Why person-organisation fit may not be person-nation fit:

1. Why person-organisation fit may not be person-nation fit: Exploring the meaning of value congruence for global organisations Dr. Nathalie van Meurs Middlesex University Business School n.van-meurs@mdx.ac.uk www.identityresearch.org

2. Questions we’d like to see answered • In case of a merger, what happens to the identity of the organisation(s)? • How (if at all) do employees reframe their professional identity? • What are the consequences for management development? • What kind of values are necessary to make a fit - corporate or national values? • Is value congruence a good thing?   • How do you determine whether a fit / value congruence exists when soft cultural factors are often disregarded? • What kind of people do organisations need to implement international change? • What role do managers and practitioners play during this process?

4. ACADEMIC RESEARCH • Social groups determine our identity (i.e., our self concept). • Spend a lot of time at work • “What do you do” • Organizational decisions involve different groups and these groups often have sharply diverging agendas, values, perspectives and goals” (Haslam, 2001, p. 179). • Attitudes, values and beliefs guide behaviour (Schwartz, 1992) and may colour what people see as ‘effective’ and ‘appropriate’.

5. Person-Environment Fit “the compatibility between an individual and a work environment that occurs when their characteristics are well matched” (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson, 2005, p. 281) Person-Organisation Fit “Judgement of congruence between an employee’s personal values and an organization’s culture” (Cable & DeRue, 2000, p. 875) DEFINITIONSof FIT

6. Fit Domains

8. FIT FINDINGS • Complementary and Supplementary Fit • Surface and Deep level differences • The values of people important to us should be used to characterise the person’s environment (Van Vianen et al., 2004) • What we perceive is a better predictor than what is actual. • Measured opinions time 1 and time 2. • Work adjustment, interaction adjustment, general adjustment. • Surface level difference affect general adjustment • Openness to Change most important • Self Transcendence affects work and interaction adjustment • Interaction: My values and your values • Work adjustment: congruence; whether low or high • Interaction adjustment: both high on ST

9. ANSWERS TO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS • In case of an international merger or IJV, what happens to the identity of the organisation(s)? • Organisational reputation vs. organisational ID (van Dick et al., 2006) • Career, team and organisation identification (van Dick et al, 2005) • Identification increases job satisfaction, motivation and well being, decreases turnover and absenteeism • Identification is fluid

10. Higher organisational identification: • motivates employees intrinsically • they are more likely to internalise collective goals • Regardless of personal benefits (pay)! After a merger, employees often identify negatively with the organisation • Conditions of discontinuity, unclear communication and merger mismanagement (van Dick et al., 2006) • Balance of power • Media maintenance

11. What kind of values are necessary to make a fit - corporate or national values? • Short term: surface level fit, long term: values • Self Transcendence values • Is value congruence a good thing? • Yes, but is it realistic? And what are the long term consequences – Dry rot? • Discuss risk of stereotyping and relativity of ‘truth’ • How do you determine whether a fit exists when soft cultural factors are often disregarded? • Will the transaction keep value? vs. Will I keep my job? • Call a presentation • Practical examples and research evidence • Use diagnostic tools (HRM) testing values

12. What kind of people do organisations need to implement international change? • The kind of people that created an identity out of being different • What role do managers and practitioners play during this process? • Practitioners be aware of context: • • Org id & staff turnover, team id & altruism, career id & training • Maintain continuity, communication and socio-emotional orientation • Work routines, teams and communication channels • Newsletters, hotline, regular meetings staff & supervisor • Provide emotional support, demonstrate care • • How to deal with feeling like a misfit

13. AFTERTHOUGHT The past and present wilt--I have fill'd them, emptied them. And proceed to fill my next fold of the future. Listener up there! what have you to confide to me? Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening, (Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.) Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Song of Myself - Walt Whitman, 1867

14. Thank you www.identityresearch.org N.van-meurs@mdx.ac.uk