Values that are internalized (and not just published) guide each of us through decisions and change. I just recently watched a program on PBS about the Marines During the program they continually talked about the Marine value system. One comment in particular caught my attention. The commentator said Marines are trained to evaluate their values not so much by what they do when everyone is looking but what they do when no one is around. Honor, courage, and commitment are to guide the Marine in every decision he makes no matter what the circumstances and no matter who is looking.
It is important for companies to have well-defined and internalized values. When all the citizens of an organization hold the same values, decisions and behavior are consistent even when the circumstances are not.
Two companies’ very different customer value systems were exposed recently by the national press.
The first was a casino in Philadelphia. A man walks into the casino, plays the slots, and wins over $100,000. However when he goes to collect his winnings, casino management informs him that they are not going to pay him because his “win” is the mistake of their computer system. There was a public outcry and ultimately the casino paid.
The second incident was the customer service debacle of Jet Blue, the airline differentiating itself from the competition based on how customer friendly it is. In contrast to the casino response, Jet Blue immediately apologized, admitted fault, started a change process, and proactively documented a customer bill of rights. In the bill of rights, Jet Blue promises compensation for poor service. Jet Blue went so far as to retroactively award all the customers inconvenienced the previous week (prior to the bill of rights documentation).
It is obvious that the two companies mentioned above had very different values concerning how they treat customers, especially in “non-standard” situations. Although currently unreported, we can assume that the long-term impact of their differing values will be very different as well.
