Understanding human values: The key to organizational effectiveness

Raddall, J. Article Understanding human values: The key to organizational effectiveness South African Journal of Business Management Provided in Cooperation with: University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), Bellville, South Africa Suggested Citation: Raddall, J. (1984) : Understanding human values: The key to organizational effectiveness, South African Journal of Business Management, ISSN 2078-5976, African Online Scientific Information Systems (AOSIS), Cape Town, Vol. 15, Iss. 2, pp. 121-127, https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v15i2.1115 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/217860 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Understanding human values -The key to :>rganizational effectiveness J. Raddall fational Building Research Institute, Pretoria rhe dichotomy faced by management of finding ways to inter- 'ace theory and technology on the one hand with the idiosyn- ;racies of human behaviour on the other can be likened to the Nell known concept of Cartesian dualism -the split of the ,uman being into mind and body. In any organization management is faced by the same proJlem. Implementation of sound rational ideas is often obfuscated by the apparently irrational human element. This article attempts to find this 'missing link' in the chain between the mind and body of the organization. through an analysis of human values and their influence on personal, interpersonal and organizational behaviour. Several hypotheses relating values to organizational behaviour are considered and a preliminary empirical study undertaken to test these hypotheses is discussed. S. Afr. J. Bus. Mgmt. 1984. 15: 121 -127 Die tweedeling wat 'n bestuur ervaar by die integrasie van teorie en tegnologie enersyds, met eienaardighede van menslike gedrag andersyds. is vergelykbaar met die bekende konsep van Cartesiaanse dualisme -die verdeling van die menslike wese in gees en liggaam. In enige organisasie kom die bestuur voor dieselfde probleem te staan. Die toepassing van gesonde rasionele idees word dikwels verwar deur die klaarblyklik irrasionele menslike element. Daar word in die artikel gepoog om hierdie ·vermiste skakel' in die ketting tussen die gees en die liggaam van die organisasie te vind deur 'n ontleding van menslike waardes. en die invloed daarvan op persoonlike. interpersoonlike en organisatoriese gedrag. Verskeie hipoteses waardeur waardes in verband gebring word met organisatoriese gedrag word oorweeg, en 'n voorlopige empiriese studie wat onderneem is om hierdie hipoteses te toets. word bespreek. S.-Afr. Tydskr. Bedryfsl. 1984. 15: 121 -127 J. Raddall National Building Research Institute, P .0. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, Republic of South Africa Accepted March 1984 Introduction 'But after all, what is goodness? Answer me that, Alexey. Goodness is one thing with me and another with a Chinaman, so its a relative thing. Or isn't it? Is it not relative? A treacherous question! You won't laugh if I tell you it's kept me awake two nights. I only wonder now how people can live and think nothing of it. Vanity!' Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers karamazov. Dostoyevsky has touched on something which could be the key to understanding and improving management and organizational effectivenes in the eighties. Whenever someone is faced with a decision he is also faced with alternatives, some of which may be right; others may be wrong. To a large extent his decision will be based on his beliefs, attitudes and values. The view is held in this article that values constitute a core concept which dictates attitudes and behaviour patterns inherent in all of the social sciences. (Figure l ). It is considered to be the major dependent variable in the study of society, culture and personality and the major independent variable in the study of social attitudes and behaviour. The importance to management is an understanding of how the decisionmaking process can be affected by individual value systems and the effect this can have on the organization. D1A6RA1111A TICALL Y · VALUES Figure I Influence of values on decision-making Al TERNATIVE OWSIONS The implication here is that companies which continue to slot individuals into positions based purely on previous experience and skills do so at their peril if they ignore the relevance of differing values. The question of what is 'right' or 'wrong', or 'good' or 'bad' has been a central feature of philosophical debate since the dawn of human consciousness. However until recent times it could be argued that the -__.II 122 relevance of the issue was academic. Even a hundred years ago people travelled comparatively little and communication was es.sentially by word of mouth. This meant that individuals were tightly knit into small communities where acceptable values were easily identified. An Englishman really did not need to concern himself about the fact that a Chinaman may not have shared his value system. Technological advances of the twentieth century have ensured the exponential growth of communication and mobility resulting in a relatively turbulent and dynamic market place where organizational and individual value systems meet on an ever expanding matrix. It is only through an understanding of these differing value systems or 'profiles' that management can hope to become more effective. Objectives The principle objective is to develop an understanding of the interaction or organizational perfonnance and the values held by the individuals within the organization. Ethics and values Ethics No work on business ethics and human values would be complete without a brief discussion on ethics in general to determine the relevant interdependencies. Ethics is a major branch of philosophy and concerns itself with human decisions related to 'good' or 'bad', or 'right' and 'wrong'. The Greeks provided a miscellany of questions (Brennan, 1973:9) two thousand five hundred years ago which are still relevant today: (a) Is there a highest good, to which all other goods are subordinate? (b) What makes a good life? (c) What makes a man good or bad? (d) What makes an action just or unjust? (e) What sort of rules or guidelines are there for right action? (0 Can that which makes a good man good be taught? (g) For what ends or purposes should we aim? Managers are constantly forced to make ethical judgements in answer to questions such as the above where their behaviour is not determined by law. In this case where their behaviour is potentially harmful but still 'legal' their conduct is considered 'unethical'. Figure 2 demonstrates this together with an area of overlap. LEGAL LEGAL I I <N.Y I l PIIRAL IBUsttiS ETIICSI ----------------- LEGAL MORAL AND ONLY MORAL I ---- ---------------~ fla•re 2 Interrelationship between business ethics and the law The distinction, however, of that which is 'ethical' and that which is ·~nethical' is seldom simple or finite and depends on many vanables, one of the most important being human values. Most managers make moral decisions based on commonsense ethics .. However one cannot stop here as two managers from tw~ different cultures may have diametrically opposed values with regard to a given situation resulting in a totally S.-Afr. Tydskr. Bedryfsl. 1984, 15(2) different work ethic. Two main ethical concepts are expressed by the words 'good' and 'ought', (or 'duty') (Ewing, 1975). 'Good' can be an ambiguous term. For example should you have gangrene in one leg it would be 'good' to have it amputated in order that you may survive. However having an operation and losing a limb cannot be described as 'good' as an end in itself. Therefore it is important to distinguish between 'good' as an end and 'good' as a means. People, and hence managers, can be said to fall into three basic categories. The first termed 'egoistic hedonists' is that group which strives for its own pleasure or happiness as an end goal. That which achieves this end is 'good' for the individual, but not necessarily for the society. Subsequent to 'egoistic hedonism' is 'universalistic Hedonism' or 'utilitarianism'. Here the logic is as follows: If happiness is the only thing, by general consensus, that is good in itself, then it seems irrational to hold that it makes any difference to its goodness who enjoys the happiness. It seems reasonable to hold that it is our duty to produce as much good as possible and that it is wrong to neglect any opportunities to do so. Here then the ethic is one of striving for the general happiness rather than the individual happiness. The third category is at the opposite end of the ethics scale and concerns the theory of the great German philosopher Kant (1724 - 1803). His ethics was to a large extent motivated by a reaction against hedonism and his theory took the fonn that the primary aspect to consider is not the happiness or unhappiness produced by an action, or indeed any of its consequences, but the nature of the action itself. Central to his ethics is the concept of 'good will'. By this he means not good will in the sense of kindly feeling, but doing one's duty, or as he put it, 'out of respect for the moral law'. (Ewing, 1975:51). Kant always strove to achieve that which was universally right through man's doing his duty or what he 'ought' to do. Furthermore, to Kant, that which was universally right had to transcend political and religious ideologies. To Kant the end never justified the means. If it is wrong to lie then it is always wrong to lie. The above section on ethics serves, not as a primer in philosophy, but rather to highlight the very cornerstone of human behaviour in general, and management and business behaviour in particular. Considering the relevance of ethics in the business world and its relevance to the very survival of the free enterprise system in the long term is it not incredible that our business schools in South Africa virtually ignore the subject? One can only deduce from this omission that business academia perceive the role of management to be one of Darwinian survival in one glorious, universal orgy of 'egoistic hedonism'! Values To achieve a greater understanding of mankind in his ethical world it is necessary to understand his values and the way in which they can influence his behaviour. The work of Rokeach on human values has been used extensively in this article with particular regard to the testing procedure adopted in the empirical work. Five assumptions about the nature of human valu~ have been used: (a) the total number of values that a person possesses is relatively small; s. Afr. J. Bus. Mgmt. 1984, 15(2) (b) all men everywhere possess the same values to different degrees; (c) values are organized into value systems; (d) the antecedents of human values can be traced to culture, society and its institutions, and personality; (e) the consequences of human values will be manifested in virtually all phenomena that social scientists might consider worth investigating and understanding. (Rokeach, 1973:3). In this case the field has been restricted to management and organizational performance. By definition a value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or endstate of existence. (Rokeach, 1973:5). A value system is an enduring organization of beliefs concerning preferable modes of conduct or end-states of existence along a continuwn of relative importance. (Rokeach, 1973:5). It has been found that human values tend to be enduring but under certain circumstances are liable to change. The enduring quality of values may arise initially from the absolute manner in which they are taught. For example children are told that it is good to be honest or not to tell lies. They are not taught that they do not always have to be completely honest or that certain end states such as a comfortable life can be both desirable and undesirable. However it is an understanding of this relative quality of values which is essential to management, and the manner in which they can change and re-integrate. For example in a given repartee you may have two choices in a reply to a close friend. The first is more honest but less polite. The second will not hurt your friend's feelings but you will have to be less honest. You value both honesty and politeness but if you are not to be struck dumb you will be forced to rank your values in order of importance. It is this relative concept of values which is important in the work done by Rokeach. This aspect will be highlighted when actual data are analysed. A value as a belief A value is considered to be a prescriptive or proscriptive belief. 'A value is a belief upon which man acts by preference'. (Rokeach, 1973:7). Like all beliefs, values have three components; cognitive, whereby a man is said to consciously know how to behave or what end-state to strive for; affective, in the sense that man can experience emotion about a value and react to people who show positive or negative behaviour towards a given value; and behavioural in that a value can be an independent variable that can lead to action when triggered. A value refers to a mode of conduct or end-state of existence A human value is seen to be either instrumental, defining a mode of conduct, or terminal which defines desirable end-states of existence. (Rokeach, 1973 :7). It is important to separate the two value types as there is a functional relationship between tenninal and instrumental values. This will be discussed under the empirical study. Terminal values: personal and social One important method of classifying terminal values is into two categories; self-centred or society-centred. Such end-states as salvation and peace of mind are selfcentred or intrapersonal whereas world at peace and brotherhood are society-centred or interpersonal. 123 Instrumental values: moral values and competence values Moral v~ues are narrower in context and refer mainly to modes of behav10ur and do not necessarily include values that concern end-states.of existence. Further these values refer only to those types of instrumental values that have an interpersonal focus which when violated arouse feelings of guilt for wrongdoing. The other instrumental values called competence or selfactualization values have a personal focus and are not concerned primarily with morality. Failure here leads to shame about inadequacy rather than moral guilt. For example, honest and responsible behaviour would lead to feelings of moral behaviour whereas acting logically, intelligently or imaginatively leads to a feeling of competence. A person may also experience conflict between two moral values, two competence values and between a moral and a competence value. Correlation between terminal and instrumental values First impressions of the two value types may suggest a correlation between social values and moral values and also between personal and competence values, based on earlier discussion of intrapersonal or interpersonal orientation. In practice Rokeach has found this not to be the case and in explanation has suggested that, for example, a person who is more oriented toward personal end-states may defensively place a higher priority on moral behaviour. Possible double standards If it can be assumed that a value is something desirable, as perceived by an individual, then for whom is this seen as desirable, the individual or society? For example a person may rate honesty right at the top of his value profile. In his home and social environment he may be honesty personified but at work his degree of honesty may be highly questionable. This Jekyll and Hyde approach has yet to find a totally satisfactory explanation but the truth may lie somewhere in group dynamics whereby people's behaviour alters depending on the peer group in which they find themselves. The conviction is that in such a case the values do not change but the behaviour does, leading to such other factors as higher stress where the individual is forced to adopt an attitude foreign to his inherent value system. Number of terminal and instrumental values Years of empirical work has lead Rokeach (1973) to the conclusion that the number of values possessed by human!> is relatively small. He estimates the total number of terminal values of an adult at about a dozen and a half, and instrumental values at between sixty and seventy. Functions of values and value systems Values can be considered as standards that guide ongoing activities, and value systems as blueprints used to resolve conflicts and to make decisions. Another alternative is to think of values as giving expression to human needs. As standards, values can guide behaviour in a number of ways: (a) they direct individuals in supporting certain social issues; (b) they predispose us to favour one political or religious ideology over another; 124 (c) they guide people in the way they project themselves to others; (d) to evaluate performance, good or bad, in comparing self with others; (e) they are used by individuals to persuade and influence others; (t) finally they teach individuals how to rationaliz.e any beliefs, attitudes, and actions that would otherwise be personally or socially unacceptable so that the individual may maintain positive feelings of morality and competence, both essential ingredients for the maintenenace and enhancement of self-esteem. The more long range functions of values are to give expression to basic human needs. Values also have strong motivational content. For example, instrumental values are motivating in that they are seen to be instrumental in attaining desired end-goals or terminal values. Terminal values are motivating in that they represent the superordinate goals beyond immediate, biologically urgent goals. This leads to the suggestion that human values may bearranged hierarchically from lower to higher order. This relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. (Figure 3). A generalization from a management point of view is that one would expect good top management in an organization to be more concerned with self-esteem and self-actualization, assuming the lower needs to be already satisfied, and one would therefore expect values which relate closely to these higher level needs to rank accordingly. SELF-ESTEEM LOVE SECURITY SAFETY Flaare 3 Maslow's hierarchy and human value systems Empirical Investigation HUHAN VALUE SYSTEHS Using a systems approach to organizational analysis and the following simplified organizational paradigm i.e. Organizational context + Organizational processes + Managerial action = Organizational performance several hypotheses were developed. Examples are: (a) There is a positive correlation between value profiles and hierarchical position. (b) Conflict occurs more frequently and is resolved with greater difficulty, the greater the value differences among parties. (c) Leadership effectiveness is directly related to the degree of value consensus between leader and followers. (d) There is a relationship between organizational performance and the management value profile, and/ or the worker value profile. S.-Afr. Tydskr. Bedryfsl. 1984, 15(2) In order to test these and other hypotheses an empirical investigation was undertaken. A research organization was used as 'guinea pig'. A sample of fifty eight people, almost all of whom have tertiary education, was chosen. A total of fifty-four replies was received. The lists of values used were divided into two sets of eighteen values, terminal and instrumental, as developed by Rokeach. Respondents were asked to rank order each set of values from most important to least important, in order of importance to them, as guiding principles in their lives. Results of survey Tables 1 and 2 show the terminal and instrumental value rankings for the fifty four respondents. The last column shows the rankings for American scientists. (Rokeach, 1979:63). Certain factors emerge from these tables which are of significant interest. Table 1 Terminal values -average and composite rank order N = 54 American Value Average Rank order scientists I. A comfortable life 13,54 16 13 2. An exciting life 9,83 10 12 3. A sense of accomplishment 6,62 3 4 4. A world at peace ll,95 12 5 5. A world of beauty 16,17 18 7 6. Equality 13,08 IS 6 7. Family security 7,31 4 9 8. Freedom 7,50 6 2 9. Happiness 7,85 8 11 10. Inner harmony 6,42 2 8 11. Mature love 7,72 7 15 12. National Security 12,02 13 16 13. Pleasure 14,10 17 17 14. Salvation 8,79 9 18 IS. Self-respect 7,42 s 3 16. Social recognition 12,90 14 10 17. True friendship 9,94 11 14 18. Wisdom 4,66 Both the test group and the American scientists agree that wisdom is the most important end-state. However after wisdom the Americans rated freedom, selfrespect, a sense of accomplishment, a world at peace and equality. The main themes here seem to be a personal striving through the personal values for growth, understanding and self-realization on the one hand and social strivings for a peaceful, libertarian and egalitarian world on the other hand. The test group though shares the personal values but there the similarity ends. The first social value to be ranked is a world at peace at number twelve. This means that the first eleven values are all personal values implying that the test group has an extremely egocentric view of life and attaches a relatively low level of importance to other people and the world around. For example, a world of beauty is ranked eighteen. Another significant factor is the relative positions of salvation and equality. American scientists ranked salvation eighteen and equality number six. In the test group the reverse occurred. Salvation ranked ninth and equality fifteenth. Besides being more religious as a group, salvation may have ranked higher as it is a personal value and as has been stated, S. Afr. J. Bus. Mgmt. 1984, 15(2) Table 2 Instrumental values -average and composite rank order N = 54 American Value Average Rank order scientists I. Ambitious 9,77 IO 9 2. Broadminded 9,65 8 7 3. Capable 6,54 3 2 4. Cheerful 10,79 13 15 5. Clean 13,00 17 17 6. Courageous 9,78 II II 7. Forgiving 10,15 12 14 8. Helpful 10,98 14 IO 9. Honest 5,23 3 10. Imaginative 9,58 7 5 11. Independent 9,52 6 6 12. Intellectual 7,98 4 I 13. Logical 9,25 5 8 14. Loving 9,75 9 13 15. Obedient 13,92 18 18 16. Polite 11,16 15 16 17. Responsible 5,69 2 4 18. Self-controlled 11,77 16 12 this group has a preference for personal values over social values; however there is one incongruity with the value equality. Equality is a religious value and has connotations of the Christian ethic of loving one's neighbour. As such one could expect this value to be ranked high along with salvation. This suggests one of two things: (a) respondents consider the personal act of salvation to be more important than the act of maintaining a Christian ethic; (b) more kindly, perhaps, respondents interpreted the word equality to mean something else other than a religious value. Looking at Table 2, the instrumental values, a more consistent image appears where a close correlation also exists between the test group and the American scientists. The most important values are honest, responsible, capable, intellectual, imaginative and independent, with logical and broadminded not far behind. Two themes suggested by this value pattern are a demand for competence, intertwined with a demand for morality. At the other end of the scale obedient ranked last in both cases. A possible cause for concern to management is the eighteenth ranking position given to a world of beau(v. It could be argued that the primary objective of a Research Organiz.ation is to provide output which will have a positive effect on the world in which it finds itself, hopefully contributing in some way to its beauty. Hypothesis testing The following are selected results from the hypotheses tested. Hypothesis -Value orientations vary systematically with hierarchical position. Three levels were used, namely, directorate, division head and research officer. It was found that instead of a systematic variation there was considerable value congruence between the directorate and the research officers which in turn was not shared by the division heads. This last group's (middle management) value profile differed in that values such as accomplishment, an exciting life and world at peace, ranked considerably lower than the Directorate and Research Officer profiles and per125 sonal values such as family security, happiness, mature love and salvation ranked higher. . This could point to a structural problem within the organization and could be indicative of a position which lacks stimulation, challenge and adequate opportunities for self-actualiz.ation, resulting in the individual reorganizing his value system whereby his personal life begins to receive greater emphasis than the organiz.ation resulting in a shift of interest from the work place to the private world outside the organiz.ation. Hypothesis -Leadership effectiveness is directly related to the degree of value consensus. To test this, two groups A and B were selected. Unfortunately in a research organiz.ation the measurement of the effectiveness of output tends to be subjective. Be this as it may group A was chosen because of its strong leadership and cohesiveness. Also this group tends to be far more concerned about research implementation and interacts with the outside environment far more than group B. The method used for evaluation was as follows: Using the leader's value profile as a base the variations of each member of his group was measured. For example: Value A comfortable life Leader 12 Ranking Group members I 2 3 4 12 II II 17 Variation ( - I) + ( - I) and ( + 5) = -2+5 The totals of both sets of values for both leaders were calculated with the following results: Tenninal values Leader Group A Leader Group B Total 1-126 + 1261 1-156 + 1681 Instrumental values Leader Group A Leader Group B Total 1-206+2101 -154 + 102 [ Emerging from this analysis is the fact that on terminal values leader A scores better (more consistent, less variation) than leader B whereas the reverse applies on the instrumental values. To resolve this dichotomy it must be remembered that terminal values are end-states or goals. Instrumental values are those that people use to achieve these end-states. It is therefore suggested that goal consensus in a work environment is more important than means consensus, i.e., there is more than one way to kill a cat. To continue the logic it is also intuitively appealing and consistent with management theory that goal consensus between employees, managers and the organiz.ation is an important ingredient in organiz.ational efficiency and effectiveness. Another point is that leader A's value profile is at the centre of the group's values. (There is an equal weighting to values ranked above and below his values). Leader B on the other 126 hand tends to be to one side of centre for both value sets. On its own this may be insufficient evidence to point !owards better leadership. However if one examines the matter m terms of extremes it would seem to be preferable for a group to have a leader whose value profile tends towards the centre of the group rather than to one or other of the extremes. For example: Alternative A Value Ambitious Alternative B Value Ambitious Group members A 8 Leader C D 1 5 10 5 18 Group members A 8 C D Leader 1 5 10 15 18 It is suggested that Alternative A is preferable to B in that the leader is more likely to be able to relate to the other group members when he is positioned between the two extremes. Alternative B could well lead to conflict between the leader and group members A and B. Summary of empirical investigation Using the two sets of values developed by Rokeach the sample value survey has highlighted the following: (a) Value consensus exists between the Directorate and Research Staff. However some variations were found at Division Head level where there was an apparent lack of motivation and goal consensus with the Directorate. The explanation for this was found to be one of organizational structure which tended to promote demotivation at this level of management. (b) At all levels (less so with the Directorate) there was found to be a high degree of internaliz.ation, confirmed by the consistently high rankings of personal values and the relative low rankings given to social values. This manifested itself in an 'ivory tower' approach where personal work satisfaction had become critical and almost totally divorced from the economic reality of the outside world. This was further reinforced by the low priority given to implementation of research work. This separation of what is considered an integrated interdependent function is reinforced by the existence of a boundary spanning division which it was felt was not the correct agent for certain important aspects of research implementation. At Research Officer and Division Head level implementation appeared to be an irrelevant concept. At Directorate level there was a greater awareness of its importance but there were signs that this may be no more than lip service to what is recogniz.ed intuitively as a sound management principle. At Research Officer level the 'ivory tower' syndrome was further confirmed as a reality through several individual test cases where researchers were quite unaware of developments outside the Institute which could have a direct influence on their own research work. (c) Based on analysis of group and individual value profiles it was found that members of groups who had a greater degree of value correlation between themselves and their leader appeared to be more motivated, enthusiastic and effective. There seemed to be close correlation between group value consensus and leadership effectiveness. S.-Afr. Tydskr. Bedryfsl. 1984, 15(2) ( d) No method was devised to measure the ability of the organization to respond to environmental or internal change. However, based on the organizational value profile where the outside world and the environment ranked very low it could be argued that the organiz.ation is likely to be extremely unresponsive to environmental change, if for no other reason than that it is unlikely to be aware of any change in the first place. (e) Naturally the attitude outlined above would not help a company in the private sector to be anything other than an early casuality. This has highlighted the need for a revision of the organizational structure and the reward system. Based on the Directorate value profile such changes would be supported by top management. A method for changing value systems - Implications for management Having analysed individual and organizational profiles the question now arises as to how management can utilize the process to improve organizational effectiveness. There are two related aspects to consider. The first is cognitive change, i.e., individuals change the rank order of their value profile; the second and more important is behavioural change induced by any cognitive change. Method The following are steps to consider: (a) Expose the individual to his own value profile and discuss the implications of any inconsistencies. An analogy can be drawn from a golf professional at a teaching clinic. A certain pupil may have a bent left elbow at the top of his backswing which is helping to promote a healthy spectrum of random hooks and slices. No amount of cajoling from the golf professional will eliminate this fault. However when he uses a video camera to film his pupil in action and later replays the film to the pupil it is easy for him to see and analyse his own faults in detail, particularly if this is reinforced by a second film showing say Johny Miller in action. (b) The essential facets of the above scenario are: (i) revealing the implications of a value profile to an individual; (it) comparing the individual profile to another model profile; (iii) establishing a state of self-dissatisfaction in the individual, i.e., he must now want to change to reach a new state of equilibrium. Without inducing dissatisfaction in the individual, change is unlikely. Rokeach has found that induced value changes do indeed lead to behavioural changes (Rokeach, 1973:210) So far in this investigation it has been implied that all work related to value change is conducted between experimenter and respondents. Rokeach however has successfully taken this approach one step further (Rokeach, 1973:210). Using computer feedback he has achieved similar results as described above. In this case respondents are placed in front of a terminal, asked to complete and rank their two value sets and are then permitted to recall information concerning other group value profiles to compare with their own. Retests showed value changes in accord with earlier discussion, i.e., people tend to move towards more desirable group value systems and away from the less desirable. The exciting implication here is that such S. Afr. J. Bus. Mgmt. 1984, 15(2) methods could be developed and refined for educational purposes. Business schools, for example, could introduce such methods at their institutions for both lecturers and students to serve two purposes: (a) to assist individuals with self-evaluation; (b) to assist with the positive development of value profiles for future business leaders. Conclusions This study has highlighted the following: (a) The importance of ethics in the business world and its potential relevance at business schools. (b) Individuals, groups and even organizations can be identified by their value profiles; i.e., the way in which their values are ranked in order of importance. (c) Through empirical investigation certain hypotheses were tested. Relationships were found between values and organizational context, organizational processes, managerial action, and organizational performance. These relationships were shown to be important in evaluating employee, management and organizational effectiveness. (d) Ways of influencing value profiles were considered using both face-to-face and computer methods. Both methods were found to be useful management tools. Recommendations (a) Business schools place greater emphasis on ethics and the I_ - - ---- - - - ---- - - - ---- - - - ---- - - 127 relevance of value systems. It is felt that good management is a blend of technical competence and an understanding of human behaviour. To ignore value systems is to ignore the very cornerstone of all human behaviour. (b) As a matter of priority, research in this area should be continued. For some reason little or no work has been done worldwide on the subject of relating organizational eff ectiveness to human value systems. In South Africa, with its black/white social problems there is perhaps even greater urgency in studying worker values than in, say, Europe. (c) Top management in the private and public sector, at the appropriate time, should be exposed to the potential of the management tools outlined in this study and encouraged to apply them in their own environments. Acknowledgement The author acknowledges with gratitude the positive cooperation of the Directorate of the National Building Research Institute for allowing this study to be undertaken within the organization. References Brennan, J.G., 1973. Ethics and morals, New York: Harper and Row. Ewing, A.C., 1975. Ethics, Suffolk: The English Universities Press, Ltd. Rokeach, M. 1973. The nature of human values, New York: The Free Press. Rokeach, M. 1979. Understanding human values, New York: The Free Press.