Nailing Down The Meaning of Values — Personal AND Corporate
The Simplest Solution To Defining Corporate and Personal Values
If personal and corporate values are to have any usefulness, they have to be used to make decisions and guide behavior.
Most of us have worked in organizations, or have known people who espouse a set of values, then promptly turn around and act in ways that are the exact opposite, causing E. Schein to talk about ESPOUSED VALUES Vs. values in action (ENACTED VALUES).
Espoused values are those that the person or organization professes, or “talks” about as important, while enacted values are the values that are actually operative, based on observing decision-making and behavior.
Why Espoused Values Are Rarely The Same As Enacted Values
Because of the nature of human beings, and our limited self-awareness, or understanding of WHY we do things, it’s unlikely that anyone or any organization will behave in ways that are completely congruent — that is, their enacted and espoused values (and beliefs) are identical.
This causes huge problems internally, which we’ll leave for another discussion, but apart from the vagaries of humans, with which we are stuck, there’s another reason for…
