Research Initiatives

Our research initiatives are driven by three essential questions:

• What is the business case for being a values-driven company?
• What does a values-driven company look like?
• How does a company get there (and stay there)?

One current focus is a 3-year research project to study market performance and the enabling factors of leading socially and environmentally responsible companies.

We are also developing a suite of assessment instruments to help companies clarify their corporate values and establish strategies for integrating these values into their culture and daily practices.

Organizational Values Inventory

To strengthen financial performance, mitigate risk, enhance the corporate brand and create a great place to work, companies need to be aligned around a compelling set of core values. Identifying the values is easy; integrating them into the daily operations of the business is less obvious. The Organizational Values Inventory (OVI) is a tool that measures how well an organization operationalizes its values by focusing on eight critical success factors: onboarding, training and development; communications and employee awareness; decision-making; accountability systems; resource allocation; rewards, recognition, and sanctions; and leadership behavior. OVI results provide data and a common language for the organization’s current state and a framework for initiating and implementing positive change.

The OVI can be used to:

• Develop a picture of the current state of your organizational values alignment and identify similarities and differences at the department level
• Validate the need for change on the part of organizational members
• Create a vision and set a direction for change
• Plan individual and organizational development programs to strengthen values alignment at all levels
• Monitor the impact of change efforts through repeated administrations
• Identify and transfer the subcultures of high performance units
• Integrate differentiated organizational units
• Facilitate values alignment in mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances
• Integrate global organizations across geographically and culturally-dispersed units

For more information about the OVI or other CVDL research initiatives, please contact Deb Hellmuth, Program Coordinator at (630) 829-6225 or dhellmuth@ben.edu.

 

The CVDL is launching a Revolution in Responsible Business by bringing the boardroom together with the classroom to capture proven practices, advance radical new ideas, and lead to a better way of doing business. Find out how we're igniting a revolution and what you can do to get involved.

 

"In today's globally interconnected world and our diminishing natural resources, private gain at the expense of public good cannot be a viable option for firms anymore. Companies that can successfully balance and optimize public good with private gain will be the market leaders of tomorrow- and ultimately, this will be the only sustainable competitive advantage."

~ Ram Tenkasi, Ph.D.
Director of Research
Professor, Organization Change
Center for Values-Driven Leadership

 

About CVDL

The Center for Values-Driven Leadership offers research, education and outreach opportunities to help business leaders forge new paths to profitability. It is a gathering place where top executives, entrepreneurs and thought leaders come together to innovate at the forefront of values-driven business practice.

Upcoming CVDL Events

• Class: 8-Day Intensive; Research Methods I: Scholar-Practitioner Strategies
  - June 14-17, 2013
• Class: 8-Day Intensive; Leading Self I: Your Career Leadership Legacy
  - June 18-21, 2013
• Class: Leading Teams, part 1
  - July 19-21, 2013