In recent years much attention has been paid to distilling those factors that create a positive work environment for corporate employees. The goal ultimately is to discover what allows some companies to foster high employee morale while other companies struggle with poor productivity and high managerial turnover. Several theories have been posited, but none has drawn as much interest from the corporate world, or has as much promise, as value congruence, which measures the "fit" between an employee's values and those of co-workers and the company itself.
Value congruence can be broken into three main subcategories: person-environment ("P-E"), person-person ("P-P"), and perceptual fit ("PF"). Person-environment congruence refers to a harmony between the personal values of the employee and corporate culture of the company in which he or she works. Someone with a high P-E congruence feels personally in tune with his company's stated policies and goals. Conversely, someone with a low P-E congruence feels a sense of disharmony between his own values and the stated policies and goals of his company. A high P-P congruence indicates a sense of solidarity with one's co-workers in terms of shared values and goals. A low P-P congruence indicates a sense of isolation from co-workers brought about by an absence of shared values. Finally, strong PF suggests a strong correspondence between the values that an employee perceives his company to have (whether or not the company actually does) and the values that his co-workers perceive the company to have (again, whether or not it actually does). A weak PF implies that an employee's perception of his company's values differs significantly from that of his co-workers.
Research has shown that P-E and PF congruence are important measures of employee satisfaction, commitment, and likelihood of turnover, although P-P congruence has little bearing on these parameters. Moreover, PF is especially important in establishing harmonious relations between workers and managers. These measures give corporations a robust paradigm on the basis of which to create long-term personnel plans and productivity growth targets: in particular, P-E and PF congruence allow companies to discover dysfunctional work relationships and clarify misperceived company policies and goals. With these tools in hand, companies can look forward to increased employee satisfaction and, ultimately, improved company performance.
1. According to the passage, which of the following was a motivation in the creation of the system of value congruence?
A) a desire to minimize the liability of upper management for employee dissatisfaction
B) a desire to help companies to improve their internal harmony
C) a desire to allow employees to increase their earning potential
D) a desire to foster awareness of factors influencing managerial success
E) a desire to eliminate discrepancies between a company’s goals and the values of its employees
2. The passage suggests that perceptual fit congruence would be most useful in determining which of the following?
A. whether a company ought to make its policies and goals more transparent
B. whether a company ought to provide sensitivity training for its management
C. whether a company ought to create more opportunities for interaction among workers
D. whether a company ought to address employee grievances more directly
E. whether a company ought to implement a more elaborate orientation program for new employees
3. The primary focus of the passage is on which of the following?
A. Comparing a new theory of corporate performance to a discredited theory and predicting the usefulness of the new theory.
B. Illustrating a new approach to measuring employee satisfaction through a detailed analysis of a particular case.
C. Challenging an old view of employee commitment and suggesting that a new paradigm is necessary.
D. Promoting a new method of measuring the likelihood of corporate success by explaining its benefits
E. Defending a proposed system of corporate analysis through examples of its success.
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