Culteral Values

Personal Values

Personal values are the traits and characteristics learned and implanted through living. Parents play a huge role in helping to formulate a foundation for personal values by providing building blocks for what becomes the individual's understanding and application of honesty, reliability, and trust. But, these values are continuously challenged in today's business sector where the attitude of "eat or get eaten" is foremost and the "it's not personal, it's business" justification prevails.

Personal values are becoming an extinct commodity in the corporate world. They are being replaced by the pseudo organizational values that management or shareholders have disguised as "corporate" organizational values. Only when the blinders come off can we see the truth in how pseudo organizational values run counter to true organizational values. The pseudo organizational values are primarily tools used by management to motivate employees to "Ð'...do anything to get the deal," and "Ð'...keep all deal information to yourself" in order to make the numbers for shareholders.

Organizational Values

Organizations as a whole appear as reputable companies on the outside and yet are quite often very different on the inside. Organizational values are more often aligned with getting ahead and growing a business at any cost versus attaining the same goals using a more personal value related process. In an article published by Debt Cubed, "Choosing The Proper Course Between Two Conflicting Values Is One Of The Hardest Decisions A Leader Can Make," Kelly Newcomb stated one company's management mantra as "Ð'...if a company's objective is to be profitable and create shareholder value, then complete loyalty to an under-performing manager is a violation of the company's values." In the same article, Newcomb further stated another more productive company's management rule, "Do what is right for the customer." As you can see, both styles of doing business will accomplish the same results, with the second example using a more personal valued approach.

Large businesses think they are losing out to smaller cottage businesses, as well as those over seas, because of lower overhead costs. This trend has gotten the attention of corporate executives who intend to change this perspective at any cost. Businesses have begun using seductive and misleading advertising to get the consumer's attention, but do nothing to get the customer's confidence in the company. This type of advertising normally does not coincide with any organizational values, but does go along with the pseudo organizational values of doing whatever it takes to get more business and tragically disregarding all personal and cultural values for effect.

Cultural Values

Cultural values are obscure because they are deeply embedded and so often taken for granted. They are the very attitudes and behavioral norms taught by our parents, church and schools that are expected to guide us in our society and workplace and why we see them as the natural and the right way to do things. In the article, "Cultural Conflict in Inter-American Relations," the author reports that people typically resist change or anything different than the norm or status quo. When their status quo changes for any reason, their first tendency is to take a defensive stand and not trust it, even if the new status quo is more efficient or effective.

Given that the United States is a "melting pot" for all people from all locations and way of life, almost every business in the United States is considered a multi-cultural environment. The attitude of toward those who appear "different" is driving a wedge between the cohesiveness of business teams, which in turn, hurts the organization's bottom line as a whole.

Ethical