Understanding the Impact of Values and Beliefs

The workforce is changing and becoming more diverse. Together with these changes, managers in organisations must address issues about employee attitudes on diversity issues such as race, religion, sexual orientation, and age.

Attitudes are evaluative statements, either favourable or unfavourable, concerning objects, people or events. They are not the same as values.

Your values form the core of your humanity. Most people never think about this and they find it hard to determine the values that guide their lives. Values guide us in what we want to achieve or have. They are learnt early in life and may be transferred from generation to generation. They are often so embedded that they cannot be changed without effort. However, values can be changed, and you may exchange them for values to which you have more positive feelings.

It is your responsibility to:

1.  Determine the values that guide your life.

2.  Evaluate them in terms of the consequences they have for you.

3.  Decide which values you want to change and which you want to keep.

Beliefs can be described as the “truths” that you construct about how life should work/not work. These beliefs have been formed over years and you tend to be deeply convinced about the beliefs that you hold about life. Beliefs are embedded in the sub-conscious and conscious minds and you may or may not be able to identify these easily.

Your values and beliefs strongly influence your attitude. Our beliefs are decisive in how we think and make choices in life. It is therefore important to deal with people’s beliefs to understand their behaviour.