Corporate Values; Beyond Words – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1072

Corporate Values; Beyond Words – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1072

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1072 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Adriele Nenes

Credit: Ketut Subiyanto

Credit: Polina Zimmerman

Preamble

In one of the corporate that I was long associated with, a major decision was made during the annual strategy meeting of senior managers. A new gentleman had joined from an MNC, and he pointed out that this corporate did not have ‘corporate values’. He emphasized that without corporate values, the corporate was not good enough. It was decided in principal that corporate values shall be identified, adopted officially and promoted. The same gentleman also offered to share a booklet from his previous company which had a long list of corporate values which that company probably claimed to have.

A core committee of five seniors was formed to choose five corporate values from that list or otherwise. I was part of the committee. We reviewed the available list, but we mainly considered what values the corporate should stand for. This is what the purpose of values is. The proposal was presented and discussed at the highest forums and finally five corporate values were finalized. 

Promotion of Corporate Values

The next step was to make everyone aware what the corporate values were, what they meant, and what significance they held. Even more importantly, how the corporate values should be embedded in the day-to-day work.

For this purpose, presentations were developed by the core team and the same were delivered mainly by the core committee members. Few other seniors were also engaged to deliver talks on certain subjects. Interesting interactions ensued.

Corporate values were also printed artistically on poster size papers, mounted, and displayed in all public areas, starting from the reception.

Active promotion through talks and group discussions was run for over two years.

To ensure adoption of values, understanding and practice, these were added to the KPIs, performance appraisal process, and even the increments. In addition, value cards were printed and were presented to those who were declared value champions.

Learning from the Process

The spirit of values could not be incorporated in the corporate working. People did as they did, with utter disregard for the value system. It was heartbreaking to see such huge effort bearing such little fruit.

What went wrong and where?

As INSEAD Professor Erin Meyer puts it, most value statements are abstract, and no one knows how to put these in practice. Even the corporate itself may not be practicing it or even going against it.

A huge favorite among corporate values is Integrity. Whenever integrity is mentioned, only financial integrity is implied. Integrity goes much beyond financial dealing. But how to include integrity in work? It is translated into commitment, diligence, hard work etc., all attributes required from the workforce. What will the corporate ownership do for integrity? They would continue saving duties and taxes by dubious means and keep bribing officials to run the business smoothly. It is their compulsion, but it reflects negatively on the corporate and the staff thinks that the corporate owners do not hold on to values so why should they.

Another great favorite is Teamwork. Despite tall talks about teamwork and exhortations at various forums about the virtues of teamwork, the senior management is seriously indulged in protecting their own silos. They would do everything in their power to maintian their silo. In addition, every senior manager would keep trying to increase the size of his department/ function to become more powerful. The analogy may be drawn with the size of the army a general would have. Promoting and adhering to teamwork in this environment is virtually impossible.

This is what we faced during the long process of establishing corporate values. After another year, when I had left, another HR head joined and decided it was time to makeover the values with new words and phrases. Window dressing never stops.

Problems with Corporate Values

I understand there are three major problems with the corporate values system.

First, it is a wishlist; it is not something that is already there. It means that the corporate would like to have these. Considering that the people come from diverse backgrounds, it is virtually impossible to inculcate such spirit among them.

Second, the corporate is continuously violating the values visibly while expecting everyone else to follow these. Senior most managers are violating and getting away with it. It feels like the country situation where the law is applied only to the weak while the powerful run around scot-free.

Third, the corporate values are just a set of buzzwords. They are used everywhere and mean nothing anywhere. People are used to hearing the same wherever they have worked before coming here. They also know they will listen to the same when they go elsewhere. These have lost effectiveness to a large extent, if not completely.

Solution

The biggest solution is to be realistic.

First, choose corporate values which are directly linked with the work of the corporate. Do not try to find phrases that sound good but do not relate to the corporate.

Second, use action words which are easy to understand and implement, rather than using abstract words like integrity and uprightness. Even for customer service, speciifc words should be chosed. 

Third, all lofty ideals are not for every business. Choose what is relevant to your business even if this does not sound classy.

Sum Up

Corporate values are a powerful message if delivered succinctly and directly. From the ideas to words and phrases, the effort must be to reflect what is what should be.

Concluded.

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For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.