Aligning Action and Values Article Critique Essay

In the article ‘Aligning Action and Values’ article by Jim Collins, a very pertinent point is made that is applicable in today’s business environment. Organizations spend very little time aligning daily work with the overall vision and core values set by the organization. Collins’ article was written 10 years ago, but the content currently still has merit. Organizations are constantly changing and adapting to industry and environmental trends. With the explosion of the Internet and rapid global expansion, company’s need to have efficient change management programs and vision to keep the organization on track. Too often, companies are sidelined by managers that are self-promoting and not working for the overall vision of the company. Yet, this is not necessarily a middle manager problem, but a problem of the company not identifying and pursuing the grand vision the company was founded to achieve. Mr. Collins points out the often company’s are either to busy trying to repeatedly craft the perfect vision statement or the organization has not spent any time aligning the organization with the values that have been determined. Truly visionary organizations are able to use core values become efficient in management and operations to keep the company moving forward. Organizations that do not align goals with values spend more time evaluating past problems and too little time focusing on the future. Jim Collins is correct in that one must first identify the internal dialogue to identify organizational misalignments. There is typically mistrust between senior leaders and employees in terms of who is doing the right things. Senior leaders need to listen to lower level managers and employees and take into consideration the perspective of those that directly link to the customer. Senior leaders also need to determine what is said in the organization’s undercurrent internal dialogue. What often drives employees to perform is what is felt unconsciously, not what is stated in official forums. Company’s that have alignment of goals with vision are able to determine the internal dialogue and keep the dialogue positive. Identifying the difference between core values and strategies is essential for organizational alignment. Mr. Collins points out that core values should be timeless and never change. What should change are operational practices and strategies. Many companies too often are constantly identifying new core values, and this makes focus difficult. By identifying permanent core value, employees are able to always rely on what the greater purpose of the company should represent in all daily operations. Without this concrete focus, employees become disgruntled and unable to focus on any one thing, increasing inefficiencies. Mr. Collins also posits that organizations cannot â€Å". . . nstall new core values into people. . . † but that people are predisposed to holding them. Therefore, the key is to find people that are already predisposed to holding the company’s particular values. This concept is especially hard for organizations that are attempting to align actions to values. People are inherently resistant to change and any change in an organization’s core values will be difficult for all employees to embrace. Therefore, it is crucial that organizations identify core values at inception so that all employees will identify with the goals and vision when hired. Otherwise it is exceptionally difficult to implement change management strategies to get employees to ‘buy in’ to new values. In all, Jim Collins is accurate on his assessment of aligning action and values in organizations. Although this article was written 10 years ago, companies still struggle with these concepts today. Mr. Collins is correct that organizations need to have permanent core values, identify internal dialogues and act on inconsistencies, and hire people that are predisposed to a particular organizations core values, instead of attempting to gain ‘buy in’ from current employees.