Gran Center Granollers: a genuine case of Management by Values
Summary
This article explains the bases of the Management by Values and describes a case where the bases of the organizational success of a paradigmatic association of merchants are shown, where from the post-conventional leadership and the Management by Values surprising results are achieved not only for the merchants, but also for the entire social environment of influence.
The article we present represents an exercise in reflection for all those managers who wish to go further. We propose a reflection on your leadership and on how great results can be obtained from everyday life and enthusiasm.
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
(Eleanor Roosevelt)
Theoretical framework
In this tough era of capitalism and exacerbated competition we live in, it seems the most reasonable thing for companies to spend practically most of their efforts trying to increase their profits. And you will say, is this not lawful? What other mission could a business have? But… are there other forms of action that are not focused on economic benefits and that add value to both the company and its collaborators and its customers? Are there more ethical and balanced ways of managing business?
As we will see in this article, there are other ways of managing companies that are not only more ethical, but also achieve greater results, both economic and social. In the following pages, we will discover the foundations of a new way of leading and present a case that will lead us to reflect on what are the true foundations of success.
But to explain it, let us start with a simple question: Is breathing our reason for being, is it what gives our life meaning, is it our ultimate goal? Of course not. There are much more interesting and fun things to guide our energy and that are not exactly breathing. However, if we don't breathe we die. (Salvador García).
In the same way, earning money is not the absolute purpose of a human being, not even of an organization, which, as its name indicates, is nothing more than "organizing people". If anything, more than an end, it is the beginning, necessary for living, like breathing, and also a means that will allow us to enjoy what really gives meaning to our existence as an organization.
Thus, what really moves people and organizations will have to be found in something more complex than money, in values. (Figure 1)
The knowledge that values are guiding elements of human behavior dates back to the ancient Greek civilization. For them, the word axios, from where the word axiology or study of values comes, meant guide, axis around which things revolve, and also weight, worth of a good, which is estimated, desirable or worthy of being honored.. For the value understood as bravery they had reserved the term andros. On the other hand, value also means the moral quality that must be had to overcome the fear of facing large companies and being able to undertake them.
From this much more humanistic and Organizational Development (DO) approach, a new strategic leadership tool appeared in 1997, the Management by Values (Managing by Values), with two simultaneous publications, one in Spain (García, S. and Dolan, S. “Management by Values.” Ed. McGraw-Hill) and the other in the United States (Blanchard, K. and O'Connor, M. “Management by Values.” Management 2000).
Values Management aims to introduce the person dimension into managerial thinking, not only formally, but in daily practice. It focuses on configuring companies that integrate, therefore, human capital in its entirety: both its rational and emotional dimensions. We could say that it is a global framework from which to redesign an organizational culture that generates adherence, commitment and enthusiasm, since it is from the emotional connection through values such as trust or creativity that professional performance reaches its highest quality. Thus, the Management by Values represents a proposal for evolution from a conventional organizational culture of values of orientation to control towards a new culture of development values. (Figure 2)
Therefore, the Securities Department makes full sense in two mutually complementary situations:
- When it is necessary to generate creativity and share knowledge to survive and prosper, both at the beginning of a business project and at its moment of maturity, when things are going reasonably well but the organization must be revitalized if it is not desired that it should go into decline. When there is a post-conventional leadership that understands the person as a center or even as an end (humanistic), optimistic and with democratic values. Management by Values then appears as a very useful dialogue tool to go beyond what the leader himself with his example and his direct interaction can achieve, especially in large organizations.
Pere Duran Farell comments in his book Personal communication (1992) “… It is therefore necessary to think of a new type of company delivered to a new type of sensitive man and in responsible freedom; that is, with maximum creative potential, because there is no creativity without freedom, and that due to his sensitivity, this type of man feels the need to firmly promote moral, cultural, ethical and aesthetic values in the personal and social sphere, of so that these values converge and do not diverge with the admirable material development of our time. ”
The key to this management style lies, therefore, in the manager. A leader who, more than ever, must know how to inspire his own.
As the professor at the University of Navarra Alejo José G. Sison argues, a manager, basically, has two options: the first is to trust his charisma, rhetoric and persuasive power; the other, of its integrity, integrity or strength of character and, ultimately, of its “moral capital” (Ciulla, 1996; Solomon, 1996). One person can exercise leadership in either of two ways, however, while the former takes effect through cunning or deception, the other depends on practical wisdom. One is "manipulative" and considers efficiency as the main thing ("the end justifies the means"), the other part of ethics and moral conscience in the face of achieving any worthwhile goal.
It is in this second case when we can speak of post-conventional leadership, which is characterized, as proposed by the evolutionary psychologist Lorenz Kohlberg, for having a moral conscience that goes beyond the current convention and norms. (Table 1)
The leaders of the new times, those who inspire their teams from enthusiasm and commitment, are therefore post-conventional leaders, entrepreneurs with values that contribute with their ideals to forge the new Sensitive Capitalism (Table 2): sensitive to money but equally sensitive to people. In the words of the English consultancy Margaret Young, “people often try to live their lives in reverse; they try to have more things or more money, to be able to do what they want and to be happy. But in reality the thing goes the opposite; first we have to be who we really are, then do what we have to do in order to have what we want. ”
"The post-conventional leader thinks and acts in a transformative way, beyond what is considered habitual in his reference groups, and he does it according to his own moral conscience based on cosmopolitan beliefs and values of an ethical, practical and poetic type" (Salvador García) (Table 3), going beyond what is established as a spearhead, even despite the anxiety generated by the uncertainty of traveling on new roads never walked before. (TABLE 4)
Based on this inspiring and transforming leadership, it is when we will be able to legitimize and solidly base the remaining stages of the implementation of the Directorate for Values (Figure 3), stages on which we will base ourselves for the exposition of the Gran Center Granollers case.
" The secret for Values Management to work is to do what we all believe in, and believe in what we do." (Blanchard and O'Connor)
The organization will then have to define its vision (where are we going?) And its mission (reason for being or what for?), Which we have already seen must not necessarily be considered from purely economic factors.
“ In a company that really runs by values, there is only one boss: the company's values.” (Blanchard and O'Connor)
But what gives credibility to the Values Department is the clarity and consensus with which its values are defined, through a process that must be participatory, not from the top, so that these can really be the values that guide the conduct.
“ True success does not come from proclaiming our values, but from putting them into practice consistently every day.” (Blanchard and O'Connor)
But above all, the guarantee of continuity of the Directorate for Values comes from a coherent implementation aligned with the chosen values.
And therein lies perhaps the greatest difficulty of the Directorate for Values, because acting in accordance with what we proclaim is not just another program, it is a way of living, it is a journey that has no end. A journey like the one that Gran Center Granollers started in 1994 and that turns the underlying idea of Management by Values into reality: when people align around shared values and unite with a common goal, ordinary people achieve extraordinary results.
The Case of the Gran Center Granollers Association
Gran Center Granollers (GCG), the association of merchants in the central area of Granollers, is one of those atypical vital nuclei that resist the onslaught of economic conventionalism and that are organized, administered and, ultimately, live, according to their own beliefs, based on contribution and social participation.
GCG started its associative activity project in 1994, when after a meeting of merchants, they understood that it was not enough to individually improve their businesses trying to increase their daily cash flow, but that collective measures were necessary to face the new commercial forms and change of customs that was taking place among his clients. They started from the basis that the competition was not in neighboring stores, but in large, impersonal and distant commercial chains, which directed their energy to their own profit, often to the detriment of the social environment in which they were located. Thus, they began to build the project of an association that would add value to the city's commerce, for the city and its citizens. Far from applying a standard management model, GCG reinvented itself,it made itself through a direction and a development based on integrity, creativity, coherence, enthusiasm and enthusiasm, because as Amadeu Barbany Grau, its president, declares, "with enthusiasm and desire everything is possible". In this way, GCG began a successful implementation of Management by Values.
Inspiring Post-Conventional Leadership
The GCG founding assembly took place on June 14, 1995, called by the 50 founding members. Until then, in Granollers there had been the “Unió de Botiguers” which had been a typical merchants association, based on the belief that it more important was to promote the economic growth of the member establishments. And it is in this new associative project when the personality of a man, Amadeu Barbany Grau, stands out, who joins the project and provides him with the energy necessary to carry out a company of these characteristics.
Amadeu Barbany started from values far removed from the traditional approach of the “Unió de Botiguers”, even being the representative of the fourth generation of his family business, or perhaps because of it. He had always believed that great achievements could be achieved from citizenship and social proactivity, and he saw through this association the opportunity to achieve a mutual benefit between the city and commerce.
Vision and Mission Illusion Formulation
In this way, Amadeu Barbany knew how to transmit to GCG's management team the energy and desire to work on a different project, full of social value, capable of committing efforts beyond the desire to achieve economic benefits for the business itself.
Vision: To be a strong and influential association of merchants, guided by the values of contribution, participation and trust, with the triad as its axis: city, culture and commerce.
Mission: Contribute to the cultural, social and economic development of the city and its businesses, creating positive synergies between business and city from active social commitment.
Participatory Securities Distillate
" It is not directed at people, it is directed at people." (Ken Blanchard)
After the founding assembly, the team of the Board of Directors began to meet in order to agree on values and strategies. So the Board began to work together from practically the most absolute consensus, since shared values were the key to decision-making. As Amadeu Barbany says, “the secret of GCG is the human team”, a responsible human team, committed and enthusiastic about the associative project that they carry out.
Structures and Spaces, People Policy, Technologies and Processes. Ethical and Participatory Action
GCG's strategy leaves nothing to chance, it is well defined and oriented towards achieving its objectives. His actions are certain targets that achieve results because they are based on work done with enthusiasm. An enthusiasm that does not remain in empty words and in good wishes, but in a coherent way with its communicational discourse, drives GCG towards success through each of its initiatives.
Initiatives
“ Yesterday is just a dream, and tomorrow is just a vision. If you live well today you will make yesterday a happy dream and tomorrow a vision of hope. ” (Anonymous)
GCG has always opted for the creation of multiple initiatives that enhance interpersonal relationships, cooperation and solidarity. The financing of all its activities is borne by the monthly fees contributed by the associates, as well as by the sponsors, advertising, institutional subsidies and the resources generated by their own means of payment. Some of them have been:
- City
“ Recovering the city for people ”: The idea was to recover the city for the people who live in it, pedestrianizing the streets (currently more than 5 linear kilometers), but not only on working days, which would be typical of an initiative promoted by merchants, but also on Sundays and holidays, when establishments are closed. The initiative was so successful that it generated countless of them always with the aim of promoting the enjoyment of the living and dynamic space that is the city.
“ Here you have a friend ”: It is an initiative whose objective is to humanize businesses by paying more attention to children and their needs. The establishment that shows the distinctive feature of this initiative, the drawing of a doll, must commit to things as simple and humane as: giving a child a glass of water, letting him pass to go to the bathroom or offering some kind of comfort for him.
- Culture
“ El Ágora ”: The city is open to culture and freedom of expression. Every Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m., in front of 12 chairs fitted out for that matter, anyone can be on the platform to present their ideas.
“ L'auca del senyor Esteve ”: Every year the theater group “Quatre per Quatre” and “La Compañía Gran Center” (formed by members of the Board of Directors, associates and dependents), unite to represent “L'auca del Sennyor Esteve ”, a work that talks about the world of commerce with a paradoxical approach, since it presents a self-critical vision of the performance of the merchant in society.
- Commerce
Own payment method: The GCG credit card, consistent with the philosophy of the association, is different and unique, since it contributes to the city with each purchase made. It is also free, it allows you to have free parking, points to redeem for tickets to shows, among other advantages.
Certificate of citizen quality: Accreditation that guarantees that every establishment that has it is part of the community and takes care of it. This initiative has wanted to extend to all of Catalonia, for which reason the GCG management has met with the Very Honorable President of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol and other relevant political figures.
Periodic Audit
GCG is actively involved in reviewing the coherence of its actions and those of its associates, audits are carried out annually and if an establishment committed to any initiative does not comply with its obligations, the identification that shows the citizen that the trade is removed is adhered to this initiative.
Results
The key to success is making dreams come true.
GCG's activity is validated in its results, which show that it works and works very well, achieving the objectives set for its three axes: city, culture and commerce.
Some indicators of the success obtained are:
- Prizes and recognitions for his work: Prize of the Generalitat de Catalunya for the Best Commercial Initiative in 1998, Prize of the Ministry of Economy and Finance: National Prize for Internal Commerce for Small Commerce (Madrid 1999), among others. More than 12,000 holders of the purchase card for clients. Illustrious visitors interested in their work: Every month GCG receives visitors from different parts of the world interested in its project and in knowing the keys to its success. Increase in commercial activity: According to POEC data (study of the Granollers City Council), currently more than 90% of the citizens of Granollers decide to buy in their city instead of going to other traditionally preferred towns.
As we can see from all that is stated in this article, Management by Values is an effective strategic leadership tool, which when carried out correctly and sincerely, allows a qualitative leap that was previously unthinkable.
In our case, the key to the success of Gran Center Granollers derives from impeccable, value-based, solid and meaningful management. A direction carried out by a motivational and enthusiastic post-conventional leader. With a team committed to the mission of the organization and its values and that, from the day-to-day actions, is capable of achieving great results.
Because, ultimately, the foundations of organizational success lie in people, in the value of their leaders, and it is not so much the complexity of the model that makes its application difficult, but…
" The Value of Having Courage to Lead by Values " (Salvador García).
Bibliography
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