Foundations in Understanding Values

After our extensive review of available literature on values, our study of some specialized projects in it, and after a large number of focused discussion sessions among our consultants, we have adopted and developed a number of principles that guided and directed our understanding and philosophy of the subject of values in general, including:

• There is a clear problem in the term and concept of value in various fields of science.
• Values are universal; most laws, cultures, races, and peoples agree on them.

• The environments hosting individuals are divided into organizational environments, community environment, and national environment. Families, educational institutions, public and private sector institutions, and the third sector (non-profit) are all organizations with defined individuals subject to a system, and each environment has an agreed-upon leader. As for small and large community environments, they do not have a clear system or organization of relationships, and usually do not have any agreed-upon leader, unlike the nation, which is a form of society but has an agreed-upon leader.
• The sponsor and owner of the hosting environments is responsible for forming their values among the individuals belonging to those environments.
• All civil society institutions and social media – as irresponsible influencers – actively contribute to influencing the values of all hosting environments.
• Preparing the hosting environment to be supportive of values is a main reason for individuals to acquire and empower values.
• An individual’s personal values may or may not align with the values of their hosting organization, either in whole or in part, and may also align in type and degree of acquisition.
• Values differ from one individual to another, and from one organization – legal entity – to another, depending on changing goals or priorities. The values of the hosting environment may also change over time depending on the context of its reality.
• Organizations aim to build value systems to motivate their members to achieve the vision and goals of the hosting environment to which they belong, and empowering that system achieves its vision and goals.
• A value has three hidden dimensions: knowledge, emotion, and belief; and a fourth visible dimension: behavior.
• A single value includes other sub-values, which together form the original value.
• Values overlap with each other, so some components (sub-values) of one value may be a component of another value. Therefore, there are shared components between different values, and the same component (sub-value) may be an original value in itself.
• Organizational values regulate the individual’s relationship with themselves, their relationship with colleagues at work, and their relationship with stakeholders inside and outside the organization. It is preferable that these align with their personal values, which means activating values in three integrated circles: the individual, the organization, and the community.
• Values are acquired; they are subject to all principles, laws, mechanisms, and strategies of learning.
• One of the basic conditions for understanding values is to transform them from an abstract concept to a clear entity by defining them, identifying their sub-components and behaviors that express them, those that contradict them, analyzing the dimensions of the components, highlighting their benefits and the harms of acting against them, and the mechanisms for acquiring them and paths for empowering them, which we call the embodiment of values.
• In order to empower values among individuals, we must first address the sponsor and responsible influencer for imparting and empowering values among the affected individuals.
• Values can be measured in individuals to determine the degree of their acquisition and adoption of personal or organizational values, and values can be measured for organizations (legal entities) to determine the degree of their provision of the requirements of the values they advocate and the degree of their presence and strength in the organization.
• Values are not just technical job skills, but are based on the individual’s belief in them. Therefore, an individual’s acquisition of a value is only achieved by involving them in the process of empowering it, and by transforming the value into a personal conviction and behavioral guide on which they build their choices and positions.