In his book The Committed Enterprise, Professor, consultant and author Hugh Davidson discusses the results of his interviews with 125 organisational leaders on the subject of values. He found that there was broad agreement on three issues in every organisation. Davidson refers to these as the fundamental questions of life and he uses the terms purpose (others may say mission ), vision and values to describe them.

• Purpose covers What are we here for?

• Vision handles Where are we going?

• Values answers What behaviours will guide us on our journey?

This chapter focuses on the role of values in the service excellence model. So why are they so important? Put simply, values (sometimes referred to as the ethos of the business or even the principles , guidelines or rules ) are the beliefs that guide our behaviour. They guide everything that happens in an organisation and form the basis on which organisations are founded. Values that are lived in an organisation can be very influential in guiding staff behaviours without having to rely heavily on numerous rules and regulations. Staff know what is expected of them, they know how to behave and how to respond to new or unforeseen circumstances. The stated values in a company are those that are found on posters, mouse mats and are regularly reviewed in staff meetings. Actual values, however, can be observed in the way the organisation works. Successful organisations have only a narrow gap between these two. They...