75 minutes (15 minutes for lecturette; 5 minutes for participants to fill out the worksheet; 15 minutes for group discussion; 10 minutes to prepare newsprint sheets; 30 minutes for debriefing)
Work M O, T
1. To provide an opportunity to explore organizational values
2. To identify different behaviors that might reflect the same value
3. To facilitate the discussion of values from different perspectives
4. To identify and discuss how value differences can help or hinder effectiveness in a team
• If This Is a Value, What Will You See? Worksheet for each participant*
• Edward T. Hall transparency and an overhead projector
• A flipchart, pens, and tape for each team
1. Read the Edward T. Hall quote (see transparency master on page 106) and show it as a transparency. Give a lecturette about culture and values (see “Culture and Values Narrative,” Appendix A, page 231).
2. Distribute the “If This Is a Value, What Will You See?” worksheet to all of the participants. Ask everyone to read each value statement and to write descriptions of one or two behaviors exemplifying each value that one might observe in an organization that holds this value.
3. Divide the group into teams of 5–7 members. Ask team members to share their behavioral statements. Allow time for a discussion of the similarities and differences in behaviors identified.
4. During group discussion or prior to the workshop, label 8 easel pages, each one with a statement from the worksheet. Divide each page in half with a vertical line. Label one side “Agreed-upon Behaviors” and the other side, “Behaviors Not Agreed to.” Tape easel pages around the room. Ask each team to list 1–3 behaviors that the team members agreed upon as reflecting the value from the worksheet and 1–3 behaviors that they did not agree on. Allow time for participants to walk around and read all of the team responses.
1. For which values were behaviors easiest to identify? Why? Which were most difficult? Why?
2. How did this process feel? What is your reaction to the values/behaviors identified as most common/most uncommon in the organization?
3. If one of your behaviors was not commonly agreed upon, what implications might this have for you at work?
4. Which of these values are most easily expressed behaviorally in the workplace? Why?
5. What have you learned?
6. How can you apply what you have learned to your everyday work life?
1. Different people might express the same value in a behaviorally different way.
2. If someone expresses a value differently from the “norm” in the organization, they may not be seen as supporting that value.
3. The more an organization’s values are defined behaviorally, the more likely everyone is to know what is expected and to agree on the expected behavior.
4. Unless organizational values are expressed in behavioral expectations, individuals can make errors and be seen as acting “inappropriately.”
5. The more broadly an organization defines its behavioral expectations, the more people can meet those expectations without giving up who they are as individuals.
© Executive Diversity Services, Inc., Seattle, Washington, 1998.
The following statements reflect certain values or beliefs expressed in some organizations. Please list one or two behaviors that you might observe in an organization that holds this value.
1. Customer satisfaction is a top priority.
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2. Open communication and collaboration are very important.
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3. Innovation and creativity are the keys to success.
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4. Diversity contributes to a competitive advantage.
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5. Feedback is an important factor in facilitating improvement.
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6. It is important to celebrate success.
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7. Strong leadership is an important component of motivation.
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8. This is a learning organization.
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© Executive Diversity Services, Inc., Seattle, Washington, 1998.
“Culture hides much more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants. Years of study have convinced me that the real job is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our own.”
—Edward T. Hall (1959), 15