Reviewing our workplace values
Over decades organisations have been transformed from post ordist and post-industrial models to globalised, flexible and highly competitive models. Today many organisations are setting up shop and trading with far away countries, engaging foreign expertise for their worldwide operations.
Senior staff, among whom HR managers, are often spending time reaching out to their various international branches, implementing systems and procedures, respecting the national and organisational culture of their counterparts.
The recent Green Paper on modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st Century issued by the Commission of the European Communities has strongly emphasised the need for flexibility, social inclusion and security. Employers are urged to offer more flexible work patterns and equal opportunities to all, especially to those who have to cope with work and family responsibilities, to those with learning disabilities and special needs, and to those who are still today being excluded from the labour market. The aim must be to lower the unemployment rate, thus reducing also poverty and crime.
The Green Paper urges individuals to take full responsibility for their lifelong learning to make themselves more employable, thus securing their job. This would also mean that expertise will be moving from one organisation to another and exported to other countries.
The above is evidence of Peter Drucker's prophecy that organisations have to go beyond being information-based to responsibility-based (Drucker, 1993)
With such workplace transformations, where teamwork is paramount for commonality of purpose, shared vision and understanding of how to complement one another's efforts, employers would need to review their core values.
What organisations value is what one lives within organisations. The statement that we often utter that "our people are our most important asset" has become a saga to many organisations. This statement should be an expression of a value visible through the actions people take rather than talk about.
This means that employers and HR managers need to believe in and commit themselves to practise the values they themselves print out, laminate and pin up around the office walls for all to see. On the other hand, workers are to claim ownership over the company values, standards and impressions left on clients and customers (Moss Kanter, 1997).
Core values should address all the levels of the organisation. The achievement of these values should pre-empt a number of attitudes and behaviours which we oblige everyone to abide by. Values should be written in simple language for workers to understand, and adequate training and re-training should be given to all.
In today's organisations and among the various explicit or implicit values, one should live values of change, diversity and equal opportunities, together with integrity, respect and responsiveness. Such values are essential to maintaining a competitive advantage. | 
