Value of Values
Values guide people’s decisions and behaviors. Values and related beliefs are behind all the important or unimportant decisions we make during the day. The decision to take a break from a long meeting at noon and go to lunch, or to order a sandwich and work and eat at the same time, or whether or not to report someone who is corrupt at work to the management are also based on values. In trivial decisions it is often not possible to recognize values and the underlying belief system. Values are recognized in important decisions and especially under pressure. But even then, people who have not been exposed to a systematic approach to values tend to adopt an interpretation that comforts them.