80 minutes (5 minutes for brief overview; 15 minutes for personal ranking; 30 minutes for small-group discussion; 30 minutes for large-group discussion and debriefing)
Work M–H P, T, O, D, M
1. To identify and rank order 18 personal values
2. To identify the values of the organization, the department, or the work team
3. To compare the alignment of personal values with the identified values of the organization, department, or work team
4. To discuss the potential impact of the degree of alignment of personal and organizational, departmental, or team values
5. To discuss the cause and effect of individuals having different perceptions of the organization’s values
• A flipchart and marking pens or an overhead projector and transparency
• A Rokeach Values Rankings Worksheet for each participant
1. Give a brief overview of terminal and instrumental values (see Appendix A, “Culture and Values Narrative,” page 231) and a clarification of the usefulness of an understanding of values.
a. Two Types of Values
• Terminal values represent the goal we want to achieve.
• Instrumental values are the behaviors we use to get to the goal.
• Individuals can have similar terminal values and act differently. For example, family may be a value for two people—one person demonstrates that value via his nuclear family; the other demonstrates it through her extended family.
• Individuals can have different terminal values but act the same. For example, two people work hard to make a lot of money. One individual saves her money to support her value of security, while the other person spends his money to support his value of demonstrating material success.
b. The Usefulness of Understanding Values
• Values help us to understand and interpret events.
• Values provide a framework for making decisions.
• Values provide a framework for carrying out decisions.
2. Give each participant a copy of the “Rokeach Values Rankings” worksheet. In the first column, ask participants to rank order their personal values from 1–18 based on the boldface “Terminal Values” category. Allow time for everyone to complete the task. Now direct participants to rank order the values for the organization in the second column. Again, focus on the boldface “Terminal Values,” categories. Finally, have participants review the description of behaviors, or instrumental values, under each terminal value and make any changes they would like. For example, they might add “work hard to help the team succeed at its defined goals” under “ambitious.”
3. Place participants in groups of 3–5. Write the following questions on a flipchart or a transparency and ask the groups to discuss them.
• If there are any areas where personal and organizational values are not aligned, what impact might this have on the individual? On the effectiveness of the organization?
• Are there any terminal values about which you and the larger organization could have different behavioral expectations?
• If any of you have different rankings for the organizational values, discuss those rankings and identify why you might have different perceptions.
• How will the perceptions of the organization’s values affect planning processes? Personnel policies? Decision making? Conflict management?
Note: You can add specific areas based on any issues you know are currently prominent in the organization or the team with which you are working.
4. Return to the large group; ask each small group to report the results of its discussion. Debrief.
1. How closely aligned are your own values with those of the organization?
2. In the small-group discussions, did you find that the perceptions of organizational values were consistent or inconsistent across members of the group? What was the reasoning behind the choices?
3. How did you feel about sharing your personal value choices? Why?
4. What values affected your participation in this activity? Why?
5. What values did you see demonstrated by group members as they participated?
6. What have you learned?
7. How could you apply information from this experience to your work life?
8. What actions could follow that would make this information most useful to the organization?
1. An individual is likely to experience greater job satisfaction when there is congruency between individual and organizational values.
2. Individuals may have different perceptions of an organization’s values depending on their job, their organizational placement, or their supervisor.
3. Understanding the organization’s values can help employees interpret events within the organization.
4. Understanding personal and organizational values can contribute to effective organizational performance, including decision making, planning, personnel actions, and conflict-management processes.
5. Actions that are seen as congruent with organizational values are most likely to be rewarded.
6. If team members have congruent perceptions of their values, the team is most likely to perform well.
For team building with an intact work team (additional materials required are easel pages listing the 18 instrumental values [allowing room for sticky dots] and large red and yellow sticky dots in sets of ten).
1. Prepare a wall chart of the 18 values with room on the side for the placement of sticky dots.
2. As in the main process, supply participants with a copy of the worksheet and ask them to rank order their personal values and those of the organization.
3. Prior to small-group discussions, provide each participant with 20 large sticky dots (10 red and 10 yellow). Ask participants to place the red dots next to their top 10 personal values and the yellow dots next to what they believe to be the organization’s or team’s top 10 values.
4. Based on the visual created, ask the small groups to identify and discuss where the team’s potential areas of strength, challenge, or conflict might surface. Ask them to identify specific strategies or behaviors they can use to reduce areas of potential conflict.
© Executive Diversity Services, Inc., Seattle, Washington, 1995. Based on research for The Nature of Human Values by Milton Rokeach.
Adapted from Dr. Van Hutton’s presentation on the work of Milton Rokeach, Seattle University, Seattle Washington, 1998.