Abstract
Following the research of Liedtka (1989), this paper examines the impact of her “values congruence” model on managers' work attitudes and perceptions of ethical practices within their firms. A nationwide cross-section of managers (N=1,059) provides the sample for the study. Consonance or clarity about both personal value systems and organizational value systems were found to be more important and, in the absence of one or the other, clarity of personal values were shown to have a more positive impact than organizational value clarity.
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Barry Z. Posner is Professor of Management, Leavey School of Business and Administration, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California, and formerly Associate Dean for Academic Programs. His research interests include managerial values, effective intergroup dynamics, and leadership.
Warren H. Schmidt is Professor Emeritus of the University of Southern California. He is a Productivity Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles and President of Chrysalis, Inc., a management training and consulting organization. He is a Certified Psychologist in California and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. Dr. Schmidt's teaching, writing and consulting activities are designed to apply social science knowledge to the problems of managing and working in public and private organizations. Dr. Schmidt's writings include books, articles and films. Among his writings is aHarvard Business Review Classic on leadership co-authored with Robert Tannenbaum. He has screen credits for more than 70 management and educational motion pictures in which he has participated as writer, performer or advisor. One of the films written by Dr. Schmidt —“Is It Always Right to be Right?” — won an Academy Award in 1971 and was named “Best Training Film of the Decade” by the U.S. Industrial Film Board in 1980.
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Posner, B.Z., Schmidt, W.H. Values congruence and differences between the interplay of personal and organizational value systems. J Bus Ethics 12, 341–347 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00882023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00882023