Why person-organisation fit may not be
person-nation fit:
Exploring the meaning of value
congruence for global organisations
Dr. Nathalie van Meurs
Middlesex University Business School
n.van-meurs@mdx.ac.uk
www.identityresearch.org
Questions
we’d like to see answered
•
In case of a merger, what happens to the identity of the
organisation(s)?
• How (if at all) do employees reframe their professional identity?
• What are the consequences for management development?
•
What kind of values are necessary to make a fit corporate or national values?
• Is value congruence a good thing?
• How do you determine whether a fit / value congruence exists
when soft cultural factors are often disregarded?
•
What kind of people do organisations need to implement
international change?
• What role do managers and practitioners play during this
process?
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
• Social groups determine our identity (i.e., our
self concept).
– Spend a lot of time at work
– “What do you do”
• Organizational decisions involve different
groups and these groups often have sharply
diverging agendas, values, perspectives and
goals” (Haslam, 2001, p. 179).
• Attitudes, values and beliefs guide behaviour
(Schwartz, 1992) and may colour what people
see as ‘effective’ and ‘appropriate’.
DEFINITIONS
of FIT
• Person-Environment Fit “the
compatibility between an individual and a
work environment that occurs when their
characteristics are well matched”
(Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and
Johnson, 2005, p. 281)
• Person-Organisation Fit “Judgement of
congruence between an employee’s
personal values and an organization’s
culture” (Cable & DeRue, 2000, p. 875)
Fit Domains
Openness
to Change
SelfDirection Universalism
Creativity,
Stimulation Freedom
Exciting Life
SelfTranscendence
Social Justice,
Equality
Benevolence
Helpfulness
Hedonism
Pleasure
Conformity
Obedience
Tradition
Humility
Devoutness
Achievement
Success,
Ambition
Security
Power
SelfEnhancement
Social Order
Conservation
Authority,
Wealth
Organized by motivational
similarities and oppositions
FIT FINDINGS
• Complementary and Supplementary Fit
• Surface and Deep level differences
• The values of people important to us should be used to
characterise the person’s environment (Van Vianen et
al., 2004)
• What we perceive is a better predictor than what is
actual.
– Measured opinions time 1 and time 2.
• Work adjustment, interaction adjustment, general
adjustment.
– Surface level difference affect general adjustment
– Openness to Change most important
– Self Transcendence affects work and interaction adjustment
• Interaction: My values and your values
– Work adjustment: congruence; whether low or high
– Interaction adjustment: both high on ST
ANSWERS
TO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
In case of an international merger or IJV, what
happens to the identity of the organisation(s)?
• Organisational reputation vs. organisational ID (van
Dick et al., 2006)
• Career, team and organisation identification (van
Dick et al, 2005)
• Identification increases job satisfaction, motivation
and well being, decreases turnover and absenteeism
• Identification is fluid
Higher organisational identification:
• motivates employees intrinsically
• they are more likely to internalise collective
goals
• Regardless of personal benefits (pay)!
After a merger, employees often identify
negatively with the organisation
• Conditions of discontinuity, unclear
communication and merger mismanagement
(van Dick et al., 2006)
• Balance of power
• Media maintenance
What kind of values are necessary to make a fit corporate or national values?
• Short term: surface level fit, long term: values
• Self Transcendence values
Is value congruence a good thing?
• Yes, but is it realistic? And what are the long term
consequences – Dry rot?
• Discuss risk of stereotyping and relativity of ‘truth’
How do you determine whether a fit exists when
soft cultural factors are often disregarded?
• Will the transaction keep value? vs. Will I keep my job?
• Call a presentation
• Practical examples and research evidence
• Use diagnostic tools (HRM) testing values
What kind of people do organisations need to
implement international change?
• The kind of people that created an identity out of being
different
What role do managers and practitioners play
during this process?
Practitioners be aware of context:
• Org id & staff turnover, team id & altruism,
career id & training
Maintain continuity, communication and socioemotional orientation
• Work routines, teams and communication
channels
• Newsletters, hotline, regular meetings staff &
supervisor
• Provide emotional support, demonstrate
AFTERTHOUGHT
The past and present wilt--I have fill'd them,
emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
Listener up there! what have you to confide to
me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay
only a minute longer.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Song of Myself - Walt Whitman, 1867
Thank you
www.identityresearch.org
N.van-meurs@mdx.ac.uk