Organization values: positive, ambivalent and negative interrelations in work organizations

The espousal of organization values with an expectation of primarily positive consequences in leadership, employee performance and organization change has often been recognised as overly simplistic, but giving a more complete and critical account of the interrelations between values and behaviour has proven challenging. This paper describes a balanced and integrated Positive, Ambivalent and Negative (PAN) approach. The use of this PAN approach in the case of a healthcare organization is described. Evidence is given from a survey of 96 staff perceptions of their current organization values, staff evaluations of their colleagues’ demonstration of the organization’s espoused values, and content analysis of 35 ‘memorable moments’ regarding what staff had experienced. Using the PAN framework in this case suggests a picture of staff reporting experiences as respectively 50-30-20 positive, ambivalent and negative across. The implications of this for leadership, employee performance and organizational change are discussed.