CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Work values change from generation to generation. Understanding work values has become a key issue for organizations aiming to achieve higher performances. Values play an important role in people’s behaviors, affecting their perceptions, attitudes, and motivations. While people’s values shape their general beliefs about what is desirable or undesirable, they also have values specific to particular events or situations, including work values. Organizational researchers have focused on work values as an important factor influencing motivation and positive behaviors in the workplace. Work values are defined as “what a person wants out of work in general and also what components of a job are important to his or her work satisfaction” (Duffy, 2010, p. 52), or “beliefs about the desirability of specific outcomes of working” (Hattrup, Mueller, & Joens, 2007, p. 481). Work values or work orientations are more general and abstract than work goals or satisfaction, and they reflect an employee’s general preferences toward not only their current job but also potential future jobs (Malka & Chatman, 2003; Vansteenkiste et al., 2007). Organizational researchers have found that work values influence, or are influenced by, other factors. However, most previous research has focused on only one job category, such as nurses or IT professionals. Although this kind of research is important because work values of jobholders are reflected in job-specific work conditions, such research is not able to compare work values across different job categories. This research work will empirically examine The Impact of Work Values on organisational image and performance (A case study of federal road safety corps Abuja), taking differences between job categories into account.
1.2 Problem of the study
Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and shared meaning of values, priorities, and direction so that every employee understands and can contribute. They are the guide posts of our lives, and they direct us to who we want to be. Thus, they help us become who we are and are a huge part of our makeup, ethical compass, and ultimately, personality. Values can strongly influence employee conduct in the workplace. If an employee values honesty, hard work, and discipline, for example, he will likely make an effort to exhibit those traits in the workplace. This person may therefore be a more efficient employee and a more positive role model to others than an employee with opposite values. Values determine what individuals find important in their daily life and help to shape their behavior in each situation they encounter. Since values often strongly influence both attitude and behavior, they serve as a kind of personal compass for employee conduct in the workplace. Values help determine whether an employee is passionate about work and the workplace, which in turn can lead to above-average returns, high employee satisfaction, strong team dynamics, and synergy. Once defined, values impact every aspect of your organization. Values are usually shaped by many different internal and external influences, including family, traditions, culture, and, more recently, media and the Internet. Rokeach (1973) suggested that value development is influenced by culture, society and personality.
A person will filter all of these influences and meld them into a unique value set that may differ from the value sets of others in the same culture. Because individual values have such strong attitudinal and behavioral effects, a company must hire teams of individuals whose values do not conflict with either each other's or those of the organization. Rokeach (1973) claimed that people act according to their values because there is a need for consistency between one‘s beliefs and one‘s actions. Schwartz (1977) argued that the failure to act in accordance with personal values is normally followed by self-blame. Lönnqvist et al. (2006) found that anticipated regret motivates value-consistent behavior. Their results suggest that the motivating force of values may be partly understood in terms of the need to protect the self from regret.
1.3 Research objectives
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Work Values on organisational image and performance.
Following objectives include;
- To investigate the relationship between Work Values on organisational image and performance.
- To investigate if Work values classified as intrinsic will have a positive impact on organizational image and performance.
- To investigate if Work values classified as extrinsic will have a negative effect on organizational image and performance.
1.4 Research questions
- What is the relationship between Work Values on organisational image and performance?
- Will Work values classified as intrinsic have a positive impact on organizational image and performance?
- What are the Work values classified as extrinsic will have a negative effect on organizational image and performance?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
H0: There is no significant impact of work values on organizational image and performance
1.6 significance of the study
The study will provide empirical basis for further study of performance
This study will have useful implications for theory and practice. Regarding the potential implications for theory, the study will expand the existing work value literature.
This research work when completed will be very useful to the followings:
Business/ Organisations: To this group, the research work will provide them with the requisite knowledge of Work Values required to push the organisational image and performance forward.
SME businesses: the creation of awareness among SME managers of the importance of Work Values as a means of improving performance and organization image.
The study will also educate the general public, investors and entrepreneurs on application of Work Values, types, it application, and benefits, It will also enable a better understanding of common Work Values in relation to other fields.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
From the foregoing discussion, the research focuses on the Impact of Work Values on organisational image and performance
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Limitations envisage in this research work are:
- Uncooperative attitude of the staff in the organisation: this is a major limitation which increase the time spent in completing the research work.
- Monetary constraints: this factors serves as a deficiency for the research work, and as a result of low financial capability, it was not enough to give us desired results.
- Inadequacy of Reference Material: In the process of carrying out this research work, the most nagging problem facing the study is how to obtain reference materials. The time to carry out the research is short and insufficient, since it is done alongside with some other courses to contend with so as to present a good result.
