How similarities in values help through organisational change.
Alignment of Values
It has been said that values represent the life goals we desire and serve as our guiding principles by which we prioritise our actions.
Whenever employees perceive that their own values align with those of their organisation, positive, work related outcomes can be expected. This is also true for factors affecting positive organisational change implementations. For example, it has been found that values congruence (VC) affects trust and the quality of communication within an organisation. These two factors, in turn, result in higher levels of job satisfaction, organisational identification, and retention of staff.
As the focus of this text is on organisational change, I will introduce some relevant findings relating to this subject, for example, VC has been found to reduce resistance to change and to have a positive effect on change participants reactions to change, such as behavioural support and employee acceptance of change, as well as change related job satisfaction.
Interestingly, VC can occur at different levels of the organisation and result in different outcomes at each level. VC can be between the employee and the work-group, or the supervisor, or the organisation, and is normally measured from a subjective view, meaning that it is the individuals perception of similarities, rather than the actual alignment, that matters most.
How does an alignment of values help through Change?
One important outcome of perceived VC is the development of trust in an organisation, because a similarity in values also suggests a similarity in motivational goals – or in other words – everyone is trying to achieve the same thing. Such pre-existing trust is especially important when an upcoming change is first announced. This is because change is difficult for everyone, but if one trusts their supervisor and organisation that a change is necessary, then employees are more willing to embrace this action. Amazingly, some research has found that up to half of the trust of an employee in his or her organisation can be explained by the employees’ belief that their values align with those of the organisation.
Another important outcome is that the quality of communication is perceived to be much higher in an environment where people’s values align. If one is motivated by a particular set of values then others with similar values will more easily understand the language used to talk about the change. Shared values help employees to understand the importance of events, and how to describe, classify, and understand change procedures. This is especially significant in light of a large number of investigations where the findings supported the vital importance of the change communication for the successful outcome of organisational transformations.
How does this look in practice?
In particular trust, as well as good communication, helps change recipients to develop important, change related beliefs in the necessity for the organisation to change, that they have the required skills to perform the future tasks, and that there will be beneficial outcomes associated with the change. Such beliefs are an important part in the formation of employees’ acceptance of change, and with this, a reduction in their pre-disposed resistance to anything that disturbs their daily routines.
This suggests that VC with the organisation should be considered when planning an organisational change strategy. As values-congruence has a number of positive effects, it should be treated as an important change antecedent and measured prior to planning change. The levels of VC present can give a good indication about the levels of trust in an organisation. This is important to know for the change agent as trust reduces employee anxiety about change.
Change related communication should include messages that point out the values of the organisation where there is the most alignment with the people. As it is clear that people’s values-congruence with their organisation can change, particularly during organisational transformations, it is advisable for change leaders to incorporate a picture of a desirable values future for their organisation in their change messages.
This is especially true in situations in which there is little values alignment, because, as people who feel intended organisational values after a change would be congruent with their own values are more likely to display increased commitment and enthusiasm. In addition, human resource managers should target new employees whose values are congruent with the “future” organisation’s values. Such a strategy, when combined with an internal socialisation strategy that is designed to align existing employees’ values, is likely to result in positive organisational change outcomes.
In sum, change leaders need to understand values-congruence before planning change and to take appropriate measures to remedy misalignments if they occur.