Discuss the three values tensions developed in this chapter.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The economizing continuum involves the tensions of short-term profit values and human values of sustainable cooperation. economizing suggests that profit is one value, but is not the end itself. Economizing suggests an essential role for values that promote cooperative interactions such as fairness, equality, and caring for both individual and group needs. Power distancing is the attempt to balance hierarchy values and equality values. One end of the pole, high power distances or concentrated power in a hierarchy, is found when organizations impose a rank order and coercive power on organizational resources. This pole refers to the acquisition, accumulation, and retention of coercive power among a small group of individuals for both instrumental and domineering purposes. Equality values, or lower power distances, can be viewed as distributed power webs. This pole refers to organizations that seek to distribute decision making throughout the organization. Ecologizing focuses on managing macroenvironment and microenvironment values. As the term suggests, this value set is concerned with the impact and relationship of the organization to the external environment. The rise in the number of people in the “creative class” (Florida, 2002) parallels a trend toward greater attention to the external environment. Members of the creative class are part of a shift that includes great concern for environmental issues.