Ethical considerations for using values to manage in the workplace

Research that focuses on people’s work values generally considers how values are related to affective and behavioural outcomes. Values research often includes how people’s own work values fit with the values of their group, their manager or their organisation. Practitioners often focus on how to influence people’s values in an effort to capture the benefits of linking people’s values with outcomes, or reap the reported advantages of having groups of people with congruent values. A question not often considered is the ethical implications of influencing people’s work values. Values are people’s core beliefs about what is important. They shape their understanding of work and how they interact with other people. In posing this question we consider the impact of trying to shape different people’s values and the impact that this may have on individuals and the community more broadly. We ask the question of what responsibility do employers have in shaping the work values of people who will in all likelihood move through a number of positions in their working life. The paper is structured to consider the issue from the perspective of business ethics and our contemporary understanding of ethical issues currently faced by organisations.