices frontally. 'What are the plans for your company fifteen years from now? Al Gore says it will be under water.'
Such was the title of a recent public talk to a full house in Sao Paulo by the U.S. ex-vice-president, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce. Extremely challenging. Certainly thought-provoking. Possibly exaggerated.
Whatever may be the case, we live at a time of fundamental transformations of a scale never witnessed in all our history. The political, economic, technological, cultural and even climatic changes act together like a huge hurricane that swirls individuals, organizations and even countries around in a constant process of redefinition, readjustment and repositioning
The stronger and wiser remain standing whereas others are simply thrown mercilessly around by its winds. To quote Nelson Mandela: "One of the tragedies that we are facing is that of a (form of) globalisation, which has not addressed questions of poverty, of disease, of hunger and of ignorance."
This scenario paradoxically is not 'anti-business'. Is an invitation to reinvent the way that we do business for the good of the system that sustains us all. It's not that we only have to adjust ourselves to the requirements of the so-called 'new economy' The political and social chaos demand different responses and values as well.
Every year, the Great Place to Work Institute conducts a study with workers and staff in many countries to determine which are the best places to work. The criteria are centres around the practice of five values - Credibility, Fairness, Respect, Pride in the job and Camaraderie.
Surveys carried out since the late 1980's have consistently shown that the financial returns in such companies can be as higher when compared to similar companies . They showed that in the great places to work job-candidates are more qualified, there is less staff turnover, medical costs are reduced, there are higher levels of customer satisfaction and fidelity and there are greater levels of innovation and preparedness for taking risks.
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