By: Randall Warlick
(Image source: HipHopConnection.com)
Values are important in business. Companies like Whole Foods Market and Zappos have succeeded, in part, because they adhere to certain values and principles that are important to both the employees and the consumers. For the employees, the values dictate the culture of the organization. They act as guidelines to inform the employees of what the company believes, what its priorities are, and why it does what it does. When the values are strongly emphasized, an organizational culture can flourish, which can in turn attract and retain the employees who identify with that culture and those values. However, when the purported values of an organization do not match up with the practiced values, and when the organizational culture does not match the culture that the employees expected, the consequences can include “lower job satisfaction, higher job strain, general stress, and turnover intent” among the employees (*1). What about consumers, though? How does this mismatch between reported values and actual values play out external to the organization? Well, we can look the Jay-Z for the answer.
