What are Values?

Beliefs about how things should be OR subconscious influences on our perception of the world.
We all have the same basic human values but they're present to different extents in each of us, making us unique.
Commonality of values ties groups together.
Instrumental Values are reflected in actions.
Terminal Values are reflected in desired outcomes.
We value things and people that mirror/reflect our values.
We never know what our actual values are.
We can observe the influence of our values in our actions and decisions.

Informing Stakeholder Judgements of Values

Architects want to create a building that reflects the stakeholders values.
Architects control the information available to stakeholders to judge the emerging design.
Therefore, stakeholders judgements can be biased.

Eliciting Values

To gain a better judgement of client values, we need to elicit them but it is extremely hard.
Values cannot be directly elicited but only revealed through patterns in their judgements, preferences and behaviours that can be established through workshop forums.

Value Systems and Values

A single value is a single belief.
An individual with many values has many beliefs.
A value system is a collection of values - they influence stakeholders judgement of value.
People in organisations share a common value system.
Companies therefore have a value systems shared by it's members.
Every time we form an opinion, express a preference or make a judgement, our values influence us.
We can never understand our underlying values but we can observe their consequences.
Value Management Workshops provide forums to observe the consequences of each other's values - they provide the full picture of value beyond the basic interaction of functionality and cost.

Value Vs. Values

Values are intangible and tacit.
The two concepts are intimately linked but are fundamentally different.
Value cannot be understood without understanding the values of people and organisations.
Value is ultimately judged by those experiencing it and these judgements are biased by values.
Value is what we want out of a situation, experience or change, it exists between a stakeholder and a building.
Value in construction seeks an appropriate balance between functionality and cost.
Values are beliefs and attitudes about how things should be.
Each stakeholder has a unique set of values which combine to form their own unique value system.
Each of us have the same basic human values but are present in different combinations, making each of us unique.
Organisations or groups of people tend to have a commonality of values.
Every time a person makes a judgement, they are doing so under influence of their values.
People's perceptions a tacitly framed by these values, making peoples' interpretations bias and their judgements irrational.

Government Policy

Until recently, UK Government policy guiding the procurement of public buildings considered value a result of investment in 'design quality'.
Due to the difficulty in quantifying the benefits of creating additional value that stakeholders perceive in a building (e.g. schools that motivate children to learn), a clear business case is hard to develop to justify the higher capital costs.
UK Government policy 2001-2010 advocated The Value Agenda which promoted good design for social benefit (e.g. well designed parks bring communities together)

	Created by d.moran-10 almost 10 years ago

Undergraduate Value Management & Engineering Note on The Context of Value Management, created by d.moran-10 on 01/06/2014.

The Context of Value Management