The Dynamics of Value
When life was simple decisions were correspondingly simple. Those that needed to be made were based on experience and tempered with a bit of contemplation in support thereof. Our ambitions and vision for a better world resulted in rapid change. Mobility and interconnectivity fostered new thinking, exposed challenges and created new opportunities. This produced an evolution in establishing the basis for change from experience based justification to the realm of pragmatic value determination.
The Lure of Money
It wasn’t all that long ago that the term “it’s all about money” was used and echoed in the halls of prominent enterprises. The phrase in and of itself was more of a slogan than a pragmatic and quantifiable reality. Fueled by the allure of concept excitement wheels were set in motion to strive for the brass ring goal. This brought us to the realization that,
- Not all ambitions have value sufficient enough to offset the costs in reaching the goal and sustaining the achieved goal,
- Pragmatics, even in the most informal sense (on the back of a cocktail napkin), was not undertaken with favor to pontification, and
- The vestiges of value became a obscure illusion that lost luster as time advanced.
The root cause reality was not found in the contributory reasons but was in the decisions made based on faulty assumptions and conditions.
Value Appearance
The realization that value needed focused attention was first brought to the forefront by Louis E. Rath (1970s) in the published context of Value Clarification. In his published works he relied heavily on the concepts expounded upon my John Dewey (Theory of Value 1939) in which concern was expressed over the misuse of value. It is possible that this focal concern precipitated the continued use of the term ‘justification’ as an operative replacement for value. Thinking back my earliest recollection of the value argument took place in the late 2000s. Distinctive value laced articles and promotional pieces used value as a flag waving banner to compel positive actions. Any and all additions were aptly adorned with the label ‘value added’. The train of justification had shifted from a means to act to one in which the measure was now the determining factor.
The value journey wasn’t entirely smooth and challenging. First impressions immediately jumped to monetary value and struggled repeatedly with attempts to quantify operative, emotional and supporting endorsed values. Some even attempted to contrive monetary values on these elements in order to provide further legitimacy. This left to where we stand today and in many ways creates added problems when trying to sort out forward envision strategies and pivot choices.
Cleaning Endeavors
Decisions require clarity and this is achieved through fact based pragmatics. To avoid removing envisioning potential we must keep value conditions as pristine as possible. This means values retain values and everything else retains their pristine form. As an example, if a company decided to open a new distribution facility,
· Facility, equipment, transportation, relocation and furnishing costs would be some of the elements that have tangible values, whether allocated in the form of a budget or definitively established as a cost. Additionally, saving realized as a result of a new facility would also be considered such as reduction in transportation expenses, time savings on shipping/receiving, and anticipated revenues expected from establishing a new service area.
- The intangible values may surround some of the tangible elements such as,
§ Market serving improvements,
§ Time to market considerations,
§ Workforce economies, and
§ Benefits derived from warehousing vs. ship-on-demand.
The collective accumulation of value element, both tangible and conceptualized, represent the value folio from which decisions are made. Note also that even with intense diligence there will remain questions of uncertainty. These elements are taken into consideration as potential risk or reward values but the relative certainty is undetermined.
Value determination is an important element in support of decision making. Conjecture or speculation must be minimized or avoided whenever possible. History has shown when value determination is carried out in an informal and opinionated fashion that this leads to,
- Erratic and purposeful uncharacteristic actions,
- Goals become superficial and unrealistic,
- Rigidity is created for the sake of endeavors and become less flexible to changing conditions,
- Value is created from the basis of tradition that overlooks potential possibilities, and
- Justification continues to be the reason and value seldom reaches a level for enablement.
Decision Points:
- Maturity of value determination,
- Enablement of value beyond decision making justification,
- Utilization of value development for areas beyond new endeavors (operative),
- Scope and span of application of value construction, and
- Post value evaluation and model adaptions.
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Clarity Group Global is an intellectual decision validation institution dedicated to the support of leaders, companies and organizations that face challenging choices. Making right decisions that produce significant value equates to less disruption and chaos, "non-tradition made exceptional".
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