flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

Humanist Values Trump All Others

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Digital Transformation: Value Creation & Analysis (21-slide PowerPoint presentation). Most organizations recognize the significant potential in creating value through Digital Transformation. However, they may struggle with the question of exactly how much value they can create and where within the organization the value will come from. This presentation deals with the various [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Value Creation, take a look at Flevy's Value Creation Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

1-MRSjgqPyrNmdfE8krJosegHumanist values are universal and trump all others as an overriding principal of conduct in business relations.

As a strategic alliance expert who makes his living designing and optimizing international ecosystems, I often come across the issue of “cultural differences.”  How do we achieve maximum efficiency and optimal team work across vast areas of beliefs, education, behaviors and organizational structures?

One of the best and most effective tools for framework development is strategic alignment and road-mapping.  The exercise is well-known by consultants:

  • Values – what we believe and what we stand for
  • Mission Statement – the company purpose
  • Business Drivers – strategy design and execution
  • Operating Principles – organizational design and major processes
  • Activities – work assignments and day-to-day tasks

At the top of the pyramid, we find “Values.”

Values can be defined as broad preference concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes.  Values tend to derive from and influence attitudes, behaviors and ultimately determine company culture.

In business, we often talk about “value-added services,” “value creation,” “value-based fees,”  etc.

We all have our own personal and cultural values.  We transmit these values from generation to generation, parent to child, executive level to department employee, older worker to younger worker.

Personal values are usually derived from early childhood.  Cultural values are directly linked to the specific society and time period in which we are born and educated (inculcated?).

The transmission of values is becoming more random as modern technology and the means to access information are now ubiquitous.  This implies more independent thinking about one’s values in future generations as values are becoming more a matter of choice and less a matter of one’s social milieu.

So, how do we recognize and respect our individual values – beliefs and attitudes – in international team-building across multiple cultures and geographies?  What about work/life balance?  Eating and resting habits?  Personal time for coffee breaks, prayer or shopping?  Decision-making, running meetings and social interactions?

At the source, humanist values trump all others.

Humanist values put people, individuals and the collective body, as the end goal of all human activity, including business.  This simple principal is full of implications and structures subsequent decision-making along the values-to-action business activity chain.

The humanist value system is not self-evident.  A surprising number of business and political leaders are not humanists.  This does not mean they are not competent or nice people.  But it does mean that they may have a deep-rooted values system where people are a means to an end, fungible resources.

The reason that humanist values trump all others is that they provide the foundation for all other ethical and moral considerations, in general and specifically to the business world.  One can have any religious or political beliefs, live in any country, exercise any trade craft and still act (or not) according to humanist values.

Modern humanist values are often associated with the Renaissance, a rebirth of the spirit of man, rational thought and scientific curiosity.  Humanist values do not contradict faith – there is room to conflate an individual’s religion/spirituality and science/rationality.

Modern humanist values incorporate democratic political systems with tolerance for minorities and other lifestyles outside the mainstream.  People who share humanist values do not need to impose their system of beliefs but they do tend to reject dogmatic and rigid certitudes.  Decision-making tends to be decentralized and involve highly collaborative processes.

Humanist values trump all others for enlightened business leaders and strategic alliance professionals.  Our job often requires creative collaborative solutions to design and implement partnerships, sometimes among peoples with very different traditional values.  These humanist values tend to be deeply shared.

Humanist values can provide a common framework for advanced collaborative networks as an overriding principal of organizational design.  Ecosystem development, which is the new normal and the way we will all be organized in the future, are more efficient with an underlying humanist value system on which to build the business case.

Humanist values trump all others and keeping them as the common language of international strategic alliances can help bridge our cultural, religious and ethnic differences to achieve optimal business efficiencies.

101-slide PowerPoint presentation
This presentation provides an in-depth discussion on Value Creation. Maximizing shareholder value is the strategic management philosophy driving countless organizations. The thinking here is the organization should first and foremost consider the interests of shareholders when making management [read more]

Want to Achieve Excellence in Value Creation?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Value Creation. Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

Since the early 1990s, organizations have relied on Value-Based Management (VBM) and other Value Creation frameworks to analyze and drive business performance and shareholder value. After all, maximizing shareholder value is the #1 priority for any publicly-owned company—and a top priority for most others.

But, how do we create Value?

Over the years, Value Creation Thinking has evolved from VBM to more inclusive models.

Learn about our Value Creation Best Practice Frameworks here.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


86-slide PowerPoint presentation
This deck outlines a market entry strategy and business development model for a technology company which was expanding its business in Asia. It analyzes the market dynamics of an emerging market in Asia and its development potential. To capture the opportunities and create market demand, the [read more]


 
53-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
106-slide PowerPoint presentation

About Troy Gautier

As a founder and managing director of Alliances Progress and former partner with Big Four consulting firms, Troy Gautier is an expert in designing and implementing strategic alliances, commercial partnerships, and business networks. With experiences on P&L responsibilities, start-up launch, and operational due diligence, board and executive leadership across multiple industries and functions, he is currently president of Southeast Chapter of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here or troygautier@alliancesprogress.com.

, , ,



Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  

The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.
  


OUR CORE OFFERINGS
Flevy Marketplace: Top 100
· Strategy & Transformation
· Digital Transformation
· Operational Excellence
· Organization & Change
· Financial Models
· Consulting Frameworks
· PowerPoint Templates
FlevyPro (Subscription Service)
KPI Library
Streams (Functional Bundles)
Flevy Executive Learning (FEL)
PowerPoint Services

FREE Resources

About Flevy
Management Topics
Marcus (AI-Powered Consultant)
Partner Program
LinkedIn Influencer Marketing
FAQ / Terms / Privacy / Blog
Contact Us: support@flevy.com



CONNECT WITH US!
       
TOP 100 TRENDING TOPICS
Acquisition Strategy
Agile
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Balanced Scorecard
Best Practices
Big Data
Breakout Strategy
Business Continuity Planning
Business Plan Financial Model
Business Transformation
CMMI
COBIT
Change Management
Cloud
Communications Strategy
Company Financial Model
Competitive Advantage
Competitive Analysis
Consulting Frameworks
Continuous Improvement
Core Competencies
Corporate Culture
Cost Reduction Assessment
Customer Experience

BROWSE BY FUNCTION
Strategy, Transformation, & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Operational Excellence and LSS
Organization, Change, & HR
Management Consulting

Customer Journey
Customer Service
Cyber Security
Data Privacy
Decision Making
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation Strategy
Due Diligence
ESG
Employee Engagement
Employee Training
Enterprise Architecture
Growth Strategy
HR Strategy
Hiring
Hoshin Kanri
ISO 27001
ITIL
Information Technology
Innovation Management
Integrated Financial Model
Kaizen
Kanban
Key Performance Indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Business Strategy Frameworks
Case Studies
Consulting Training Guides
COVID-19 Trend Data
Digital Transformation
Financial Advising Services (FAS)

Knowledge Management
Leadership
Lean
Lean Manufacturing
Logistics
M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)
Manufacturing
Market Research
Marketing Plan Development
Maturity Model
McKinsey PowerPoint
McKinsey Templates
Operational Excellence
Organizational Change
Organizational Design
Performance Management
Post-merger Integration
Pricing Strategy
Process Improvement
Process Maps
Procurement Strategy
Product Launch Strategy
Product Strategy
Project Management
Quality Management


Free Resources
KPI Library
Lean Management
Lean Six Sigma Training Guides
Marcus Insights
Operational Excellence

Real Estate
Remote Work
Restructuring
Risk Management
Robotic Process Automation
SWOT
SaaS
Sales
Scrum
Service Design
Six Sigma Project
Social Media Strategy
Strategic Planning
Strategic Thinking
Strategy Development
Supply Chain Analysis
Sustainability
Target Operating Model
Team Management
Total Productive Maintenance
Value Chain Analysis
Value Creation
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Workplace
Workplace Safety


Product Strategy
Small Business Owner
Startup Resources
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning Process
Value Innovation Strategy


© 2012-2024 Copyright. Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.