A521.5.4.RB – Aligning Values
In chapter 6, Transmit Your Values Denning talks
about three basic elements of ethics: trust, loyalty, and solidarity. Trust
encourages the idea that we will engage and behave ethically towards each
other. Loyalty is an extension of trust as the organization expects to be able
to trust your commitment to not fail into doing what you are supposed to do.
That is when loyalty takes place. And solidarity is the act of taking an
interest and genuine concern for other people, in this your work community, and
taking action on behalf of your fellow coworkers even if that means no personal
gain is obtained. Stephen Denning (2011) asked, could organizations stick to
ethical values and still survive the market place? And the answer is, yes it
can. These components, I believe are important in any setting not just in the business
industry but in a personal setting as well. Who doesn’t want trust,
loyalty and solidarity? In today’s organizational world, it can be the
glue that holds a business together and without it may well fall apart.
When it comes to my organization, I believe that for the
most part, they have these three basic but most important elements. We
must trust our manager is going to do her best to get us the training we need
to keep up with regulations, the space we need to be able to perform our tasks,
and that she will support us in every way possible. On the other hand, she has
to be able to trust that we will not take advantage of her generosity by
constantly coming in late or leaving early, lying about our work, or not being
truthful. But the fact is, she trusts our commitment to work and making
the organization work. She does not micromanaged us by constantly checking if
we are doing what we are supposed to be doing because she trusts us. Her trust is
shows in the many opportunities we are afforded (being able to work overtime
when needed, by letting us perform procedure for the first time, and by
encouraging us to be the best we can) and upper management sees this as well.
Usually, the doctors are not asking why we are doing what we do but instead,
they praise her for how well and efficiently we do our work as a team.
As explained before, trust leads us to loyalty because
without trust there would not be any loyalty. As the company continues to
experience growth, we have had some trouble with turnover since I started but
that does not necessarily demonstrate a lack of values. Instead, I have seen
first hand that most people that decided to leave was because either they were
not team player or they just did not have what it takes to be ethical. Additionally,
the company offers career growth by allowing you to be the first one to apply
into a new position opening rather than getting someone new from the
outside. All in all, we work closely together and the common goal is to
provide the best service possible to our patients. It is this trust and loyalty
that makes our company so unique and cohesive in many ways.
The third component mentioned is solidarity. Solidarity
is defined as the “unity (as a group or class) that produces or is based on
community of interests, objectives, and standards” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary,
n.d.). Although this area is still a work in progress, I believe the company is
heading the right direction. Sometimes the problem comes more from the
different personalities we encounter while at work more so than just not
wanting to help other coworkers. In occasions, some of us truly care about the
interests of others however there are a few that are only looking out for themselves
and they will make a point of letting you know that they are helping you out
just in case you forget. It is not about trying to crush others to get ahead in
the organization. We are all in this together. This is not what solidarity
is all about but thankfully, the company is already taking some course of
action to terminate with the negativity. Something I would do to eliminate the
problem would be creating more duties that require teamwork and that way build
trust across the company.
Writing in the Harvard
Business Review, Roger Martin suggests that the era in which the purpose of
every firm is to maximize shareholders’ value is coming to a close. Martin
notes that pursuing the maximization of shareholder value as a goal suffers
from inherent internal contradictions. The harder the firm pushes to increase
shareholder value, the more likely it will make moves that actually hurt the
shareholders. Martin argues we are now entering an era of customer capitalism.
(Denning, 2011, p. 134).
Therefore, we need to be ready so that when our
opportunity arises to become leaders, we become good leaders. The kind that
care for their employees and community and the kind that seeks appreciating and
equality.
References
Denning,
S. (2011). The leader's guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline
of business narrative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Merriam-Webster
Dictionary (n.d.). An encyclopedia
Britannica Company. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solidarity
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