Personal Identities, Values and Organisational Fit

One of the advantages of Barrett’s model is that he connects the personal–individual level to that of the organisation, in the context of higher-level norms relating to the welfare of wider society, including future generations. Barrett [ 17 ] argues that to gauge an organisation’s readiness for transformative change, one of the key performance indicators is the degree of alignment between personal values, current organisational values and desired organisational values. In this respect, he reflects a proposition shared by others, namely that the process of clarifying and aligning values arguably lies at the centre of organisational success [ 18 ]. Previous studies have found that managers with congruence and clarity amongst their personal and organisational values reported the highest levels of commitment and organisational success, as compared to those lacking such congruence and clarity [ 19 ]. Indeed, Erdogan, Kraimer and Liden [ 20 ] demonstrated that values and person–organisational fit have a significant impact on many aspects of organisational behaviour. For instance, when an organisation cultivates alignment between individual and organisational values, it induces more positive employee attitudes such as organisational commitment [ 21 ], reduced turnover [ 22 ] and job satisfaction [ 23 ]. Similarly, Jung and Avolio [ 24 ] found that an increased level of values congruence led to an increase in performance, commitment and intentions of employees to remain.

This definition is echoed by Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman and Johnson (2005), while Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, and Erez (2001:1 104) summarise it by defining overall P-O fit as “an employee’s perceived compatibility or comfort with an organisation”. In order to establish and enhance perceived fit between the organisation and the employee, an employee’s personal values, career goals and plans for the future must converge with the larger corporate culture and the demands of his or her job. Person-organisation perceived fit (sub-dimension - on subjective level) thus takes place when the organisation fulfils the employee’s needs in terms of congruence between the employee’s personal values and those of the organisation. On the other hand, according to Kristof-Brown (1996) and from an abilities -demands perspective, there is congruence between person and organisation when the employee possesses and demonstrates the abilities necessary to meet organisational demands. Edward s (1991) brings these two perspectives together, suggesting that needs and abilities compose the “person” angle, and supplies and demands the “job” angle of overall P-O fit research. He describes “needs” in terms of employee’s desires, goals, values, interests and preferences, and

The organisation has invested in knowledge management technology for an online portal, however, the employees do not trust the technology. It was the view of the interviewees that the online portal was unreliable, hard to navigate and difficult to adapt to the way they work with knowledge. An example of the lack of adaptability was “The online portal, I am not particularly fond of that particular medium I don’t think it’s a great way to share information because it’s so rigid in its document structure.” A lack of trust of the technology available has added to the perception of the organisation not being committed to its values and has resulted in disengagement with the organisation’s stated core values. This is how one interviewee felt about technology use within the organisation, “We don’t enable any look at technology, and if they do it’s not at our level and we are not involved at all.” This alludes to two issues. Firstly, this suggests that employees were not included (at least not the

characteristic or semi-starvation effect. Nor did it clarify whether values-clarification can act as a motivating factor for those entrenched in AN, or whether they need to experience a certain degree of progress in recovery (for example a reduction in semi-starvation effects) to make use of this motivational exercise. Regardless of the direc- tion of this relationship, the findings in relation to balan- cing values and clarification of values have important clinical implications for working with individuals with AN. Specifically, it is important for therapists working with this population to acknowledge and contain the dis- tress, confusion and disempowerment their clients may be experiencing due to feeling compelled to pursue AN- related values (or values in general) in an extreme way. Therapists may find it useful to explore with clients pos- sible ‘semi-starvation’ effects or personality factors in un- derstanding extreme behaviours in pursuit of values, and how these might aid an understanding of feeling ‘stuck’ in AN symptoms [10, 14, 15]. This in turn may support ex- ploration of how to move forward in challenging AN symptoms with a view to pursuing overarching values that are considered incongruent with AN. There may be a role for ACT in addressing the observed difficulties with balance in values, particularly where pliant valuing may be operating [4, 5]. For example, consideration of the fit between individuals ’ beliefs and behaviours may help individuals to work toward developing a more sustainable balance in relation to their values, such that AN has less of a compromising effect on their over-arching values [1]. A further clinical implication relates to the potential bene- fit of spending time supporting individuals to clarify their true values, such that they can access tangible and mean- ingful goals in relation to their recovery and movement beyond AN. An ACT or MET approach could facilitate this process.

An external professional experienced in the use of the Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue, was invited to facilitate the discussion. Only eight of the eleven participants that submitted their questionnaires agreed to participate in the workshop. Given that the workshop was primarily designed as an intervention to enable participants experience and evaluate the usefulness of the Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue in managing the conflict between personal and organisational values, it could have taken place even in the absence of the researcher. However, I opted to attend as a non- participant observer and limited my role to making the logistical arrangements for the discussion and observing the group dynamics to determine whether the discussions fostered any element of collective mindedness and resolution. Since the discussion was also guided by the research questions, I was also aware that it could yield additional data that might confirm, explain or contradict the data collected from the other sources. As the number of participants reduced to 8, the balance of nationality changed from ten to seven nations and the gender balance was slightly affected. However, the balance in terms of the representation from various linguistic and educational backgrounds, regions of the continent and operational units in the institution was not affected.

disciplines in conceptualising and operationalising identity and performance. I argue that multiple dimensions, levels and facets of identities can be monitored and interpreted under the performance measurement framework, which provides information on micro to macro levels as a continuous monitoring process. I suggest that common closed measures of measuring identities under a performance measurement framework with defined desired units of analysis can heighten the identity attributes of relativity, visibility, distinctiveness, fluidity and manageability towards the desired identity directions. Measurement outcomes are further managed through the continuous actions of regulation and self-regulation. Therefore, this research demonstrates the simultaneous recognition of measurement strengths from multiple disciplines and is not limited by single disciplines or the critique arguing for the need for the rigorous application of theoretical knowledge in the application of organisational life. In reality, organisations apply disciplinary knowledge as they see fit for their purposes.

the results indicated that the model demonstrates a moderately acceptable fit with the data ðx 2 ¼ 372:941; df ¼ 166; x 2 =df ¼ 2:247; p ¼ 0:000; GFI ¼ 0:89; CFI ¼ 0.86, RMSEA ¼ 0.064). As shown in Figure 4, after deleting the non-significant paths (i.e. openness to change values to attitude, attitude to time spent), the model yielded a x2 value of 237.220 ð p ¼ 0:000Þ with 117 degrees of freedom, x 2 /df of 2.028, and a GFI of 0.92, CFI of 0.91, RMSEA of 0.058. Both the GFI and CFI value were larger than the suggested cutoff of 0.9 (Hu and Bentler, 1999), the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom (x 2 /df) of 2.028 indicated a good model fit (Hair et al., 2006). A root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.058 indicated an acceptable fit. According to Browne and Cudeck (1993), a RMSEA value of 0.05 indicates a close fit, and values up to 0.08 suggest reasonable fit. Overall, the model demonstrates an acceptable fit with the data. H1 proposes that consumers who place more importance on self-transcendence and conservation values are more likely to generate a favourable attitude towards mall attributes as compared to those who place more importance on openness to change and self-enhancement values. As hypothesised, self-transcendence value has a positive effect on attitude towards mall attributes, namely:

The values described in this model can be examined at the level of individuals and aggregate groups, such as countries, and congruence between personal and national values has theoretical implications for personal well-being. Four potential reasons for this link are environmental affordances, social sanctions, internal conflict, and shared realities 12 – 17 . For example, if an individual’s society values achievement (e.g., success), and the individual does as well, then the individual might feel supported by the sense of common purpose. If the individual does not value achievement, the individual might feel pressured by social norms to achieve more. This pressure, in turn, may reduce the individual’s sub- jective well-being. Further, incongruence between people’s own and their compatriots’ values can result in internal conflicts, which may result in reduced well-being. This reduction might occur because people’s goals are blocked in incongruent envir- onments. Conversely, goal facilitation may occur in congruent value environments. Moreover, congruence in values can result in the experience of shared reality and identity, which in turn helps to validate one’s experience, facilitates cooperation, coordination, and promotes a sense of belonging 14,18 .

The values described in this model can be examined at the level of individuals and aggregate groups, such as countries, and congruence between personal and national values has theoretical implications for personal well-being. Four potential reasons for this link are environmental affordances, social sanctions, internal conflict, and shared realities 12 – 17 . For example, if an individual’s society values achievement (e.g., success), and the individual does as well, then the individual might feel supported by the sense of common purpose. If the individual does not value achievement, the individual might feel pressured by social norms to achieve more. This pressure, in turn, may reduce the individual’s sub- jective well-being. Further, incongruence between people’s own and their compatriots’ values can result in internal conflicts, which may result in reduced well-being. This reduction might occur because people’s goals are blocked in incongruent envir- onments. Conversely, goal facilitation may occur in congruent value environments. Moreover, congruence in values can result in the experience of shared reality and identity, which in turn helps to validate one’s experience, facilitates cooperation, coordination, and promotes a sense of belonging 14,18 .

Relationship Between Organisational Culture (OC) and Person Organisation-Fit (POF) The idea of organisational culture has been identified as an important aspect of organisational behaviour and as concept that is useful in helping to understand how organisation function. Schein (2010), theorized that organizational culture might be an important factor in determining how well an individual assimilates into an organization. The key premise of person organisation-fit is that employees whose values align well with their organization’s values will be satisfied and will stay and contribute to the organization and vice-versa. Organizational culture is an important factor used to determine how well an employee fits into their organizational context (Nazir, 2005). More precisely, it is demonstrated that a major outcome of the organisation culture is linked to person organisation-fit (Sutarjo, 2011). When the individual values align with that of the organisation, the level of compatibility between the employee and the employer will rise. Thus, positive organisational culture is an important determinant of person organisation-fit. Premising on this, the study proposed that;

5 the respective societies, e.g. ‘Discrimination of the marginalized groups is no longer issue in Serbia’. Items were rated on 5-point scales. The qualitative examination tapped into the content and relations between different aspects of social identity in more depth. The central goal of the focus group discussions (Willing 2008) was to explore the relations between the three focal identities (ethnic, religious, and national), and also to find out how they function within the social context (e.g. in which situations they become salient, and how they are expressed in relations with others). In each town, we recruited eight to eleven participants from the ethnic groups that were the majority at the local level. We recruited participants between the ages of 20 and 30, balanced by gender (male/female), and of diverse educational and employment status (both students and high-school graduates, employed and unemployed). Each discussion was led by a moderator and an assistant who were thoroughly prepared for the topic and trained with the guide. Discussions were conducted in the native languages of the participants, and moderators were also native speakers. To facilitate the expression of attitudes and feelings that could be difficult to articulate verbally, we employed techniques such as free associations, unfinished sentences, and collage techniques. As prompts for discussion, we also used recent media materials, e.g. a newspaper article about a person who converted from one religion to another to be able to be the best man at a friend's wedding, or about a theatrical interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet depicting the love between a Serbian girl and an Albanian boy. The discussion guide was structured around several topics: the structure of social identity and the importance of different personal and social identities;

An understanding of current student values (2010) is beneficial for educators as we continue to examine the relationship between values/value systems and ethical behavior in the classroom. Since the significant financial failures in the early 2000‟s, such as Enron and World Com, there is evidence of heightened awareness of ethics (i.e. ethical behavior) by academic institutions and accounting programs. The accounting profession has also placed a greater emphasis on ethics/integrity, as evidenced by the requirement of at least two hours of CPE devoted to ethics by most accounting professional certifications. An understanding of student values continues to be beneficial for the human resource department of accounting firms and accounting departments in determining whether the student‟s values are a good fit with the organization‟s values and for scheduling purposes. Our findings show that values of students can change over time, much like organizations change over time. An appropriate understanding of those changes is important to both academics and practitioners.

As they do with all Army leaders, the Army Values guide officers in their daily actions. These values manifest themselves as principles of action. Another essential part of officership is a shared professional identity. This self-concept, consisting of four interrelated identities, inspires and shapes the officer’s behavior. These identities are warrior, servant of the Nation, member of a profession, and leader of character. As a warrior and leader of warriors, the officer adheres to the Soldier’s Creed and the Warrior Ethos. An officer’s responsibility as a public servant is first to the Nation, then to the Army, and then to his unit and his Soldiers. As a professional, the officer is obligated to be competent and stay abreast of changing requirements. As a leader of character, officers are expected to live up to institutional and National ethical values.

In other words, research relies on profits, and patients rely on research; thus, all parties are reliant on the firm making a profit. The opportunity to “modify something” to satisfy new market needs was a point recalled by many responders as an enabler of change. After the acquisition, employees were also exposed to a trade-off between the maintenance of old values and responsiveness to market needs. For instance, the two companies shared common values (e.g., pride in their individual origins) but had different and complementary identities: Oldco was a specialist, whereas Newco was a chemical producer and a manufacturer of generic low-cost drugs. Many respondents discussed these two common aspects in Oldco‟s and Newco‟s identities. Both companies paid a lot of attention to their own histories, but also shared the capability to anticipate change. This capability to look to the past and to the future simultaneously constituted a winning strategy according to many participants. Interviewees also stressed that the two companies were strategically complementary. Oldco‟s experience in the pharmaceutical market was necessary for Newco to be more entrepreneurial, while Oldco needed to have more procedures in order to grow. In addition, the joint business could better resist the

cross-referencing of employees’ and spouses’ categorisations. In reality, some aspects of these issues are examined but largely through the eyes of the principals’ narratives. As gender has, until recently, rightly dominated work/life research, and there is evidence that work/life balance issues have been significant contributors to the lower take-up of principal positions by women (Lacey, 2003a) and is a contributor to both men and women eschewing applying for the principalship (Cranston, 2006). The treatment of gender issues in this study may also be seen as a deficiency. Guided by Thompson (2005), who states that open and honest discussions are needed about the changing behaviour and identity of women and men, the similarities and differences in thinking, and the difficulties faced in putting values and ideals into practice, there was a conscious decision to portray the case studies as gender neutral. There was also a research design decision to “work around the gender issue” to support sample anonymity and to focus on gender equity, rather than on women in the data analysis, and examine other aspects of the gender issue in the Literature Review. The domestic relations between men and women and the significance of life stages on work/life balance were not examined in detail and may have yielded useful insights.

I was drawn to working with my primary supervisor owing to her stance in relation to the training of Clinical Psychologists and how this fitted with my own experience of training. My supervisor values the personal perspective in training and views the personal context as central to the training experience and professional role. Her view is that through allowing people to be themselves, even within the professional training context, they are enabled to develop more fully and gain a fuller awareness of themselves. This was a view that fitted with me, though prior to this research I would have struggled to articulate this fully. Training has been a personal experience for me and I believe there has been a paradoxical process of me flourishing into who I have always been. My supervisor’s stance has made me consider alternative ways of thinking about the training experience, for example I have been able to move away from the current literature, which is often categorising of personal and professional, towards being open to the varied experiences of my participants.

demanding and at times emotionally draining. Bernstein (1996) highlights identity as reflecting external contingencies rather than emerging from knowledge and practice. Undoubtedly high expectations and significant scrutiny led to feelings of insecurity and uncertainty in responding to external stakeholders. Perceptions of feeling constantly judged and called to account resulted in something Ball (2003a, page 220) calls “ontological insecurity”, a questioning of whether things are being done well and in the right way, a constant state of instability. As a COP some of this was visible however in terms of how this was experienced as a new lecturer I believe is complex. Accommodating new knowledge and skills within a context of performativity was possible, however there was also at times a sense of “fabrication” (Ball, 2003a, p224), a feeling of presenting a version of a programme that was not always quite true, but driven by the need to achieve and succeed. Ball (2003a, p 221) highlights a kind of “values schizophrenia” where the “commitment, judgment and authenticity within practice are sacrificed for impression and performance”. Whilst I believe this was not always conscious, suggesting that in the formation of our identities some behaviours in the socialization process are so embedded they become the very fabric of who we are, I can see that at times this was how I perceived the situation.

The study finds that after an initial period of staff acceptance of prescribed quality management procedures, certain features of organizational culture, structure and power, work agains[r]

value carriers while others act out the values embedded in their work. There is not always a rigid divide. Norman, in raising issues of how far staff were congrue[r]

Identities for present values of life insurance benefits. The rule of integration by parts produces useful formulas for the present value of a payment stream. Applied [r]