Corporate Values and the Opinion Mill

Companies are very happy to discuss their core values and the guiding ethics that they have outlined for corporate governance. Core values comprise a portion of the new hire orientation curriculum and hold a prominent place in the employee handbook. These lovely little nuggets of positive behavior become a club by which many a manager is flogged out in the field. Not everything about business is rosy or fits into a pretty rose colored glass called values that everyone drinks their cool ade from. The importance of having expectations for how the team works together is not at issue here. The speed with which employees that willingly gossip, violate policies, and mistreat each other are willing to point out that a manager was not the model of the ethics is excruciatingly fast. The only thing more astounding is the miriad ways that managers manipulate this when they disagree with a business decision to show that their leaders aren't models of the values either. The larger the company the less likely that the group will truly share values at a level detailed enough for the company to achieve team synergy with core values. Like so many things assembled to govern us, these values are up for interpretation and create their share of challenges. Be prepared for the scrutiny that comes with these values and the places where good managers may be demonized by their willingness to follow business practices that don't fit someone's ideas of values.