Organizational Values

Organizational values play an important role guiding and directing how an organization functions (Dobni, Ritchie, and Zerbe, 1999).   Dobni (et al) (as cited in O’Reilly, 1989) states that an organization’s value system works a way for workers to make sense of what is important, why things happen the way they do, and how their work should be completed.   Changes within an organization are often made during the course of an employee’s time there, that is why it is best for organizations to identify, clarify, and validate the values members are expected to hold before there are any changes made within the organization.
When an organization places more emphasis on the survival, whether it is competitive, operational or economical, of the company before that of its workers, this is referred to as a performance-pressured value system.   This type of value system can be easily identified by organizations that focus on the mass-production manufacturing, quantity over quality, and simple bottom-line results (Dobni et al., 1999, p. 100).   Organizations that function using this type of value system shows more concern with daily production numbers and less with the relationships with its workers.   A working environment of this sort can prove to be critical, creating more employees with feelings of aggression towards the organization, which could cause a loss in profits and new market opportunities for the organization.
An organization that has tendencies to take risks, be innovative, and demonstrate pro-activeness is one described to have an entrepreneurial value system.   Per Dobni (et al), this type of value system places emphasis on risk-taking and will not only respond swiftly to the influences of its environment, but will take whatever steps deemed necessary to influence the environment in order to place itself at an advantage.   Organizations with an entrepreneurial value system strive to be first in both new product and market areas (Dobni et al., 1999, p. 100).   These...