In the earlier section, we have indicated that the managerial values affect perceived characteristics of the internal environment of an organization. At this juncture you may well ask what some of these values are. How do these values develop? How do they get transmitted from one generation of managers to another? In this section, we are going to explain briefly some of these issues.
Ethos refers to habitual character and values of individuals, groups, races, etc. Managerial ethos is concerned with the character and values or managers as a professional group. Contemporary managers hold some specific values which affect work and some of these are: autonomy, equity, security and opportunity. You may recall that individual autonomy is a very important dimension of OC. Enlightened managers believe that most people prefer to feel free and to do things as they like within the constraints imposed by their group. These mangers tend to allow enough latitude to individual employees as long as the use of this freedom does not violate basic norms of the organization. In the last two decades, some management practices have been innovated which are in keeping with this value of autonomy.
Equity refers to justice in rewarding performance. Here again, modern managers strongly feel that a person must get a reward proportionate to his input. In any case, deliberate exploitation is to be avoided and as far as possible “fairness” is to be maintained.
