Recently at work I received a survey request from a member of our HR team. She is studying for a further degree and was collecting data for her dissertation on organisational psychology.
At its heart the survey was evaluating what I though the values of the BBC were and how well this matched my own. Her hypothesis was that the closer the fit between my values and how I perceived the BBC’s values then the more likely I would be to be satisfied with my work and actively commited to it. I would be less likely to be intending to find a new job.
It was an interesting task given that the BBC has a clearly articulated set of values:
- Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest.
- Audiences are at the heart of everything we do.
- We take pride in delivering quality and value for money.
- Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation.
- We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best.
- We are one BBC: great things happen when we work together.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/purpose/
The values are on our diaries, our ID cards and displayed 10ft tall in the entrance to the Media Centre. When they were first announced years ago I was skeptical of their usefulness as they seemed to boil down to the staff being told to ‘be good’. Uncontroversial but hardly profound.
Reflecting on this now I realise that ‘be good’ has two meanings and they pretty much sum up how I see the BBC’s values: making high quality products and programmes whilst playing nicely.
We may fall short at times but the goals remain pretty appealing.
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