Value Incongruity and Strategic Choice

Abstract

Research addressing how values held by individuals in organizations in¯uence strategy choice and implementation is as yet fragmented. Dierent strands of this research have yielded contradictory prescriptions for strategy. This paper examines how values aect strategy, by focusing on the social control they exert. Social control manifests itself through the behaviours permitted and proscribed by given values.We call a value a core value when the social control it exerts supersedes that of most other values in a value system. When the social control a value exerts is itself superseded by that exerted by most other values in a system, we call the value a peripheral value in that system.Strategies could be depicted as containing implicit values, in that they too entail prescriptions for behaviour. Thus, core values implicit to strategies enable behaviour essential for the success of strategies. Values seemingly peripheral to strategies enable behaviour peripheral or even tangential to their success. This paper discusses several contingencies ± clashes between core values of decision makers and values implicitly at the core of strategies, core and peripheral values, as well as clashes between peripheral values ± in the context of both corporate and competitive strategies. Finally, some factors that might mitigate these clashes, are also discussed.

Cultural and leadership predictors of corporate social responsibility values of top management: a GLOBE study of 15 countries

“…Therefore the relationship between our predictors and CSR performance remains to be demonstrated. However, managerial values have been shown to be relevant to strategic choice in general (Pant and Lachman, 1998), and CSR performance in particular (Agle et al, 1999). Thus there is reason to believe that the specific CSR values assessed in the current study are quite germane to the actual strategic choices and actions on the part of managers that are indicative of CSR.…”

“…Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) argue that firm-level actions, including those relevant to CSR, are partially the product of managerial decisions and discretion. Thus values that managers use to guide their decision-making are critical for insight into CSR practices (Pant and Lachman, 1998;Agle et al, 1999). This notion is relevant to the work of Wood (1991), who articulates the need to determine how managers perceive choices to pursue CSR decisions and strategies.…”

Values and judgment under uncertainty: evidence from venture capitalist assessments of founders

“…The strategic decision-making literature, and the judgment and decision-making literature more generally, recognize that personal characteristics (such as values) play an important role in decision processes (Guth and Tagiuri, 1965;Hambrick and Mason, 1984;Hitt and Tyler, 1991;Pant and Lachman, 1998), but the explicit role of human values has received relatively little attention (for some exceptions, see Miller et al, 1982;Miller and Toulouse, 1986). Research to date on the infl uence of values on judgment and decision making generally uses a value congruence perspective (Adkins et al, 1994;Cable and Judge, 1997;Judge and Bretz, 1992;Meglino et al, 1992;Ravlin and Meglino, 1987), whereby individuals make choices that are consistent with their value systems.…”

Toward collective organizational values: a case study in UK construction

“…On the contrary, companies concentrate on the physical aspect of their being, and ignore their emotional, mental and spiritual needs may struggle to survive (Geus and Senge, 1997). Similarly, Pant and Lachman (1998) claim that management will have a hard time implementing a strategy incompatible with organisational core values. Further, Sillanpää (1998) argues that companies 'need to listen, to process and to respond positively to the values and beliefs of their stakeholders… Failure to do this will reduce competitiveness and increase the risk of corporate demise'.…”