The value of Dolan's value framework

The field of Values is gaining more and more prominence in management in general and in the International Human Resource Management in particular. Ever since the pioneering work of Hofstede and his colleagues in the 80s there seems to be little or no innovation that have added real value to both research and practice in the management. Dolan pioneering work started over 30 years ago when he co-founded ISSWOV (The International Society for the Study of Work and Organizational Values), a global scholar society dedicated to discuss various angles of research connecting values to behavior in organizations. After many years of research, Dolan has finally refined a 3E model of value that seems to be gaining notoriety within the scholarly community and certainly among consultants and practitioners (Coaches) in management. The 3E model has been published in several international journals, but the culmination of the research and the experiences was revealed in two books that have become best sellers, and have been translated to many languages. The first is Dolan et al: Managing by Values: A corporate guide to living, being alive and making a living in the 21st century (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006) , and the second is Dolan: Coaching by Values: A guide to success in the life of Business and the Business of life. (iUniverse , 2011). All in all, Dolan argue that in the field of management values places by far a more important role in understanding behavior (of employees, managers, board of directors, etc.) Compared to the traditional constructs of needs or attitudes. Dolan underlying argument is that values represents the true DNA of the behavior for all stakeholders in an organizations. So, if values can be understood, classified, configurated using valid instruments, they can be applied in a wide variety of organizational contexts, ranging from culture reengineering to coaching. Dolan's concept, methodology and tools was de developed and refined over the years via a process called "co-evolution" for which many partners and associates across the globe were involved. The objective of this symposium is to illustrate this evolution by inviting some key collaborators who will emphasize different angles undertaken by them to test, support or question the Dolan propositions. The symposium, thus, will represent a forum for debate, discussion and hopefully some new ideas for applying the concept developed by Dolan (et al) to improve organizational and individual well-being will result.