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Values are concepts or beliefs which people use to guide their behaviour in the workplace. Values will drive our decision-making and cause us to summon up energy to preserve what we believe in. They go beyond specific situations and determine how we view people, behaviour and events. Often major sources of conflict and disillusionment are due to mismatched values. The values that an organisation has are usually an expression of the personal values of the senior management, which have impacted the organisation over time.

The Organisational Values Profile is based upon responses to 32 items, where respondents rate their perceptions of an organisation or part thereof. The questions relate to the eight value types on the Window on Work Values Model:

• Compliance
• Conformity
• Collectivism
• Equality
• Empowerment
• Independence
• Individualism
• Authority

The Window on Work Values is a model built over five years from gathering individuals' responses to many questions defining work activities or situations at work that they value. The focus is on values where the primary content aspect is the type of goal or motivational concern that the value expresses. The model has good structural validity, meaning that value types close to one another in the window are related whereas those on opposite sides of the window are unrelated. The model can be applied to both individual and Organisational values.

The Window consists of eight core work value types depicted as window panes, rather like those in the rose windows of many European cathedrals. It is divided into quadrants, each containing a core value type as follows:

• Self Focus: Value types that put personal goals ahead of group goals. Individualism is the core value type in this quadrant.
• Group Focus: Value types that put group wishes ahead of individual need. Collectivism is the core value type.
• Organisational Constraint: Value types that require strictly-adhered-to guidelines to ensure the smooth running of an organisation. Compliance is the core value type.
• Organisational Freedom: Value types where individual behaviour is unrestricted and people are free to choose their pathways, unfettered by Organisational constraints. Empowerment is the core value type.

Values focusing on the self, within an environment of Organisational Freedom are defined by the Independence value type. Those focusing on the self within an environment of Organisational Constraint are defined by the Authority value type.

Values focusing on the group, within an environment of Organisational Freedom are defined by the Equality value type. Those focusing on the group within an environment of Organisational Constraint are defined by the Conformity value type.

Individual values are determined from answers to the 64-item Window on Work Values Profile Questionnaire. The feedback is a hierarchy of value types and valuable information on how a person's values will impact their behaviour.

Organisational values are determined from answers to the 32-item Organisational Values Profile Questionnaire. This multi-rater instrument gives feedback on the Organisational values perceived by any number of respondents. Comparisons between Organisational groups are given in terms of the value types. A comparison can also be made between an individual's view of the organisation's values and their own values.

Team Management Services has a process which uses the Window on Work Values to develop a Team Charter which lists core values that the team would like as the foundation of how the team works together. Action-based ground rules then relate to these shared values.

The Organisational Values Profile Questionnaire is an ideal tool for:

• Organisational values assessment
• Organisational development
• Checking the alignment between espoused values and reality values
• Cultural change initiatives

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Windows on Work Values Profile

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