Achieving organisational change through values alignment

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to, first, establish the interdependency between the successful achievement of organisational change and the attainment of values alignment within an organisation's culture and then, second, to describe an effective means for attaining such values alignment.Design/methodology/approachLiterature from the fields of organisational change, organisational culture, philosophy, psychology, and values theory is reviewed in order to develop and test the hypothesis that successful organisational change can only occur when those affected by the change are able to willingly commit to an agreed set of values aligned with the accomplishment of the organisation's new outcomes. The paper then presents and reports on a trial of a simple and effective framework for achieving such values alignment in an organisation.FindingsThis paper supports the view that the currently acknowledged widespread resistance to organisational change is caused by a failure of current organisational change strategies to attend to a values alignment process for all those people affected by the desired change. Moreover, this paper proposes that values alignment may not just be an important integral part of organisational change strategies; it could well be the bedrock, the foundation, on which all truly successful organisational change depends.Practical implicationsThe values alignment process presented in this paper provides a very effective and efficient means for enabling people to discern, discuss, and actively support those values that will help the organisation to make desired changes. In essence, this process enables the alignment between personal and organisational values to occur and, thereby, allowing the organisation to evolve and remain viable.Originality/valueThe paper provides a unique perspective on the important process of values alignment within any truly successful organisational change strategy.

Untitled

“…Research findings support that the teachers do really care about the community in their school and they are team players that create a teaching and learning community. Apart from that the coordination within the group members, this will enhance the group capacity that will lead to new synergistic (Branson, 2008). Another part of workplace spirituality that is alignment with organization values has impact affective commitment and this shows that the organizational goals, objectives, obligations and ideology contributed to affective commitment (Kathuria et al, 2007;Branson, 2008).…”

Different Values Forms in Organization: is the Congruence Possible?

“…Alignment is referred to as consistency between espoused values and lived values (Schein et al, 2000). Value-aligned organizations are aware of the impact of values on people, performance and outcomes ant these organizations work deliberately with values to create alignment between people's values and those of the organization (Branson, 2008). Values-aligned organizations do everything in their power to understand the influence of values within their organization and strive to align employee values with those of the organization (Henderson and Thompson 2003).…”

“…It happens, because individuals' values and values of organizations espouse may differ from what they practice (Schein, 1985). Values are specific to an individual and they only reside in the mind of that person (Branson, 2008), so even assuming consistency between values that are espoused and practiced, individuals within organizations may be confronted with mutually exclusive values (Liedtka, 1991). Not to mention the fact that an individual may hold values that are in conflict across different sources of values or the content of values (Paarlberg and Perry, 2007).…”

Key stakeholders' interaction as a factor of product innovation: the case of Russia

“…Following this logic, the mutually supportive elements within the firm will become sources of competitive advantage (Miller, 1996). There are multiple approaches to conceptualising alignment, among them the concept of multidimensional alignment as effective collaboration between functions and between customers and suppliers (Dyer, 1996;Burdett, 1994), cultural alignment (Fuller and Vassie, 2001), values alignment (Branson, 2008), vertical/horizontal alignment (Kathuria et al, 2007) and the market orientation concept of interfunctional alignment (Narver and Slater, 1990). All of the alignment concepts follow a specific motivation, driving the firm's efforts to align its internal process to achieve better performance and external alignment.…”