Values are concepts or beliefs that determine how we live our life. At work they are major influences on how individuals approach work. Values drive our decisions and cause us to summon up energy to preserve what we believe in or what we want to defend. As such they can be principal determinants of behavior and will impact our views about people, situations or events. When team members share the same values the team will have the energy to deliver outstanding performance. Where individual values clash, conflict will occur and teams are unlikely to reach their full potential.

The Window on Work Values is a model built over five years from gathering individuals' responses to many questions defining work activities or situations at work that they value. The focus is on values where the primary content aspect is the type of goal or motivational concern that the value expresses. The model has good structural validity, meaning that value types close to one another in the window are related whereas those on opposite sides of the window are unrelated. The model can be applied to both individual and organizational values.

The Window on Work Values

The Window consists of eight core work value types depicted as window panes, rather like those in the rose windows of many European cathedrals. It is divided into quadrants, each containing a core value type as follows:

• Self Focus: Value types that put personal goals ahead of group goals. Individualism is the core value type in this quadrant.
• Group Focus: Value types that put group wishes ahead of individual need. Collectivism is the core value type.
• Organizational Constraint: Value types that require strictly-adhered-to guidelines to ensure the smooth running of an organization. Compliance is the core value type.
• Organizational Freedom: Value types where individual behavior is unrestricted and people are free to choose their pathways, unfettered by organizational constraints. Empowerment is the core value type.

Values focusing on the self, within an environment of Organizational Freedom are defined by the Independence value type. Those focusing on the self within an environment of Organizational Constraint are defined by the Authority value type.

Values focusing on the group, within an environment of Organizational Freedom are defined by the Equality value type. Those focusing on the group within an environment of Organizational Constraint are defined by the Conformity value type.

Individual values are determined from answers to the 64-item Window on Work Values Profile Questionnaire. The feedback is a hierarchy of value types and valuable information on how a person's values will impact their behavior.

Organizational values are determined from answers to the 32-item Organizational Values Profile Questionnaire. This multi-rater instrument gives feedback on the organizational values perceived by any number of respondents. Comparisons between organizational groups are given in terms of the value types. A comparison can also be made between an individual's view of the organization's values and their own values.

Team Management Systems has a process which uses the Window on Work Values to develop a Team Charter which lists core values that the team would like as the foundation of how the team works together. Action-based ground rules then relate to these shared values.