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As Steve jobs, the co-founder of apple computer puts it forth, “the only thing that works is management by values. Find people who are competent and really bright, but more importantly, people who care exactly about the same things you care about.”
People are the most important asset of an organization is a well heard statement. Yet how many organizations act as if they really believe these words? Not many. These words are the clear expression of a value, and values are visible through the actions people take, not their talk.
Values form the foundation for everything that happens in the workplace. If you are the founder of an organization, your values permeate the workplace. You naturally hire people who share your values. Whatever you value, will largely govern the actions of your workforce.
Behind the most successful brands and businesses there are always values – explicit principles that guide attitudes and behaviour - to ensure that promises made are delivered. Values make an impact on all stakeholders, internal and external; and they have never been examined more carefully and taken more seriously as a measurement of the core strength of a business.

Inside the company they are the touchstone for leaders, who want to create a performance culture, critical to the process of driving through change. Among customers, once stated they are an unequivocal basis for trust – brand loyalty depends on them. They shape relationships with suppliers are increasingly examined by shareholders and they form the foundations of Corporate Responsibility policy. Values are, therefore, of fundamental importance; an asset. But not one that can be bought or easily imported; they come from within. Live by them and you enhance the worth of your business. Fail to, and you undermine it. They are relatively easy to write and hard to deliver. And once they are posted above the door there are no hiding places, because we are what we do, not what we say we will do.

Organizational values are more important today than at any other time in history because the personal and societal context within which business operates is changing. Who you are as an organization, and what you stand for, are becoming just as important as what you sell.

Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and shared meaning of values/beliefs, priorities, and direction so that everyone understands and can contribute. Once defined, values impact every aspect of the organization.
Management should support and nurture this impact or identifying values will be a wasted exercise. People will feel fooled and misled unless they see the impact of the exercise within your organization.

If one wants the values one identifies to have an impact, the following must occur.
• People demonstrate and model the values in action in their personal work behaviors, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction.
• Organizational values help each person establish priorities in their daily work life.
• Values guide every decision that is made once the organization has cooperatively created the values and the value statements.
• Rewards and recognition within the organization are structured to recognize those people whose work embodies the values the organization embraced.
• Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values.
• Adoption of the values and the behaviors that result is recognized in regular performance feedback.
• People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with the values.
• Only the active participation of all members of the organization will ensure a truly organization-wide, value-based, shared culture.

Clearly, the organization's values must be in line with its purpose or mission, and the vision that it is trying to achieve. So to summarize, articulated values of an organization can provide a framework for the collective leadership of an organization to encourage common norms of behaviour which will support the achievement of the organization's goals and mission.