Table of Contents |
You learned about personality, which is focused on our patterns of thinking and feeling. Values impact our personalities, in that they tell us what is “right” and “good.” A value is a belief that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct. In other words, a value represents a judgment by an individual that certain things are “good” or “bad,” “important” or “unimportant,” and so forth. As such, values serve a useful function in providing guidelines or standards for choosing one’s own behavior and for evaluating the behavior of others.
One point of discussion useful for our study about ourselves as communicators is to examine our attitudes, beliefs, and values. These are all interrelated, and researchers have varying theories as to which comes first and which springs from another. We learn our values, beliefs, and attitudes through interaction with others.
| Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | Changeable? | Example | |
| Attitudes | Learned predispositions to a concept or object | Subject to change | I enjoyed the writing exercise in class today. |
| Beliefs | Convictions or expressions of confidence | Can change over time | This course is important because I may use the communication skills I am learning in my career. |
| Values | Ideals that guide our behavior | Generally long-lasting | Effective communication is important. |
An attitude is one’s immediate disposition toward a concept or an object. Attitudes can change easily and frequently. You may prefer vanilla while someone else prefers peppermint, but if someone tries to persuade you of how delicious peppermint is, you may be willing to try it and find that you like it better than vanilla.
Beliefs are ideas based on our previous experiences and convictions and may or may not be based on logic or fact. You no doubt have beliefs on political, economic, and religious issues. These beliefs may not have been formed through rigorous study, but you nevertheless hold them as important aspects of self. Beliefs often serve as a frame of reference through which we interpret our world. Although they can be changed, it often takes time or strong evidence to persuade someone to change a belief.
Values are core concepts and ideas of what we consider good or bad, right or wrong, or what is worth the sacrifice. Our values are central to our self-image, what makes us who we are. Like beliefs, our values may not be based on empirical research or rational thinking, but they are even more resistant to change than are beliefs. To undergo a change in values, a person may need to undergo a transformative life experience.
EXAMPLE
Our values are instilled in us by society, and in turn influence society. You might have learned as a child that “being a good sport” is important from teachers, coaches, teammates, or even opponents. As a grown-up, you probably maintain this value because it reflects the kind of society you want to live in. When you play sports or games, you’ll compliment your opponent, win or lose, because the game wouldn’t be fun for you if the winner always gloated, and the loser always complained.The values people have tend to be relatively stable over time. That is, when we first learn a value (usually at a young age), we are taught that such-and-such behavior is always good or always bad. For instance, we may be taught that lying or stealing is always unacceptable. As young people, few individuals are taught that such behavior is acceptable in some circumstances but not in others. Hence, this definitive quality of learned values tends to secure them firmly in our belief systems. This is not to say that values do not change over time. As we grow, we are increasingly confronted with new and often conflicting situations. For example, someone may initially value absolute honesty. Over time, they decide that telling a lie to prevent hurting someone’s feelings is better than absolute honesty.
Influential psychologist Milton Rokeach identified two fundamental types of values.
Personal values represent an important force in organizational behavior for several reasons. In fact, at least three purposes are served by the existence of personal values in organizations.
First, values help us determine appropriate standards of behavior. They place limits on our behavior both inside and outside the organization. In such situations, we are referring to what is called ethical behavior, or ethics. Ethics are shared values across a group of people: a country, a community, or an organization. Most organizations have a code of ethics, an explicit set of standards for behavior in the organization.
Employees at all levels of the organization have to make decisions concerning what to them is right or wrong, proper or improper. For example, would you conceal information about a hazardous product made by your company, or would you feel obliged to tell someone? How would you respond to petty theft on the part of a supervisor or coworker in the office? To some extent, ethical behavior is influenced by societal values. Societal norms tell us it is wrong to engage in certain behaviors. In addition, however, individuals must often determine for themselves what is proper and what is not. This is particularly true when people find themselves in dilemmas, situations where ethical standards are ambiguous or unclear, or one must choose between two ethical standards. Moreover, one’s colleagues and friends may disagree about what is proper. In such circumstances, people have to determine their own standards of behavior.
Values also serve as guidelines for making decisions and for attempting to resolve conflicts. Managers who value personal integrity are less likely to make decisions they know to be injurious to someone else. Relatedly, values can influence how someone approaches a conflict.
As with personality, values may be tested with pre-employment screenings. These tests are designed to measure an individual’s level of integrity or honesty based on the notion that honest or dishonest behavior and decisions flow from a person’s underlying values. Thousands of companies use these tests, some of which use direct questions and some of which use camouflaged questions. Although the reliability of the most common tests seem good, their validity (i.e., the extent to which they can accurately predict dishonest behavior) is more open to question. Nevertheless, because they do not cost much and are less intrusive than drug or polygraph testing, integrity tests are frequently used to screen potential employees.
Values affect employee motivation by determining what rewards or outcomes are sought. Employees are often offered overtime work and the opportunity to make more money at the expense of free time and time with their families. Which would you choose? Would you work harder to get a promotion to a perhaps more stressful job or “lay back” and accept a slower and possibly less rewarding career path? Value questions such as these confront employees and managers every day.
Prominent among work-related values is the concept of the work ethic. Simply put, the work ethic refers to the strength of one’s commitment and dedication to hard work, both as an end in itself and as a means to future rewards. Much has been written lately concerning the relative state of the work ethic in North America. It has been repeatedly pointed out that one reason for our trouble in international competition lies in a lapsing work ethic. This is not to say that many Americans do not work hard; rather, it is to say that others (most notably those in East Asia) simply work harder.
There are many ways to assess these differences, but perhaps the simplest way is to look at actual hours worked on average in different countries both in Asia and Western Europe. You may be surprised to discover that although the average American works 1,791 hours per year, the average South Korean works 1,910 hours per year. Meanwhile, Western Europeans work fewer hours, with Germans working only 1,349 hours on average. The biggest difference is not in the length of the workweek, but the number of vacation days people get. However, some countries in South America have six-day workweeks and thus work more hours than anyone, including Mexico (2,128 hours a week) and Colombia (1,964) (Lu, 2023). Thus, although Americans may work longer hours than many Europeans, they fall far behind many in East Asia and Latin America.
It is important to note that cultural expectations and governmental policies (such as those requiring vacation time in Europe) impact the amount of average hours worked. In addition, the value of work-life balance in some countries is higher than others. For example, in Greece, people often take 3-hour lunch breaks, while in the United States, it is not uncommon for people not to take a lunch break—or any break—throughout the day (Hansen, 2021).
While the working hours may not necessarily reflect the quality of work (versus the quantity, which in this case is number of hours), it most definitely, again, shows cultural differences. In our next section, we will address other cultural differences that may impact work ethic and values.
Source: THIS TUTORIAL HAS BEEN ADAPTED FROM OPENSTAX "ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR". ACCESS FOR FREE AT OPENSTAX.ORG/BOOKS/ORGANIZATIONAL-BEHAVIOR/PAGES/1-INTRODUCTION. LICENSE: CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 4.0 INTERNATIONAL.
REFERENCES
Hansen, K. (2021, March 30). 6 Countries with the Longest Lunch Breaks in the World. Reader’s Digest. www.rd.com/list/countries-with-longest-lunch-breaks/
Lu, M. (2023, June 18). Visualizing Annual Working Hours in OECD Countries. Visual Capitalist. www.visualcapitalist.com/annual-working-hours-in-countries-2023/#
