Some reflections, evaluations and comments are made about the importance of an organization's own culture, its influence on business values and its close relationship with business results, as well as the influence on the creation of a favorable work climate that contribute positively to the achievement of the objectives.
culture-business-values-and-changeA series of values defined as desirable for any entity are stated and commented; Also, the undesirable values that can seriously undermine the good development and operation of a company, the achievement of its objectives and its social impact. The impact of such concepts is emphasized in what is currently the most precious value for any organization: human resources, and how their education, training, interpersonal relationships, ability to work as a team, creating a favorable climate for development of its activities based on respect, friendship, recognition of its merits and results, constitute the main source of present and future competition for any company; also,it is commented how the emergence of certain attitudes can contribute to the development of undesirable values that can destroy the positive social values achieved by Humanity, as well as resistance to change with the consequent negative attitudes that can be a serious obstacle to the reach of such perishables values. Finally, some criteria emerged from the author's practical experience.
INTRODUCTION
In acting with different personalities from different countries, with different companies, companies, corporations, associations, giving conferences, forming work teams, participating and leading projects, in events, sharing criteria, applying theories, living, learning from all those who surrounding, I have been able to appreciate that it is a common interest of all these personalities and, in particular, of the highest management of all these entities, to establish a culture protected by certain values that can contribute efficiently and effectively to the successful development of the organization that represent or have created.
This corporate culture must be logically based on certain human values that will be reflected, in one way or another, in the way the organization is projected, as well as oriented in the culture and values of those who represent it, starting from the most elementary of the principles that a company exists, only and only, because the men that make it up exist and it is the living reflection of those men.
The concept of culture is used more and more frequently and, in some way, it seems a rather intuitive concept, but nevertheless it is difficult to define and understand in its entirety and, at the same time, it is a key concept in the processes of innovation within an organization and in the management of any change that it needs to face.
As a result of the foregoing, companies worldwide experience interesting moments once they have already understood, apparently definitively, that it is precisely their human resources, their culture and their values that are the most valuable and, at the same time, the most important link of the entire chain to face the dynamic changes to which the market and the conditions of the environment oblige; changes, leading to constant business redesigns.
Frequently, the changing environment and the challenges that companies face, leads to the need for them to implement structural changes that allow an adequate response to the demands of that environment, which with increasing insistence, they enunciate in terms of Cultural Change, that is, the necessary change in behavior of all people in the company in relation to the market and the new circumstances of social development.
In this sense, many entrepreneurs have been forced to reorganize their companies so that they can respond in a more dynamic way to this situation, and allow them to face the constant changes they are facing faster and less traumatic.
However, it is also of transcendental importance to understand that redesigning an organization is not only creating a new functional structure, it is much more than that, it is changing the mindset of managers and human resources, in accordance with its objectives, mission and vision, it is create certain and new values that correspond to the demands of the moment. Creating a new structure can be a matter of weeks, but creating the desired positive values can take even years.
Many authors have argued that future organizations will be those that are best prepared for their human resources, that are most open to change and the assimilation of new technologies, knowledge, and those that have been able to create and develop new ways of positively influencing their lives, thereby improving their perception of life satisfaction, their ability to adapt, their vision of the future, their ability to project themselves from the present to the future, their commitment to all the processes of the organization, their ability to communicate and face teamwork, to interact, to participate and learn from those around them, to apply what they learn for the benefit of the organization, making this a dynamic process, away from formalities and routine and,very especially, their ability to get involved, rather than commit, in all the activities that the organization develops, starting from the one that they particularly carry out. Also, to the same extent that they are able to cultivate their relationships with customers and suppliers, fostering in them a sense of loyalty and making them feel like part of the company.
Based on the previous premises, the third version, which incorporates some comments from the author's personal experience, is proposed as objectives of the work, enunciating and commenting on the desirable business values that must be achieved by any organization that aspires to excellence. business, taking as a basis its business culture, which plays a relevant role and, at the same time, those social values that can become paradigms of Humanity; and the undesirable ones, those that harm and threaten the good development of any organization, as well as incorporate and briefly comment on resistance to change and various attitudes that arise as a consequence of it.
I. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURE AND BUSINESS VALUES
To initiate any kind of reasoning about business values, one might ask, What kind of values do we essentially want to form in our organization, what kind of culture.
The answer, by all accounts, seems very simple and straightforward, as it is precisely what should be reflected unequivocally and especially in any business leader regardless of their hierarchical level within an organization, since culture is what makes each unique organization, and this in general, is reflected in society through the day-to-day performance of its human resources, and, especially, through the behavior of its leaders.
Figure 1 summarizes the complex relationship between business values and the social and human value system.
Fig. 1. Relationship between the value system and business culture.
We would like all human beings to have a simple universal answer to the question posed above, but unfortunately there is not.
If such an approach is accepted, it is easy to understand the importance that it should have for any organization, and especially for those that have focused their attention basically on the international market, given the influence on their level of relationships, coordination, business and practical actions., which will be carried out in multiple and diverse scenarios, orderly dispose of their own business culture, their own business value system, which respect, activate, confirm and solidify the system of social and human values that constitute universal paradigms based on respect for individual, solidarity, self-denial and sacrifice, brotherhood and loyalty to friendship.
Figure 2 schematically represents the process of formation of business values, based on the culture and values that characterize each society.
The culture includes elements as everyday as the way in which decisions are made, the flow of communication, leadership styles, accepted values, the degree of definition of norms and flexibility in their application, the relationships between directors and collaborators, the predisposition to take risks and accept mistakes, the initiative and demonstrated innovation and others, that is, culture is what is "breathed" in an organization, what transmits the behaviors of all the people who make up the company.
Fig. 2. Sequence of formation of the business value system.
Some examples of cultures can be:
• Customer oriented versus product oriented.
• Open and cooperative in the face of the culture of not sharing information.
• Delegation in the face of concentration of power.
• Flexible in standards versus relentless in them.
• Staff versus bureaucratic.
• Innovative versus "static".
• Committed staff vs. non-committed staff.
But beyond the definition of culture and the elements that compose it, what is really key is understanding its importance and its impact on the company's income statement, fundamentally through two basic aspects in it:
1. Change processes, more and more frequent in the current environment since culture is a key element for the management of organizational change.
2. Competitiveness related to people in the organization as there are inherently cultural models that make organizations more competitive than others.
In this way, it is clear that knowing the nature of the culture itself, the behaviors and values by which the people who constitute the company are governed, as well as the mechanisms that set in motion their peculiar way of being, are posed as a question necessary to promote any process of change and innovation in the company.
Although there are as many culture models as there are authors, reference is made below to the one defined by Roger Harrison (Harvard Business Review), which defines four types of cultural orientations based on the objectives pursued by the company and the values associated with each of them., which will give rise to specific cultural guidelines. In this model, four profiles of organizations are defined according to their culture:
a. Power-oriented organizations, whose objective is competitiveness in which the values associated with this orientation will be all those that reinforce the positions of power within it, those that favor centralized decision-making and control over people.
b. Standards-oriented organizations whose goal is security and stability. Complying strictly with the norm, assuring responsibilities and observing the strict order in the procedures will be the values associated with this type of orientation.
c. Results-oriented organizations, identified with the objectives of efficiency and optimization of resources. The company structure, functions and activities are all valued in terms of their contribution to the objective.
d. People-oriented organizations. Its objective is the development and satisfaction of its members. It will therefore be associated with values related to personal fulfillment.
Very important elements that condition the culture of an organization are the level of competitiveness in the sector, degree of technical complexity of the products, levels of market saturation, consumption patterns, the profile of competitors, geographic coverage, its way of penetrating the market, its relationships with customers, competitors and stakeholders, among other important elements.
When it is necessary to travel to other countries and carry out some professional work, it is important to take into account cultural diversity, which will allow us to understand that values may differ from ours because they take their form and substance from many and diverse sources, to name a few.: of the real business in which the contacted organization may be, what it does, what its stated interests are, and in a very special way, the non-stated ones; from the realm of metaphors, the team or person contacted, who he is and what he really does within the organization, independently and unlike who he claims to be and what he says to do; of the political and social ideals of the homeland of the company or person contacted, whether they protect jobs and the individual or free markets; of individual beliefs, habits, customs,interests, religions, beliefs, emotions, feelings and sensations perceived by the members of the company and people contacted.
These sources are so diverse, and mixed so differently in different organizations and countries, that it can be useless to expect that a single statement of values can group the different manifestations of all organizations.
All in all, I have observed through my personal appreciation in various projects and countries that there are notable similarities in the values and behaviors that their diverse cultures promote. Synthetically such an idea can also be understood through figure 2 shown above.
Business values, derived from the culture that characterizes an organization, can be grouped into two main strands: desirable and undesirable values, which are briefly explained below.
II. DESIRABLE VALUES
As mentioned in Fig. 2, a possible division of business values, only as a logical and coherent way of conducting the analysis, could be generally and simplified in terms of work values and human virtues; This division, which will obviously denote the close relationship between them and their biunivocal correspondence.
WORKING VALUES. These are particularly appropriate for the environment in which you work, for the trade and the way of doing it.
1. Always perform at the highest level of competence.
2. Take the initiative, foresee the risks, run with them and assume them.
3. Adapt to change with dynamism, own and team criteria.
4. Make decisions and collegiate them when necessary.
5. Work cooperatively, as teams, overcoming traditional concepts of group work.
6. Cultivate trust, friendship, sincerity, respect, intelligence, the ability to create, to innovate.
HUMAN VIRTUES. Fit for living and working fruitfully in a broader society. In fact, they constitute social values.
Be open, especially regarding information, knowledge and news of anticipated or current problems. Share them, communicate them, discuss them, in the best interest of the company.
Trust and be trustworthy.
Respect others, customers, suppliers, colleagues and collaborators at all levels and respect yourself.
Respond for our actions, accept the responsibility derived from them.
Judge and be judged, reward and be rewarded according to our own performance.
Do not seek your own advantage, above and to the detriment of the social benefit and the organization to which we owe our efforts.
Loyalty and respect towards the organization.
In my opinion, it is important to foster and promote these values in any company; but also, it is essential that we all be able to extend these actions to all the places where we represent our organization. That we be careful and able to avoid or diminish the harmful effects, occasionally inevitable, when we make some evaluations and comparisons, of such unpleasant climates associated with envy, discord, personal interests, resentment, deceit, manipulative behavior, selfish fears and even malevolence, so damaging to the progress of the company and the projects and ideals that it represents.
It is in these moments when the universal values formed and rooted in man have to enter into a relevant role, which under no circumstances should be separated or alien to the company culture: trust, transparency, sincerity, simplicity and modesty, respect and teamwork; If we do not do so, these social values will be purely personal and private and will not transcend it, with its corresponding negative impact on its development.
In short, it is necessary to develop capacities and styles, protected by practical methods and actions, that allow transmitting all the values stated not only to our human resources, but also to all our partners, clients (internal and external) and suppliers, who will arrive to understand them and respect us more, even when they may not share them in their entirety, with the consequent positive influence on the company we represent.
It should never be forgotten and under no circumstances that in any interaction with partners, customers, suppliers or any interested party in our company or project, we, the people, are the ones most responsible for transmitting the image of the organization; consequently, the criterion that will be had on it will be in the first and last instance that which on ourselves is concluded. Hence, the importance of our permanent performance, in any circumstance and in everything we do, not just the performance of a moment or an isolated performance.
III. UNDESIRABLE VALUES
The conduct of a company through different routes to those described will inevitably cause adverse effects to the creation of the desired culture and values, which we will hereinafter call undesirable values; These will be highly detrimental to the organization and naturally to the people who comprise it.
The consequences, also undesirable, will last for a long time in both the company and the people, causing equally undesirable results for a period of time difficult to determine, which will significantly deteriorate the image of the company, the trust that can be placed in the company. itself and the benefits that may derive from its management.
Among these many undesirable values, I will only stop to mention and briefly comment on some that, in my opinion, are closely linked to the management and leadership skills of those who are responsible for driving the destinies of a company. These are shown synthetically in Figure 3 and discussed below.
Fig. 3 Declaration of some undesirable values.
1. Only our friends are to be trusted. Employees tend to develop close ties with each other, but they will only be personal ties, based on momentary interests, be they business, personal, commercial, financial, economic; in short, non-collegial interests. They will have nothing to do with the work environment itself, only with their own protection in an atmosphere of total distrust and in a suspicious and very uncomfortable climate. In these circumstances, a kind of theft of ideas will begin to be created, and thieves will get promotions for something that they have not really done, beginning to generate among employees a feeling of injustice on the part of the administration, which, true or not, will attack his image and against the trust that is placed in it.
Consequently, new ideas do not flourish, the will to change, to innovate, to give optimum performance. This environment will motivate the so-called social virtues to be significantly affected and modified, if not for surreptitious purposes, which have nothing to do with the objectives of the company, much less with those of its best human resources.
2. Employees are a fixed expense, not an asset. Inadequate investment in learning, training and development, lack of promotion from within to senior management positions. Employees are trained in certain subjects and are subsequently placed in jobs that have nothing to do with what they were prepared for.
Not selecting the best prepared, but who best responds to certain and foreign predefined interests, for the development of certain functions, positions or responsibilities, is something really criticizable and even sanctioned for the most legitimate reason and honesty. Sometimes, the selection criteria is so alien to the ability, training, qualification and even proven experience of the selected, that it suggests the existence of a certain fatalism, handling, manipulation or discrimination towards those who deserved or should have been legitimately selected. This can become one of the most criticizable ways of converting an investment in training into a sensible expense for the company and, even more so, for society in general.Those who are responsible for this type of decision should be educationally notified or alerted, as they definitely call into question the goodness of the decision made, which will clearly be evident, the power and trust placed by their superiors to make the selection., demonstrating an absolute disregard for their social and business responsibility, and also for the human, economic and financial resources of the company that they intend and try to represent and that the community has placed in their hands.for the human, economic and financial resources of the company that it intends and tries to represent and that the community has placed in its hands.for the human, economic and financial resources of the company that it intends and tries to represent and that the community has placed in its hands.
Occasionally preparation can become a "problem". Employees are not treated with the respect they deserve based on their qualification, and although the verb recognizes its value and even the personal prestige derived from it, the actions do little to demonstrate their respect for the verb. In short, the verb and the action go in the angular directions of 1800.
This disrespectful treatment is one of the most devastating sins of the administration, turning the investment of overcoming into an expense, as already mentioned, when losing employees with pertinent and appropriate preparation for the development of their functions and replace them with less prepared ones. Its impact will be immediately reflected in a decrease in profits, in mediocre yields and contagious discouragement.
In many cases, the substitutes, in order to adequately assume their responsibilities, have to receive expensive periods of qualification and improvement, after which, and in many cases, they are not able to put it into social practice. In other cases, and perhaps the worst of all, they try to perform it with their limited knowledge, relying only on their own insufficient experience, falling into improvisations in an attempt to demonstrate that they are capable of doing so, without finally succeeding. On many occasions, the level of improvisation is such that the desired results cannot be achieved, which will inevitably be reflected in the company's expenses, even if these are never known or quantified in a conscious or unconscious way. These performances kill initiatives, creativity,the capacity for innovation, and attempt against any business strategy.
Employees need to know that their ideas will be listened to and that if they have merit they will be worked on. If they know, it is possible to mobilize individual creativity on a very broad and participatory scale.
3. Disagreement is detrimental. Disagreement is always a risky issue, it creates conflict and it creates winners and losers; and losing is not always pleasant. It is not difficult to detect when we are in the presence of a company in which the disagreement is harmful and generates fears that slow development. Phrases as notable as: To thrive, accept; "The boss is always right"; ÓloOnly what the boss wants is achieved; "Arguing doesn't make sense"; Don't check yourself; "It is a great business to remain silent", "It is a great business to play dumb", or others such as: "Okay, don't agree with me"; "Stick to the consequences", "I am the boss" etc. This is disastrous for any company.A culture that suppresses disagreement is a culture doomed to stagnate and fail because change always begins with disagreement or dissatisfaction. José Martí said that "the only thing that is constant in life is change." This is dialectic, it is development.
4. Internal rivalries are healthy. This is a cultural assumption based on the old antagonistic ethic. There are too many defects to guarantee that it works under the current concepts of coexistence and business requirements.
The competitive spirit that it can generate internally can lead the company to foster a spirit of introspection so selfish that it can end up totally neglecting the real competition of the company, the commercial rivals. It can generate unwanted competition between the different departments and an attempt to attract to itself the attention, means and resources available that they need to compete, seriously interfering with the communication and necessary coordination between them, which should operate for the same purpose, guarantee the successful fulfillment of the company's objectives to achieve full customer satisfaction.
This could be allowed in a time of calm navigation, in a business with safe and unlimited markets and resources, which is not the case that concerns us today, and that will hardly be the case that will concern us tomorrow. In reality, we cannot afford to waste the energies and resources that internal rivalries consume, gossip, intrigue, ill-intentioned comments; in short, a whole series of uncomfortable situations that do not allow us to work or concentrate on fundamental activities. Competing for clients is already enough competition, and it requires all our tenacity, our intelligence, our coordinated and directed effort based on this objective.
5. Excellent performance is not the best value. The existence of this highly negative value is perceived when employees begin to create the conviction that what is important is not what is being done, but rather giving the impression that they are very busy. This feeling is generated by appreciating that what is most valued is the quantity of work, not its quality; In these circumstances there is a high tendency towards favoritism that becomes epidemic, phrases like "It is not what one does but for who does it" begin to flourish; "It doesn't matter what you do but the boss sanctifies it"; "Great, but what does the boss say?" This situation causes great emotional contamination that becomes confusion, frustration, mistrust, insecurity, low job returns, lack of initiative, creativity and sense of innovation.feelings all highly detrimental to the organization.
When excellent performance is not the best value in a company, the risk of creating a cult of mediocrity begins and, with it, the emergence and very active participation of certain elements that I have called myself "Great strategists".
These "great strategists" are those who, enlightened only by their present knowledge, or rather past, without a vision of the future, cannot do anything other than try to insert in the future a business structure and some knowledge, which respond only to the past / present, which is impossible dialectically. Without a doubt, they will lead to the organization and development of any project of the same to a resounding failure.
It is common, in most cases, that these "great strategists" are endowed with great formal authority and are not precisely characterized by their leadership; for the first, they come to impose their ideas and, for the second, in the medium and long term they will not be followed by the rest of the staff and failure will be certain.
Some of the distinctive characteristics of these “great strategists” and that must be taken into account when forming a work team within the company are, among others: analysis of current problems that require a vision of the future, with elements and past knowledge; they rely exclusively on their own insufficient experience which is "the best"; ignoring the conceptual development and the level of knowledge reached by humanity, they remove from their side those who may have a clear or at least deep and well-founded vision of the future, whom they consider "dreamers", "great theorists" and without "feet put on the ground ”, they do not evolve in their knowledge nor do they require training to know what“ today's methods and styles ”should be. In short, they know everything.
Their unperceived ignorance turns them into "risky" people who always show their willingness to face any activity regardless of its complexity, for which they do not consider that they need any type of updated training, education or improvement; Their knowledge is highly "elastic", since without updating or expanding them, they serve to resolve any situation, be it administrative, methodological, of scientific or technical direction or of any other nature.
Beware of these great strategists, since in many cases they tend to become “the person in charge”, and not in rare cases in charge of transcendental issues for a company. In many of these cases, you might wonder if you are the person who can really help, or someone whose name just happens to be in the appropriate box on the organizational chart.
This type of person with personal attributes so clear and easily distinguishable, must be quickly identified within any company to prevent them from being part of it or of a Team of any Project that is going to be undertaken, or in the worst case reaching relevant positions within it will surely lead to failure.
BEWARE !!!!: These types of people are very daring, they try to convince more with cunning than with knowledge, THEY DON'T KNOW THEY DON'T KNOW, they ignore the laws of knowledge and learning, they delegate to others their own RESPONSIBILITIES, they convince with facility to a very busy boss, for which they have great art and cunning. It is vitally important to identify and set them apart.
6. Customer support is incidental. This situation is, from the operational point of view, the one that can most lead to the ruin of a company, especially if the sentiment is generated from the initial stage, in which it is eagerly seeking a position in the market, potential customers, etc.. Organizations currently base their attention on customer satisfaction, develop their activities with a focus on the customer, the main reason for their existence, and through which they can generate their benefits and profits, which can later be reversed. based on the welfare and development of society, as another important reason for its existence. It is good to remember the sentence that without clients there is no company. And we refer here to the broader concept of customers.
Neglecting customer service, internal or external, however small it may seem, is making a major strategic mistake. If we add to this the existence of internal problems in the company, such as those already mentioned above, which receive a high degree of attention from those who run the company's destinies, and which cause the effect of turning everyone inward, towards themselves or towards their most immediate circle of friends or business partners, then, in turn, as an unavoidable consequence, will incidental customer service with a high probability of losing it, with its logical and dire consequences for the image of the organization and the detriment to your current and potential businesses.
How would it be possible to generate profits if customers are lost, if they do not trust our company, if they do not feel safe.
7. No correspondence between verb and action. The tendency to use confusing and occasionally demagogic language, foreign to business and business language and opposed to the desirable values to which we have referred, tends to create certain feelings of rejection among employees and collaborators, and to mark a certain distance towards those who use it; the divorce between the verb and the actions, asking others to do what we ourselves are not capable of doing, sets very negative guidelines that are reflected in all the activities of the organization, creating a climate of double performances or, as it is it tends to call more exactly, double standards, very harmful to the organization. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that what the bosses do not comply with will never be fulfilled by the subordinates.
We must always keep in mind the existence of the “criteria of the facts”:
If there is a written policy and it agrees with the facts, the written policy and also the organization gain credibility.
If politics says one thing and facts say another, what is believed is facts, politics loses credibility
8. Manipulation and deception. The human being is endowed with certain natural faculties that allow many people to guess immediately when another tries to manipulate it, "use it", regardless of even their intellectual level.
People, by their own nature, develop certain instincts and a particular sensitivity to immediately perceive such an unpleasant performance. Faced with such an attempt, an internal struggle arises between the formal and the essential; when formality expires, a kind of feeling is created that could be described as you use me and I use you, in which both parties try to find a balance in the performances, or worse still, to get the best part of the relationship emerged. In these cases, in most cases, a relationship is established that is very different from honest, transparent, clean and disinterested treatment, frank and friendly, which will negatively affect the performance of the parties, an essential element for the achievement of a healthy and friendly relationship for the benefit of the company; anyway,each one pursues something through their actions towards the other, not always consistent and often very alien to the interests and objectives of the company.
When the essentials expire, the situation tends to be more complex, since the party that is not willing to let itself be used, faces it decisively, creating a conflict relationship that is often not solvable between the parties; in general, the latter individual leaves the organization in an attempt to find more favorable conditions for the development of his activities. There are not a few cases in which those who act in this way tend to be honest people, professionally prepared, capable, sensitive, sincere, with great self-esteem and respect for themselves and those around them.
On other occasions, these people convinced that the institutions and their objectives are above these men and that good values are called to endure, accept the challenge posed by the manipulator and focus their attention on the best way to help the organization and society; Of course, in the midst of hostile, uncomfortable, particularly difficult and even unsustainable situations. Without a doubt, in both cases, the only one who loses again is the company.
In my opinion, the frank, transparent, honest, clean, disinterested, cordial and respectful treatment of the individual is the best way to avoid this unpleasant type of actions and misnamed interpersonal relationships. It is also the first step for leaders to earn respect as such.
Manipulation is one of the most harmful negative values within a company, since it naturally triggers feelings of rejection, suspicion, mistrust, uneasiness, discouragement, insecurity, rivalries, contradictions, conflicts, which impact on the individual's job performance, in their ability to tackle tasks and meet objectives, in their work performance and in interpersonal relationships.
The manipulator considers himself a very intelligent, shrewd and capable person, when in reality, nothing is more alien to him, because his blindness and self-reliance on the values he considers to have do not allow him to recognize those of the other party, his sensitivity to discover what he is trying to do, to enter the game, to rise above the unpleasant situation and to contribute efficiently to the company's objectives. The manipulator is a harmful entity for any business organization.
Manipulation and manipulators do not only attack and attack work values, but they dent and destroy positive social values for which society must tirelessly fight, which bases its actions, in addition to what has already been mentioned, on respectful treatment of individual, to his identity, to his personal merits, to cultivate work as an activity as significant for the human being as love and friendship, activity through which the individual expresses his innate impulse to competence, his creativity, feels that he communicates with a world greater than himself and that will endure even after his death; in short, it allows you to discover who you are.
IV. A STATEMENT OF GOOD VALUES
To conclude, for now, I will try to make a declaration of good values thinking about the objectives, mission and vision of any company that aspires to excellence, which will surely have a high coincidence with those desired for it, expressed in business terms of Today, and for an organization whose activities are basically focused on the customer, society, its partners, its employees and strict respect for the environment. Note that we have used the phrase grow the customer, the employees, the shareholders and not just the traditional slogan of satisfying. This will be the subject of attention another time.
1. Customer satisfaction and growth, community and social interests are the highest priority.
2. The strategies, goals, and objectives established to ensure customer and community satisfaction and continued growth are clearly defined, communicated, and understood.
3. Management believes in excellence, promotes it, seeks it throughout the organization and not only participates but is involved in its achievement.
4. Initiative and ingenuity applied to the execution of business, to the solution of problems, and to the achievement of work objectives are stimulated, recognized, rewarded and supported throughout the organization.
5. The duties and responsibilities of all employees are clearly defined, disclosed, collegial, respecting their identity, recognizing and stimulating their personal merits.
6. Reward structures recognize the contributions and achievement of results that satisfy and grow the client and the community, improve the image, economic efficiency, profitability and impact of the company on society.
7. We are responsible for maintaining in good condition the property that we have the privilege to use, and for protecting the environment and natural resources that society has placed in our hands.
It is important to express that the mere declaration of values is not enough to achieve the business culture that they represent, it is necessary much more than that, it is necessary to understand it, spread it, apply it, teach it, evaluate it, constantly improve it, live it and make it live all those around us, logically starting from the highest management of the company.
The real achievement of all these values requires time, dedication, patience, a well-directed effort, work and example, a lot of work and a lot of example.
The core values expressed here can never be eroded as long as people participate consciously and actively, work, and work cooperatively. However, there is a kind of iron law that causes the expression, the rhetoric, the declarations of values to wear down. People get tired of hearing the same hackneyed phrases, the same tone of urgency, on the same forums and from the same people. Not that they skeptically dismiss them; it's just that they no longer hear them. Even in what passes for eternal truths in the business world and in business management, change is the rule, this is dialectical.
V. THE ROLE OF THE LEADER
Leaders have to combat banality on a daily basis, for which they must always act according to the values that they themselves express so often. But they must also keep the language fresh to keep its true meaning alive. They must be preachers through their own example and based on their own performances.
The leader has to give freedom, he has to express confidence in his collaborators, he has to know that on many occasions when a negotiation is being carried out, a job is being carried out, an analysis or an assessment, it is necessary to make a decision, he may be sitting well away from the scene.
The leader is obliged to train and prepare his collaborators, his team, because when the signal sounds, the team is the one that goes out onto the field to make individual decisions to achieve the goal and objectives set for and by the organization, to the benefit of it. The leader must know how to accept mistakes, since mistakes can always be present in human decisions.
The leader has to give employees the tools they need so that they can successfully carry out their functions, without losing sight of what the tools are depending on those functions; you can't ice skate with tennis shoes, you can't play soccer in a fencer suit, you can't compete in swimming with a baseball suit.
The leader must remove ALL obstacles that may hinder the performance of his team, including one of the most dangerous, bureaucracy; it has to excite imagination, creativity, innovative sense, ideas and dreams; cultivate that all team members try not only to improve their own functions, but also those that are on either side of theirs, those of which they are suppliers or customers. The leader must value and recognize diversity, development and teamwork. In the long run, the preparation, education, training, sense of belonging and loyalty of the human resources available to an organization will be its main competitive advantage.
The leader must understand that, like all processes, the training, qualification and training of human resources requires constant education in values, as a way of utmost importance to achieve the business culture that has been proposed, and in In this sense, understanding that education must be carried out at all levels of the company, but in a very special way, at the managerial level so that it can achieve its goal and fulfill its objectives.
SAW. OBSTACLES TO IMPLEMENTATION
Some of the obstacles are listed below, which according to the author's appreciation and based on his own experience, occur more frequently in the daily activities of companies.
The passivity between senior executives and managers who are not able to appreciate the scope of the concepts explained and the need to change their methods and management style, results in them emphasizing only the need for the required investments and time. of implantation of such ideas and concepts.
People who are satisfied with the progress of events, do not understand or visualize the problems, do not apply dialectical concepts in daily practice, although they do in the verb; in short, they are satisfied with their status quo.
Self-centered people who consider themselves the "best", the "wise", transmitting this erroneous feeling to the image of the company, and acting in this way with their collaborators, or better, and for them, with their subordinates.
Those who think that the best way to do something and the easiest is the one they know and have always applied; that is, they only trust their own insufficient experience, thus denying the laws of development and the dialectical evolution of knowledge.
People who are not able to work as a team and only want to stand out, always thinking of themselves; they do not unite, they separate; they are not facilitators, but hindering; they do not clear the way for the achievement of the objectives, but hinder it; In short, for them there is no concept of team, even if they express it out loud.
Discouragement, jealousy, envy, mistrust of results, impatience, the attempt to meet certain goals even if they are convinced that they are not appropriate.
People with a lack of strategic vision, who are not able to appreciate what happens or can happen not only in their immediate environment, but beyond it. They do not have any kind of information about how the world and, consequently, the company they run can evolve.
Copying and trying to implement similar projects that have already been successful, without realizing that they must respond to the historical moment, and are strictly conditioned by the environment, the environment in which the company operates, the probable scenarios and the public to which it is addressed and will be responsible for its implementation. In short, the copiers of projects and, even more, of the ideas of others who try to present as their own, sometimes taking advantage of their hierarchy in the company, without having the slightest preparation to present such ideas, present them and argue them adequately from the point From a technical, scientific and methodological point of view, defend them and much less put them into practice. In short, demonstrating few ethical values and self-esteem, which without a doubt,they will also become noticed by those around them.
People who continue to live in the past, with the technical knowledge inherent only in the specific professional activity for which they were trained and in which they have carried out their main work activities. They forget or do not know, definitely, that the only thing that is constant in life is change and that knowledge is constantly rising and developing.
CONCLUSIONS
Some of the main conclusions are expressed below.
- Implicit in all this change in values is a cultural change, a development of the mentality, a new learning and training for coordination, cooperation, teamwork, change of attitudes, motivations or perceptions. The change may become so profound that It will exceed the limits of a simple technical question. It will touch not only what the entrepreneurs do but what they are. Not only their sense of the task and how to approach it, but their sense of themselves. Not only their way of seeing the world but their way of living in the world. New functions, new attitudes, new values, new schemes and structures are a change in culture that will allow us to rise to the highest paradigms of business management. Whoever does not understand and who does not put these ideas into practice has no future.It is important that entrepreneurs reflect and meditate on the concepts raised, and value the achievements that their organization will surely achieve if they break the paradigms that hold them back in their application, if they are able to understand and make the change understood, identify the resistances and manage them consistently and appropriately, assisted by the purest human feelings and, especially, for the benefit of the company and society. The most successful way to achieve these conceptions lies in the new training that prepares people for "knowing how to be" as well as for "knowing how", the only method to involve them in the illusion of a Common Business Project, from which all will benefit including, of course, customers,integrated in a new management model thanks to which everyone can win.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The author would appreciate and hold in high regard any comments, criticisms, suggestions, or indications that he may receive regarding this new version of the work. All the criteria, as may be appreciated by those who were kind enough to comment on the above, will be favorably received, and if desired, kindly commented.
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