Values in action: a review, a case and a research agenda

Organisation values are a well established feature of many organisations. The main theoretical focus for values work has been through Person-Organisation (P-O) fit theory. We believe that it is necessary to study Values in Action (VIA) more broadly, not solely to frame and enable an analysis of P-O fit. There are two key questions about VIA that are asked and explored in this paper. First, why is there apparently a greater and more prominent focus on values, and subsequently VIA, in work organisations? Second, what are the research agenda and challenges of mapping and measuring VIA in work organisations? The latter question is explored here both by presenting a case study of a practical investigation into VIA in a hospital, and by considering the literature on the methods available for studying organisation values. The evolution to prominence of VIA can be explained as part of the evolution of management control in changing work organisations, designed to sustain traditional relations in employment. Alternatively the evolution to prominence of VIA may be understood as embodying the opposite, a change and a shift to heterarchical rather than hierarchical relations, principles and modes of organisation. The methodological challenges of measuring VIA in work organisations are also split between those who advocate the adoption of standard factor analysis and on the other hand those who advocate an appreciative inquiry approach.