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Organizational value contention and managerial mindsets

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the differing ways in which organizations send conflicting signals, in the form of contending organizational values, to their managers regarding the appropriate behavior in a given situation, and the impact that this has on the manager's decision-making process. It posits the existence of three different types of organizational value contention and examines their influence on the resulting patterns of sense-making and behavior evident in the manager's responses, based upon interview data from a cross-section of managers in two organizations.

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Jeanne Liedtka is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Simmons College, and is currently on sabbatical leave at The Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her current research interests involve the study of value conflict in the health care field.

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Liedtka, J. Organizational value contention and managerial mindsets. J Bus Ethics 10, 543–557 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383352

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