We have compiled and benefited from some of these studies, programs, projects, and tools. Most of them view the process of acquiring or gaining values as occurring through three axes: First, family upbringing; second, emulating a role model or example; and third, direct reception through education or training (Tilman, 2006; Balkhadr, 2006; Yalgin 2012; Encyclopedia of Ethics, King Saud University; University Values Project, Taibah University 2013; Al-Daghla, 2013; Al-Jallad 2014; Mirdad 2015; Al-Azmi, 2015; Kouzes; James 2016). We fully agree with all of this, but we did not delve into theorizing or focus only on the process of imparting or acquiring values. Instead, we were keen on building a methodology and practical tools aimed at a more comprehensive process of acquisition, which we called: empowering values.
Empowerment is a term that refers to a participatory process between the enabler and the enabled, which means involving individuals under the responsibility of influencers in the influence processes they carry out to impart or acquire values through a set of procedures taken by influencers or those in their position; to empower values among individuals by bringing about cultural change processes, taking into account the difference in values, their concept, type, and arrangement from one institution to another, which results in different methods of empowering values. Also, the results of studying the reality of values in each environment and identifying its gaps guide the selection of appropriate programs for cultural change processes to empower values, which proceed according to its methodology in five processes: environment preparation, knowledge sharing, learning, training, and modeling.
Empowerment is a term that refers to a collaborative process between the enabler and the enabled. Empowering employees with institutional values is the ultimate goal of our methodology. When employees embrace their organization’s values in their daily professional behavior, a values-based corporate culture is more likely to prevail, and the organization is more likely to achieve its strategic objectives and achieve its vision. We will explain these five processes in the following pages.
The first process: Creating the environment.
A leader complained to me that most employees do not offer innovative ideas and solutions to the challenges facing the organization. Although one of our organization’s values is innovation, I asked him, “Have you created an environment that nurtures innovation and supports that value?”
He said, “Yes, we encourage employees to innovate and implement their good suggestions.” I replied, “It’s natural for the institution to take the initiative in implementing good ideas that have surfaced, but do you have a system, procedures, policies, programs, and financial and moral support for the value of innovation in the institution that motivates employees to produce innovations and creative ideas?”
It is unfair for environments to demand that individuals belonging to them embody values and display them in their behaviors and practices without preparing the requirements of an environment that embraces them. The environment plays a major role in empowering values among individuals; Within the framework of what it prepares in terms of specifications, characteristics, policies, mechanisms, procedures, and systems to empower values, whether material or moral, all of which are appropriate to the nature of the employees in the institution and everything that would be helpful in acquiring the values adopted by the environment itself and not general requirements.
Regarding the leader’s complaint about the lack of interest among employees in his institution in adopting the value of innovation, which turned out to be not their fault but rather the lack of an environment that fosters and supports innovation, I summarize for you the experience of Saudi Aramco in empowering the value of innovation. (When the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco became interested in innovation, this interest transformed into creating an environment that fosters innovation, including allocating a financial budget of $500 million for the venture capital fund. The number of employees participating with innovative ideas and projects increased from 20% in 2018 to more than 60% in 2020, and Aramco obtained 683 global patents and registered 1,183 applications in 2020) (Al-Qahtani 2023).
It is unfair for organizations to demand that their members embody values and demonstrate them in their behavior and practices, without providing them with the necessary environment to foster them.
The second process: spreading the culture of values
We administered a self-administered scale to measure corporate culture based on values, both written and verbal, to some employees in organizations. The results were extremely shocking, and may seem unrealistic. The summary of the measurement results indicates that most employees do not fully understand their organization’s value system, and few were able to articulate it. This indicates that the management responsible for corporate values, whether strategy, human resources, or internal communication, has not fulfilled its duty to share knowledge about the value system with employees. This is the least we can do, apart from other cultural change processes. The process of spreading the culture of values and sharing knowledge refers to the efforts made by those responsible for enabling values in the organization to spread the culture and enhance awareness and interest in values in general, and the organization’s value system in particular, so that employees are aware of and knowledgeable about their organization’s values, which raises the level of interest, knowledge, and understanding—the three components of awareness.
Most employees do not fully know their organization’s value system
The knowledge sharing process follows two main paths:
First: Spreading culture and sharing knowledge about the importance of values in general, and the need for all employees to pay attention to them in their various roles, and highlighting the great benefits and positive returns for them.
Second: Sharing focused knowledge on a specific institutional value system, explaining it, clarifying its components, the risks of not embodying it, its various benefits, and its positive returns for working individuals, the institution, and society. Knowledge dissemination processes may be directed towards a specific category of targets, and knowledge dissemination processes may target all employees and may go beyond them to all those related to the institution from suppliers and partners, and even some institutions have turned towards employees’ families and the local community.
All of this is achieved by producing a set of educational and media programs, tools, activities, and practices within a purposeful awareness framework that is appropriate to the nature of employees and formulated in creative ways that go beyond traditional methods to be compatible with the interests of the targets. These programs aim to bring about cultural change processes by raising awareness of values among employees.
Value empowerment programs must be compatible with the nature and interests of the organization’s employees.
I suggest that you, dear reader, conduct a television interview (podcast) about your organization’s values for your organization, in which the guest discusses their experiences and expertise regarding the organization’s values. Disseminate this podcast among employees. I am confident that it will have a direct positive impact on their professional behavior and bring about a clear cultural change. The organization can also open the way for its employees to create diverse activities and programs to share knowledge about their organization’s values and their personal experiences.
The Third Process: Education
The educational institution, after the family, is responsible for empowering values, as it contributes significantly to shaping students’ cognitive development. The role of teachers and curriculum is very important in educational situations that enable values directly or indirectly.
However, education is not exclusive to it, and other governmental and private institutions and the non-profit sector can carry it out to empower values, where those concerned in these institutions about cultural change through educational programs and develop curricula, activities, events, reading, discussion, dialogue sessions, and lectures about the institution’s values in a manner consistent with the experiences and qualifications of employees with the aim of enriching their information and dedicating their beliefs about the institution’s values.
We will later address the fourth process, which is: Training aimed at transferring skills and imparting practical practices. Some may see that this is sufficient for education, which is not true; Education is a process aimed at imparting information and consolidating knowledge, which is the basis of practical skills. The axis around which the learning process revolves is reading, which has been lost in the midst of the characteristics of the modern era crowded with means of simple direct reception through social media. If the institution can invest in the education process in an interesting and engaging way, it will bring about a significant cognitive change among its employees, which will have an impact on their professional behavior.
In a national study on reading and knowledge society in Saudi society, implemented by the Ithra Center at Saudi Aramco, which addressed trends and preferences, and the methods and tools by which individuals build their knowledge, it was found that reading is an important source for most members of society to acquire knowledge. (Reference: Reading and Knowledge Society, Reading Trends and Patterns in Saudi Society, Ithra Center, 2014.)
The Fourth Process: Training
Training aims to impart skills and practical application. This is the difference between it and the education process, which aims to impart knowledge and concepts.
If the institution invests in the education process, it is beneficial to support it with the practical training process. If it exceeds the education process, this can be remedied by integrating knowledge acquisition with training programs. This means that the institution’s training program preparer must be aware of the rest of the processes and programs the institution undertakes to empower its employees with its values.
Training aims to provide skills and practical application. This is the difference between it and the education process, which aims to impart knowledge and concepts. Training to empower employees with the institution’s values has two main types:
The first type: Training those responsible for empowering the institution’s values who are entrusted with the responsibility of managing values, whether they are from the department tasked with empowering employees with the institution’s values, influencers in the institution who enjoy the respect and appreciation of their colleagues, or those directly assigned to be ambassadors of values in the various departments and sections of the institution. This type of training is preferably intensive and in-depth because it concerns providing trainees with the skills to comply with the institution’s values and transfer these skills to their colleagues. With the goal of transforming the institution’s values into practical practices, it is not a training of trainers (TOT) program, but it is deeper than that.
The second type: Training all employees on the institution’s values, with the goal of providing them with the basic skills that enable them to transform their institution’s values from slogans they advocate into applied practices and professional behavior. Training is the most prominent activity that institutions require to empower their work team, and it is undoubtedly a key pillar in bringing about cultural change in the institution’s value system. However, it is useful not to think of it as the only one, or even the most important. Rather, all the previous processes and models we discussed (preparing the environment, sharing knowledge, education) and the modeling we will discuss now are important processes that reinforce each other. There are two types of values training: the first: training those responsible for empowering the organization’s values, and the second: training all employees on the organization’s values.
The Fifth Process: Modeling
There is no administrative or educational book that does not discuss role models and inspirational leadership, and their role in instilling, imparting, strengthening, and building values in the environments nurtured by leaders. Many scientific studies and research confirm the significant impact of a leader’s interest in values in their environment, or as some studies call it, “leadership by values.” (References)
The leaders’ own adoption of the values they advocate, and their appearance as ideal inspiring models for those under their leadership, contributes to empowering values among individuals who fall under leaders of different types and degrees and are influenced by them. The challenge does not lie in convincing the leader that they are a model, but rather for the leader to learn how to be an inspiring model and motivate the employees under their management to embody institutional values.
Leaders’ adoption of the values they advocate and their emergence as inspiring role models for those under their leadership contribute to empowering values among employees.
Empowerment Processes and the Pillar of Embodyment
The cultural change processes for empowering values, which we discussed previously, are well-known to all those involved in cultural change and empowering values. However, there is a significant difference between implementing these processes in a traditional, stereotypical manner and implementing them according to a scientific methodology, creative methods, and authentic content that brings about cultural change in the organization’s environment and its employees. As we mentioned previously, values are abstract concepts; It is not possible to build empowerment content and tools on these abstract concepts or rely on the private understanding of content creators and developers. To our knowledge, there are no scientific studies or theoretical books on the details of the founding values, even the most famous and widespread values in the world, such as innovation, integrity, transparency, excellence, and others. Therefore, we developed a guide to embodying values, based on which we created the Pioneers Encyclopedia of Values, which consists of more than 100 scientific books that embody 100 globally widespread values. Each book serves as an authentic reference framework for a single value and is a knowledge vessel from which researchers and those involved in building and developing cultural change programs and tools draw. Those responsible for knowledge sharing draw from it the media messages to spread culture, and from it the developers of training and educational programs draw the scientific content for their programs.