Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Values'

This Master thesis investigates how values can drive value when creating sustainable business.Concepts like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development (SD) has in the last years become more and more accepted and therefore practiced in the business world. Due to alarms of the climate change, decreased biological diversity and alarming reports of child labour in the export industry, today’s society claims for more sustainable actions among global enterprises. Evidently, some organisations have a more proactive sustainable approach and therefore managed to use sustainable actions to grow and strengthen their market positions e.g. IKEA and Starbucks. Service research related to the above research area at CTF (Service Research Center) at Karlstad University pointed out that corporate values such as social responsibility and environmental responsibility (among others) can be used to create customer value, brand equity and help strategic decision-making for future growth. This thesis investigates in the specific context of Löfbergs Lila what can be learned if the above mentioned strategy is used in a medium-sized company with strong values. Which processes are required to create sustainable business and how far has Löfbergs Lila come according to selected concepts and theoretical framework in business research?

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate, in an explorative way, how values can drive value for sustainable business, both empirically through the Löfbergs in the coffee context as well as theoretically. The whole thesis can be seen as a mix of a descriptive case study and an interpretative case study where understanding of the thesis will be created in the interaction between the theoretical and empirical parts. The study has been developed using a combination of inductive and abductive methods whereby the interaction between the conceptual/theoretical framework and Löfbergs Lila, in the coffee context, have constructed a new meaning.

The explorative study of Löfbergs Lila (or AB Anders Löfberg) presents an understanding of how values have affected the strategy and operation of this organization and is still doing so to this very day. Every company can work with sustainability, but strong corporate values incorporated into the business model are an advantage. There is a fundamental basis for more “sustainable growth” when these values drive “true” environmental and social progress, including accountability. This thesis claims that true core values are deep-rooted in the company and drive value for Löfbergs’ customers in the name of sustainable business.

The theoretically- and conceptually-driven findings, built on five (re)-constructed thick descriptions from Löfbergs Lila in the coffee context, end up in five general concepts for valuesbased sustainable business

1. Service Logic

2. Values-based service

3. Values-based service quality for sustainable business

4. Managing Value chain responsibility

5. Creating the service experience

Executive Summary

A company needs guidelines for the organization and its employees to act in the same direction. Core values constitute a fundamental part of a company but they have to be “lived” by the members of the organization in order to be valid. When a company undergoes many

changes, there is a risk of losing the core values as focus is put on the survival of the company. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to reach a solution for the maintenance of the core values at Atea Logistics, a company which has faced turbulent periods. However, in order to do so, a first requirement was to get in touch with Atea

Logistics’ culture in order to later correctly apprehend the organization’s core values. Hence, this research was guided by the following research question:

“How to maintain core values at Atea Logistics?”

The conducted study consists of a case study made at Atea Logistics in Växjö, which is a part of the Atea Holding AB. The currently successful group, Atea, was created in 1985 under the name of Owell. Atea is a company which helps organizations and companies increase the

benefits of Information Technologies (IT) by providing products and services that simplify the management, operation and development of IT infrastructure. As an IT product supplier, Atea covers the entire cycle from the supply of new IT products to the recycling of old ones.

Since we aimed at providing the company with a research that it could benefit from, this thesis has its base in discussions with managers of Atea Logistics. Empirical data were mostly gathered through interviews with several employees and finally interplay between empirical

data and theoretical findings occurred. The findings of this complex study comprise that core values have been neglected within the company for several years because of repetitive changes. However, employees have been aware of this situation but still have not focused on this aspect.

Several core values have been discovered which have remained since the Owell-time: respect, participation, openness, trust, responsibility and family-friendly. In order for Atea Logistics to maintain these values, several aspects need to be developed such as their clear statement, their communication via different tools (i.e. printed documents, corporate events, an integration process for newcomers, etc.) as well as the alignment of employees with them.

The purpose of this study was to explore personal and organizational values, their influence and alignment, in the ethical decision-making of Catholic school principals. Semi-structured interviews allowed the 12 participants to explore personal and school values, areas of congruence and dissonance, methods for resolving dissonance, the process of values alignment, and the influence of the Catholic school culture. Site observations and analyses of mission statements provided insight as to community values for each of the participating schools.

The review of the literature yielded a means by which to connect values of the principal with those of the school community. The individual level examined the formation of the school leader through personal values, professional preparation programs, and ongoing self-reflection. The communal level analyzed the nature of school culture, namely the Catholic school framework, and how community members perceived their organizational climate. The process of ethical decision-making through multiple paradigms formed the active connection relating individual and communal value sets.

The conceptual framework depicted the aforementioned values relationship. Values alignment and values congruence formed the theoretical framework, exploring how to bring personal and organizational values into alignment and the resulting congruence or dissonance between them. Although prevalent in the business sector, this study’s application of the theory in education suggested ramifications for decision-making, job satisfaction, and professional success.

Findings showed salient values across participant responses, observations, and documents and highlighted concepts of organizational fit, prayer as process of reflection, and individual versus communal goods. Further, values awareness and values negotiation were found to be layers in the dynamic process of alignment by which an appreciation of pre-existing stakeholder values could be brought to bear in discerning potential success or failure of change through ethical decision-making. The Catholic school culture, consisting of a seemingly unified values framework, provided a common sense of mission, vernacular, and expression through artifacts and décor. Recommendations were posited for “match” programs that could connect aspiring principals with schools of similar values. Delving more deeply into values awareness and negotiation by further examining principal motive and collecting broader stakeholder feedback could stimulate additional research.

Local and international pundits concur that education systems play a pivotal role in fostering and developing values in learners. In some countries, like South Africa, the values and rights 
enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights resonate in the Schools Act. As one of the concerns of education is nationbuilding, my study investigates if the integration of the values does 
achieve tolerance and co-operation in the classroom by examining how learners make sense of values in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. While I firmly believe that educational 
institutions have a responsibility to integrate positive values into all aspects of the school curriculum, it is my contention that learners cannot fully benefit from values specifically related to the 
Mathematical Literacy curriculum itself on their own. All stakeholders in education need to come together to establish an informed understanding of policy documents and reconcile the complexities and challenges that surround the transmission of values, so that educators will be able to assist learners in a meaningful way. The classroom life of a learner is intricately woven 
with that of the teacher. In order to unearth the views and practices of learners and teachers, I adopted a participatory approach. The qualitative study that ensued was conducted in three Mathematics Literacy classrooms at secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The observation sessions afforded me the opportunity to experience and appreciate how the teachers 
integrate values into the Mathematical Literacy lessons while observing learners‟ behaviour in the classroom. The interactions and interviews with both learners and teachers aided in further unravelling their understanding and implementation of values in the Mathematical Literacy lessons. For learners to develop into responsible, caring and morally just citizens who arecapable of critical thought, they 
equire an education that provides them with the necessary opportunities and tools to develop. Mathematical Literacy is able to provide learners with the relevant opportunities and thinking 
tools to construct meaning around moral concepts. I strongly believe that for learners to accomplish this goal, educators need to be appropriately capacitated to facilitate opportunities for their 
learners.I did not find any evidence in the literature that suggests a fail-safe theoretical approach to success in values education. I am of the opinion that for any measure of success in values education, a combination of these theories of learning and moral development has to be employed.

This qualitative research study examined how junior-level undergraduate students clarify their values in the environment of a leadership course. Previous research indicated the concept of values clarification is a dynamic process in which people come to understand what they individually view as important in their lives by placing a name or label to what one values (i.e., honesty, love, success, etc.). This process commonly occurs during the traditional college years and is a critical component of the undergraduate experience. A college student clarifying their values is an important first step in the overall values development process. To encourage development, educators must first understand this process. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding how students clarify their values in college, specifically in the context of leadership coursework. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the essence of the students' experience in their values clarification. Utilizing a phenomenological method involving interviews, thematic coding, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and data saturation; primary themes were formed explaining the experience of how students identify their values in college. Data for the study were collected over a semester-long period in the spring of 2012 from junior-level students who were currently enrolled in or had successfully completed a course in an undergraduate Leadership Certificate at a large, Research I institution in the southeastern United States. Findings from this research helped to explain the experience of how junior-level students clarify their values in their collegiate experience and inform the practice of character education and leadership curriculum development in colleges and universities.