**Meet the editor**

Prof. Dr. Jolita Vveinhardt is a chief researcher of the Vytautas Magnus University, as well a professor at the Management Department of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the Vytautas Magnus University. Prof. Dr. Jolita Vveinhardt is the author and co-author of two monographs, two scientific studies and five educational books. She has published more than 100 scientific

articles and read more than 50 papers in national and international scientific conferences. Prof. Dr. Jolita Vveinhardt is a member of editorial boards of 14 scientific periodicals. The author is a member of the International Baltic Management Development Association, Lithuanian Educational Research Association, Lithuanian Quality Management and Innovation Association, Lithuanian Neuroscience Association, Lithuanian Trauma Psychology Association, European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Lithuanian Neuroscience Association and Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. She teaches modern theories of organizations. Her main research interests are destructive relationships among employees, organizational climate, personal and organizational values, value congruence, corporate social responsibility, decision-making and neuromanagement.

### Contents

#### **Preface XI**


### Preface

The book is an attempt to provide a critical view of the present understanding of the phe‐ nomenon of congruence of personal and organizational values. This book deals with the complex factors affecting and shaping the congruence of personal values of an employee and organizational values. Not only the already accumulated experience and scientific knowledge of management of organizations is presented but also new ways of solution in practice of organizations are offered. The issues of congruence of personal and organization‐ al values are analyzed in the book, and insights starting from the theoretical and finishing with practical aspects are provided. The importance of values congruence to the success of the organization is explained, causes and consequences of values congruence are explored, practical ways and methods for the enhancement of values congruence are presented and application of score sheets in the evaluation of values is described.

Chapter 1: Introductory Chapter - Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values.

Chapter 2: "Impact of Values on Organizational Success" written by Eneken Titov and Ljud‐ mila Umarova. Authors of this chapter base on the fact that values congruence as an antece‐ dent of organizational success is quite an unexplored field of study. Therefore, this chapter deals with the explanation of the impact of values on organizational success. First, the chap‐ ter defines values, organizational success and its substance. Later, the chapter presents val‐ ues as a tool of contemporary management paradigm to achieve organization's long-term success. Also, the extreme importance and assurance of values in organizational quality management are explained.

Chapter 3: "Personal-Organizational Value Congruence as a Mediator between Personality and Employee Attitudes" written by Doruk Uysal-Irak. The main contribution of this chap‐ ter is the exploration of the mediation effect of personal and organizational values congru‐ ence between personality and employee attitudes. First, the role of personality, which in this particular case is treated as neuroticism and extraversion on perceptions of values congru‐ ence between employees and their organizations, is examined. Second, the chapter provides explanations on how the personal and organizational values congruence predicts employee attitudes—job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Chapter 4: "Strengthening the Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values" written by Evelina Gulbovaite. This chapter focuses on practical implications of the congruence of per‐ sonal and organizational values. First, the limitations of personal and organizational values congruence studies are identified to see a new approach to research possibilities of values and values congruence, connecting different valuation methods and types. Second, the latest ap‐ proaches to the values of the organizations, their dynamics, assessment and possible congru‐ ency are analyzed. The complex model for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values is formed and presented by interacting with the effects on the person and the organization, followed by the principles of application and the diagnostic instrument, which consists of the original questionnaires for employee surveys and interviews with the executives of organizations. This model is formed for use in researches and in practice of or‐ ganizations in order to ensure a smooth process of strengthening the values congruence. A quantitative and qualitative study of personal and organizational values congruence in 15 different types of organizations has revealed the latent causes of the gap between personal and organizational values. Based on the results of research, managerial solutions for strength‐ ening the values congruence within the context of management were conceptualized.

Chapter 5: "Grading Intellectual Work Output by Fractional Approach to Excellence: Score Sheets for Value Measurement" written by Manfred Fehr. This chapter is more practical rather than theoretical. This chapter explains an application of the score sheets for compre‐ hensive measurement of values. The primary score sheets cannot measure specific values; therefore, values are revealed in behavior. The chapter describes how the score sheets may help organizations to enlist their members in accepting and practicing specific values. This chapter provides precise practical guides to the behavior required of members in order to reach congruence of values.

We hope that this book will be useful both to the development of the paradigm of congru‐ ence of personal and organizational values and in practical applied context when updating and changing approaches to the management processes of organizations.

> **Prof. Dr. Jolita Vveinhardt** Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

**Provisional chapter**

#### **Introductory Chapter: Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values—How to Deal with? Organizational Values—How to Deal with?**

**Introductory Chapter: Congruence of Personal and** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72213

Jolita Vveinhardt Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Jolita Vveinhardt

organizational values is formed and presented by interacting with the effects on the person and the organization, followed by the principles of application and the diagnostic instrument, which consists of the original questionnaires for employee surveys and interviews with the executives of organizations. This model is formed for use in researches and in practice of or‐ ganizations in order to ensure a smooth process of strengthening the values congruence. A quantitative and qualitative study of personal and organizational values congruence in 15 different types of organizations has revealed the latent causes of the gap between personal and organizational values. Based on the results of research, managerial solutions for strength‐

ening the values congruence within the context of management were conceptualized.

reach congruence of values.

VIII Preface

Chapter 5: "Grading Intellectual Work Output by Fractional Approach to Excellence: Score Sheets for Value Measurement" written by Manfred Fehr. This chapter is more practical rather than theoretical. This chapter explains an application of the score sheets for compre‐ hensive measurement of values. The primary score sheets cannot measure specific values; therefore, values are revealed in behavior. The chapter describes how the score sheets may help organizations to enlist their members in accepting and practicing specific values. This chapter provides precise practical guides to the behavior required of members in order to

We hope that this book will be useful both to the development of the paradigm of congru‐ ence of personal and organizational values and in practical applied context when updating

> **Prof. Dr. Jolita Vveinhardt** Vytautas Magnus University,

> > Kaunas, Lithuania

and changing approaches to the management processes of organizations.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72213

#### **1. Introduction to values: towards the congruence**

Are there any fundamental things that one can lean on when searching for stability in a global field of change where modern organizations operate? What are the supporting moments? How can the individuality emphasized in modern society interact with the objectives of the organization? These are just some of the questions that arise when thinking about the viability of the organization and trying to evaluate the aspects that relate every person to the organization so that it could concentrate the potential of different personalities.

In recent decades, there is an extensive discussion about the direction, in which future-oriented companies should develop. Drucker [1], providing the objectives of the development of the twenty-first century organizations, emphasized the importance of brain work; other authors stress the ability to cope with change [2–5], the formation of the ethical basis of organizational activities [6–9] and technological development [10–12], with the emphasis on the evolution of consciousness [13] or proposing a new paradigm for corporate sustainability relating it to responsibility for the environment [14]. However, in spite of the proposed ideas, it is noted that corporate governance evolves rather slowly in practice [15, 16]. Therefore, the question is whether while placing optimistic focuses for the benefit of technologies, modernization of processes, and more efficient use of talent, the fundamental factors, such as the human nature and culturally programmed behavior incentives, are not underestimated. In the modern palette of proposals for successful management of organizations, we meet a number of ideas. In the last century, quite a lot of them give attention to incentives, which encourage employees to work better, more efficiently, be more committed, and devoted to their organization. That is, they appeal to the values, evocation of which enables to receive certain new/additional benefits. However, this process of evocation or employment of values is not unidirectional considering individual differences of employees, the increasing cultural diversity of the labor force, and the

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ability of organizations to react to challenges of how to perceive these processes and respond to them adequately by changing themselves. It is obvious that one of these fundamental factors is *values*.

Values are a constant object of research in such disciplines of science as theology [17], philosophy [18], psychology [19], sociology [20], management [21], etc. Their strength lies in the fact that they motivate and shape the attitude and actions of a person [22], organization [22, 23], society [24, 25], etc. Although, in a general sense, values are seen as a key factor of human behavior and choices, which are formed due to the social models and personal experience; however, the values take on different meanings in different scientific paradigms.

Some studies show that both the public sector and private initiative organizations have similar sets of values that are significant to both the organizations and their members [26–30]. Organizational culture, in which synchronization of personal and organizational values, *value congruence*, is important and typically based on these values [24, 25, 31, 32]. The importance of value congruence is analyzed in very different contexts: from its significance in staffing [33] or leadership, i.e., ethical leadership [34–36], spiritual leadership [24] to the impact on employees' creativity [29], on the performance of the organization [37] or even on the success of the changes that take place in the organization [38–40]. The congruence and/or fit of the values of the organization and the employees is relevant when regulating many processes in companies, such as building, development, and ensuring the employees' loyalty [41, 42], employees' behaviour, its modelling including the quality of relationships [31, 40, 43, 44], as well as the implementation of the change [38, 39, 45, 46], and solution of problems, where it is necessary to understand the significance of value fit and consider it in the strategy of the company [47, 48]. *Congruence of personal values and organizational values* means the identity of the values of the employees and the organization when the individual is ready to follow and support the organization's rules and regulations [49]. In organizations, which develop the congruence of organizational and employees' personal values, the employees not only accept the values but also keep, cherish, and follow them. The abundant research carried out shows that giving sense to the values of the employees and their realization in active occupational activity presupposes the direct links to the performance of the organization, affecting the quality of life of an individual, an organization, and the society. The interest in employees' work values and the potential positive outcomes resulting from values is growing [50]. There is already no doubt about the positive impact of value congruence on employees' attitudes, behaviors, and performance [29, 30, 51–55], etc. It is also proven that value congruence leads to a better adaptability of employees to work environment [56], involvement in the work [57], unites and focuses members of the organization, and helps to retain the committed labor force [30, 51], thus ensuring a good performance of the organization. We can argue that the congruence between employees' personal values and organizational values becomes the guarantee of successful mutual cooperation. A growing number of studies in different types of organizations (from non-profit to business organizations) [55], sector (public and private) [28, 58], and size (from micro-enterprises to multinational corporations) shows the importance of the phenomenon in management of any organization.

Most recent studies examine *value congruence* in the context of organizational culture, where the relationship with the employees is given sense. Analyses of Newton and Mazur [55] revealed that for employees, job-related attitudes were influenced strongly by organization values ratings, particularly when exceeding person ratings of the same values, the more so as values-oriented and respectable organizations can be much more attractive to employees. These organizations mostly appeal to job seekers pursuing intrinsic personal values, and impressive organizations mostly appeal to those pursuing extrinsic personal values [33].

ability of organizations to react to challenges of how to perceive these processes and respond to them adequately by changing themselves. It is obvious that one of these fundamental factors

Values are a constant object of research in such disciplines of science as theology [17], philosophy [18], psychology [19], sociology [20], management [21], etc. Their strength lies in the fact that they motivate and shape the attitude and actions of a person [22], organization [22, 23], society [24, 25], etc. Although, in a general sense, values are seen as a key factor of human behavior and choices, which are formed due to the social models and personal experience; however, the values take on

Some studies show that both the public sector and private initiative organizations have similar sets of values that are significant to both the organizations and their members [26–30]. Organizational culture, in which synchronization of personal and organizational values, *value congruence*, is important and typically based on these values [24, 25, 31, 32]. The importance of value congruence is analyzed in very different contexts: from its significance in staffing [33] or leadership, i.e., ethical leadership [34–36], spiritual leadership [24] to the impact on employees' creativity [29], on the performance of the organization [37] or even on the success of the changes that take place in the organization [38–40]. The congruence and/or fit of the values of the organization and the employees is relevant when regulating many processes in companies, such as building, development, and ensuring the employees' loyalty [41, 42], employees' behaviour, its modelling including the quality of relationships [31, 40, 43, 44], as well as the implementation of the change [38, 39, 45, 46], and solution of problems, where it is necessary to understand the significance of value fit and consider it in the strategy of the company [47, 48]. *Congruence of personal values and organizational values* means the identity of the values of the employees and the organization when the individual is ready to follow and support the organization's rules and regulations [49]. In organizations, which develop the congruence of organizational and employees' personal values, the employees not only accept the values but also keep, cherish, and follow them. The abundant research carried out shows that giving sense to the values of the employees and their realization in active occupational activity presupposes the direct links to the performance of the organization, affecting the quality of life of an individual, an organization, and the society. The interest in employees' work values and the potential positive outcomes resulting from values is growing [50]. There is already no doubt about the positive impact of value congruence on employees' attitudes, behaviors, and performance [29, 30, 51–55], etc. It is also proven that value congruence leads to a better adaptability of employees to work environment [56], involvement in the work [57], unites and focuses members of the organization, and helps to retain the committed labor force [30, 51], thus ensuring a good performance of the organization. We can argue that the congruence between employees' personal values and organizational values becomes the guarantee of successful mutual cooperation. A growing number of studies in different types of organizations (from non-profit to business organizations) [55], sector (public and private) [28, 58], and size (from micro-enterprises to multinational corporations) shows the

different meanings in different scientific paradigms.

2 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

importance of the phenomenon in management of any organization.

Most recent studies examine *value congruence* in the context of organizational culture, where the relationship with the employees is given sense. Analyses of Newton and Mazur [55] revealed that for employees, job-related attitudes were influenced strongly by organization values ratings,

is *values*.

In addition, the cultural context, in which the studies of value congruence are carried out, is no less important. Chakraborty and Chakraborty [59] compared how the relationship of business and individual values is developing in Western and Asian companies. The choice of values of Western companies primarily means the values of the company, which emphasize the objective characteristic of the organization. Posner [49], who is sure that an employee has to conform to the organization, echoes this position. However, most companies in Asian countries appear to select values in terms of subjective character of individuals that should augment the performance effectiveness of organizations [59]. In this case, personal values become a more important factor than organizational values, but, as it was noted, the tradition can lead to the ways of solution of the task. On the other hand, it is noted that in addition to the obvious positive effect, the impact of this instrument is not unambiguous.

This can be related to the problem of systematicity of values arising from their dynamics, what is emphasized by Prigogine [60]. According to the author, all our values are often contradictory to incompatibility. Therefore, they do not form a common system. <…> Unless it is a specially created ideology—religious, party, corporate. There, of course, the hierarchy of values is considered and set [60]. These examples show that the organization needs the ideology shaped in an intelligent and convincing way that would resound, activate, and direct the employees' values. Value congruence is not a new ideology of an organization or a mere instrument, which helps to create a certain systems of values, as in essence this principle itself dictates a compromise within a certain defined area of values, since it would be naive to expect the absolute concurrence of person's and the organization's values. It is therefore difficult to find unarguable answers on why value congruence in one sphere of relationship between the organization and the employees works stronger, and it is weaker in another, as shown by researches carried out in organizations.

Ryu [61] argues that the presence of *value congruence* effects on job satisfaction and affective commitment was not supported. However, the mediating effects of employees' vision acceptance on the relationship between *value congruence* and the outcomes were supported. Although *value congruence* can ameliorate the adverse diversity effects on workplace attachment, but a complete substitution effect may not be present [62]. For instance, according to the author, women and minorities may still be sensitive to demographic representation even when their *value congruence* is high. This implies that a simultaneous pursuit of fit and diversity is an adequate diversity management strategy to stimulate the inclusion and workplace attachment of all social groups. However, these debates do not deny that values are one of the cornerstones of the organization as a social system, starting with the improvement of the daily relations and cooperation between the employees, involvement of employees, and ending with relationships with customers and competitors in local and global markets and socially responsible development.

Through the prism of values both the person and social systems perceive their identity, position themselves in the external environment and create relationships with it, therefore, it is no coincidence that the values and their systems have been so heatedly discussed from the Ancient thinkers' times and receive attention of researchers, representing a variety of modern scientific disciplines.

The scientists researching employees' individual incentives and prerequisites of effectiveness of organizations during the last century inevitably face the question of employees' values, therefore the focus is shifting from the "maxima" of institutional values of the organization to which the employee must conform, towards understanding of the person's values and a certain dialog that could be identified as *value congruence*. In this context, one-way communication from the company is replaced by the dialog, in which both sides become some sort of partners and affinity. However, both in the examples of corporate governance practices and in the scientific literature, different practices are discussed and more than one way to accomplish this is offered, recognizing the important role of *value congruence* for many processes within organizations. The field of choice of methods and models is very wide, which leads to the situation that due to the lack of a unifying theory or specific principles it is very easy to be lost in the proposed choices. Therefore, it is important to evaluate a variety of these contexts in the field of tasks and to look for the common denominator.

In spite of the evidence, which confirms the *value congruence* as a vital instrument in various organizational processes, different pathways to achieve this are chosen. Of course, their common denominator is certain pursued benefit; however, from the perspective of values, the range of choices both in the practice of activities of a company and in scientific recommendations can range from hypocrisy or cynicism to honesty or humanity, on which the idea of corporate social responsibility is based. For example, Ugboro [41], who analyzed the problem of loyalty to the organization, argued that the conclusion that primary cultural socialization should be considered in employee selection process (even though illegal) for the purpose of identifying and selecting individuals who are generally predisposed to commit to organizations was not supported. A similar approach is declared by Erkutlu and Chafra [40], who believe that employees should be selected depending on their values. Usually, this kind of research does not touch on how dishonesty, which allows reaching the operational objectives, affects relationships in the organization in the long run. This question would not arise, if the members of the organization were only unthinking "machinery" which do not have any personal evaluations and do not raise ethical requirements to the organization and the management. This issue is particularly highlighted in the context of corporate social responsibility and relations with stakeholders. The research carried out by Kang et al. [63] perfectly illustrates how the leader-follower relationship is developed in the ethical dimension. The results show that the match of the social responsibility value of the leader and the followers was positively related to employees' ethical satisfaction. In addition, the employees' ethical satisfaction was stronger when the leader was characterized by a greater social responsibility.

Byza et al. [64] who analyzed the interaction between the leader and the followers in another study in the context of social cynicism noted another important point. According to the authors, it is usually talked about the influence of the leader; however, the fact that "followers' views on the social world might also influence the leadership process" cannot be ignored. In other words, value congruence as a certain dialogue takes place on many levels, and at the level of values leadership occurs rather as a certain invitation than a coercive act. Leadership occurs as a certain invitation rather than a constrained act. Because values act as vectors, according to which we check the desirability of our actions for us, or condition and change of the environment [60]. The understanding of all of this does not allow diminishing the value of the person, but emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relations and fosters to look at value congruence as a continuously and dynamically developing process, in which a greater or lesser value tension between the participating individuals can become a productive interaction.

#### **2. Value congruence: towards the solutions**

no coincidence that the values and their systems have been so heatedly discussed from the Ancient thinkers' times and receive attention of researchers, representing a variety of modern

The scientists researching employees' individual incentives and prerequisites of effectiveness of organizations during the last century inevitably face the question of employees' values, therefore the focus is shifting from the "maxima" of institutional values of the organization to which the employee must conform, towards understanding of the person's values and a certain dialog that could be identified as *value congruence*. In this context, one-way communication from the company is replaced by the dialog, in which both sides become some sort of partners and affinity. However, both in the examples of corporate governance practices and in the scientific literature, different practices are discussed and more than one way to accomplish this is offered, recognizing the important role of *value congruence* for many processes within organizations. The field of choice of methods and models is very wide, which leads to the situation that due to the lack of a unifying theory or specific principles it is very easy to be lost in the proposed choices. Therefore, it is important to evaluate a variety of these contexts in the

In spite of the evidence, which confirms the *value congruence* as a vital instrument in various organizational processes, different pathways to achieve this are chosen. Of course, their common denominator is certain pursued benefit; however, from the perspective of values, the range of choices both in the practice of activities of a company and in scientific recommendations can range from hypocrisy or cynicism to honesty or humanity, on which the idea of corporate social responsibility is based. For example, Ugboro [41], who analyzed the problem of loyalty to the organization, argued that the conclusion that primary cultural socialization should be considered in employee selection process (even though illegal) for the purpose of identifying and selecting individuals who are generally predisposed to commit to organizations was not supported. A similar approach is declared by Erkutlu and Chafra [40], who believe that employees should be selected depending on their values. Usually, this kind of research does not touch on how dishonesty, which allows reaching the operational objectives, affects relationships in the organization in the long run. This question would not arise, if the members of the organization were only unthinking "machinery" which do not have any personal evaluations and do not raise ethical requirements to the organization and the management. This issue is particularly highlighted in the context of corporate social responsibility and relations with stakeholders. The research carried out by Kang et al. [63] perfectly illustrates how the leader-follower relationship is developed in the ethical dimension. The results show that the match of the social responsibility value of the leader and the followers was positively related to employees' ethical satisfaction. In addition, the employees' ethical satisfaction was stronger when the leader was characterized by a greater social responsibility. Byza et al. [64] who analyzed the interaction between the leader and the followers in another study in the context of social cynicism noted another important point. According to the authors, it is usually talked about the influence of the leader; however, the fact that "followers' views on the social world might also influence the leadership process" cannot be ignored. In other words, value congruence as a certain dialogue takes place on many levels, and at the level of values leadership occurs rather as a certain invitation than a coercive act. Leadership occurs as a certain

scientific disciplines.

4 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

field of tasks and to look for the common denominator.

When the employees are asked to write their own personal values in the order of importance, in many cases, they can name three values approximately. Employees are often better aware of the values of the organization than of their personal ones. Why does it happen? Most likely, because some organizations, especially socially responsible organizations, make their values available to the public and constantly remind the employees about them and follow them. Or even on the contrary, the employees remind the management of the organizations about the organizational values. However, it happens that organizations "do not know" their values. Thus, values, if they are not only a formally declared theoretical aspiration, play a vital role for both the individual and the organization. In other words, values take on the role of the main criterion in making decisions and setting priorities [53, 65]. Having understood the benefit of values to the organizations, a pragmatic approach derived from the systems theory [66] led to treating them as a tool for the management of organizations [67]. However, it is now considered that the values-based behavior within the organization is not a source of advantage, but the necessity in order to survive in the market [68]. Some organizations publicly declare that they work on the basis of values, but it can be argued that the activities of all organizations are based on values, as all decisions in the organizations are taken in accordance with some implicit values. Regardless of whether the values of the organization have been shaped purposefully or they have developed naturally, the unique culture of each organization is reflected in the unique system of values, the meaning and importance of which is understood diversely in different organizations [69, 70]. Even identically identified values can be expressed in different behavior of employees of different organizations. There are no "neutral" values; thus, it is necessary to check the values, because they can have a positive or negative impact on the decisions, priorities, strategies, plans and behavior [65]. This raises an important question: how to deal with the specific chosen values, and how these values actually direct the behavior of the employees of the organization?

In the case of value congruence, an employee is not just a subordinate who mechanically carries out the given functions, but he is sort of raised to the level of a partner in the discussion; thus, the relationship is changing and the organization has to change its thinking mode by involving itself into a dynamic process. In addition, it is necessary to consider the fact that the culture of the society that influences employees' personal values as well is not a static, but a changeable phenomenon. So it is no coincidence that the management studies capture differences in values between different generations [71] that need to be taken into account in management processes.

In modern society, the person's perceived significance of self, personal identity, values is growing, thus, organizations can no longer simply ignore these processes. However, organizations tend to not change their way of thinking, but search for employees, who would match the values of the organizations. However, this way of selection, partly convenient, can also be complicated. Vanderstukken et al. [33] argue that respectable organizations usually appeal to job seekers pursuing intrinsic personal values and impressive organizations appeal to those pursuing extrinsic personal values; however, their study showed that although intrinsic personal values did not increase the attractiveness of respectable organizations, extrinsic values increased the attractiveness of impressive organizations.

However, the solution of the problem of development and ensuring value congruence of the employees and the organization should be understood through the search for and installation of the mechanisms of strengthening the value congruence. Although the importance of the concept for modern organizations is understood, it is becoming even more important not only to understand and to be able to properly identify the values of the organization and the employees, to evaluate value congruence, to understand the ways of strengthening value congruence and diagnose the changes of value congruence of the organization, but also to real, practically applied management solutions, which ensure the employees' well-being and high performance results of the organizations.

#### **Acknowledgements**

I would like to thank E. Gulbovaite for sincere help in the preparation of this book.

#### **Author details**

Jolita Vveinhardt

Address all correspondence to: jolita.vveinhardt@gmail.com

Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

#### **References**


[4] Kotter JP, Kim WC, Mauborgne RA. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management. Brighton Watertown, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press; 2011. p. 224. ISBN-10: 1422158004

In modern society, the person's perceived significance of self, personal identity, values is growing, thus, organizations can no longer simply ignore these processes. However, organizations tend to not change their way of thinking, but search for employees, who would match the values of the organizations. However, this way of selection, partly convenient, can also be complicated. Vanderstukken et al. [33] argue that respectable organizations usually appeal to job seekers pursuing intrinsic personal values and impressive organizations appeal to those pursuing extrinsic personal values; however, their study showed that although intrinsic personal values did not increase the attractiveness of respectable organizations, extrinsic values

However, the solution of the problem of development and ensuring value congruence of the employees and the organization should be understood through the search for and installation of the mechanisms of strengthening the value congruence. Although the importance of the concept for modern organizations is understood, it is becoming even more important not only to understand and to be able to properly identify the values of the organization and the employees, to evaluate value congruence, to understand the ways of strengthening value congruence and diagnose the changes of value congruence of the organization, but also to real, practically applied management solutions, which ensure the employees' well-being and high

I would like to thank E. Gulbovaite for sincere help in the preparation of this book.

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increased the attractiveness of impressive organizations.

Address all correspondence to: jolita.vveinhardt@gmail.com

Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

Business; 2001. p. 224. ISBN-10: 0887309992

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performance results of the organizations.

6 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

**Acknowledgements**

**Author details**

Jolita Vveinhardt

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10 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

70.1996.tb01790.x

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S0001-8791(02)00036-2

0972622520050205

3910250304


**Provisional chapter**

#### **Impact of Real and Propagated Values on Organisational Success Organisational Success**

**Impact of Real and Propagated Values on** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.69460

Eneken Titov and Ljudmila Umarova Eneken Titov and Ljudmila Umarova Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69460

#### **Abstract**

Most of the organisations have worded their values in their organisational strategies presented on their web pages and have hopefully made all the steps necessary to implement those values. In several cases, organisations have just worded their values, but the employees will not adapt to those. Since the values management is a quite well-described area, additional research seems not to be a priority. On the other hand, another aspect, which is important in using the values as a tool to achieve success, is the content of values. In other words, organisations need to know which values comply with the contemporary management paradigm and would support the organisations to achieve success. The same aspect is extremely important in the field of organisational quality management and assurance, where the real quality is shown through adapted (real) values, and at the same time, the shared values are one of the quality criteria of the postmodernist organisation. This chapter bases, on fact, that although values are quite popular topic of researches and theories, the values congruent with the organisational success is a mostly unexplored field. Therefore, the authors describe the impact of values on organisational success.

**Keywords:** organisational success, values, success criteria

#### **1. Introduction**

The importance of organisational values is probably known for everyone, but possibilities how to implement the organisational values and run the organisations according to values is not as clear. Whether the definition of organisational values is not commonly agreed and understood coherently, in this chapter, the authors base on Bell's [1] definition—organisational values are a set of acceptable or expected norms or bounds of behaviour for the individual members of an organisation.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

As confusing is the organisational values' connection to organisational success, organisational success also is not unambiguous construct—success has many meanings and characteristics, and every organisation interprets success a little bit differently. In this chapter, the authors describe organisational success in general as organisation's ability to reach its goals [2, 3] or extent of fulfilment of the goals [4]. Whether the success is characterised by different criteria and aspects, finding the link between values and success is a challenge for everyone. Despite that, several authors and researches have proved that this link is existing and strong. In this chapter, the authors show different aspects how the organisational values can impact organisational success. This chapter bases, on fact, that although values are quite popular topic of researches and theories, the values congruent with the organisational success is a mostly unexplored field.

#### **2. Organisational values**

Organisational values are a popular subject of researches, but mostly the construct is used to find out organisational values and try to connect this with different phenomena. There are some good exceptions. Jaakson et al. researched how values are connected to the organisation size, sector and field of activity [5]. Connections with age and size of organisations [6], with the mission of organisation [7], with effectiveness and nationality [8–10], with vision and CSR [11], with trust [12] are investigated. Mostly organisational values are researched through the organisational culture [1, 6, 13–15].

Since there is no possibility for an organisation to exist without people and every person has individual values, it is (then) easy to conclude that first of all the organisational values are set of individual values of employees (and managers), and the first step in discovering an organisation's values is to discover the personal values of its members. According to Collins, organisational values cannot be "set"; they can only be "discovered", because the organisational values do not "appear" but reveal in behaviour [16]. Values are not something that people buy into. They must be predisposed to holding them [16]. It is hard and takes a long time to teach new values, especially when people are not willing to learn. One of the main competencies in organisations nowadays is to find people who already have the disposition to share the organisation's values [17]. If the organisation is filled with a multiplicity of views, then there is no consensus of individual values and beliefs [18]. Such a fragmented culture may be caused also by high employee turnover or by the insufficient shared history of experience [19]. Individual's values are part of every person and no one from outside cannot say if those are good or bad. It is the company's responsibility to set the standards of behaviour based on the organisation's statement of values [20]. Behavioural norms are rooted in core values, and leaders and followers are able to reach agreement even with diverse points of view [21].

The definition of organisational level values is generally rewording of individual level definition—values in an organisation are deeply ingrained principles that guide the actions of the organisation. They are "enduring beliefs" that specify a mode of conduct; they specify what is and is not acceptable behaviour within an organisation or workgroup [22]. Even more clearly, Bell defines organisational values as a set of acceptable or expected norms or bounds of behaviour for the individual members of an organisation [1]. Dose brings in the aspect of decision-making—values are estimating standards, according to what members of the organisation make a decision, what is "right" or why to prefer one alternative to another [23].

As confusing is the organisational values' connection to organisational success, organisational success also is not unambiguous construct—success has many meanings and characteristics, and every organisation interprets success a little bit differently. In this chapter, the authors describe organisational success in general as organisation's ability to reach its goals [2, 3] or extent of fulfilment of the goals [4]. Whether the success is characterised by different criteria and aspects, finding the link between values and success is a challenge for everyone. Despite that, several authors and researches have proved that this link is existing and strong. In this chapter, the authors show different aspects how the organisational values can impact organisational success. This chapter bases, on fact, that although values are quite popular topic of researches and theories, the values congruent with the organisational success is a mostly

Organisational values are a popular subject of researches, but mostly the construct is used to find out organisational values and try to connect this with different phenomena. There are some good exceptions. Jaakson et al. researched how values are connected to the organisation size, sector and field of activity [5]. Connections with age and size of organisations [6], with the mission of organisation [7], with effectiveness and nationality [8–10], with vision and CSR [11], with trust [12] are investigated. Mostly organisational values are researched through the

Since there is no possibility for an organisation to exist without people and every person has individual values, it is (then) easy to conclude that first of all the organisational values are set of individual values of employees (and managers), and the first step in discovering an organisation's values is to discover the personal values of its members. According to Collins, organisational values cannot be "set"; they can only be "discovered", because the organisational values do not "appear" but reveal in behaviour [16]. Values are not something that people buy into. They must be predisposed to holding them [16]. It is hard and takes a long time to teach new values, especially when people are not willing to learn. One of the main competencies in organisations nowadays is to find people who already have the disposition to share the organisation's values [17]. If the organisation is filled with a multiplicity of views, then there is no consensus of individual values and beliefs [18]. Such a fragmented culture may be caused also by high employee turnover or by the insufficient shared history of experience [19]. Individual's values are part of every person and no one from outside cannot say if those are good or bad. It is the company's responsibility to set the standards of behaviour based on the organisation's statement of values [20]. Behavioural norms are rooted in core values, and leaders and followers are able to reach agreement even with diverse points of view [21].

The definition of organisational level values is generally rewording of individual level definition—values in an organisation are deeply ingrained principles that guide the actions of the organisation. They are "enduring beliefs" that specify a mode of conduct; they specify what is and is not acceptable behaviour within an organisation or workgroup [22]. Even more clearly, Bell defines organisational values as a set of acceptable or expected norms or bounds

unexplored field.

**2. Organisational values**

14 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

organisational culture [1, 6, 13–15].

At the same time, it cannot be forgotten that also the organisational level values are at different levels, and the level determines whether values can contribute to the success of the values. According to previous studies and results, organisational values are divided into three groups—described, propagated and real (shared) values (**Figure 1**)—that are mutually hierarchically bound. Described values are the least option for an organisation to deal with values. Usually, it only means naming the values without concentrating on their propagation to the employees or implementing them in everyday practices. Propagated values are the second level where trying to communicate described values to the employees or using them in everyday actions are present. The third and highest level of values is real values. In that case, describing values and propagating them to the employees have been successful—values are used in real work and decision-making processes. In every organisation, only those values are accepted that are exploited by management.

It is possible and necessary to manage organisational values and strong culture and inner agreement on the values guarantee the success of the organisation [25].

Therefore, for organisational values to be beneficial, the individuals that make up that organisation must share the same values as the organisation and must assist in the process of determining and defining the organisation's values. Organisational values must be shared and applied by the members of the organisation in order for the organisation to be successful. Values that are shared will affect performance in a number of ways. Employees can make better decisions, because of the perception of shared values. When employees know and believe in the company values, they are more likely to make decisions that will support those

**Figure 1.** Simplified hierarchy of organisational values [24].

values [26]. Real and shared values assist in creating unity in a team and lead to consistent behaviour [27]. In addition, when values are shared, management knows what kind of work and behaviour to expect [28], and oppositely individuals with different values tend to emphasise different outcomes and are driven to achieve different goals [29].

The congruence of individual and organisational values can be more reassuring for employees and therefore can naturally fuel their work engagement [14]. Employees, who feel that an organisation values the same things that they do, will be more likely to have attachment to their organisation [30], they are more likely to have positive attitudes and less likely to leave the organisation [31], they feel more loyal and committed and identify more strongly with the organisation [32], and the performance is going to improve [33, 34]. As many authors who confirm the importance of congruence between individual and organisational values, there are as many who discuss mismatch to be one of the reasons to organisation to be unsuccessful [13, 35, 36] and mostly because the employees, who feel that their values are widely different from those of their employer organisation are more likely to leave the organisation, taking valuable knowledge with them or just talented people get lost for this organisation.

Values affect everything what organisation does and affect the organisation's conduct in all of its programs, from financial to maintenance to marketing to human resources [37], and values have a central role in organisational functioning (McKinsey 7S model), in strategic management [38, 39]. Values are positioned to be a centre of every organisation already decades ago— "*it may not be possible to have an excellent company without clear values, and the right sort of values*" [40], no one has been able to prove otherwise, and values are still "hot topic" in organisational management.

#### **3. Organisational success**

Why some organisations are continuously successful, whereas others that started with the same promising appearance will get into trouble or even fail completely? There are no unitary definitions for concepts like "success" and "successful organisation" in the scientific literature [41, 42] and measuring organisation´s successfulness has been a long-term challenge for both managers and researchers. There are many aspects to clarify and agree in defining the success because it is not one-dimensional construct. For example, researchers have found it difficult to separate the concept of success from performance mainly because success can be defined in terms of certain elements of performance [43]. Brush and Vanderwerf refer to success as a specific aspect of performance [44], and Brooksbank et al. [45] equate success with high performance, Jennings, and Beaver state that "success can no longer be regarded as synonymous with optimal performance" and argue that there must be "something more" to define organisational success [46]. From this perspective, an organisation may be successful while failing to achieve the optimal level of performance in terms of growth and business development.

At the same time, one of the leading management schools understands organisational success as the result of interpreting key figures [42], but the problem lies in the fact that the scientific literature lacks defined key figures for the success measurement. In most literature, the organisational success is formed by measuring different financial figures from the past [41, 42, 47–49], mostly comparing organisation´s return on assets [42] profit or turnover results [48–51] with competitors, ideals or the objectives set. The stock price is also often used as the success criteria [42, 48]. Contrary to popular belief, in describing the success, money and the pursuit of financial fortune are not as significant as the desire for personal involvement, responsibility and the independent quality and style of life which many business owner-managers strive to achieve. Consequently, the attainment of these objectives becomes one of the principal criteria for success, as defined by the manager [46].

values [26]. Real and shared values assist in creating unity in a team and lead to consistent behaviour [27]. In addition, when values are shared, management knows what kind of work and behaviour to expect [28], and oppositely individuals with different values tend to empha-

The congruence of individual and organisational values can be more reassuring for employees and therefore can naturally fuel their work engagement [14]. Employees, who feel that an organisation values the same things that they do, will be more likely to have attachment to their organisation [30], they are more likely to have positive attitudes and less likely to leave the organisation [31], they feel more loyal and committed and identify more strongly with the organisation [32], and the performance is going to improve [33, 34]. As many authors who confirm the importance of congruence between individual and organisational values, there are as many who discuss mismatch to be one of the reasons to organisation to be unsuccessful [13, 35, 36] and mostly because the employees, who feel that their values are widely different from those of their employer organisation are more likely to leave the organisation, taking

valuable knowledge with them or just talented people get lost for this organisation.

Values affect everything what organisation does and affect the organisation's conduct in all of its programs, from financial to maintenance to marketing to human resources [37], and values have a central role in organisational functioning (McKinsey 7S model), in strategic management [38, 39]. Values are positioned to be a centre of every organisation already decades ago— "*it may not be possible to have an excellent company without clear values, and the right sort of values*" [40], no one has been able to prove otherwise, and values are still "hot topic" in organisational

Why some organisations are continuously successful, whereas others that started with the same promising appearance will get into trouble or even fail completely? There are no unitary definitions for concepts like "success" and "successful organisation" in the scientific literature [41, 42] and measuring organisation´s successfulness has been a long-term challenge for both managers and researchers. There are many aspects to clarify and agree in defining the success because it is not one-dimensional construct. For example, researchers have found it difficult to separate the concept of success from performance mainly because success can be defined in terms of certain elements of performance [43]. Brush and Vanderwerf refer to success as a specific aspect of performance [44], and Brooksbank et al. [45] equate success with high performance, Jennings, and Beaver state that "success can no longer be regarded as synonymous with optimal performance" and argue that there must be "something more" to define organisational success [46]. From this perspective, an organisation may be successful while failing to achieve the optimal level of performance in terms

At the same time, one of the leading management schools understands organisational success as the result of interpreting key figures [42], but the problem lies in the fact that the scien-

sise different outcomes and are driven to achieve different goals [29].

management.

**3. Organisational success**

16 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

of growth and business development.

By comparing the classical profitability indicators of the successful and less successful organisations (return on equity, return on capital, return on sales), we cannot, in reality, differentiate the achievement rate or distinct which of the compared organisations is more successful [52]. Additionally, when setting a goal solely on profit and using only this for success measuring, we will guarantee the surveillance of only one party's interest (the owners), and this is not acceptable [53].

In published scientific articles, it can be seen that in 1987–1993 in measuring the success of the organisation, mostly only one meter was used. Most used meters for success measurement were either organisation´s effectiveness, growth or profit figures—all three of those being the financial meters [48]. When only financial figures are used for success measurement, it will only reflect organisations´ past, and this is an important shortcoming of that method [48, 54]. Consequently, it is crucial that success measures provide organisations with tools to build their future. That entails measures that are indicative of investing in and building long-term resources, facilities, and infrastructure, as needed to adapt to the fast pace of today's changing environments [48].

In the last couple of decades, methods for measuring the organisation´s success have made a new turn because the need for measuring the organisation's success (or the lack of it) in long term has increased [55]. When evaluating the success in addition to the profit margins and other financial figures, we have to take into account the opinions and satisfaction of employees [49–51, 53, 56], partners [49, 53, 55] and customers [42, 49–51]. Already exists a significant amount of organisations whose goals in future are not only financial but additionally, for example, stakeholders' satisfaction indicator is used when measuring organisation´s success [42]. Self-fulfilment, job satisfaction and enjoyment at work for both owner and employees are important to organisation's success [57].

In a quickly changing economic environment, it is important for the organisations to be able to think differently [56, 58], to react to alterations and carry out changes [41, 42, 51, 58–60] and according to this would make themselves more competitive [49, 51, 56], in order to survive the tough competition and to be successful in long term.

Features of organisation´s competitiveness are organisation's success, effectiveness and sustainability of development that manifest themselves in comparison with other organisations (being more economical, attractive, cunning or rapid development) [41]. Development is one of the success indicators[47, 48, 51, 56, 59], but when interpreting this criterion one must take into account that rapid growth in the short term might not be connected to the success rate and unexpected exuberance might be a sign of danger. Success indicator should be stable quick growth rate, quicker than competitors, but more important than the speed of the growth is the sustainability of the organisation [49].

Organisation´s success is affected by the setting and realisation of objectives [41, 42, 49]. Those organisations where at least some goal or purpose is defined are more productive and successful compared to those organisations where the clear goal is missing. Amongst other things, the absence of goals impacts worker´s satisfaction and involvement but also in turnover, profit and client satisfaction negatively. To "translate" organisational goals into action, dynamic organisations use both Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Intangible Performance Indicators (KIPIs) in achieving the best results. Realisation of the organisation´s goals depends on the compatibility between organisation´s goals and culture as well as on culture compatibility with organisation´s mission, strategy and vision [61]. Despite the increasing importance of intangible factors in the recent times in determining enterprise success, the studies focusing on intangible factors are rare and limited [56].

When measuring organisation's success, it is important that the indicators for success should be simple, dynamic and flexible in time, express improvement and are connected with organisation's strategy, goals and purposes [48]. Cooperation with organisation's managers and their involvement in the process of defining and choosing key indicators for success measurement is essential [49], as the process of indicator selection needs to consider the specialty of the business and field of activity [42, 49]. No less important is the collaboration of different stakeholders in the process [42, 48–51, 55, 56, 59], for example, employees, partners and clients.

Success indicators for the organisation can change in time depending on organisation's life cycle [41, 42]. In the beginning phase, in the stage of creation and development, the start-ups are interested in achieving security so that financial resources are a constraint, not a goal and organisation's focus is on non-financial features. When the security is attained and growing the focus shifts to financial resources and profitability, during the crisis, the focus is on cash flow expanding. Additionally, one has to keep in mind that geographical location also changes the meaning of success [42].

In summary, it can be said that scientific literature uses the phrase "organisation´s success" to describe a variety of positive results, although the literature does not always contain the expression or definition of the phrase. Based on the sources used in this chapter, the authors can say that novel scientific literature emphasises more and more that the organisation´s success is not only based on financial figures but depends heavily on public and stakeholder´s opinion and satisfaction and other "soft" criteria. No less important in organisation´s success are the actions involved in the management of innovation and changes. In addition to the aforementioned, the success of the organisation depends also on the goals set and their realisation. As different science-based sources use different indicators for organisation´s success, there is a remarkable amount of those the authors of this chapter who have gathered and systematized these in a table (Appendix 1—organisation´s success indicators based on the theoretical sources analysed in this chapter).

#### **4. Values' impact on organisational success**

take into account that rapid growth in the short term might not be connected to the success rate and unexpected exuberance might be a sign of danger. Success indicator should be stable quick growth rate, quicker than competitors, but more important than the speed of the

Organisation´s success is affected by the setting and realisation of objectives [41, 42, 49]. Those organisations where at least some goal or purpose is defined are more productive and successful compared to those organisations where the clear goal is missing. Amongst other things, the absence of goals impacts worker´s satisfaction and involvement but also in turnover, profit and client satisfaction negatively. To "translate" organisational goals into action, dynamic organisations use both Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Intangible Performance Indicators (KIPIs) in achieving the best results. Realisation of the organisation´s goals depends on the compatibility between organisation´s goals and culture as well as on culture compatibility with organisation´s mission, strategy and vision [61]. Despite the increasing importance of intangible factors in the recent times in determining enterprise success, the

When measuring organisation's success, it is important that the indicators for success should be simple, dynamic and flexible in time, express improvement and are connected with organisation's strategy, goals and purposes [48]. Cooperation with organisation's managers and their involvement in the process of defining and choosing key indicators for success measurement is essential [49], as the process of indicator selection needs to consider the specialty of the business and field of activity [42, 49]. No less important is the collaboration of different stakeholders in the process [42, 48–51, 55, 56, 59], for example, employees, partners and

Success indicators for the organisation can change in time depending on organisation's life cycle [41, 42]. In the beginning phase, in the stage of creation and development, the start-ups are interested in achieving security so that financial resources are a constraint, not a goal and organisation's focus is on non-financial features. When the security is attained and growing the focus shifts to financial resources and profitability, during the crisis, the focus is on cash flow expanding. Additionally, one has to keep in mind that geographical location also

In summary, it can be said that scientific literature uses the phrase "organisation´s success" to describe a variety of positive results, although the literature does not always contain the expression or definition of the phrase. Based on the sources used in this chapter, the authors can say that novel scientific literature emphasises more and more that the organisation´s success is not only based on financial figures but depends heavily on public and stakeholder´s opinion and satisfaction and other "soft" criteria. No less important in organisation´s success are the actions involved in the management of innovation and changes. In addition to the aforementioned, the success of the organisation depends also on the goals set and their realisation. As different science-based sources use different indicators for organisation´s success, there is a remarkable amount of those the authors of this chapter who have gathered and systematized these in a table (Appendix 1—organisation´s success indicators based on the

growth is the sustainability of the organisation [49].

18 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

studies focusing on intangible factors are rare and limited [56].

clients.

changes the meaning of success [42].

theoretical sources analysed in this chapter).

Based on the research material, the authors of the chapter define a successful organisation as a stable organisation that has accomplished its set of goals, financial performance is productive, different stakeholders are satisfied, whose culture is based on shared values and that has a high ability to react to changes. It is not a universal definition. The authors paraphrase the definition of [62] who describe the success through the different success factors to do with the organisation as a whole—the uniqueness of culture, shared values, a collaborative approach between owner-manager and staff, the use of core competencies and building on strengths, employee relations, job satisfaction and fulfilment for management and employees.

All successful organisations need to have clear and well-defined values, which inspire every employee [40]. Organisations that focus on shared values are more likely to experience longterm success than those that do not [63–65]. The people inside the organisation should be compelled by the values to create long-term success for the organisation [17].

As pointed out in the second part of the chapter, the success of the organisation does not depend only on economic performance but also on the satisfaction of different factions, management of innovation and changes and realisation of organisation's goals. But how is it all connected with organisation's values?

The key to success from the satisfaction of different faction point of view starts from organisation's values both in private and in public sector [65]. Organisations where individual values of the employee are in congruent with organisation's values are significantly more successful [65–67], as their employees have much higher work satisfaction and motivation level, they feel free and are able to contribute more than expected to [65]. Employees not only use their energy, creativity, and enthusiasm but also commit to the success of the organisation [65]. Employees who share organisational values and even more important—behave according to organisation's real values, are better prepared for work; therefore, they have more time to do that work [67]. Some individuals appreciate the match between individual and organisational values more than remuneration—showing clearly that people prize more how they feel in the organisation compared to how much they are paid for the work [55].

Organisations use values to inspire their clients in addition to their workers and to increase their satisfaction and loyalty to the organisation. Organisation values are often referred to as strong marketing tool as clear organisational values have a positive effect and they encourage (potential) clients to buy or use product or service offered by the organisation [55]. Employees who behave similarly (base on real values of the organisation) in relevant things are thought to be more reliable by the clients [67].

Larsson and Vinberg studied management behaviour in four successful Swedish organisations and found similarities in three management dimensions—orientation to changes, structure and relations [60]. Flexibility and ability to change help organisation to adjust with altered environment [51]. Flexibility that can be defined as a quick reaction to environment needs is thought to be important success indicator [51, 59], and the values that most affect the organisations success connected to flexibility are orientation to openness, changes, cooperation and activity [51].

Success presumes changes and to achieve success, it is important to compromise between using the chances and minimising the risks [41]. Ability to change is considered to be critical indicator of organisation's success [51, 59], and at the same time, it is one of the most important organisational values of postmodernist organisation [68]. Ability to change will give permanent competitive advantage [59], and management innovation has a substantial part in it, supporting realisation of fundamental alterations in organisation [58]. Some organisations make changes within organisation and workers while reacting later to outer occurrences like offering leadership training when the moral has dropped [59]. In an organisation with an ability to change, the manager should feel the alternating reality in the market, and in order to survive in dynamic situation, it is essential to launch some activities before the changes are final, and it is already too late [51].

Organisational values shape the organisation's goals and mean to achieve set goal by affecting the organisation's structure, culture, identity and strategy [55]. Employees are less motivated to fulfil only profit-related goals but many workers accept those goals and are willing to contribute in case the organisations goals, mission and values are in accordance [69].

Organisation's high profitability, brand identification, talent valorisation and overall success are directly affected by the conformity of managers' core values and organisation's preferred employee values [65]. When the organisation's and workers personal values are not in unison or are downright opposite, the achievement of organisation's common goals will be very troublesome [67] resulting in low productivity which can, in turn, lead to low employee involvement and low quality of services or products [65]. All those factors can remarkably affect organisation's financial productivity or the ability to offer stable high quality products/ services [65].

To be more concrete, organisational success is also defined through behaviour, which is connected to higher job performance, job satisfaction. Those issues are in turn linked to organisational values. Researchers argue that clear and shared values of organisation lead to higher employee performance [9, 70–75], higher service quality [76], higher job satisfaction [77–79], greater employee loyalty and higher adaptability to change [80], higher commitment [81, 82], high involvement [83]. If the employees feel meaningfulness and significance of their work, their job performance is higher [84]. The organisation should create a culture in which employees are empowered to act in ways that are mutually beneficial to the organisation and themselves [85]. Those employee-based indicators are associated with positive organisational outcomes. Social capital has a strong positive effect on firm performance [86].

Leadership, structure, people, change management, culture based on shared values and involvement are connected to organisation's long-term success, and if the strategic goal of the organisation is the supervision and improvement of the aforementioned dimensions, then it will result in long-term competitive and profitability advantage [59]. Long term and sustainable organisational success is very dependent on organisational culture [47, 56], with shared and emphasised organisational values [51, 87, 88]. Organisational culture and values are a source of competitive advantage and mediator between people management and organisation's productivity [88]. Culture which is based on shared values helps to realise organisation's strategy [59, 87]. Successful organisations have a strong organisational culture and shared values that determine the principle of doing thing in organisation and reflect in worker's behaviour and attitude to work [59, 88]. Leaders of the successful organisations understand the need to create organisational culture that is based on shared values, growing and developing and takes into consideration the needs of all factions [65], and therefore they design, manage and monitor organisational culture to achieve organisation's strategic goals [59].

#### **5. Conclusion**

Success presumes changes and to achieve success, it is important to compromise between using the chances and minimising the risks [41]. Ability to change is considered to be critical indicator of organisation's success [51, 59], and at the same time, it is one of the most important organisational values of postmodernist organisation [68]. Ability to change will give permanent competitive advantage [59], and management innovation has a substantial part in it, supporting realisation of fundamental alterations in organisation [58]. Some organisations make changes within organisation and workers while reacting later to outer occurrences like offering leadership training when the moral has dropped [59]. In an organisation with an ability to change, the manager should feel the alternating reality in the market, and in order to survive in dynamic situation, it is essential to launch some activities before the changes are

Organisational values shape the organisation's goals and mean to achieve set goal by affecting the organisation's structure, culture, identity and strategy [55]. Employees are less motivated to fulfil only profit-related goals but many workers accept those goals and are willing to con-

Organisation's high profitability, brand identification, talent valorisation and overall success are directly affected by the conformity of managers' core values and organisation's preferred employee values [65]. When the organisation's and workers personal values are not in unison or are downright opposite, the achievement of organisation's common goals will be very troublesome [67] resulting in low productivity which can, in turn, lead to low employee involvement and low quality of services or products [65]. All those factors can remarkably affect organisation's financial productivity or the ability to offer stable high quality products/

To be more concrete, organisational success is also defined through behaviour, which is connected to higher job performance, job satisfaction. Those issues are in turn linked to organisational values. Researchers argue that clear and shared values of organisation lead to higher employee performance [9, 70–75], higher service quality [76], higher job satisfaction [77–79], greater employee loyalty and higher adaptability to change [80], higher commitment [81, 82], high involvement [83]. If the employees feel meaningfulness and significance of their work, their job performance is higher [84]. The organisation should create a culture in which employees are empowered to act in ways that are mutually beneficial to the organisation and themselves [85]. Those employee-based indicators are associated with positive organisational outcomes. Social capital has a strong positive effect on firm

Leadership, structure, people, change management, culture based on shared values and involvement are connected to organisation's long-term success, and if the strategic goal of the organisation is the supervision and improvement of the aforementioned dimensions, then it will result in long-term competitive and profitability advantage [59]. Long term and sustainable organisational success is very dependent on organisational culture [47, 56], with shared and emphasised organisational values [51, 87, 88]. Organisational culture and values are a source of competitive advantage and mediator between people management and organisation's productivity [88]. Culture which is based on shared values helps to realise

tribute in case the organisations goals, mission and values are in accordance [69].

final, and it is already too late [51].

20 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

services [65].

performance [86].

In summary, it can be said that clear and shared organisational values affect the satisfaction of the different factions in organisation, innovation and change management, realisation of organisation's goals and economic profitability therefore affecting significantly organisation's performance and success rates either directly or indirectly. Organisation's products, services, technology and method of work can be copied by the competitors without problems, and it is important to distinguish from other enterprises somehow to gain advantage in competition. One option for long-term competitive advantage achievement is to create organisational culture based on shared values. When organisation's goals, mission and shared values are in accordance, it will be beneficial.

Fully clear, shared and uniform values are recently considered the most important indicators for predicting organisation's long-term success. Clear and shared values on organisations are expressed in employee behaviour where workers are more satisfied, committed, motivated and loyal, contributing more than expected. Employees are more motivated to fulfil the goals if organisation's purpose, goals and shared values are in unison. Clear and shared organisational values will also result in satisfaction of different factions (for example encouraged, satisfied and loyal clients).

Some values are directly connected to flexibility which is one of the major indicators of organisational success. Those values are orientation to openness, changes, cooperation and activity.


### **Appendix 1. Categorisation of organisational success indicators**



**Group Indicators**

22 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Financial factor Cash flow [48] and cash flow observation [50] Competitiveness [49, 51] Employee productivity [51, 55] EPS (Earnings per share) [48]

EVA (Economic value added) [50, 55]

Investments in new markets development or in new technology [48]

Investments in research and development (% of sales) [48]

Profit [51, 52] and profit increase [50]. Profitability [42] Resources allocation depending on the objectives [59]

ROE (return on equity) and ROI (Return on investment) [50]

Expenses per employee [55]

MVA (market value added) [50] Number of customers [55]

Organisation's sustainability [51]

ROA Return on assets [42, 55]

Sales [48, 49] and sales increase [48, 50]

Business owner's satisfaction [49]

Customer responsiveness [48] Customer retention rate [48] Customer satisfaction [48–51]

Manager's satisfaction [49, 59] Organisation's reputation [55]

Relations with suppliers [55] Analysis of made mistakes [51]

Quality factor Business culture development quality [48]

Quality [48, 51]

Customer benefits from product/services [48]

Efficiency in dealing with customers [55]

Public opinion [41, 56] and satisfaction [49]

Leadership development quality [48]

Return on sales [50]

Share price [42, 48] Solvency indicators [50]

Stakeholder opinion and satisfaction

#### **Author details**

Eneken Titov\* and Ljudmila Umarova

\*Address all correspondence to: eneken@eek.ee

Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

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28 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values


**Provisional chapter**

#### **Personal-Organizational Value Congruence as a Mediator Between Personality and Employee Attitudes Mediator Between Personality and Employee Attitudes**

**Personal-Organizational Value Congruence as a** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68239

Doruk Uysal‐Irak Doruk Uysal-Irak Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.68239

#### **Abstract**

The purpose of this chapter was to examine the role of personal‐organizational value con‐ gruence as a mediator between personality (neuroticism and extraversion) and employee attitudes (job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turnover intentions). Three hundred and twenty employees participated in the study (171 female and 149 male). A model gener‐ ated in this study was tested using SEM in AMOS 21.0. Results showed that neuroticism and extraversion were related to personal‐organizational value congruence. Moreover, value congruence was a full mediator between personality dimensions and employee attitudes (job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turnover intentions). Only partial media‐ tion was found between neuroticism and life satisfaction. The results underlined two important factors: (1) influence of personality on perceptions of value congruence and (2) value congruence acts like a mediator between personality and employee attitudes.

**Keywords:** value congruence, personality, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, person‐organization fit

#### **1. Introduction**

Personality has been evaluated as an important predictor of various employee attitudes [1]. For example, job satisfaction was found as significantly related to both neuroticism and extraversion [2]. Also, those two traits were found as they are the strongest predictors of life satisfaction (see in Ref. [3]). In addition, positive affectivity [4] and neuroticism [5] can also predict turnover intentions. Therefore, personality is an important predictor for employees' well‐being and satisfaction at the workplace. This relationship has been described in many fields; however, there is lack of research examining the processes which explain the relation‐ ship between personality and employee attitudes. According to one idea, personality could

affect peoples' reactions to specific environments as they can shape values and preferences [6] and this would change individual's perceptions about the congruence between themselves and their environment. From this point of view, it can be concluded that the congruence between personality and work environment would be an important variable (see in Refs. [7–10]. Despite the importance of personality on employee attitudes and its influence on orga‐ nizational outcomes, there is relatively little research regarding how different personalities could influence perceptions of value congruence between employees and their organizations. Of the published research, most studies focus on either the relation between different per‐ sonalities and how various traits are attracted to certain environments [6–8, 11, 12] or other dimensions such as vocational interests on fit perceptions [13]. However, in order to explore the processes between personality and employee attitudes, studies should examine the role of value congruence at workplace.

This study aims to explore the relationship between personality (neuroticism and extraver‐ sion) and employee attitudes (job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turnover intentions). It has been hypothesized that people who are extraverted would have perceptions of high personal‐ organizational value congruence which would increase their life satisfaction and job satisfac‐ tion, whereas decrease their turnover intentions. On the other hand, people who are high in neuroticism would have perceptions of low personal‐organizational value congruence, which in turn decrease their job satisfaction, life satisfaction and increase their turnover intentions.

#### **1.1. Describing personal‐organizational value congruence**

One of the perspectives in person‐environment fit literature is called supplementary fit [9, 14]. According to this perspective, people may believe they fit the environment because they share similar characteristics, values, norms or interests with the others in their environment. This kind of fit was also named as value congruence [15] because it underlines the similarity between the values of individuals and organizational values [9, 16]. This is the most commonly used opera‐ tional definition of fit [9]. People need to locate themselves within society and they use group membership to do this according to Social Identity Theory [17]. Being a member of a social group shapes individual's self‐concept [17]. Similar attributes between organizational identity and individual self‐concept create organizational identification [18]. However, when there is no congruency between personal and organizational attributes, cognitive conflict occurs and negative attitudes appear [15].

In other words, personal‐organizational value congruence has significant relation with sev‐ eral attitudes. Theoretically, when there is a similarity between the values of an individual and the environment, they will be more likely to have higher job satisfaction and be less likely to leave their job [19–22] because their attitudes should be more positive [15]. Moreover, the congruence between an employee and the organization has an influence on organizational performance [23] and organizational citizenship behaviour [24]. On the other side, value incongruence will lead to cognitive dissonance and dissatisfaction [25]. Therefore, personal‐ organizational value congruence is an important predictor for several employee attitudes.

Hypothesis 1: Personal‐organizational value congruence will be positively related to job satis‐ faction, life satisfaction and will be negatively related to turnover intentions.

#### **1.2. Role of personality on personal‐organizational value congruence**

affect peoples' reactions to specific environments as they can shape values and preferences [6] and this would change individual's perceptions about the congruence between themselves and their environment. From this point of view, it can be concluded that the congruence between personality and work environment would be an important variable (see in Refs. [7–10]. Despite the importance of personality on employee attitudes and its influence on orga‐ nizational outcomes, there is relatively little research regarding how different personalities could influence perceptions of value congruence between employees and their organizations. Of the published research, most studies focus on either the relation between different per‐ sonalities and how various traits are attracted to certain environments [6–8, 11, 12] or other dimensions such as vocational interests on fit perceptions [13]. However, in order to explore the processes between personality and employee attitudes, studies should examine the role of

This study aims to explore the relationship between personality (neuroticism and extraver‐ sion) and employee attitudes (job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turnover intentions). It has been hypothesized that people who are extraverted would have perceptions of high personal‐ organizational value congruence which would increase their life satisfaction and job satisfac‐ tion, whereas decrease their turnover intentions. On the other hand, people who are high in neuroticism would have perceptions of low personal‐organizational value congruence, which in turn decrease their job satisfaction, life satisfaction and increase their turnover intentions.

One of the perspectives in person‐environment fit literature is called supplementary fit [9, 14]. According to this perspective, people may believe they fit the environment because they share similar characteristics, values, norms or interests with the others in their environment. This kind of fit was also named as value congruence [15] because it underlines the similarity between the values of individuals and organizational values [9, 16]. This is the most commonly used opera‐ tional definition of fit [9]. People need to locate themselves within society and they use group membership to do this according to Social Identity Theory [17]. Being a member of a social group shapes individual's self‐concept [17]. Similar attributes between organizational identity and individual self‐concept create organizational identification [18]. However, when there is no congruency between personal and organizational attributes, cognitive conflict occurs and

In other words, personal‐organizational value congruence has significant relation with sev‐ eral attitudes. Theoretically, when there is a similarity between the values of an individual and the environment, they will be more likely to have higher job satisfaction and be less likely to leave their job [19–22] because their attitudes should be more positive [15]. Moreover, the congruence between an employee and the organization has an influence on organizational performance [23] and organizational citizenship behaviour [24]. On the other side, value incongruence will lead to cognitive dissonance and dissatisfaction [25]. Therefore, personal‐ organizational value congruence is an important predictor for several employee attitudes.

Hypothesis 1: Personal‐organizational value congruence will be positively related to job satis‐

faction, life satisfaction and will be negatively related to turnover intentions.

value congruence at workplace.

32 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

negative attitudes appear [15].

**1.1. Describing personal‐organizational value congruence**

Person‐environment fit studies have been grounded in the interactionist theory of behaviour, which considers the effects of personality in combination with situational factors on important outcomes [14]. As it was stated [6], personality could affect individuals' reactions to specific environments as they can shape preferences. In order to understand and gain more compre‐ hensive knowledge about fit—in other words, congruence—we need more research studying the role of personality differences in person‐environment congruence [6, 26]. Most studies about personality and congruence focused on how different personalities were attracted to certain environments [6]. For example, researchers (see in Ref. [6]) found that although people high in neuroticism prefer to work in innovative organizational cultures, people high in con‐ scientiousness prefer to work in both innovative and outcome‐oriented organizational cul‐ tures. In one study examining the impact of personality on job performance, researchers have shown that personality traits are related to performance when there is a match with the work environments [27]. For example, extraversion is related to performance when the workplace is competitive, whereas agreeableness is related to performance when cooperation is expected in the workplace [27]. Moreover, a poor fit between personality and the characteristics of the workplace could result in high turnover [28].

There are no direct studies about how personality can change individual perceptions about the congruence between themselves and their organization. However, the studies showed that people focus only on one set of attributes in their environment, consistent with their affective experiences [29], their judgments of the same event may also be different depend‐ ing on their personality [30–32]. Therefore, personality might change what individuals focus on their environment. Extraversion and neuroticism are two of the Big Five dimensions [33]. Extraverted people more likely focus on positive information but neurotic people more often focus on negative information [34], which underlines how personality influences individual perceptions about their environment. Cognition bias has an impact on employees' evalua‐ tions about their work environments or their jobs (see in [35]). Various approaches provide support for this claim regarding the influence of personality on evaluations of environments such as Stimulus‐Organism Response theory [36] or Affective Events theory [37]. Therefore, people may have different perceptions about their personal and organizational value congru‐ ence as a consequence of extraversion and neuroticism.

Hypothesis 2: Neuroticism and extraversion will be related to personal‐organizational value congruence.

#### **1.3. Personal‐organizational value congruence as a mediator between personality and employee attitudes**

Person‐environment fit literature frequently studied antecedents and consequences of the congruence between employee and their environments. However, perceptions of the congru‐ ence can also be a mediator between variables, which was rarely mentioned in the field. Some researchers underlined that the role of personality in the development of a sense of person‐ environment congruence and the interplay of personality and congruence on outcomes, such as commitment and satisfaction fit, is still in the infancy stages of research [38]. If personality has an impact on how employees evaluate their environments or if it differentiates what kind of information employees prefer to focus, then it will first determine perceptions of personal‐ organizational value congruence and then this will alter employee attitudes.

Hypothesis 3: Personal‐organizational value congruence will be a mediator between person‐ ality (extraversion and neuroticism) and attitudes (job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turn‐ over intentions).

#### **1.4. Current research**

Overall, the aim of the research was to test the model including three main hypotheses. It is important to explore how influential personality can be on perceptions about person‐envi‐ ronment congruence. Moreover, it is also important to explore mediation effect of personal‐ organizational value congruence among personality and employee attitudes. A model was generated in order to test the hypotheses (see **Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** Model tested.

#### **2. Method**

#### **2.1. Participants**

In total, 320 employed people were recruited through snowball sampling who were working in a full‐time job. Participants completed a 15‐minute paper‐pencil survey about personal‐ organizational value congruence and personal outcomes related to work. Of these, 171 were female and 149 were male, with a mean age of 32 (SD = 8.78). Fifty‐three per cent of the par‐ ticipants were single and 48% were married. Most of the employees (88%) were working in private companies. Mean tenure of the participants was 5.5 (SD = 5.4).

#### **2.2. Measures**

has an impact on how employees evaluate their environments or if it differentiates what kind of information employees prefer to focus, then it will first determine perceptions of personal‐

Hypothesis 3: Personal‐organizational value congruence will be a mediator between person‐ ality (extraversion and neuroticism) and attitudes (job satisfaction, life satisfaction and turn‐

Overall, the aim of the research was to test the model including three main hypotheses. It is important to explore how influential personality can be on perceptions about person‐envi‐ ronment congruence. Moreover, it is also important to explore mediation effect of personal‐ organizational value congruence among personality and employee attitudes. A model was

In total, 320 employed people were recruited through snowball sampling who were working in a full‐time job. Participants completed a 15‐minute paper‐pencil survey about personal‐ organizational value congruence and personal outcomes related to work. Of these, 171 were female and 149 were male, with a mean age of 32 (SD = 8.78). Fifty‐three per cent of the par‐ ticipants were single and 48% were married. Most of the employees (88%) were working in

private companies. Mean tenure of the participants was 5.5 (SD = 5.4).

organizational value congruence and then this will alter employee attitudes.

generated in order to test the hypotheses (see **Figure 1**).

over intentions).

**2. Method**

**2.1. Participants**

**Figure 1.** Model tested.

**1.4. Current research**

34 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Neuroticism and extraversion: In order to measure the neuroticism and extraversion traits, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Scale [39] with Cronbach's Alpha of 0.81 for extraversion and 0.72 for neuroticism was used in this study. The scale was developed by Francis, Brown and Philipchalk. Both extraversion (e.g. item, Are you a talkative person?) and neuroticism (e.g. item, Do you often feel lonely?) subscales consisted of six items.

Value congruence: In order to measure personal and organizational value congruence, five‐ item scale [40] was used. The scale developed by Resick, Baltes and Shantz includes items such as 'The values of this organization are similar to my own values'. The Cronbach's Alpha reliability of this scale was 0.89.

Life satisfaction: Also, life satisfaction was measured by Satisfaction with Life Scale [41] with five‐item scale by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin. The scale aims to assess global life satisfaction with a reliability of 0.86 (e.g. item; I am satisfied with my life).

Job satisfaction was measured with five‐item scale, named Overall Job Satisfaction Scale, developed by Brayfield and Rothe [42] and designed to assess how participants feel about their jobs (e.g. item, I am enthusiastic about my work). It has Cronbach's Alpha of 0.81.

Turnover intentions were measured by three‐item scale of Cammann, Fichman, Jenkins and Klesh [43] with a reliability of 0.78. At last, participants were also asked to indicate their gen‐ der, age, organizational tenure, type of industry and type of employment.

#### **3. Results**

Means, standard deviations, reliabilities and zero‐order correlations for the measured variables are shown in **Table 1**. All variables were significantly correlated to each other except extraver‐ sion and turnover intentions. Highest correlations were between job satisfaction and turnover intentions (r = −0.61, p < 0.001), value congruence and turnover intentions (r = −0.54, p < 0.001) and value congruence and job satisfaction (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). An initial analysis yielded no significant influence of gender on outcome variables (i.e. personal‐organizational value con‐ gruence, neuroticism, extraversion, life satisfaction, job satisfaction and turnover intentions).

In order to test the hypothesis, the measurement model (**Figure 1**) was examined whether it has an acceptable fit to the data. The hypothesized model was tested using the maximum likelihood method in AMOS 21.0. The initial test of the measurement model resulted in a good fit to the data except the value of RMSEA (χ2 = 34.59, χ2 /df = 4.9, p = 0.00, GFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.93 and RMSEA = 0.11). On the basis of the modification indices model, one direct path from neuroticism to life satisfaction was included. This revised model had a better fit to the data (χ2 = 12.79, χ2 /df = 2.1, p = 0.05, GFI = 0.99, CFI = 0.98 and RMSEA = 0.06), as evidenced by a significant Chi‐square difference test (∆χ2 = 21.8, p < 0.001). According to that, personal‐organizational value congruence is a mediator between personality and employee attitudes (life satisfaction and job satisfaction). Partial mediation was found between neuroticism and life satisfaction (see **Figure 2**).


**Table 1.** Means, standard deviations, reliabilities and inter‐scale correlations for measured research variables.

**Figure 2.** Revised model. Standardized regression weights were given. \*p < 0.05, \*\*p < 0.01, \*\*\*p < 0.001.

#### **4. Discussion**

It is believed that personality has an influence on how people perceive, explain, recognize or focus on their environment and how they react to their environment. If personality shapes per‐ ceptions of personal‐organizational value congruence, some traits may predispose individuals to always perceive their congruence as good with their environment, whereas others would always perceive their congruence as poor with their environment, regardless of their actual congruence.

In conclusion, the results of the study confirmed the literature that people with higher extra‐ version tend to have consistently more positive reports of work‐related attitudes, even in the same objective conditions, compared to people with lower extraversion (see in [44–47]). In addition, we can conclude that people who are negative in general were the ones who are less satisfied with their job. Moreover, this result confirmed that perception of personal‐organiza‐ tional value congruence is a mediator between personality and attitudes. The study revealed that personality can change one's perception about value congruence which in turn can influ‐ ence their job‐related attitudes.

Exploring the relation between the personal‐organizational value congruence and personality will not only introduce new perspectives to the ways of assessing employee behaviours but it will also be useful for organizational practices, such as selection or recruitment, since the notion of fit is important for those practices [48–50]. If personality has an impact on employ‐ ees' perceptions about personal‐organizational value congruence, the association between congruence and individual outcomes, such as satisfaction or stress, will need to be reassessed, and organizational practices and interventions may need to be revised to take into account the role of personality in the workplace.

The current study also has some important limitations. First, it was based on a cross‐sectional design which makes it hard to make causal inferences. There is a strong need for more longi‐ tudinal research in this area which examines any changes on personal‐organizational value congruence. A second limitation is that the study used a self‐report measure which raises the issue of common method variance that may have inflated the correlations. However, other methods such as observer ratings may equally be affected by some bias [51]. More research is needed in order to validate findings of this study and to examine the role of personality on perceptions about personal‐organizational value congruence.

### **Author details**

Doruk Uysal‐Irak

Address all correspondence to: doruk.uysalirak@eas.bau.edu.tr

Department of Psychology, Bahçesehir University, Turkey

#### **References**

**4. Discussion**

1. Neuroticism 2.34 1.85 (0.72)

36 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

3. Personal‐ organizational congruence

6. Turnover intentions

Note: N = 320. \*\*p < 0.01, \*\*\*p < 0.001.

It is believed that personality has an influence on how people perceive, explain, recognize or focus on their environment and how they react to their environment. If personality shapes per‐ ceptions of personal‐organizational value congruence, some traits may predispose individuals to always perceive their congruence as good with their environment, whereas others would always perceive their congruence as poor with their environment, regardless of their actual congruence. In conclusion, the results of the study confirmed the literature that people with higher extra‐ version tend to have consistently more positive reports of work‐related attitudes, even in the

**M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6**

7.33 2.59 0.18\*\*\* −0.09 −0.54\*\*\* −0.61\*\*\* −0.27\*\*\* (0.78)

2. Extraversion 4.39 1.86 −0.26\*\*\* (0.81) ‐

17.03 4.09 −0.19\*\*\* 0.17\*\* (0.89)

5. Life satisfaction 16.49 4.39 −0.34\*\*\* 0.17\*\* 0.35\*\*\* 0.42\*\*\* (0.86)

**Table 1.** Means, standard deviations, reliabilities and inter‐scale correlations for measured research variables.

4. Job satisfaction 18.34 3.77 −0.25\*\*\* 0.18\*\*\* 0.54\*\*\* (0.81)

**Figure 2.** Revised model. Standardized regression weights were given. \*p < 0.05, \*\*p < 0.01, \*\*\*p < 0.001.


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**Provisional chapter**

#### **Strengthening the Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values Organizational Values**

**Strengthening the Congruence of Personal and** 

10.5772/68033

#### Evelina Gulbovaite Evelina Gulbovaite Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/68033

#### **Abstract**

The diagnosis of the congruence of personal and organizational values by forming managerial decisions for strengthening the values congruence was analyzed in this chapter. Analysis of empirical research on personal and organizational values congruence as well as a comparative analysis of instruments and its structures used in the analyzed researches was conducted. The questionnaire for employees, which integrates different methods of values congruence evaluation, an extensive list of personal and organizational values, was constructed. The interview questionnaire for executives in order to identify the practices in organization related to values was constructed. Both questionnaires were combined into one instrument for the complex diagnosis of personal and organizational values congruence. In order to consistently enhance personal and organizational values congruence, the complex model for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values, including presentation of its application principles and logic, was constructed and empirically validated. A quantitative and qualitative study of personal and organizational values congruence in 15 different types of organizations in Lithuania and abroad had revealed the latent causes of the gap between personal and organizational values. Managerial solutions for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values based on the results of research were formed.

**Keywords:** personal and organizational values congruence, personal values, value congruence model, organizational values, instrument for values congruence, managerial solutions

#### **1. Introduction**

In recent decades, search for effectiveness of organizational performance directed the researchers and practitioners toward the concept of personal and organizational values congruence [7, 9, 51]. The aim for value congruence in the context of organization management was perceived as a

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

complicated practical problem. Therefore, values congruence is gaining an increasing importance in organizations aiming not only to attract and keep employees but also to ensure a targeted and desired behavior of the members of the organization, positive attitude of employees toward work and the organizational climate. After defining and understanding the values congruence as a positive phenomenon in the organization, which means that an employee not only supports the organizational values but also protects them, fosters and adheres to them, it has become a significant field of theoretical and empirical research [18, 24, 49]. Numerous studies demonstrate a positive impact of the values congruence on the individual and the organization, but there is insufficient emphasis on the importance of research into this phenomenon itself. In practice of organizations, the significance of this phenomenon is also not fully understood. Most organizations claim having organizational values, but a risk arises here frequently: organization has a list of values, perhaps they are well known to employees, but are they really respected in the organization? Do all employees have "obligatory" and the same organizational values? Can values be "obligatory" on the whole? What kind of value-based behavior do the organization's executives show? There is also a question of whose values do the employees actually follow in practice: their personal, declared in the organization or prevailing in the organization?

There is a lack of discussions in scientific researches about assumptions and meaning of phenomenon of values congruence and insufficient focus on measures that would be useful and applicable in practice of organizations, in order to properly diagnose the congruence of values and to reduce or eliminate the gap between personal and organizational values. An axis of values congruence should be values assessment determining how individuals understand their personal and organizational values; how sustainable are their personal values with organizational values and/or what are the thoughts of employees of how strong do they have to undermine their personal values to meet the organization's expectations [38]; what measures shall be used in order to ensure the congruence of values in the organization. According to Bao [3], in order to avoid confusion, instead of the debate on the concept of values congruence in general, researchers should pay more attention to present the investigated phenomenon, clearly indicate and substantiate the reasons of choosing the instruments and methods to investigate the values congruence.

The relevance of research is implied by the fact that properly constructed and empirically based complex diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational values congruence, including presentation of its application principles and logic, would be useful not only for further research but also in practice of organizations.

**Object of the research** is congruence of personal and organizational values.

**Aim of the research** is to diagnose the congruence of personal and organizational values by forming managerial decisions for strengthening the values congruence.

#### **2. Research methodology**

To reach the raised aim of the research, various theoretical and empirical research methods were applied.

*Theoretical*. By investigating the problem at the theoretical level, content analysis, general and logical analysis, synthesis, analogy, classification, comparison and complex summation methods of management, psychology, philosophy, scientific and methodological sources were applied that highlighted the problems of phenomenon and allowed to base the methodological approach of personal and organizational values congruence research, which implies the newness of the research.

complicated practical problem. Therefore, values congruence is gaining an increasing importance in organizations aiming not only to attract and keep employees but also to ensure a targeted and desired behavior of the members of the organization, positive attitude of employees toward work and the organizational climate. After defining and understanding the values congruence as a positive phenomenon in the organization, which means that an employee not only supports the organizational values but also protects them, fosters and adheres to them, it has become a significant field of theoretical and empirical research [18, 24, 49]. Numerous studies demonstrate a positive impact of the values congruence on the individual and the organization, but there is insufficient emphasis on the importance of research into this phenomenon itself. In practice of organizations, the significance of this phenomenon is also not fully understood. Most organizations claim having organizational values, but a risk arises here frequently: organization has a list of values, perhaps they are well known to employees, but are they really respected in the organization? Do all employees have "obligatory" and the same organizational values? Can values be "obligatory" on the whole? What kind of value-based behavior do the organization's executives show? There is also a question of whose values do the employees actually follow in practice: their

There is a lack of discussions in scientific researches about assumptions and meaning of phenomenon of values congruence and insufficient focus on measures that would be useful and applicable in practice of organizations, in order to properly diagnose the congruence of values and to reduce or eliminate the gap between personal and organizational values. An axis of values congruence should be values assessment determining how individuals understand their personal and organizational values; how sustainable are their personal values with organizational values and/or what are the thoughts of employees of how strong do they have to undermine their personal values to meet the organization's expectations [38]; what measures shall be used in order to ensure the congruence of values in the organization. According to Bao [3], in order to avoid confusion, instead of the debate on the concept of values congruence in general, researchers should pay more attention to present the investigated phenomenon, clearly indicate and substantiate the reasons of choosing the instruments and methods to investigate the values

The relevance of research is implied by the fact that properly constructed and empirically based complex diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational values congruence, including presentation of its application principles and logic, would be useful not only for

**Aim of the research** is to diagnose the congruence of personal and organizational values by

To reach the raised aim of the research, various theoretical and empirical research methods

**Object of the research** is congruence of personal and organizational values.

forming managerial decisions for strengthening the values congruence.

personal, declared in the organization or prevailing in the organization?

44 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

further research but also in practice of organizations.

**2. Research methodology**

congruence.

were applied.

*Empirical*. By developing the instrument for personal and organizational values congruence, analytical reflection method was applied. By searching for similarities, values groups common to the individual and the organization, and categories attributed to the phenomenon of values congruence, were grouped and categorized according to the meaning.

For the empirical study, mixed methods approach was used with a consistent combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods supporting the results with different data sources and formats. Personality psychologists affirm that analyzing values only based on quantitative methods is extremely difficult because it is possible to measure only the individual reactions to them and to identify trends [26, 35]. The addition of qualitative methods can reveal not only the visible and rationally perceived aspects of different reactions and assessments but also deeper underlying approaches that influence the reasons of occurring trends. Approach of mixed research methods allows to elaborate and expand the results of the investigation and to reveal latent causes arising from different experiences and practices of organizations.

To determine the validity and content suitability of the constructed instrument, which consists of an interview questionnaire for executives and survey for organization's employees, the expert evaluation method was selected. Experts evaluated the completeness of the questionnaire, the relationship between the statements and objectives, questionnaire's structural parts matching to construct's definition and purposes of data collection, significance and clarity of the statements. Due to transdisciplinary of the phenomenon and the aim to adapt the instrument for multicultural researches, both quantitative and qualitative research instruments were validated by Lithuanian and foreign experts from different areas who investigated the values of employees in organizations and published scientific researches on the topic of personal and organizational values congruence. Expert groups of questionnaire for employees consisted of seven foreign and eight Lithuanian experts having scientific and practical experience related to human resources management: recruitment, talent management, staff motivation. Expert panel of questionnaire for executives consisted of six experts. Each expert was provided with a standardized evaluation form. The experts were asked not only to evaluate the statements in points but also to provide comments, observations, and suggestions about every questionable statement, scale or subscale, and about the whole questionnaire in respect of quality.

To analyze the expert survey data, a qualitative content analysis method was used. Results of the analysis are based on the content of analyzed text only in the context of research.

To determine the perceived personal and organizational values congruence, personal values of employees, prevailing values of the organization, the organizational climate, employees' attitude to work, and the results of organizational performance surveys were carried out in 15 organizations. On the basis of research results, applicability of the constructed complex model of personal and organizational values congruence was empirically verified.

The stratified sampling strategy was used to collect sample. It means that the population is divided into strata, and the sample is chosen from each of the stratum. The data were collected according to the planned number of answers in each group that the population would be heterogeneous among strata and homogenous inside the stratum. The sample was chosen according to the profile of organization (public and private), the size of organization (minor and average), and the field of activity (production, marketing, and service). The chosen sample is proportional (the number of elements selected from each stratum is proportional to the number of elements in each stratum). Such sample is representative; the parameters of population are more accurate; and it is possible to carry out few analyses at the same time: analysis of population and analysis of separated strata. In order to apply the instrument in the multicultural context, organizations were separated into multicultural and non-multicultural.

A semi-structured interview method was used to analyze the practices of value congruence management. The research informants were the executives, who can, directly and thoroughly, tell about values management practices in organization. The executives were from eight organizations where the researches about personal and organizational values congruence were conducted. The data obtained through interviews is very significant and exhaustive. They were analyzed based on the results of the employees' questionnaire.

A qualitative diagnostic method—phenomenographic—was used to analyze data from individual interviews with the executives of organizations. The purpose was to identify: how the research phenomenon is perceived from the perspective and experiences of executives of organizations; what kind of meaningful and relevant differences exist among different opinions about the phenomenon of values congruence in the organization. The executives revealed and, in detail, stated their provisions and presented the reflections and interpretations of distinctive situations.

*Statistical*. In order to determine the methodological and psychometric characteristics' reliability of constructed questionnaire, the dispersion of the factor, Cronbach's α and Spearman-Brown coefficients, factor loadings, and resolution of the test steps (items) were calculated and explained. The descriptive statistical methods—mean, standard deviation, absolute and percentage frequencies—were used for the quantitative survey statistical analysis of data. The multidimensional statistical methods, correlation and factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multivariate regression, were applied. The Tucker congruence coefficient was used to measure the similarity of factors. Correlation analysis was used to measure the linear statistical correlation between scales/subscales. The Student's *t*-test was used to measure the similarity between two normal distributions of averages equation.

#### **3. Review and conceptualization of congruence of personal and organizational values phenomenon**

Comparative analysis and synthesis of personal and organizational values congruence assumptions, conceptions, and content allowed to specify the conceptual meaning of the phenomenon. Organizational values are more often applied in practice as a management mechanism in order to stimulate and ensure harmonious behavior of members within the organization. Congruence of personal and organizational values occurs when personal values of employees align with values of organization, which are supported by the top management and are acceptable by majority of members in the organization who support, cherish, and follow the values in day-to-day activities. The harmonization of members' values in the organization ensures the desired and purposeful members' behavior, determines positive employee's attitude toward work and organizational climate, as well as destines the success of the organization in the present and future.

The stratified sampling strategy was used to collect sample. It means that the population is divided into strata, and the sample is chosen from each of the stratum. The data were collected according to the planned number of answers in each group that the population would be heterogeneous among strata and homogenous inside the stratum. The sample was chosen according to the profile of organization (public and private), the size of organization (minor and average), and the field of activity (production, marketing, and service). The chosen sample is proportional (the number of elements selected from each stratum is proportional to the number of elements in each stratum). Such sample is representative; the parameters of population are more accurate; and it is possible to carry out few analyses at the same time: analysis of population and analysis of separated strata. In order to apply the instrument in the multicultural context, organizations were separated into multicultural and non-multicultural. A semi-structured interview method was used to analyze the practices of value congruence management. The research informants were the executives, who can, directly and thoroughly, tell about values management practices in organization. The executives were from eight organizations where the researches about personal and organizational values congruence were conducted. The data obtained through interviews is very significant and exhaustive. They

A qualitative diagnostic method—phenomenographic—was used to analyze data from individual interviews with the executives of organizations. The purpose was to identify: how the research phenomenon is perceived from the perspective and experiences of executives of organizations; what kind of meaningful and relevant differences exist among different opinions about the phenomenon of values congruence in the organization. The executives revealed and, in detail, stated their provisions and presented the reflections and interpreta-

*Statistical*. In order to determine the methodological and psychometric characteristics' reliability of constructed questionnaire, the dispersion of the factor, Cronbach's α and Spearman-Brown coefficients, factor loadings, and resolution of the test steps (items) were calculated and explained. The descriptive statistical methods—mean, standard deviation, absolute and percentage frequencies—were used for the quantitative survey statistical analysis of data. The multidimensional statistical methods, correlation and factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multivariate regression, were applied. The Tucker congruence coefficient was used to measure the similarity of factors. Correlation analysis was used to measure the linear statistical correlation between scales/subscales. The Student's *t*-test was used to measure the

were analyzed based on the results of the employees' questionnaire.

similarity between two normal distributions of averages equation.

**organizational values phenomenon**

**3. Review and conceptualization of congruence of personal and** 

Comparative analysis and synthesis of personal and organizational values congruence assumptions, conceptions, and content allowed to specify the conceptual meaning of the phenomenon. Organizational values are more often applied in practice as a management mechanism in order to stimulate and ensure harmonious behavior of members within the organization. Congruence

tions of distinctive situations.

46 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Scientific expertise examining the topics of values congruence at global level is high. The latest approaches to the values of organization were presented by Lencioni [29], Jaakson [20], Bourne and Jenkins [4]. The authors have agreed that the values of the organization are perceived in different sections and analyzed the forms, importance, and dynamics of the values occurring in the organization.

Values congruence is mostly being investigated in the view of how this phenomenon affects the person and the organization. Empirical studies, carried out since 1999, have proved that the personal and organizational values congruence is positively related to job satisfaction [2, 8, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 27, 28, 30, 37, 38, 44–46, 48, 51], organizational commitment [1, 8, 10, 15, 16, 19, 28, 30, 37, 38, 45, 46, 51], identification with the organization [5, 13], civic behavior [5], motivation [28, 38], initiative [46], decision-making delegation [41], contextual activities, when an employee works more than it is found in his job description [27, 50], etc.), and it also affects the performance of employees [16, 19, 28, 46]. What is more, value congruence reduces staff turnover [4, 5, 8, 13, 27, 37, 51], unethical behavior [46], employees' work control [41], anxiety and stress in the workplace [38], the allocation of employees' time to activities that are not related to work [4]. Scientists initiate discussions by constantly searching for new relations of values congruence in the context of employees and organization, confirming the benefit of this phenomenon both for the employee and the organization.

Researchers offer a variety of quantitative instruments for investigation of personal and organizational values congruence, but the choice of it is often not reasonable and fully clarified. Original instruments were constructed by Super [47], Wollack et al. [54], Rokeach [42], Quinn and Rohrbaugh [40], Posner et al. [39], Elizur [14], Cooke and Lafferty [11], O'Reilly et al. [36], Liedtka [31], McDonald and Gdanz [32, 33], Cable and Judge [7], Meglino and Ravlin [34], Kalliath et al. [23], Cable and DeRue [5], Cable and Edwards [6], De Clercq et al. [12]. Even the most recent researches of personal and organizational values congruence applied old instruments whose application frequency is based on its reliability and validity. Although the same phenomenon is being analyzed and the center of attention are values, but the instruments differ in structure of content. Also, the importance of different values groups and assessment methods of values congruence are emphasized. In most of the instruments, employees' values are usually associated only with work in the context of organizational culture. Also, the list of values is not detailed enough to set the importance and congruency of specific personal and organizational values. Application of various instruments and evaluation methods implies the assumption that the values congruence is a quite complex phenomenon to diagnose [3].

Values congruence in works of investigators is being assessed in different types. Typology of values congruence assessment was investigated by Judge and Cable [21], Ostroff et al. [37], Kristof-Brown et al. [25], Edwards and Cable [13], Leung and Chaturvedi [30], Bao [3]. There is no united opinion, which type of evaluation is the most appropriate to assess values congruence. Some researchers argue that the most important thing is the fact how an individual perceives and evaluates his personal and organizational values and congruency, others claim that it is necessary to evaluate subjectively or objectively. Cable and DeRue [5], who analyzed values congruence from the perspective of employee, argue that it is useful to examine the relationship between subjective congruence, perceived congruence, and its impact on the person and the organization.

Theoretical and empirically based models that were constructed to reflect the values congruence were offered by Chatman [9], Meglino [34], Westerman and Cyr [51], Cable and Edwards [6], Verplanken [48], Edwards and Cable [13], Greguras and Diefendorff [16], Kallas et al. [22], Suar and Khuntia [46], Hoffman et al. [17], Seong and Kristof-Brown [43]. In these models, the authors emphasize different elements that are usually associated with the context of the investigated phenomenon, therefore it is difficult to apply most of them in practice of organizations. In literature, there is a lack of complex insights about the phenomenon of personal and organizational values congruence. There is a need of models that could be practically applied in the organizations and that would highlight development process of the values congruence in the organization: assumptions, expression, and effect.

Analysis of the scientists' work helps to understand the relevance of the values congruence and problems that arise in modern organizations and to purify the key factors that determine the congruence of personal and organizational values. However, scientific works dealing with problems of values congruence lack a comprehensive approach to strengthening the values congruence. In terms of qualitative approach, the phenomenon of values congruence is not widely investigated. Therefore, there is a lack of application of mixed research methods to investigate values congruence. Due to multitude of attitudes and different accesses to investigation of this phenomenon, one has to deal with problems, which are required for complex model of values congruence.

#### **4. Dynamics of personal values and values in organization**

By revealing approaches to the differences of values in organization, it can be stated that the treatment of values becomes relevant as being influenced by the individual interests of different researchers. This presupposes an assumption that there are different values in the same organization. Although the construct of value is widely analyzed in management literature, due to the lax conceptualization of the phenomenon, it tends to be more compromissory. Therefore, the progress of consistent research on values continues to be limited because of the lack of uniform theoretical justifications.

Values in the organization gain different forms, depending on how they evolve in activities of organizations and how they are treated by members of the organization. In the organization, there can be attributed, espoused, core aspirational, and shared forms of values, which are classified according to their meaning, expression, and subject. However, not only very close relationship between them but also significant differences can be revealed.

The forms of values in organization according to the meaning given to them can be positioned according to main criteria: time and subject, and additional criteria—conscious/unconscious and existent/non-existent. From the subject perspective, values can be separated into these groups: values which are formally espoused by the executives; values which are attributed to the organization by its members; fundamental values; values that are shared among members; and values which are aspired by members. These forms in the organization can be either congruent or incongruent, depending on how they are treated by executives and how they are approached by members of the organization. From the time perspective, values in organization reflect these values which were formed in the past; these values that are in common followed now; and these values which are aspired to be followed in the future. Different forms of values are not statistically determined as opposites. They are dynamic, and they occur on the interval from more developed to less developed values. In the organization, the values congruence means an overlap between forms of organizational values when members share values that are similar to those they attribute to the organization and which correspond to those that top managers espouse in formal documents and statements. Such overlap ensures the predictable and purposeful behavior of organization members, and it determines the success of the organization and positive attitude of employees toward work and organizational climate. Therefore, the comprehension of different forms and expressions of values would help executives understand, how to identify the reasons of the gap between employees' and organizational values and help to take up purposeful actions to ensure the congruence of values in organizations.

researchers argue that the most important thing is the fact how an individual perceives and evaluates his personal and organizational values and congruency, others claim that it is necessary to evaluate subjectively or objectively. Cable and DeRue [5], who analyzed values congruence from the perspective of employee, argue that it is useful to examine the relationship between subjective congruence, perceived congruence, and its impact on the person and the organization. Theoretical and empirically based models that were constructed to reflect the values congruence were offered by Chatman [9], Meglino [34], Westerman and Cyr [51], Cable and Edwards [6], Verplanken [48], Edwards and Cable [13], Greguras and Diefendorff [16], Kallas et al. [22], Suar and Khuntia [46], Hoffman et al. [17], Seong and Kristof-Brown [43]. In these models, the authors emphasize different elements that are usually associated with the context of the investigated phenomenon, therefore it is difficult to apply most of them in practice of organizations. In literature, there is a lack of complex insights about the phenomenon of personal and organizational values congruence. There is a need of models that could be practically applied in the organizations and that would highlight development process of the values

Analysis of the scientists' work helps to understand the relevance of the values congruence and problems that arise in modern organizations and to purify the key factors that determine the congruence of personal and organizational values. However, scientific works dealing with problems of values congruence lack a comprehensive approach to strengthening the values congruence. In terms of qualitative approach, the phenomenon of values congruence is not widely investigated. Therefore, there is a lack of application of mixed research methods to investigate values congruence. Due to multitude of attitudes and different accesses to investigation of this phenomenon, one has to deal with problems, which are required for complex model of values congruence.

By revealing approaches to the differences of values in organization, it can be stated that the treatment of values becomes relevant as being influenced by the individual interests of different researchers. This presupposes an assumption that there are different values in the same organization. Although the construct of value is widely analyzed in management literature, due to the lax conceptualization of the phenomenon, it tends to be more compromissory. Therefore, the progress of consistent research on values continues to be limited because of the

Values in the organization gain different forms, depending on how they evolve in activities of organizations and how they are treated by members of the organization. In the organization, there can be attributed, espoused, core aspirational, and shared forms of values, which are classified according to their meaning, expression, and subject. However, not only very close

The forms of values in organization according to the meaning given to them can be positioned according to main criteria: time and subject, and additional criteria—conscious/unconscious and existent/non-existent. From the subject perspective, values can be separated into these groups: values which are formally espoused by the executives; values which are attributed to the organization by its members; fundamental values; values that are shared among members;

congruence in the organization: assumptions, expression, and effect.

**4. Dynamics of personal values and values in organization**

relationship between them but also significant differences can be revealed.

lack of uniform theoretical justifications.

48 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Personal and organizational values congruence could be directly (perceived) and indirectly (subjective and objective) assessed. Usually, one of these types is chosen for assessment. However, for complex assessment, it is recommended to integrate different types of measurement in one study and investigate values from different subjects in organization perspectives. **Figure 1** shows the logically structured, different types of values assessment, possible ways of value expression in organization and approaches which help to investigate and measure values congruence.

**Figure 1.** Relationship between values types of organization and assessment methods of values to ensure the values congruence.

Indirect perceived and direct subjective values congruence types of assessment were applied in this research. Indirect—when person individually assesses how congruent are his/her values to organizational values. Direct—when employees' personal values are compared to organizational values which are assigned by other members of organization.

This research will analyze the personal employees and the values prevailing in the organization that are perceived as collectively attributed by employees values. Shared values are perceived as subjective congruence of personal and organizational values.

### **5. Complex diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational values congruence**

The content analysis of personal and organizational values phenomenon, other researchers recommendations for further research directions, a comparative analysis of empirical research on personal and organizational values congruence, as well as a comparative analysis of instruments and its structures used in the analyzed researches allowed to set the limits of the researched phenomenon and see development possibilities in further research. The disclosed limitations impede the practical use of present diagnostic instruments for personal and organizational values congruence. It was considered that there is a lack of comprehensive diagnostic instrument which would thoroughly analyze the congruence of personal and organizational values and help to establish recommendations for strengthening the values congruence in organization. A new *Complex diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational values congruence*, which was supplemented by significant details, was constructed for carrying out a detailed congruence diagnostics. In most cases, values congruence is analyzed through quantitative perspective. In order to reveal values congruence and/or latent reasons of the values, a gap is determined through perspectives of both, executives and employees. It consists of two parts: the first part is for employees in organization to assess the values congruence through quantitative perspective; the second part is for managers in organization to set value management practices in organization. Both quantitative and qualitative questionnaires' reliability and validity were tested by Lithuanian and foreign experts whose field of research interest was organizational behavior, organizational culture, organizational psychology, human resources management, and values analysis in organization. The results of expert evaluation show that questionnaires have only minor deficiencies. The corrections were made and questionnaires were prepared to be used in the main survey. The final questionnaire is prepared in Lithuanian, English, and Russian languages in order to be used in multicultural organizations [52].

#### **6. The quantitative research of personal and organizational values congruence**

For quantitative diagnostics of values congruence, *Questionnaire of Personal and Organizational Values Congruence for Employees* was formed, whose structure is presented in **Figure 2**.

Indirect perceived and direct subjective values congruence types of assessment were applied in this research. Indirect—when person individually assesses how congruent are his/her values to organizational values. Direct—when employees' personal values are compared to orga-

This research will analyze the personal employees and the values prevailing in the organization that are perceived as collectively attributed by employees values. Shared values are

**5. Complex diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational values** 

The content analysis of personal and organizational values phenomenon, other researchers recommendations for further research directions, a comparative analysis of empirical research on personal and organizational values congruence, as well as a comparative analysis of instruments and its structures used in the analyzed researches allowed to set the limits of the researched phenomenon and see development possibilities in further research. The disclosed limitations impede the practical use of present diagnostic instruments for personal and organizational values congruence. It was considered that there is a lack of comprehensive diagnostic instrument which would thoroughly analyze the congruence of personal and organizational values and help to establish recommendations for strengthening the values congruence in organization. A new *Complex diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational values congruence*, which was supplemented by significant details, was constructed for carrying out a detailed congruence diagnostics. In most cases, values congruence is analyzed through quantitative perspective. In order to reveal values congruence and/or latent reasons of the values, a gap is determined through perspectives of both, executives and employees. It consists of two parts: the first part is for employees in organization to assess the values congruence through quantitative perspective; the second part is for managers in organization to set value management practices in organization. Both quantitative and qualitative questionnaires' reliability and validity were tested by Lithuanian and foreign experts whose field of research interest was organizational behavior, organizational culture, organizational psychology, human resources management, and values analysis in organization. The results of expert evaluation show that questionnaires have only minor deficiencies. The corrections were made and questionnaires were prepared to be used in the main survey. The final questionnaire is prepared in Lithuanian, English, and Russian languages in order to be used in multicultural

**6. The quantitative research of personal and organizational values** 

*Values Congruence for Employees* was formed, whose structure is presented in **Figure 2**.

For quantitative diagnostics of values congruence, *Questionnaire of Personal and Organizational* 

nizational values which are assigned by other members of organization.

perceived as subjective congruence of personal and organizational values.

**congruence**

50 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

organizations [52].

**congruence**

**Figure 2.** Structural diagram of questionnaire of personal and organizational values congruence for employees.

The questionnaire consists of 116 statements (without socio-demographic characteristics), 4 scales, and 18 subscales. Rating scale of *perceived personal and organizational values congruence* consists of five statements, determining values congruence manifestations. The scale of *personal values* consists of seven values subscales: *economic values, social values*, s*piritual values, moral values, professional values, aesthetic values*, and *physical values*. The statements of these subscales allow the assessment of the importance of specific values to employees. The scale of *organizational values* contains seven subscales analogous to the scale of *personal values*, which help to assess the employee's subjective approach to organizational values. In total, scales of personal values and organizational values consist of a detailed list of 47 statements, each reflecting different values groups. On a scale of *impact on person and organization*, respondents subjectively evaluated employees' attitude toward work, the organizational climate, and organizational performance. Seven Lithuanian and eight foreign experts confirmed the suitability of the questionnaire's content. On the basis of the survey results, the reliability of questionnaire's methodological and psychometric characteristics was established and approved.

The main research was carried out in 15 organizations: four of the surveyed organizations were providing public sector services, four—private sector production, four—private sector trade, and four—private sector services. In total, 374 employees from 15 investigated organizations were surveyed.

Methodological characteristics of quality of the questionnaire of congruence of personal and organizational values for employees were tested by empirical and statistical means. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis has confirmed the construct validity of the questionnaire. High indicators obtained in the cases of both factorings show that congruence of personal and organizational values is a solid characteristic. High factor loadings and explained dispersion show that the scales and subscales of the questionnaire in the analysis of components of the impact on the person and the organization are also reliable. The results of the secondary factor analysis reveal the fact that factor loadings of subscales of the questionnaire of personal and organizational values are high in almost all scales. Therefore, it reveals strong respondents affirmation for constructed scales. In both cases of secondary factoring methods, relatively high scores substantiate that constructed questionnaire of congruence of personal and organizational values is valid and reliable, as subscales are reliable, and the prepared questionnaire, forming integral dimensions, is suitable for the measurement of the entirety of intended characteristics. Systematic and statistically significant relation between many subscales of personal values, organizational values, and the effect on the person and the organization affirms that used questionnaires are of high quality through psychometric perspective. By the use of multivariate regression, the statistical relationships between personal values, organizational values, perceived values congruence, and impact for person and organization were tested. Correlational relationships confirmed that organizational values are a factor to ensure the strong positive impact on the person and the organization.

The perceived assessment of personal and organizational values congruence showed the tendencies of values congruence. The respondents agreed the most with the statement that *they agree with the values of the organization that they work in*; a little less supported statement was *the personal values match the values which are present in the organization*; and the least supported statement was *things that are valued in life are really similar to those which are valued in the organization*. Such results of perceived assessment show that by gradually strengthening statements and personalizing them with particular values, the agreement with the statements and identification with organizational values is decreasing. The decreasing agreement with the statements can be related to more and more critical and more specific values congruence assessment, which allows to make assumption that not every value which is present in the organization is similar to the employees' personal values. It is noticed that more than a quarter of respondents neutrally assessed the latter statements. Such results could predict that employees do not know the values of organization. Therefore, it is difficult to express the clear and valid attitude through values congruence approach. The reverse statements' evaluation is characterized by high coefficient of variation, whose range is about 50%, and it shows the heterogeneity of assessment. The more or less disagreement with the statements related to values incongruence also shows that respondents tend to link their own personal values with the organizational values. They also tend to support these values.

subscales allow the assessment of the importance of specific values to employees. The scale of *organizational values* contains seven subscales analogous to the scale of *personal values*, which help to assess the employee's subjective approach to organizational values. In total, scales of personal values and organizational values consist of a detailed list of 47 statements, each reflecting different values groups. On a scale of *impact on person and organization*, respondents subjectively evaluated employees' attitude toward work, the organizational climate, and organizational performance. Seven Lithuanian and eight foreign experts confirmed the suitability of the questionnaire's content. On the basis of the survey results, the reliability of questionnaire's methodological and psychometric characteristics was established and approved. The main research was carried out in 15 organizations: four of the surveyed organizations were providing public sector services, four—private sector production, four—private sector trade, and four—private sector services. In total, 374 employees from 15 investigated organi-

Methodological characteristics of quality of the questionnaire of congruence of personal and organizational values for employees were tested by empirical and statistical means. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis has confirmed the construct validity of the questionnaire. High indicators obtained in the cases of both factorings show that congruence of personal and organizational values is a solid characteristic. High factor loadings and explained dispersion show that the scales and subscales of the questionnaire in the analysis of components of the impact on the person and the organization are also reliable. The results of the secondary factor analysis reveal the fact that factor loadings of subscales of the questionnaire of personal and organizational values are high in almost all scales. Therefore, it reveals strong respondents affirmation for constructed scales. In both cases of secondary factoring methods, relatively high scores substantiate that constructed questionnaire of congruence of personal and organizational values is valid and reliable, as subscales are reliable, and the prepared questionnaire, forming integral dimensions, is suitable for the measurement of the entirety of intended characteristics. Systematic and statistically significant relation between many subscales of personal values, organizational values, and the effect on the person and the organization affirms that used questionnaires are of high quality through psychometric perspective. By the use of multivariate regression, the statistical relationships between personal values, organizational values, perceived values congruence, and impact for person and organization were tested. Correlational relationships confirmed that organizational values

are a factor to ensure the strong positive impact on the person and the organization.

The perceived assessment of personal and organizational values congruence showed the tendencies of values congruence. The respondents agreed the most with the statement that *they agree with the values of the organization that they work in*; a little less supported statement was *the personal values match the values which are present in the organization*; and the least supported statement was *things that are valued in life are really similar to those which are valued in the organization*. Such results of perceived assessment show that by gradually strengthening statements and personalizing them with particular values, the agreement with the statements and identification with organizational values is decreasing. The decreasing agreement with the statements can be related to more and more critical and more specific values congruence assessment, which allows to make assumption

zations were surveyed.

52 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

The perceived values congruence assessment results show that employees value their and organizational values congruence favorably, but not absolutely. However, perceived values congruence assessment do not show whether respondents understand and value, critically, both their personal and organizational values. Diverse evaluation of statements and frequent expression of neutral opinion might signal the lack of information about organizational values. The lack of information leads to insufficient understanding of these statements' meaning.

Subjective personal and organizational values congruence assessment showed the congruence of particular employees' values and organizational values. *The Tucker congruence coefficient (Tucker Phi)* was used to measure the congruence, by checking the statistical similarity of factors. A very high congruence of almost every group was found. However, more attention in organizations should be paid for strengthening *economic* personal and organizational values congruence.

*Paired Sample T Test* was calculated to compare more in detail the differences of personal values and organizational values on the values groups and separated statements basis. The results revealed that not every value which is important to employees are valued and present in the researched organizations, because neither on the groups basis nor on separated statements basis are the organizational values priorities identical to personal value priorities. It is noticed that employees are more oriented to personal values realization, rather than values realization which are related to organization and its community; while the organization is more oriented to values which help to achieve better results of organization's activities, rather than assurance of employees' well-being. Statistically significant differences between personal values and organizational values were found in every measured subscale. However, the gap is not large in every value case. The strongest congruence was found between personal and organizational *aesthetic* values, although these values are not valued as the most important by either employees or organizations. Based on the found differences in averages, and according to the significance of values to person and organization, the strongest congruence is characterized by *social* and *economic* values. The largest gap was found between *physical* and *professional* values. *Spiritual* and *moral* values congruence is very similar. However, to both, person and organization, *moral* values are more important than *spiritual* values. Fairly consistent value differences were found in all three values groups. The study results show that, from an employee's perspective, only small values gaps are allowed that the employee could continue working in the organization.

One-way ANOVA was used to set the differences through the perspective of types of organizations and through employees' sociodemographic characteristics (**Table 1**).


**Table 1.** Differences recorded in respect of the investigated characteristics.

The tendency emerged that only few sociodemographic employees' characteristics and type of organization characteristics have influence on assessment of personal values, organizational values, and assessment of impact on person and organization. The most statistically significant differences were found in perceived values congruence assessment depending on employees' gender, work experience, and how much occupation and specialty match the work position they have.

The calculated statistical outliers *(z-score)* analysis of investigated organizations shows assessment differences of personal values, organizational values, perceived values congruence, and impact on person and organization. Different employees' and organizations' values priorities were found in values groups. Therefore, it is inexpedient to apply the same values congruence strengthening recommendations for every organization, neither according to the organization nor according to an individual.

#### **7. Qualitative research of personal and organizational values congruence**

The second part of the instruments—*Qualitative Personal and Organizational Values Congruence Interview Questionnaire for the Executives*—aimed to identify values management practices in the organization in terms of executives. Questionnaire structure was formed according to the research object and research tasks in the context of full personal and organizational values congruence research, that is, it is recommended to perform interview after the survey of employees' personal and organizational values congruence. To assess the suitability of the questionnaire, content expert evaluation was carried out, on the basis of which questionnaire structure and research aspects were purified. The final interview questionnaire for executives consists of six categories of questions constructed to identify organization's practice of working with values: what is executives' attitude about the values and importance of it, values congruence in the organization; what support actions of values formation, internalization are carried out; what are the ways in which values are ensured and its uniformity is maintained in the organization; how values affect staff selection.

The qualitative research was done by interviewing the executives of the same organizations as in the quantitative study. The interviews have shown the interest in the phenomenon of congruence of values and benefits of the study, but most organizations have not given special attention to the purposeful formation of values in organization. Executives do not conduct employee surveys about their personal values and the values prevailing in the organization, so the situation of personal and organizational values congruence was not known. However, study shows that not in every organization, whose executive claimed that they have never purposely worked with values (meaning that they have never worked with value purification, implementation, maintenance, etc.), the congruence is weak. The executives of smaller (in respect of employees) organizations, compared to executives of larger organizations, stressed the employee welfare more. They care about employees' opinion of valuable aspects in organization. It is important for them to know personal employees' values. They say, that opportunities to ensure the congruence of personal and organizational values is important to them.

The results also reveal the reasons causing the gap between the values: desultory, uncoordinated by executives activities of the organization, lack of unity, incoherent communication, insufficient involvement of employees, lack of competence of the executives on the issues of implementation and importance of values. Selection of inappropriate employees significantly contributes to the gap of values in the practice of organizations existing in the market for a longer period. Also, individual needs of the employees are not given prominence, and the attention is not focused on the improvement of systems of motivation to improve working conditions for employees. Moreover, the lack of proper activities for adaptation of new employees shows that the employees have to figure out by themselves, through their mistakes, what actions and behaviors are tolerated in the organization and what are not. In addition, executives of the organizations often have the values of the organization only in their mind, while they are neither communicated nor formalized in the way understandable to everyone. Values in organizations are formed naturally; therefore, it is neither communicated nor controlled and, deliberately, not supported.

The tendency emerged that only few sociodemographic employees' characteristics and type of organization characteristics have influence on assessment of personal values, organizational values, and assessment of impact on person and organization. The most statistically significant differences were found in perceived values congruence assessment depending on employees' gender, work experience, and how much occupation and specialty match the

**match**

+ − − +++ −−−

+ −− − − + − + −

+ −− − − − − − −

Personal values + −− − − − − − −

**Length of service**

**Sector Area of** 

**activities**

**Cultural background**

**Gender Age Education Position Speciality** 

**Table 1.** Differences recorded in respect of the investigated characteristics.

The calculated statistical outliers *(z-score)* analysis of investigated organizations shows assessment differences of personal values, organizational values, perceived values congruence, and impact on person and organization. Different employees' and organizations' values priorities were found in values groups. Therefore, it is inexpedient to apply the same values congruence strengthening recommendations for every organization, neither according to the organization

**7. Qualitative research of personal and organizational values congruence**

The second part of the instruments—*Qualitative Personal and Organizational Values Congruence Interview Questionnaire for the Executives*—aimed to identify values management practices in the organization in terms of executives. Questionnaire structure was formed according to the research object and research tasks in the context of full personal and organizational values congruence research, that is, it is recommended to perform interview after the survey of employees' personal and organizational values congruence. To assess the suitability of the questionnaire, content expert evaluation was carried out, on the basis of which questionnaire structure and research aspects were purified. The final interview questionnaire for executives consists of six categories of questions constructed to identify organization's practice of working with values: what is executives' attitude about the values and importance of it, values congruence in the organization; what support actions of values formation, internalization are carried out; what are the ways in which values are ensured and its uniformity is maintained

work position they have.

Perceived values congruence

54 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Organizational values

Impact on the person and the organization

nor according to an individual.

in the organization; how values affect staff selection.

#### **8. Application of the complex model for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values**

The analysis of values congruence models, presented in scientific literature, shows that there are two types of models [53]. One type reflects the phenomenon of values congruence itself with its impact on employees and on activities of the organization. The other type depicts the typology of values congruence. The models give little attention to the issue of selection of the types and methods of evaluation of value congruence. Also, in the models, constructive proposals are not provided about which particular measures to apply for strengthening and maintaining the congruence of personal and organizational values. They do not actualize the monitoring of the process and the implementation of longitudinal studies.

Based on the detailed comparative analysis of existing models, a new complex model for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values was constructed by discerning the main values congruence phenomenon elements and contexts (**Figure 3**).

**Figure 3.** The complex model for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values.

This model can be used for streamlining and implementing the organizational values, during staffing, and to determine the values of the employees already working in the organization. The model can be applied in practice of organizations by implementing the process of eight stages: (1) matching the needs; (2) matching the values; (3) measurement of congruence of personal and organizational values; (4) measurement of the impact on the employee and the performance results of the organization; (5) selection of measures for strengthening the congruence; (6) application of the selected measures; (7) evaluation of the impact of the measures; and (8) continuation of application of the measures or selecting new measures.

The empirical validity of the complex model of personal and organizational values congruence was approved on the basis of regression analysis. The factors significantly associated with assessment of personal and organizational values congruence were socio-demographic characteristics of employees, employees' personal values, and organizational values. Employees' gender, age, and work position can be interpreted as perceived values congruence assumptions. Statistically reliable strong relationship was found between organizational values and perceived values congruence. Perceived values congruence evaluation is strongly affected by employees' not only personal, economic, and social values but also organizational economic, social, and spiritual values. Also, influence of values congruence and organizational values on employee attitudes toward work, the organizational climate, and organizational performance was approved. However, stronger impact on employees' attitude toward work, organizational performance, and organizational climate has more organizational values than personal.

#### **9. Managerial solution for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values**

The comparison of employees' questionnaire results and the identified value management practice in organizations revealed and explained possible reasons of values congruence and/ or gap origin. Based on the study results, management solutions for organizations, which seek for stable value system and strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values, were formulated (**Figure 4**).

**Figure 4.** Structural diagram of strengthening of personal and organizational values congruence.

This model can be used for streamlining and implementing the organizational values, during staffing, and to determine the values of the employees already working in the organization. The model can be applied in practice of organizations by implementing the process of eight stages: (1) matching the needs; (2) matching the values; (3) measurement of congruence of personal and organizational values; (4) measurement of the impact on the employee and the performance results of the organization; (5) selection of measures for strengthening the congruence; (6) application of the selected measures; (7) evaluation of the impact of the measures;

The empirical validity of the complex model of personal and organizational values congruence was approved on the basis of regression analysis. The factors significantly associated with assessment of personal and organizational values congruence were socio-demographic characteristics of employees, employees' personal values, and organizational values. Employees' gender, age, and work position can be interpreted as perceived values congruence assumptions. Statistically reliable strong relationship was found between organizational values and

and (8) continuation of application of the measures or selecting new measures.

**Figure 3.** The complex model for strengthening the congruence of personal and organizational values.

56 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Managerial solutions were combined into a coherent logical structural diagram of strengthening of values congruence with the applicable stages: (1) definition of the situation; (2) diagnosis of the situation; (3) preparation of the decision; (4) application of the measures; (5) evaluation of the results; (6) preservation. At each step, the specific solved objectives are anticipated and described. Emphasis is placed on monitoring and control of each stage to ensure the purposeful process and to timely notice inefficiently implemented stage.

#### **Author details**

Evelina Gulbovaite

Address all correspondence to: e.gulbovaite@gmail.com

Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

#### **References**


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Managerial solutions were combined into a coherent logical structural diagram of strengthening of values congruence with the applicable stages: (1) definition of the situation; (2) diagnosis of the situation; (3) preparation of the decision; (4) application of the measures; (5) evaluation of the results; (6) preservation. At each step, the specific solved objectives are anticipated and described. Emphasis is placed on monitoring and control of each stage to ensure the purpose-

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**Provisional chapter**

#### **Grading Intellectual Work Output by Fractional Approach to Excellence: A Score Sheet for Every Activity Approach to Excellence: A Score Sheet for Every Activity**

**Grading Intellectual Work Output by Fractional** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.69654

#### Manfred Fehr Manfred Fehr Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69654

#### **Abstract**

This communication relates experiences with peer evaluation and self-evaluation of individual and collective professional activities. Grading of intellectual work output proceeds by means of score sheets. A score sheet is a set of requirements for reaching a standard of performance. It assesses the quality of performance as fractional approach to the standard by dividing the fulfilled requirements by their total number. Individuals and organizations establish their standards, which represent their values, according to their ambitions of excellence, and monitor the approach with the score sheets. Examples of experiences available so far refer to measuring the qualities of technical reports and essays, of oral presentations, of teacher performance, of environmental performance of schools, of marketing success of horticultural produce, of urban sustainability, and of life at old age. For each of the experiences, the text presents and discusses the pertinent score sheet, which indirectly measures a value by showing the approach to expected performance or behavior. Congruence exists if an organization and its members strive for the same standard of performance.

**Keywords:** collective values, congruence of individual and organizational values, degrees of excellence, fractions of excellence, grading systems, intellectual work, measurement of values, peer evaluation, personal values, potential of performance, score sheets, self-evaluation, service quality assessment, service standards

#### **1. Introduction**

The dictionary defines quality as the degree of excellence of something. This definition fatally implies fractions. On the road to excellence, a performer climbs various steps. If he or she reaches the target, the fraction of excellence becomes 1.0, and the performer has attained his

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

or her maximum potential. On the scale of fractions, the quality of any work output is situated somewhere between zero and one. This is its degree of excellence. The evaluation of the most diverse items obeys this procedure, from the Human Development Index (HDI) all the way to a research report. Now, the notion of the index appears. An index is a number giving the magnitude of a phenomenon in terms of a standard. This returns the argument to the fraction. The standard is 1.0, and the magnitude of the phenomenon again is somewhere between zero and one. There are two methods to assess the magnitude of a phenomenon, a subjective evaluation and an objective evaluation. Examples of the subjective evaluation are the Likert scale and the Servqual scale. They are multiple-choice questionnaires with weighed answers. They gauge opinions or attitudes of the customer universe of an enterprise to assess customer satisfaction with its services [1–4]. The results take the form of words, not numbers. A customer may rate a service as poor, fair, or good. The method is reactive. It evaluates the work of others after completion. The triage theory of grading reported by [5] also falls into this category. It states that a phenomenon can only be good, bad, or in-between.

The objective method of grading the magnitude of a phenomenon uses numbers, specifically fractions. Consequently, it is more precise than the subjective method. It is the object of this report. Instead of categorizing a piece of intellectual work as good or poor, it defines a standard of excellence and asks how closely the piece of work comes to meeting it. The standard takes the form of a score sheet that lists all requirements for excellence of the given piece of work. The more items there are in the list, the more reliable the evaluation is. The performer or the judge ticks off the requirements met and divides their number by the sum of items in the list. The result is a simple and precise fraction. This method is proactive in the sense that it allows for self-evaluation and inspires iteration. A performer can set his or her own standards of excellence and then strive to meet them.

Another difference between the methods refers to nomenclature. Is the target excellence or perfection? [6] provides definitions of those terms for the purpose of evaluation or grading. "Perfection pursues an external standard, a universal standard, or at least somebody else's standard. Excellence measures the achievement of one's own potential." With the objective method, a person can advance professionally by setting high standards of excellence for himself or herself and by facing the challenge of reaching his or her maximum potential. Contrary to perfection, the potential of excellence varies from person to person or from group to group.

Quality may refer to the performance of institutions or individuals. Many international bodies study and promote institutional quality. The International Academy for Quality (IAQ) pursues the "mission of adapting principles and methods to improve performance for the benefit of society, specifically to improve corporate governance worldwide." It works through task forces in different disciplines [7]. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) pursues the "mission of developing and publishing international standards," which are the targets of quality that any institution strives to reach. As an example, the ISO 9000 series of norms "sets out the requirements of quality management systems" [8]. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) maintains the account of the Human Development Index (HDI), which assigns a dynamic index or a fraction to each country representing its performance quality with respect to life expectance, knowledge, and living standard [9]. [10, 11] Confront individual with group performance and determine to what extent the sum total of collective achievement outperforms the individual achievement. The notion of approach to excellence in the teaching context is present in studies by [12–15]. These references are concerned with what students need to learn and how they can apply their acquired knowledge in the competitive work environment. In this context, the present report anticipates the outcome by directly evaluating the performance of the teacher with a teaching score sheet.

Quality of performance relates to scales of value in the sense that top performance is the value target of organizations, institutions, or individuals for all activities they exercise. Score sheets do not measure values directly. They provide targets of performance and behavior and measure the approach to those targets with precise fractions. Individuals and groups reveal their values in their behavior. If they strive for top performance, then they practice this value. If they strive for fairness of evaluations, then they practice this value. Score sheets are the tools for monitoring the success of the endeavor.

#### **2. Objective**

or her maximum potential. On the scale of fractions, the quality of any work output is situated somewhere between zero and one. This is its degree of excellence. The evaluation of the most diverse items obeys this procedure, from the Human Development Index (HDI) all the way to a research report. Now, the notion of the index appears. An index is a number giving the magnitude of a phenomenon in terms of a standard. This returns the argument to the fraction. The standard is 1.0, and the magnitude of the phenomenon again is somewhere between zero and one. There are two methods to assess the magnitude of a phenomenon, a subjective evaluation and an objective evaluation. Examples of the subjective evaluation are the Likert scale and the Servqual scale. They are multiple-choice questionnaires with weighed answers. They gauge opinions or attitudes of the customer universe of an enterprise to assess customer satisfaction with its services [1–4]. The results take the form of words, not numbers. A customer may rate a service as poor, fair, or good. The method is reactive. It evaluates the work of others after completion. The triage theory of grading reported by [5] also falls into this category. It states that

The objective method of grading the magnitude of a phenomenon uses numbers, specifically fractions. Consequently, it is more precise than the subjective method. It is the object of this report. Instead of categorizing a piece of intellectual work as good or poor, it defines a standard of excellence and asks how closely the piece of work comes to meeting it. The standard takes the form of a score sheet that lists all requirements for excellence of the given piece of work. The more items there are in the list, the more reliable the evaluation is. The performer or the judge ticks off the requirements met and divides their number by the sum of items in the list. The result is a simple and precise fraction. This method is proactive in the sense that it allows for self-evaluation and inspires iteration. A performer can set his or her own standards

Another difference between the methods refers to nomenclature. Is the target excellence or perfection? [6] provides definitions of those terms for the purpose of evaluation or grading. "Perfection pursues an external standard, a universal standard, or at least somebody else's standard. Excellence measures the achievement of one's own potential." With the objective method, a person can advance professionally by setting high standards of excellence for himself or herself and by facing the challenge of reaching his or her maximum potential. Contrary to perfection, the potential of excellence varies from person to person or from

Quality may refer to the performance of institutions or individuals. Many international bodies study and promote institutional quality. The International Academy for Quality (IAQ) pursues the "mission of adapting principles and methods to improve performance for the benefit of society, specifically to improve corporate governance worldwide." It works through task forces in different disciplines [7]. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) pursues the "mission of developing and publishing international standards," which are the targets of quality that any institution strives to reach. As an example, the ISO 9000 series of norms "sets out the requirements of quality management systems" [8]. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) maintains the account of the Human Development Index (HDI), which assigns a dynamic index or a fraction to each country representing its performance quality with

a phenomenon can only be good, bad, or in-between.

64 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

of excellence and then strive to meet them.

group to group.

The objective of this communication is to discuss personal experience with peer evaluation and self-evaluation of typical professional activities using score sheets. The score sheets define excellent performance in terms of a certain number of specific items, such that the quality of performance becomes a fraction of the achievement of excellence. The study pretends to inspire persons and groups to establish their own standards of excellence for every intellectual activity they pursue and create the habit of checking or grading their performance.

#### **3. Method**

During his professional career, this author constantly came across situations where he needed to evaluate individual or collective activities, without having a reliable standard against which to work. The index method for evaluating institutional or organizational performance was of no avail. The social performance of a nation or the governance of a corporation did not supply evaluation schemes for individual everyday tasks. Consequently, he set out to develop the score sheet method. It consists of preparing a predetermined list of requirements for reaching target performance in every activity considered. The number of requirements met divided by the total number of requirements provides the quality or the index of performance. The score sheets exist prior to the execution of any assignment or activity. Thus, the evaluation, including self-evaluation, becomes reasonably objective and repeatable. The most interesting component of the method is the possibility of iteration. A person can prepare a report or a presentation, test it against the score sheet, improve it, test it again, and only deliver it when he or she judges the quality satisfactory. There are no surprises. This concept of iteration also is at the heart of machine grading. A person writes an essay and submits it to the computer for grading. According to the grade received, he or she rewrites the essay and submits it again until satisfied [16]. The first score sheets developed and discussed here refer to typical activities of the learning context where they measure communication skills, namely, technical reports, general written assignments (essays) of students, oral presentations, and teacher performance. With time and experience, they extrapolated to institutional and social contexts and found use for grading the environmental performance of schools, the marketing success of horticultural produce, and the sustainability of cities. The author even discovered a surprising horizon for the method by applying it to assessing the quality of life after retirement. The method responds directly to claims of [17] who dismisses multiple-choice questions and formal final exams in the learning context as inadequate. He predicts, "We are on the brink of a future where university assessment follows a set of pre-established algorithms, and thus students will reclaim assessment as a learning tool." [18, 19] advocate similar procedures. Instead of algorithms, they use the term scoring rubrics to refer to a set of requirements for each intellectual task. The grade is simply the fraction of rubrics met by the candidate.

In his teaching activities, this author abandoned the classical final exam routine 30 years ago and began working with the score sheet method, which he considers the algorithm or scoring rubric that students and professionals can use for self-evaluation of their work. The evaluation at school mimics the evaluation of professionals at work. It is progressive over fixed time spans. The grades for all individual tasks accumulate during those time spans, such that a person knows his or her total grade at any moment. There is no need for one final task to evaluate the person's performance. Summing up, the method of objective progressive evaluation through scoring rubrics consists of the following steps. Decide which activity or task to evaluate. Define the target in terms of the maximum degree of excellence expected. Compose a set of rubrics or requirements that lead to excellence, the more the better. This set is the score sheet. Obtain agreement on the score sheet from all stakeholders, evaluators and evaluated. Apply the score sheet to assess the quality of each task or activity by dividing the number of requirements fulfilled by the total number in the set. This assessment may be iterative in order to improve the result of a specific task before release. It may also be repetitive in order to determine progress over time in a specific activity. It is proactive because as a learning tool it inspires people to meet their intellectual potential. Organizations pursue exactly this value: inspire their members to meet their intellectual potential for the benefit of the organization. How do they determine whether this value is in fact operational? They use score sheets.

#### **4. Results**

The method follows this author's conviction that it is easier to define perfection or excellence, than it is to define quality. Consequently, the first step always is to define excellence for any activity or task on the horizon. The second step is to provide the metrics for fractional approximation of excellence and thus measure quality as the fraction of excellence achieved [20]. With this philosophy in mind, the author developed score sheets (or metrics or scoring rubrics) for diverse situations, tested them through evaluations of performance, and improved them where necessary. The situations covered so far follow below. The score sheets are dynamic in the sense that any person, judge or performer, may adapt them to his or her specific application by modifying the list of metrics.

#### **4.1. Technical reports**

or she rewrites the essay and submits it again until satisfied [16]. The first score sheets developed and discussed here refer to typical activities of the learning context where they measure communication skills, namely, technical reports, general written assignments (essays) of students, oral presentations, and teacher performance. With time and experience, they extrapolated to institutional and social contexts and found use for grading the environmental performance of schools, the marketing success of horticultural produce, and the sustainability of cities. The author even discovered a surprising horizon for the method by applying it to assessing the quality of life after retirement. The method responds directly to claims of [17] who dismisses multiple-choice questions and formal final exams in the learning context as inadequate. He predicts, "We are on the brink of a future where university assessment follows a set of pre-established algorithms, and thus students will reclaim assessment as a learning tool." [18, 19] advocate similar procedures. Instead of algorithms, they use the term scoring rubrics to refer to a set of requirements for each

In his teaching activities, this author abandoned the classical final exam routine 30 years ago and began working with the score sheet method, which he considers the algorithm or scoring rubric that students and professionals can use for self-evaluation of their work. The evaluation at school mimics the evaluation of professionals at work. It is progressive over fixed time spans. The grades for all individual tasks accumulate during those time spans, such that a person knows his or her total grade at any moment. There is no need for one final task to evaluate the person's performance. Summing up, the method of objective progressive evaluation through scoring rubrics consists of the following steps. Decide which activity or task to evaluate. Define the target in terms of the maximum degree of excellence expected. Compose a set of rubrics or requirements that lead to excellence, the more the better. This set is the score sheet. Obtain agreement on the score sheet from all stakeholders, evaluators and evaluated. Apply the score sheet to assess the quality of each task or activity by dividing the number of requirements fulfilled by the total number in the set. This assessment may be iterative in order to improve the result of a specific task before release. It may also be repetitive in order to determine progress over time in a specific activity. It is proactive because as a learning tool it inspires people to meet their intellectual potential. Organizations pursue exactly this value: inspire their members to meet their intellectual potential for the benefit of the organization. How do they determine whether this value is in fact operational? They use score sheets.

The method follows this author's conviction that it is easier to define perfection or excellence, than it is to define quality. Consequently, the first step always is to define excellence for any activity or task on the horizon. The second step is to provide the metrics for fractional approximation of excellence and thus measure quality as the fraction of excellence achieved [20]. With this philosophy in mind, the author developed score sheets (or metrics or scoring rubrics) for diverse situations, tested them through evaluations of performance, and improved them where necessary. The situations covered so far follow below. The score sheets are dynamic in the sense that any person, judge or performer, may adapt them to his or her specific application by

intellectual task. The grade is simply the fraction of rubrics met by the candidate.

66 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

**4. Results**

modifying the list of metrics.

The necessity of a technical report arises in diverse working environments, such as industry, research, schooling, and consulting. Reports may contain text, figures, calculations, appendices, and nomenclature. The author's score sheet applies specifically to the university context where students have to prepare reports for term projects or laboratory experiments. It seeks to attend to the following teaching philosophy. Report writing is part of engineering apprenticeship. An engineer communicates his or her work performance through technical reports. In the industrial context, the engineer's scale of values asks for excellent reports. In the university context, the teacher coaches students in report writing. The evaluation of reports is objective and repeatable (a report receives the same mark today or next month from any grader). Flawless composition is as important as flawless calculations. The score sheet with explanations of use and a sample numerical result is available from [21].

It contains six sections with varying numbers of rubrics as follows:


Each section receives a fractional or percentage grade according to the number of rubrics attended, and the total grade is the average of all six fractions or percentages. The section on work efficiency is specific to the learning environment. It is probably redundant in a professional context. It serves the author to transmit to students the understanding that meeting deadlines is an intrinsic part of professional work. Every time he or she misses a deadline, a performer accumulates a negative concept in his or her job evaluation program. The score sheet under consideration mimics this fact. If he or she delivers the report on an arbitrary date, he or she accumulates zeros on the first four rubrics and only starts punctuating on the fifth one.

In addition, the grader may establish a cutoff mark necessary for acceptance. He or she then returns the report for rewriting if it falls short of the cutoff mark. In the teaching context, this is a powerful stimulation. It tells the student: You can do much better, please do. The section on work efficiency addresses this procedure in items 6 and 7. If the report is not accepted for grading after two trials, item 6 is zeroed out. There are a few specific items in the score sheet that lead to instantaneous rejection of the report, and the performer has no choice but to agree. Examples: The handwriting is illegible or the typing is negligent. Coverage of subject matter is below 60%. There are errors of arithmetic. More than 5% of the sentences contain infractions of grammar. This refers to the author's specific application. Any person or organization can adapt the sheet to their needs by modifying the rubrics. As a result, the score sheet objectively defines the expectations placed on written reports in diverse contexts. There are no surprises. There are no opinions. There are only fractions, precise fractions. Newcomers simply receive the score sheet and study it. They soon learn how to iterate. There is no need for indoctrination.

#### **4.2. Essays**

The requirement of writing an essay is omnipresent in daily professional life. It goes all the way from expressing a point of view to written exams of any kind. In every case, the essay is a professional communication tool. The author needed a score sheet for grading essays handed in by graduate students as part of a course requirement. He found the answer in the Brazilian National High School Examination run by the Ministry of Education. Various authors have reproduced and commented on the grading scheme for the essays applied in those exams [22, 23]. From the former reference, the author extracted the essence of the grading scheme, modified it to suit his context, transformed it into a score sheet, and translated it [24]. The idea of the evaluation is to break it down into five expectations of proficiency that, respectively, refer to the following aspects:


For each proficiency, the score sheet provides five possible choices of grade according to the degree of attainment of excellence. The second proficiency serves as illustration.

Proficiency 2—Comprehension of the scope of the proposed title.

Grade 0—Does not comprehend or attend to the given title.

Grade 1—Develops the topic tangentially. The text presents some characteristics of argumentation.

Grade 2—Develops the topic reasonably from considerations of common sense and with references to the title.

Grade 3—Develops the topic well with predictable arguments and indications of authorship.

Grade 4—Develops the topic very well with a personal and productive text and good argumentations.

The sum of the partial grades divided by a perfect total score delivers the quality of the essay in the form of a fraction or percentage. The perfect total score is 100% or 5 × 4 = 20. Experience shows that this method allows a grader to evaluate many essays within a reasonable time and arrive at reproducible grades. The rubrics are open to discussion and modification to suit specific applications. This score sheet is a learning tool. It allows students and professionals to adapt their style of writing to the demands of proficiency and iterate. As was the case with technical reports, the expectations are clear and do not hide surprises. There are fractions, precise fractions.

#### **4.3. Oral presentations**

There are no opinions. There are only fractions, precise fractions. Newcomers simply receive the score sheet and study it. They soon learn how to iterate. There is no need for indoctrination.

The requirement of writing an essay is omnipresent in daily professional life. It goes all the way from expressing a point of view to written exams of any kind. In every case, the essay is a professional communication tool. The author needed a score sheet for grading essays handed in by graduate students as part of a course requirement. He found the answer in the Brazilian National High School Examination run by the Ministry of Education. Various authors have reproduced and commented on the grading scheme for the essays applied in those exams [22, 23]. From the former reference, the author extracted the essence of the grading scheme, modified it to suit his context, transformed it into a score sheet, and translated it [24]. The idea of the evaluation is to break it down into five expectations of proficiency that,

• Selection and organization of information, facts, and opinions to support the argumentation

For each proficiency, the score sheet provides five possible choices of grade according to the

Grade 1—Develops the topic tangentially. The text presents some characteristics of

Grade 2—Develops the topic reasonably from considerations of common sense and with ref-

Grade 3—Develops the topic well with predictable arguments and indications of authorship. Grade 4—Develops the topic very well with a personal and productive text and good

The sum of the partial grades divided by a perfect total score delivers the quality of the essay in the form of a fraction or percentage. The perfect total score is 100% or 5 × 4 = 20. Experience shows that this method allows a grader to evaluate many essays within a reasonable time and arrive at reproducible grades. The rubrics are open to discussion and modification to suit specific applications. This score sheet is a learning tool. It allows students and professionals to adapt their style of writing to the demands of proficiency and iterate. As was the case with technical reports, the

expectations are clear and do not hide surprises. There are fractions, precise fractions.

degree of attainment of excellence. The second proficiency serves as illustration.

Proficiency 2—Comprehension of the scope of the proposed title.

Grade 0—Does not comprehend or attend to the given title.

**4.2. Essays**

argumentation.

erences to the title.

argumentations.

respectively, refer to the following aspects:

68 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

• Domination of the norms of the written language • Comprehension of the scope of the proposed title

• Mechanisms for the construction of arguments • Valid conclusions derived from the arguments

Very early in his career, this author perceived the need to prepare oral presentations of all kinds thoroughly. An audience does not forgive poor performance resulting from improvisation. Apart from general advice on visual aids and the speaker's behavior, the idea of grading comes into play again. What is the standard for an excellent presentation, and how close to the standard does any speaker get? How well does he or she communicate with the audience? The score sheet shown in Ref. [25] answers this question.

As was the case with written reports, it stimulates iteration. Practice runs are never graded, but in the public presentation, there is no room for excuses. The score sheet serves both the speaker and the grader. In the academic context, this author evaluates his students by their written and oral presentations. This means that they have to hand in a written project report and defend it orally in front of their peers. The score sheets guide them through those tasks, and they may practice as much as they please. Following the philosophy of teaching stated earlier, the peers do the grading on the score sheet supplied. It is a learning tool. There are no surprises and no opinions. In any organization, if achieving excellence were a value, the score sheet could provide guidance for preparing excellent presentations. It evaluates the three basic parts of the task, namely, content, preparation, and delivery.

The part on content expresses what the audience expects in terms of relevance, organization, and quality of argument. There are 15 requirements in this section. The section on preparation focuses on the use of allotted time, the quality of visual aids, and the physical infrastructure. It contains 17 requirements for meeting the standard. The way the speaker uses his or her time is the best clue to knowing whether he or she practiced the presentation prior to delivery. A speaker who asks the chairperson how much time is left, or who exceeds the time limit without noticing it, obviously has not prepared the presentation. The score on delivery grades the quality of discourse and the speaker's behavior. The standard for this section contains 13 requirements. The quality of discourse is another clue to detecting prior practice runs. In a practiced talk, there is fluent continuous speech without breaks or superfluous interjections. The total number of requirements is 45. The grader simply ticks off those that the speaker fulfills and divides them by 45 to produce the score, which represents the fractional attainment of excellence. This particular score sheet is universal. There is not much room for improvements or modifications. Ever since he created it, this author has become very critical of presentations he witnesses at scientific conferences. He mentally grades them, and the results are not always excellent. He himself has adopted the habit of iteration. He arrives at conferences with a high level of confidence, because he knows exactly what to say and stays exactly within the allotted speaking time. This is an invitation to the reader to follow similar procedures and increase his or her professional satisfaction. By way of an extreme situation that arose at a conference, here is what the author learned from the score sheet. Item III B 4 requires the speaker to be visible to all listeners. At the said conference, the speakers' podium was so high that they practically disappeared behind it. This author knew exactly what to do. He grabbed the microphone and stood beside the podium while speaking. The visual contact was excellent, and nobody objected. Why did none of the other speakers do this? They did not know about the score sheet, which provides a competitive advantage. Another trick is hidden in item III A 3, which requires the speaker's voice volume to be adequate for everybody to hear. The author has seen speakers who fail to speak into the microphone and have to be reminded of this by the chairperson, clearly a competitive disadvantage.

#### **4.4. Teacher performance**

This is a polemic subject. This author has encountered many methods of evaluating teachers in the university context. They go all the way from simply asking an opinion of students to checking the assiduity of the teacher. None of them is objective in terms of defining a performance standard and measuring the approach to it. Consequently, this author set out to prepare his own score sheet. It establishes a standard of excellence in terms of 44 requirements, subdivided into eight topics, which are explained in Ref. [26] as:


With this score sheet, the author has set his standard of excellence, which he strives to meet. It has been a valuable guide over many years of teaching. At the end of each course, all students answer the score sheet, and the teacher calculates his or her teaching quality by dividing the number of requirements fulfilled by 44. The rubrics are flexible. Any teacher may modify them to suit his or her personal ambition or the circumstances and context of the teaching activity. Although it is not its main purpose, the score sheet also allows the teacher to test the students. Here are some examples of lack of seriousness. A student who misses various classes is not in a position to rate the teacher's assiduity. If the teacher is convinced that he or she covered the program, there is no way to accept a zero mark from a student on that question. This author does not admit anonymity. Students have to identify themselves on the sheet in order to permit discussion. They fill in the sheet at the end of the term when they already know their marks. This avoids fear of reprehension. In terms of grading philosophy, this approach differs from that used in the references mentioned at the end of "Introduction." They measure the success of teaching indirectly by asking the students what they have learned and how they apply their knowledge. The teaching score sheet is a direct method. It establishes teaching procedures that induce relevant learning on the part of the students. Here are a few examples. In Section 1 on relevance, the first question is, "Were you stimulated to construct a scale of values for your life?" The fourth question is, "Did you learn how to argument objectively and defend convictions?" In Section 8 on creativeness, the second question is, "Were you stimulated to learn to think?" All those are desirable outcomes of the learning experience. The score sheet tells the teacher that he or she needs to meet them and thus anticipates the outcome. It is a proactive approach to teaching quality.

In this particular application, the assessment of quality forms a congruence of what the labor market expects, what the institution promises, and what the teacher delivers.

#### **4.5. Environmental performance of schools**

requires the speaker's voice volume to be adequate for everybody to hear. The author has seen speakers who fail to speak into the microphone and have to be reminded of this by the

This is a polemic subject. This author has encountered many methods of evaluating teachers in the university context. They go all the way from simply asking an opinion of students to checking the assiduity of the teacher. None of them is objective in terms of defining a performance standard and measuring the approach to it. Consequently, this author set out to prepare his own score sheet. It establishes a standard of excellence in terms of 44 requirements,

With this score sheet, the author has set his standard of excellence, which he strives to meet. It has been a valuable guide over many years of teaching. At the end of each course, all students answer the score sheet, and the teacher calculates his or her teaching quality by dividing the number of requirements fulfilled by 44. The rubrics are flexible. Any teacher may modify them to suit his or her personal ambition or the circumstances and context of the teaching activity. Although it is not its main purpose, the score sheet also allows the teacher to test the students. Here are some examples of lack of seriousness. A student who misses various classes is not in a position to rate the teacher's assiduity. If the teacher is convinced that he or she covered the program, there is no way to accept a zero mark from a student on that question. This author does not admit anonymity. Students have to identify themselves on the sheet in order to permit discussion. They fill in the sheet at the end of the term when they already know their marks. This avoids fear of reprehension. In terms of grading philosophy, this approach differs from that used in the references mentioned at the end of "Introduction." They measure the success of teaching indirectly by asking the students what they have learned and how they apply their knowledge. The teaching score sheet is a direct method. It establishes teaching procedures that induce relevant learning on the part of the students. Here are a few examples. In Section 1 on relevance, the first question is, "Were you stimulated to construct a scale of values for your life?" The fourth question is, "Did you learn how to argument objectively and defend convictions?" In Section 8 on creativeness,

chairperson, clearly a competitive disadvantage.

70 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

subdivided into eight topics, which are explained in Ref. [26] as:

**4.4. Teacher performance**

• Relevance (8 rubrics)

• Pertinence (5 rubrics)

• Availability (4 rubrics)

• Effectiveness (8 rubrics)

• Efficiency (5 rubrics)

• Didactics (6 rubrics)

• Creativity (4 rubrics)

• Use of teaching aids (4 rubrics)

Metrics for school performance are usually limited to academic achievement. In an attempt to extend the scope of the evaluation, the author worked with several schools on environmental impacts. Schools exert impacts on the municipal infrastructure, but they remain hidden. Staff and students are not conscious of them and, thus, do not consider measuring or analyzing them. The author's research with the schools discovered a surprising number of impacts and engaged the communities in measuring them. The list contains the following items: solid waste production and separation, water consumption, sewage production, energy consumption, noise levels, permeable soil areas, food consumption, traffic density at the gate, and rain-harvesting possibilities. The research divided the list into positive and negative impacts. Positive impacts aspire to a maximum. Negative impacts aspire to a minimum. Waste sorting and rain harvesting produce positive impacts. Energy consumption and traffic density produce negative impacts. Ref. [27] contains the complete evaluation.

The procedure for developing the score sheet is as follows. The community measures all impacts and produces a list. This list will contain many different units, such as kg/day, liters/ person, kwh/month, square meters, and number of vehicles. In order to provide a meaningful basis for the impacts in different schools with different populations, it is convenient to state all measurements on a "per person" basis. In order to allow for comparisons, the concept of fractions comes in. The team establishes a target for each impact and finds the fraction of success by dividing the measurement by the target. The target represents the state of excellence. The fraction represents the approach. The average of all fractions defines the performance index. The following example illustrates:

	- **a.** Solid waste sorting ratio 0.413 sorted waste/total waste
	- **b.** Solid waste production 0.113 kg/(person×day)
	- **c.** Energy consumption 0.679 kWh/(person×day)
	- **d.** Water consumption 50 l/(person×day)
	- **e.** Highest existing noise 65 db
	- **a.** Solid waste sorting ratio 0.670 sorted waste/total waste
	- **b.** Solid waste production 0.100 kg/(person×day)
	- **a.** Solid waste sorting index 0.413/0.670 = 0.616
	- **b.** Waste production index 0.100/0.113 = 0.885
	- **c.** Energy consumption index 0.550/0.679 = 0.810
	- **d.** Water consumption index 40/50 = 0.800
	- **e.** Noise index 55/65 = 0.846
	- **f.** Overall performance index 3.957/5 = 0.791

The targets may be fixed or mobile. The city administration can fix a target. The school community can agree on a voluntary target to test its ambitions of performance. This would be a mobile target, subject to periodic revision. In any case, the performance index shows the community the result of its efforts. The procedure serves two purposes. It allows for comparisons and competition with other schools, and it allows any school community to compete with itself by watching its performance index. The items pertaining to the performance index represent the score sheet. The index is a fraction of excellence or success. It is a learning tool. It inspires the community, especially the students, to take interest in their environmental impacts. The score sheet is objective. There are no surprises. There are fractions, precise fractions. It is proactive. It inquires students how to lower their noise level and their water consumption. The community experiences satisfaction when it increases its performance index. The involvement creates a sense of pertinence. Students become proud of "their" school. There is congruence of individual and organizational values.

#### **4.6. Marketing of horticultural produce**

As a further extrapolation of the score sheet method, this research developed a scoring guide that can assist commercial establishments and households in evaluating and mitigating the loss potential for fruit and vegetables within their operations. The scoring model separately addresses losses related to products and losses related to establishments. The score for the products evaluates the activities of classification, packaging, transport, and storage. A graphical representation shows the empirical relationship between the scores and the expected losses of produce. A perfect score of 40 (4 × 10) implies zero loss [28, 29]. The following example illustrates the scoring procedure for the classification step.

Classification is the activity of sorting produce according to the four parameters: variety, size, color, and appearance. Scoring is as follows:

• 10 points—The produce displayed for sale shows all the characteristics of complete classification according to the four parameters indicated above, and the activity is executed by trained personnel or by shop owners.


**c.** Energy consumption 0.550 kWh/(person×day)

**a.** Solid waste sorting index 0.413/0.670 = 0.616 **b.** Waste production index 0.100/0.113 = 0.885

**c.** Energy consumption index 0.550/0.679 = 0.810

**d.** Water consumption index 40/50 = 0.800

**f.** Overall performance index 3.957/5 = 0.791

There is congruence of individual and organizational values.

ple illustrates the scoring procedure for the classification step.

**4.6. Marketing of horticultural produce**

color, and appearance. Scoring is as follows:

trained personnel or by shop owners.

The targets may be fixed or mobile. The city administration can fix a target. The school community can agree on a voluntary target to test its ambitions of performance. This would be a mobile target, subject to periodic revision. In any case, the performance index shows the community the result of its efforts. The procedure serves two purposes. It allows for comparisons and competition with other schools, and it allows any school community to compete with itself by watching its performance index. The items pertaining to the performance index represent the score sheet. The index is a fraction of excellence or success. It is a learning tool. It inspires the community, especially the students, to take interest in their environmental impacts. The score sheet is objective. There are no surprises. There are fractions, precise fractions. It is proactive. It inquires students how to lower their noise level and their water consumption. The community experiences satisfaction when it increases its performance index. The involvement creates a sense of pertinence. Students become proud of "their" school.

As a further extrapolation of the score sheet method, this research developed a scoring guide that can assist commercial establishments and households in evaluating and mitigating the loss potential for fruit and vegetables within their operations. The scoring model separately addresses losses related to products and losses related to establishments. The score for the products evaluates the activities of classification, packaging, transport, and storage. A graphical representation shows the empirical relationship between the scores and the expected losses of produce. A perfect score of 40 (4 × 10) implies zero loss [28, 29]. The following exam-

Classification is the activity of sorting produce according to the four parameters: variety, size,

• 10 points—The produce displayed for sale shows all the characteristics of complete classification according to the four parameters indicated above, and the activity is executed by

**d.** Water consumption 40 l/(person×day)

**3.** Present environmental performance index:

**e.** Highest existing noise 55 db

72 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

**e.** Noise index 55/65 = 0.846

The score for the establishments assigns values to the management functions of maintenance of premises, professional qualifications of personnel, quality demands on suppliers, purchase programming, and direct supervision of operations. A graphical representation shows the empirical relationship between the scores and the expected losses of produce. A perfect score of 10 (5 × 10/5) implies zero loss. The score sheet pinpoints the weak components in the system and thus assists in correcting them. The following example illustrates the scoring procedure for the maintenance rubric.

Maintenance of premises. This item refers to the conditions of hygiene and to the attractiveness of the space used to store and display the produce:


This example applies directly to commercial organizations and storeowners, who pursue as a value to suffer zero losses of produce in their operations. The score sheets help them measure the success. There is congruence if all employees subscribe to this same value and behave accordingly.

#### **4.7. Urban sustainability**

This is the most ambitious application of the score sheet method tackled so far. Up to now, sustainable growth or development has not been uniquely quantified for municipalities. They have remained abstract terms that do not help individual citizens or organized society to set goals for their environmental behavior and contribution. A review paper by [30] relates 411 urban sustainability indicators, grouped into the dimensions of society, environment, economy, and institution. There is a unit of measurement for each indicator, but there is no target value for calculating the fractional approach. The authors admit that the selection of indicators is subjective and recommend the use of "widely recognized indicators" for local applications. They present the pressure-state-response (PSR) concept as most adequate for identifying a situation of strong urban sustainability.

This author's study [31] precedes that of [30] by 11 years, but their review does not cite it. It discusses the establishment of quantitative and widely recognized indicators of sustainability for the conception of long-term municipal policies concerning the environment. The set contains all components of the PSR system on a modest scale. The pressure component is present in the form of demands for public transportation and waste management. The state component is present in the form of passenger satisfaction and waste collection. The response component is present in the form of expedience of travel and performing educational institutions. The sustainability indicators are quantified to a reasonable extent and relate to timeframes of 8 years for acceptance and two generations for targeting. In this context, urban sustainable development represents a series of provisions originating from public administration and organized society that will move all the indicators of a given unsustainable city as close as possible to the expected targets within the chosen timeframe. As always, the success of approach is the fraction of the present value divided by the target or standard. The following list of 12 basic municipal sustainability indicators defines the scope:


The standard aim is the satisfaction of all 12 demands. For each demand, the measurement divided by the target supplies the approach.

As an example, the measurement of progress for liquid effluent handling is as follows:


The success fraction tells the stakeholders what has been achieved and what remains to be done. The numbers are plain and clear. They induce planning of actions for advancement.

The procedure illustrates the philosophy behind the score sheet method. It suggests to municipal administrations what to measure and how to document progress. It follows the idea that sustainable development is a process, not an outcome.

#### **4.8. Life quality at old age**

This author's study [31] precedes that of [30] by 11 years, but their review does not cite it. It discusses the establishment of quantitative and widely recognized indicators of sustainability for the conception of long-term municipal policies concerning the environment. The set contains all components of the PSR system on a modest scale. The pressure component is present in the form of demands for public transportation and waste management. The state component is present in the form of passenger satisfaction and waste collection. The response component is present in the form of expedience of travel and performing educational institutions. The sustainability indicators are quantified to a reasonable extent and relate to timeframes of 8 years for acceptance and two generations for targeting. In this context, urban sustainable development represents a series of provisions originating from public administration and organized society that will move all the indicators of a given unsustainable city as close as possible to the expected targets within the chosen timeframe. As always, the success of approach is the fraction of the present value divided by the target or standard. The following

list of 12 basic municipal sustainability indicators defines the scope:

• The public education system reports high teacher and student satisfaction.

The standard aim is the satisfaction of all 12 demands. For each demand, the measurement

As an example, the measurement of progress for liquid effluent handling is as follows:

**Indicator Present value (%) Target (%) Fractional approach**

Fraction treated 60 100 60/100 Collection network 78 100 78/100 Storm water separation 50 100 50/100 Industrial self-treatment 70 100 70/100 Average success fraction 64.5/100

• Existence of a high-quality public transportation system.

• Landfill diversion of solid waste in excess of 70%.

• Fresh water demand is monitored and controlled.

• Public health care is accessible and of high quality.

• Energy supply and demand are monitored and controlled.

• Citizens are socially and politically active.

• Rivers and creeks are under official protection.

divided by the target supplies the approach.

• Existence of public recreation areas.

• Population growth is under control.

74 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

• All liquid effluents are treated.

• Air quality is monitored.

This is the latest entry into the list of score sheets. The author constructed it from his own experience and input from others. There are 13 succinct recommendations for a healthy life at old age [32].

The idea is to tick off the recommendations accepted and practiced and divide their number by 13 to know the score. It works. It is the secret of the author's permanent good spirits. His score is constant over time at 100%. This particular sheet illustrates the universality of the method. The most unexpected situations qualify for measurement.

#### **5. Discussion**

The eight score sheets presented here transmit the general philosophy behind the method. They illustrate the definition of excellence for various daily activities in terms of a list of requirements or expectations. The lists are open-ended. Every person or organization may select the requirements for excellence according to their own ambitions. The common point resides in the measurement of success in the quest for achieving excellence. The lists are objective and quantitative. The number of requirements met divided by the total always produces a fraction, which expresses the approach to excellence. The term excellence in this context reflects the realization of a person's own potential. In the case of competition with others, where an outside entity establishes the targets, the terms standard and perfection are more appropriate. In any case, the score sheet method is a pragmatic guide for any person or organization to define their targets and measure their success. Improved performance leads to improved satisfaction. The score sheet is a simple grading system for evaluating the performance of others as well as for self-evaluation. Once all stakeholders agree on the targets and rubrics, everybody can mentally grade the performance at all stages, identify faults, and correct them. In any organization, expectations of individual performance are congruent with existing collective performance. The score sheets both measure and verify this congruence. As an example, the exercise of fairness may be a value within an organization. It is impossible to measure fairness directly, but if a unique score sheet grades the performance of all employees in a specific task, there is no room for opinions or subjective evaluations. Fairness is guaranteed.

Especially in the case of individual assignments, such as oral presentations or reports, excellence requires communication skills that are acquired by training. The method invites iteration. Every performer guards his or her secret. He or she does not tell the audience or the grader how many times he or she practiced at home. The audience only acknowledges the perfect presentation.

The author has successfully extrapolated the method from individual assignments to the performance of communities or organizations. This confirms the relevance of the grading philosophy behind the method, namely, that excellence and quality may be measured as the achieved fractions of a standard or target. The examples presented refer to environmental performance of schools and cities and to the marketing performance of vegetable dealers. The score sheets presented for those applications derive from this author's specific experience and research. They are open to discussion by the respective organizations.

In the case of schools, the score sheets are learning tools. They induce the communities to perform and interpret measurements. This is essentially an extracurricular activity, but nothing prevents the school administrations from using the practical experience within the course syllabus of certain subjects. The score sheets represent a language by which schools may communicate with each other and compare their respective performances. Students and staff develop their individual values from the set of rubrics they established for defining the values pursued by the school.

In the case of horticultural produce, the score sheets are guides for all stakeholders, be they wholesalers, retailers, or households. The graphical representations of the collected data clearly show the obvious target for all operations, namely, full marks corresponding to zero losses. The rubrics are simple requirements that allow the stakeholders to check their performance constantly. In the case of urban sustainability, the score sheets represent policy targets for municipal administrations. As the timeframes considered in the example exceed the tenure periods of elected officials, the challenge consists of creating permanent policies and procedures for the achievement of sustainability. The rubrics selected to measure progress toward sustainability are the most obvious items to the pragmatic beholder. Some of them require further refinement in any specific context in order to target the progress in time by means of numbers. As a city is a much larger community than a school or a horticultural supply chain, progress on the score sheets involves a tremendous effort of communication. This is the most demanding outcome of the grading system. The city administration needs to provide information and instructions to the population on how to reach the target. Here are some examples. What do all stakeholders have to do in order to achieve 70% landfill diversion of solid waste? What do all stakeholders have to do in order to maintain water consumption within the limits of supply? Simply telling citizens to separate their waste at the source and to reduce their water consumption will not suffice. The score sheet implicitly obliges the administration to establish procedures, communicate them, verify the compliance, inform unconformities, improve operations, communicate progress, and constantly disseminate information about the approach to the target. The challenge consists of reaching congruence of the citizens' behavior and the administrative expectations. Admittedly, in this case, the score sheet is only the start of the procedure. The execution is beyond the scope of this communication. This application of the fractional grading system is the most optimistic and far-reaching outcome of the score sheet method. Only practical experience will judge its effectiveness.

#### **6. Conclusions**

The study presented score sheets for eight different individual or collective technical activities. The philosophy behind the score sheets states that individuals or groups define a standard for the quality of their performance. Then, they describe the standard in terms of a set of requirements. This set is the score sheet. It allows for peer evaluation and self-evaluation of an activity. Grading proceeds by determining the fraction of requirements fulfilled and is objective and reproducible. The score sheet exists prior to the execution of any activity and thus induces iteration until the performance becomes satisfactory. Any individual or group can adapt the method to any professional activity by selecting the pertinent requirements to fulfill their standard of excellence. The method is a reliable guide to satisfactory professional performance. The participation of individual members of an organization in the definition of the collective performance standard produces the required congruence for success. The author invites readers to apply the method to activities of their daily professional life and thus multiply the examples described in this communication. The particular application to urban sustainability is a futuristic step that represents the next challenge to this research. It pretends to test its relevance on a larger scale.

#### **Acknowledgements**

The author has successfully extrapolated the method from individual assignments to the performance of communities or organizations. This confirms the relevance of the grading philosophy behind the method, namely, that excellence and quality may be measured as the achieved fractions of a standard or target. The examples presented refer to environmental performance of schools and cities and to the marketing performance of vegetable dealers. The score sheets presented for those applications derive from this author's specific experience and

In the case of schools, the score sheets are learning tools. They induce the communities to perform and interpret measurements. This is essentially an extracurricular activity, but nothing prevents the school administrations from using the practical experience within the course syllabus of certain subjects. The score sheets represent a language by which schools may communicate with each other and compare their respective performances. Students and staff develop their individual values from the set of rubrics they established for defining the values pursued by the school. In the case of horticultural produce, the score sheets are guides for all stakeholders, be they wholesalers, retailers, or households. The graphical representations of the collected data clearly show the obvious target for all operations, namely, full marks corresponding to zero losses. The rubrics are simple requirements that allow the stakeholders to check their performance constantly. In the case of urban sustainability, the score sheets represent policy targets for municipal administrations. As the timeframes considered in the example exceed the tenure periods of elected officials, the challenge consists of creating permanent policies and procedures for the achievement of sustainability. The rubrics selected to measure progress toward sustainability are the most obvious items to the pragmatic beholder. Some of them require further refinement in any specific context in order to target the progress in time by means of numbers. As a city is a much larger community than a school or a horticultural supply chain, progress on the score sheets involves a tremendous effort of communication. This is the most demanding outcome of the grading system. The city administration needs to provide information and instructions to the population on how to reach the target. Here are some examples. What do all stakeholders have to do in order to achieve 70% landfill diversion of solid waste? What do all stakeholders have to do in order to maintain water consumption within the limits of supply? Simply telling citizens to separate their waste at the source and to reduce their water consumption will not suffice. The score sheet implicitly obliges the administration to establish procedures, communicate them, verify the compliance, inform unconformities, improve operations, communicate progress, and constantly disseminate information about the approach to the target. The challenge consists of reaching congruence of the citizens' behavior and the administrative expectations. Admittedly, in this case, the score sheet is only the start of the procedure. The execution is beyond the scope of this communication. This application of the fractional grading system is the most optimistic and far-reaching outcome

research. They are open to discussion by the respective organizations.

76 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

of the score sheet method. Only practical experience will judge its effectiveness.

The study presented score sheets for eight different individual or collective technical activities. The philosophy behind the score sheets states that individuals or groups define a standard for the

**6. Conclusions**

The research leading to this chapter received support from the Brazilian National Research Council CNPq through grant 303480/2013-0PQ.

### **Author details**

Manfred Fehr Address all correspondence to: prosec22@yahoo.com Federal University, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

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80 Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

load pdf", Accessed: 16 November 2016]

com.br/agescore.pdf [Accessed: 24 November 2016]

### *Edited by Jolita Vveinhardt*

Perceived importance of personal and organizational values congruence in the management of organizations have actualized this phenomenon in both theory and practice. Researchers continuously show positive impact of personal and organizational values congruence on employees' behavior, attitudes, organizational climate and organizational performance. Management of organizations are also seeking to apply the solutions to eliminate the gap between organizational and employees' values. However, arising scientific and practical problems requires to purify the factors that determine values congruence. This challenges for a search of complex and consistent understanding of this phenomenon: from theory to practice. This book aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the personal and organizational values congruence phenomenon, featuring the most important critical issues regarding the exposure, diagnosis and strengthening of congruence of personal and organizational values.

Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values

Congruence of Personal and

Organizational Values

*Edited by Jolita Vveinhardt*

Photo by Murat Göçmen / iStock