A survey from The Blue Water Partnership polled 273 respondents from over 200 different organisations and explored the experience of employees both at team and management level.
Almost three quarters (72%) could name some of their organisation’s values but only 49% use them; 79% reported that their manager’s behaviour was a good example of values but that only 50% were taking effective action to encourage team members to support them.
Gordon Roscoe, senior partner in the Blue Water Partnership, said: "They are the rules we have for ourselves, beliefs about what are important and what is right and wrong. They are the base that determines how we react to any situation. When we work with others we need to share values. If we don’t, conflict arises and performance suffers.
"An organisation wishing to perform to its potential must become consciously aware of its values, it must gain the support of its employees or members to share those values and to demonstrate the behaviours that go with them.’
He described a lack of shared values as "a debilitating and often invisible disease that will quietly and efficiently undermine an organisation’s effectiveness".
