10 Sep Different Values, Same Business?

Posted at 11:59h in Organisation Design, Organisation Development by

Every part of an organisation creates value – but not in the same way.

  • HR values compliance and people practices.
  • IT values uptime and system reliability.
  • Finance values cost control and accounting standards.
  • Marketing values brand engagement.
  • The operating core values production, service delivery, and customer impact.

None of these perspectives are wrong. But when they clash – or stay siloed – frustration builds: “They don’t get what we do.”

Natural forces at play

As Henry Mintzberg showed, organisations aren’t monoliths. They’re shaped by natural forces:

  • the operating core produces for clients,
  • the technostructure designs and analyses for efficiency and effectiveness,
  • the support services keep everything running smoothly.

Each force develops its own worldview – and with it, its own definition of value.

A clash in action

Through our work, we get to hear clients display their values. They say things like:

HR: “We need to ensure compliance with new labour rules.”
IT: “We need to keep the system at 99.9% reliable.”
Finance: “We need to stay under budget.”
Marketing: “We need to get our campaign engagement up.”
The core: “We need to deliver the order on time and on quality.”

The challenge is not deciding whose value system is “right.” It’s connecting them so each recognises the other’s contribution to the whole.

Bridging practices

At WorldsView we’ve seen organisations make progress when they bring these value systems into dialogue:

  • 9 Conversations in Leadership: helps managers explore and align their different values.
  • Purposeful Teams: anchors team purpose in the organisation’s mission.
  • Teams That Talk: strengthens cross-boundary conversations, reducing the “lost in translation” effect.

Join the conversation

We’ll explore this in depth at our October Café: Beyond the Silo: Bridging the Gap Between Support and Core Business.

Save the date and register here. And tell us: How do different parts of your organisation define value- how well are those definitions aligned?

Print page