Aligning Action and Values Article Critique Essay

In the article Aligning Action and Values article by Jim Collins, a very pertinent point is made that is applicable in todays business environment. Organizations spend very little time aligning cursory work with the overall vision and message values set by the organization. Collins article was written 10 years ago, alone the content soon still has merit. Organizations ar constantly changing and adapting to industry and environmental trends. With the explosion of the Internet and rapid global expansion, companys need to make believe economic change management programs and vision to keep the organization on track.Too often, companies are sidelined by managers that are self-promoting and not working for the overall vision of the company. Yet, this is not necessarily a middle manager problem, but a problem of the company not hearing and pursuing the grand vision the company was founded to achieve. Mr. Collins points come to the fore the often companys are either to busy trying t o repeatedly craft the perfect vision statement or the organization has not spent any time aligning the organization with the values that have been determined.Truly visionary organizations are able to use sum total values dumbfound efficient in management and operations to keep the company moving forward. Organizations that do not align goals with values spend more time evaluating past tense problems and too little time commissioning on the future. Jim Collins is correct in that one must first put the internal dialogue to identify organizational misalignments. There is typically mistrust between senior leaders and employees in terms of who is doing the right things.Senior leaders need to listen to subvert level managers and employees and take into consideration the perspective of those that directly link to the customer. Senior leaders also need to determine what is said in the organizations undercurrent internal dialogue. What often drives employees to perform is what is felt unconsciously, not what is stated in official forums. Companys that have alignment of goals with vision are able to determine the internal dialogue and keep the dialogue positive. Identifying the difference between core values and strategies is essential for organizational alignment.Mr. Collins points out that core values should be timeless and never change. What should change are operational practices and strategies. Many companies too often are constantly identifying new core values, and this makes focus difficult. By identifying permanent core value, employees are able to always rely on what the greater purpose of the company should represent in all passing(a) operations. Without this concrete focus, employees become disgruntled and unable to focus on any one thing, increasing inefficiencies.Mr. Collins also posits that organizations cannot . . . nstall new core values into people. . . but that people are predisposed to holding them. Therefore, the key is to find people that ar e already predisposed to holding the companys particular values. This belief is especially hard for organizations that are attempting to align actions to values. People are inherently resistant to change and any change in an organizations core values will be difficult for all employees to embrace. Therefore, it is crucial that organizations identify core values at inception so that all employees will identify with the goals and vision when hired.Otherwise it is exceptionally difficult to implement change management strategies to get employees to buy in to new values. In all, Jim Collins is accurate on his assessment of aligning action and values in organizations. Although this article was written 10 years ago, companies still struggle with these concepts today. Mr. Collins is correct that organizations need to have permanent core values, identify internal dialogues and act on inconsistencies, and hire people that are predisposed to a particular organizations core values, instead of attempting to elaboration buy in from current employees.