What the Organizational Core Values Mean to the Business?

       Prof. Anand Chitanand
      Faculty – IndSearch, Pune
      30th April 2020

In my initial days of service, I often wondered about the Quality Policy, Vision, Mission and Core Values boards displayed in our company. Our company had made it mandatory for each new employee to undergo a training on Vision, Mission statements and Core Values. I was unable to relate these statements and words in real working life.

One incidence in those early days of my career cleared all the confusion in my mind about the importance of Organizational Vision, Mission statement and Core Values.

A key account customer was promised of an engineering experiment to be carried out on one of their equipment. The experiment, if proved successful, had a potential to save huge fuel cost. Our R&D was not sure of the success of the experiment. At the same time, there was a debate that the experiment would incur a significant cost which was not budgeted, so R&D was not ready to carry out the experiment. Without their support the experiment was not possible. Marketing, Service and R&D were fighting on whether to carry out the experiment and who would bear the expense. Asking customer to pay was out of question.

Each function was right from their point of view. Therefore, to settle the issue once and for all, the subject was brought to the notice of Managing Director during one of the conferences. Managing Director listened to all. He took some time and said,“If our systems and processes cannot provide any answers, just refer to our Core Values and then tell me what decision should we take.”In fact, he asked one of the members of core team to go on the board and write what the company’s core values were and asked to explain what they meant to them. Then he asked all the members what decision should they take. Each member was silent. The decision was made. The meaning of one of the Core Values was ‘Walk an extra mile for the customer’.

Idea of telling this story was to convey that these boards or statements mean a lot for an organization. Organizations see them as guiding principles. These are seen as foundation of an organization. Processes and Policies are written by various business verticals or by each business functions working in silos. They might have conflicting goals, objectives and priorities. In such case, the Organization Vision, Mission statements or the Core Values bind each element of the organization together.

Progressive organizations dedicate a significant amount of thought in developing these Vision, Mission statements and Core Values for the organization. These convey the organizational philosophy. If you wish to succeed in your career path,stick your neck out for the quality policy, the Vision Mission statements and Core Values of your organization. Embrace them and demonstrate a consistent behavior upholding these guiding principles. your potential and be the amazing student and pioneer you wanted to be in the choice of your field!