Values, Behavior and Strategy

If an organisation is a collection of individuals then how individuals behave would influence the organisations behaviour or culture. Individual behaviour can have a profound impact on organisation behaviour when the lndivudals are in leadership positions. Behaviour is a response to a situation or scenario which is more of biology, which means a response to any situation or problem is hardwired in the brain. The response is generated by active learning and by altering perceptions. Is it therefore possible to predict how an organisation would behave by analysing the behaviour of its leaders?

In an organisation like Apple of Microsoft, Steve jobs or Bill gates influence organisations behaviour. If the organisations don’t have a iconic leader then the collective behaviours of the leadership team would influence the way the organisation behaves. Studies have revealed that any organisation absorbs some of the behaviours of the founders and imbibes it as part of its culture. The HP way, P&G’s focus are some examples. However, organisations cannot succed if the employees don’t behave the organisation wants or expects them to behave. Should companies then focus on behaviour manangement to align its work force?

Behaviour is a response to a scenario at that point in time, given the circumstances. If the response is from an individual we call it behaviour and if it’s the response from an organisation can we then call it strategy? If you have answered no to question on managing individual behaviour, would you say no to organisational behaviour too? Is strategy therefore a response to a stimulus than a well thought out process? Isnt that HR?

There is no dispute that an individuals core values influence their behaviour. Extending the same thought process, does an organisations value system reflect part or the collective value systems of the leaders? If it does, then isnt it more important to look at value more seriously than giving it a fleeting attention?

I wonder how many organisations out there would really be able to say that their organsiations values are a,b,c. I can bet that many organisations would come up with honesty, integrity, customer focus as part of their value sets.. Give me a break, if you are not honest, have no integrity, will your business sustain for long and if you decide not to focus on customers can you afford to survive?

What connects individuals and organisation is not at the behavioral level but is more fundamental and is value driven. Increasingly employees are happy to work with organisations that tend to give back to the community. Its rather unfortunate that individuals or organisations cannot identify and articulate their core values that manifests as thought and behaviour. Values could be at the individual level , social level or societal level. Individual value is about core values that govern individuals, Social value is the value that influences relationships and Societal value influences societal relationship.

Value alignment results in employee engagement. Value alignment ensures cohesive transition in an organisation. Value alignment can improve customer focus, act with integrity, honesty. Value alignment – would that be the new mantra?