What Are Organizational Values? how Can it Impact Your Business Strategy

by Srikant Chellappa Jun 8,2024
Engagedly
PODCAST

The People Strategy Leaders Podcast

with Srikant Chellappa, CEO

Building a business and nurturing a motivated workforce in alignment with your company’s principles can be both gratifying and challenging. The use of values as a crucial guiding lens is instrumental in steering sustainable growth. It’s vital to acknowledge that an organization’s values permeate every facet, influencing operations, decision-making, and interactions with both clients and employees.

The significance of organizational values cannot be overstated, as they profoundly shape internal strategies and policies. Aligning goal-setting, strategic thinking, and daily planning with these foundational principles establishes a robust framework for the organization’s growth and development.

What are Organizational Values?

Organizational values are the beliefs that provide an organization with direction and purpose. These values can be described as a company’s character that makes it stand out from the competition. They convey the organization’s perspective and core principles to all its stakeholders.

An organization’s values ought to be real and specific to the business. They should make what the business expects of the employees obvious and serve as a guide for making decisions.

Equality, loyalty, integrity, respect, innovation, teamwork, and efficiency are examples of an organization’s values. For instance, if a company values and fosters accountability and openness, it will encourage employees to voice their complaints and concerns without worrying about the consequences.

What Is the Purpose of Organisational Values?

Organizational values act like a compass that guides how a company operates, both internally and externally. Think of them as the foundation of a building—everything from the culture to the decisions and behaviors of the people inside rests on these values. They provide a clear sense of identity and direction for both employees and customers.

For example, let’s say a company has values like integrity and customer-first mindset. If an employee faces a challenging situation, like handling a difficult client or a potential ethical dilemma, they know they should act with honesty and always prioritize the customer’s needs. These values give them clarity on how to respond, even when things are tough.

Consider how companies like Apple emphasize innovation as a core value. This pushes everyone, from product designers to engineers, to constantly think outside the box and strive to create groundbreaking products. It’s the reason why people associate Apple with cutting-edge technology—they’ve built their entire brand around this value.

Apple

On the flip side, when values are unclear or don’t align with a company’s actions, things can go wrong. If a company claims to prioritize sustainability but regularly cuts corners in eco-friendly practices, employees and customers start to lose trust.

So, values aren’t just words on a wall—they guide decisions, shape culture, and build trust, both inside the company and with the outside world. They make sure everyone is rowing in the same direction.

Impact of Organizational Values on the Business

The impact of organizational values on a business is profound and far-reaching. Organizational values serve as the guiding principles that shape a company’s culture, decision-making processes, and overall operational framework. 

These values extend their influence to every facet of the business, from internal interactions among employees to external engagements with clients, business partners, and suppliers. A company’s commitment to values like collaboration, integrity, and respect significantly influences its ability to attract top-tier talent. 

Moreover, in an era where ethical considerations hold increasing importance, customers are more inclined to support and associate with businesses that demonstrate a steadfast commitment to strong moral principles in their operations. Therefore, the careful cultivation and alignment of organizational values play a pivotal role in steering the trajectory of a business toward sustainable growth and success.

The following section highlights the far-reaching impact of organizational values on business.

1. Creates a Positive Work Environment

Employees are more likely to cooperate and take initiative in a positive work environment. A positive culture encourages unconventional thinking and is responsive to fresh perspectives, which boosts innovation and creativity. Such an environment also encourages the development of unique products and services and improves problem-solving.

Employees who work in environments that foster motivation and commitment also tend to be more productive. They are willing to go above and beyond to work hard for the firm’s success.

2. Helps Retain Employees

Your organization’s culture plays a crucial role in shaping values, attitudes, expectations, and communication styles. It deeply influences how employees perceive your business, making it vital to recognize and understand its impact. By leveraging this knowledge, you can enhance retention, attract new talent, and create an exceptional team experience. Let’s explore the power of organizational culture and how it can unlock success for your business.

The organizational culture has a profound impact on team members’ problem-solving, interpersonal interactions, and role-playing styles. Whether by design or not, culture inevitably exists and wields significant influence over an employee’s decision to remain with your company. Given this, it is vital to maintain a conscious awareness of your current workplace culture and actively shape it to enhance employee retention, foster success, and cultivate happiness. 

Also read: Why Your Business Needs This Foolproof “Talent Retention Strategy”

3. Enhances Decision-Making

Organizational values have a significant impact on decision-making. A company’s core beliefs become the standard for analyzing decisions and actions when precisely defined and embedded in the organizational culture. Decision-makers refer to these values to help them make decisions that align with the company’s guiding principles, vision, and long-term objectives. It helps maintain consistency in words and actions, enhance brand credibility, and meet stakeholder expectations.

Organizational values serve as a guide for navigating moral dilemmas, making tough decisions, and overcoming challenges. These decisions distinguish a business from the competition and unveil untapped growth opportunities.

Measures Organizational Success

Strong workplace cultures, transparent communication, effective management, dependable succession planning, and abundant growth opportunities contribute to organizational effectiveness. All stakeholders should inherit these values to ensure the organization’s success.

Also read: Importance of Goal Setting for Employees

4. Boosts Internal Communication 

There is more to internal communication than merely providing your staff with news and updates. It’s also an effective way to raise employee engagement, morale, retention, and performance.

To foster an engaged and connected workforce, it is crucial to avoid one-sided communication with your employees. Instead, encourage open dialogue and feedback among both you and your staff. Actively seek their thoughts, ideas, and concerns while attentively addressing their needs and expectations. Promptly responding to their input will demonstrate your dedication to creating a culture of engagement and collaboration.

5. Enhanced Trust and Credibility

Trust and credibility are prerequisites for cooperation, communication, and performance in any organization. Regardless of your role—leader, team player, consultant, or partner—you must establish and maintain credibility and trust with your coworkers, clients, and partners by showcasing your dependability, expertise, honesty, and empathy. Organizational values act as a beacon of credibility in any organizational decision.

Maintaining consistency and transparency in your words, deeds, and expectations is one of the finest strategies to gain people’s confidence and trust.

This includes keeping your end of the bargain, producing high-caliber work, disseminating pertinent data, and owning up to your mistakes. It also entails defining your objectives clearly and coordinating your roles, duties, and goals with the mission and core values of the company.

Examples of Organizational Values

Many organizations uphold strong organizational values and play a pivotal role in shaping a workplace culture that fosters employee engagement, innovation, and long-term success. Let’s look at some organizations setting examples of organizational values and their contributions to developing business strategy.

1. Microsoft

Microsoft is known for its innovative and customer-focused culture and is a global leader in technology. Despite being a massive organization with multiple business streams and communities to oversee, Microsoft maintains a firm set of principles.

Microsoft’s three core values are:

  • Respect: We recognize that the viewpoints, feelings, and backgrounds of others are equally as valuable as our own.
  • Integrity: We are reliable, moral, and truthful.
  • Accountability: We accept complete responsibility for our decisions, deeds, and results.

2. Tata Group

Improving the community’s quality of life is one of the Tata Group’s key value systems. The following five basic values are considered important by the group.

  • Integrity: In all of our business operations, we must conduct ourselves in an honest, ethical, and open manner.
  • Understanding: We must treat all our customers and coworkers with kindness, respect, compassion, and humanity.
  • Excellence: We must always strive for the highest standards and levels of reliability in the goods and services we provide.
  • Unity: We must work with one another, as well as our clients and international partners.
  • Responsibility: Respect for the countries, communities, and environments we work in must remain a priority.

3. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola, one of the largest corporations globally, exemplifies its commitment to its ideals through various initiatives. These include promoting gender diversity, implementing human rights policies, and fostering supplier diversity. By championing these efforts, Coca-Cola showcases its dedication to creating a positive impact in the world.

Its list of key principles includes:

  • Leadership – Have the courage to create a better tomorrow.
  • Collaboration – Use collective intelligence.
  • Integrity – Be authentic & honest.
  • Accountability – Being accountable for our wrongdoings.
  • Diversity – Be equally open to everybody.
  • Quality – We are good at what we do.

How To Develop Your Organisational Values

1. Involve Leadership and Employees

Start by getting input from both leadership and employees. Imagine you’re running a tech startup. The leadership team might value innovation, but when you talk to employees, they also emphasize collaboration as crucial. Combining these perspectives ensures the values reflect the whole organization.

2. Identify Core Principles

Next, identify the core beliefs that drive your company. For this tech startup, key principles could include customer-first, innovation, and collaboration. These are the pillars of how the company operates and delivers its products.

3. Prioritize What Matters Most

Now, focus on narrowing the list to values that are essential to your company’s identity. After some discussion, you decide that customer-first and innovation are top priorities, with collaboration supporting both. These values will be at the heart of everything your startup does.

4. Define Values with Actionable Behaviors

Clarify what each value looks like in practice. For example, customer-first means always offering responsive support and continuously improving the user experience. Innovation might mean encouraging employees to take risks and experiment with new ideas without fear of failure.

5. Align Values with Company Goals

Ensure your values align with your long-term goals. For your startup, the goal is to be a leader in tech innovation. So, innovation as a core value means constantly developing cutting-edge features that set your product apart in the market. The value of customer-first will guide your strategy to build strong, loyal customer relationships as you grow.

6. Communicate and Embed the Values

Once the values are clear, communicate them throughout the company. Integrate them into onboarding and daily practices. For example, you could host regular brainstorming sessions to encourage innovation, and recognize teams that exemplify customer-first by solving client problems quickly and effectively.

7. Revisit and Adapt Over Time

As your startup grows, revisit your values to ensure they still fit. Perhaps in five years, as the company scales, you might add scalability or sustainability as values that reflect new priorities.

Summing Up

Organizational values play a crucial part in business strategy. Organizations must have a strong value system consistent with their business strategy to achieve long-term success. Businesses that uphold their core principles create a harmonious workplace where employees are motivated, engaged, and committed to safeguarding these objectives.

By understanding the framework of organizational values, businesses can create a strong, value-driven culture that gives them a competitive edge in the competitive marketplace.

Building a thriving, collaborative workplace requires strong organizational principles. This is where Engagedly can be helpful to your organization. Our holistic talent management platform helps reinforce your company’s values by assuring openness, collaboration, and efficiency. Book a personalized demo to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How frequently should corporate values be revised?

Corporate values should be reviewed every two to three years, but more frequent assessments are warranted in the face of significant internal or external changes impacting the company’s mission, culture, or strategic direction.

Q2. How do you incorporate company values into routine procedures?

Integrate company values into routine procedures by embedding them in training programs, performance evaluations, and daily decision-making processes. Regularly communicate and reinforce these values through team meetings and leadership examples to ensure they become an integral part of the organizational culture.

Q3. What advantages do organizational values offer a company?

Organizational values provide numerous advantages to a company. They serve as a guiding framework for decision-making, fostering a cohesive and unified culture. Clear values enhance employee morale, engagement, and satisfaction, contributing to a positive workplace environment.

Author
Srikant Chellappa
CEO & Co-Founder of Engagedly

Srikant Chellappa is the Co-Founder and CEO at Engagedly and is a passionate entrepreneur and people leader. He is an author, producer/director of 6 feature films, a music album with his band Manchester Underground, and is the host of The People Strategy Leaders Podcast. He is currently working on his next book, Ikigai at the Workplace, which is slated for release in the fall of 2024.

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