Personal Values Assessment
Do the personal values of your employees align with your corporate values? Our scientifically developed personal values assessment will tell you.
Why personal values matter?
In today's dynamic business environment, HR leaders face the challenge of managing an increasingly diverse workforce. The conventional HR emphasis on skills and experience remains crucial. However, there is a growing recognition that aligning employees' values with the values of their employers — often encapsulated in the organisation's mission and vision — is equally, if not more, important.
So, why should HR departments prioritise value alignment between employees and their employers? The answer lies in the meaningful benefits achievable, including enhanced productivity, reduced turnover, and improved corporate reputation. Let's delve into the details.
Enhancing organisational performance
First and foremost, employees who share their employers' values tend to be more motivated and engaged in their work. They feel a strong connection to their company and its mission, leading to higher commitment levels and increased productivity. When employees understand and believe in what the company stands for, they are likely to align their actions accordingly, enhancing their performance and contributing to the organisation's overall success.
Reducing employee turnover
Employees who don't resonate with their organisation's values may feel disengaged or isolated. This lack of alignment can lead to job dissatisfaction, reducing overall job engagement and raising the likelihood of attrition. High employee turnover is disruptive and imposes significant costs on businesses, from recruitment and training expenses to losses in knowledge and productivity. Aligning values can help ensure that employees find meaning and satisfaction in their work, reducing the desire to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Strengthening corporate culture
Shared values form the bedrock of a robust corporate culture. They shape the ways employees interact with each other, influence decision-making, and guide behaviour. When these values align with employees' personal values, a more harmonious, supportive, and positive work environment results. This strong culture is contagious, helping to attract like-minded talent and fostering loyalty among current employees.
Promoting ethical behaviour
Employees who share their employer's values — particularly those that emphasise ethics and integrity — are more likely to behave ethically. Shared ethical values create a culture of integrity where employees take pride in doing the right thing. This behaviour reduces the risk of legal and compliance issues, fosters trust within and outside the organisation, and ultimately contributes to a positive corporate reputation.
Driving innovation
An environment where employees share their organisation's values is conducive to innovation. Employees who believe in their organisation's mission are more likely to take calculated risks, think creatively, and collaborate effectively to generate new ideas. When employees feel that their values are respected and that they are part of something bigger than themselves, they feel safe and empowered to innovate.
How do we assess personal values?
Tazio's personal values assessment provides an overview of how your current and potential employees' values align with those selected as being the most pertinent to your organisation. It is underpinned by the Competing Values Framework (CVF), which was developed by Quinn & Rohrbaugh (1983) and the resulting Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) (Cameron & Quinn, 2006).
The CVF was initially developed to identify the key factors which lead to organisational success. As a result of this research, four key cultural domains were identified by the OCAI to summarise an organisation's overall culture and values. These four cultural domains are called; Clan, Adhocracy, Market and Hierarchy - these have been defined as follows (Cameron & Quinn, 2006):
The Clan culture is focused on an organisation working collectively towards a shared end goal, with higher employee involvement and engagement.
The Adhocracy culture is focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, with individuals quickly switching between tasks and taking risks to achieve high rewards.
The Market culture focuses on achieving maximum profits through market competition, and individuals are more likely to be highly results focused.
The Hierarchy culture is focused on structure and organisation, with clear rules and procedures in place, including well-defined and structured responsibilities.
These four domains can also be seen in the image below. You may feel your current culture rests in one domain, yet your preferred culture (one you aspire to achieve) may rest in another. The visual representation of organisational culture in this way can aid in identifying clearly where an organisation's current and preferred cultural values lie.
The CVF is one of the most influential and extensively used models in the area of organisational culture and values research (Yu & Wu, 2009). The CVF and OCAI have been used extensively in organisations for over 30 years, and the wealth of empirical evidence and research has further fed into the framework. It is the most used framework for assessing organisational culture and the associated values (Bremer, 2016).
There have been a vast number of empirical studies using the CVF and OCAI, and a review of such evidence can be found in Yu and Wu (2009). In addition, a comprehensive review of the CVF/OCAI alongside many other organisational change questionnaires can be viewed by David, Valas and Raghunathan (2018). This research demonstrates that the CVF/OCAI is a highly reliable and valid way of measuring organisational culture and can support organisational leaders in developing their culture and values. This was a key reason for utilising the CVF framework in developing our personal values assessment.
Research has demonstrated the power of cultural change and the importance of successfully embedding company values (Maher, 2000).
Who we work with
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.jpg)
.png)
How it works
Our personal values assessment can be used to identify both existing, and potential employees', values and their alignment with your organisation's. It provides a comprehensive list of sixteen values underpinned by the CVF described above. We work with you to select the five values that most closely align with your current corporate values.
Care should be taken to accurately select the values most representative of your current organisational culture. The focus should not be on selecting aspirational values, as this can lead to discrepancies between existing and potential employees and their fit in the current organisational culture.
Once you have selected the five values, your assessment questionnaire will be automatically created and ready for use. The questionnaire comprises fifteen items presented as short video scenarios followed by a text description. The participant is asked to select the most and least appropriate response from a choice of four. Typically, the questionnaire takes at most 20 minutes to complete.
When used for evaluating the values of your current workforce, the assessment can be conducted anonymously. You can also collect relevant demographic data such as age, gender, tenure, location, job function or seniority to gain more detailed insights when analysing the responses.
Using the personal values assessment can lead to increased self-awareness for both employer and employee and create an impetus for cultural change in teams and the broader organisation.
Utilising Tazio's framework and selected values for an organisation across roles, therefore, enables greater organisational cultural coherence and criterion validity across the development and selection process (i.e. by ensuring all methods are underpinned by a common values-based framework, the CVF, which has years of evidence underpinning it).
- Enhanced organisational performance
- Reduced employee turnover
- Stronger corporate culture
- Promotes ethical behaviour
- Drives innovation
- Scientifically developed, tested and validated
- Based on your corporate values
- Video & text scenarios
- Takes less than 20 minutes to complete
- Comprehensive analysis and reporting
Why is value alignment important in an organisation?
Value alignment plays a critical role in an organisation as it enhances productivity, reduces turnover, strengthens corporate culture, promotes ethical behavior, and drives innovation. When employees resonate with their employer's values, they are more engaged, satisfied, and motivated to perform better.
How does value alignment affect employee turnover?
Value alignment can significantly reduce employee turnover. Employees who do not align with their organisation's values often feel disengaged and isolated, leading to job dissatisfaction and a higher likelihood of leaving. Conversely, when employees share their employer's values, they find more satisfaction in their work, reducing the desire to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Can value alignment influence a company's reputation?
Absolutely. A company with a strong culture of value alignment is likely to have employees that consistently make ethical decisions. This ethical behaviour not only reduces the risk of legal and compliance issues but also fosters trust within and outside the organisation, contributing to a positive corporate reputation.
How does value alignment drive innovation?
In an environment where employees share their organisation's values, they are more likely to feel safe, respected, and empowered. These feelings can promote creative thinking, effective collaboration, and calculated risk-taking, all of which are essential for innovation.
What can HR professionals do to ensure value alignment?
HR professionals can prioritise value alignment by incorporating it into the recruitment and onboarding processes. This could involve explicitly communicating organisational values during interviews and orientation. Additionally, HR should encourage ongoing discussions and training about organisational values to maintain alignment throughout an employee's tenure.
.png)
Isn't time you checked your employee /corporate values alignment
Get in touch today with one of our experts to discuss running a personal values assessment for your current and future employees.
