The article Identifying and Assessing Managerial Value Orientations explains how the values of managers have shifted throughout the last few decades. The Rokeach Value Survey was used to show the prioritized values and how they differ by manages from the 1980s to more recent times. Studies showed that older generations of managers prioritized competence values such as ambition, logic, independence, and effectiveness. These examples measure personal success and achievement. More recently, managers have valued morals such as honesty, forgiveness, helping others, and compassion. This shift shows the way the world has changed and adapted to a more team driven focus as opposed to independent succession.

This is important for someone like me who is a senior in college graduating in May. I am about to enter the workforce and knowing what managers value is important to help me contribute the best to my ability in my career. As a student who cares about professionalism, communication, and helping people, I plan to continue to modernize my approaches to group effort while still upholding competence values as well. I have had plenty of experience with team work over the years throughout working at my family business and the various group projects I have partaken in. I believe in helping others succeed while still holding them accountable.

Additionally, I can connect this to course concepts I have learned in various SLC classes. One framework that stands out to me is the design thinking model and its empathize step. This is something I have continued to adapt on in workplace settings and peers at NCSU. Empathizing with customers and other students is essential for moral character and something I try to balance in my endeavors.

Weber, James. Identifying and Assessing Managerial Value Orientations: A Cross-Generational Replication Study of Key Organizational Decision-Makers’ Values. Springer Science+Business Media, 2014.