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with high amounts of what is called idiosyncratic credit. Idiosyncratic credit is gener-
ally awarded to group members who have contributed a lot to the group and have
earned the freedom to violate the norms free from sanctions.
As a cultural control mechanism, the key word in shared values is shared . The issue
is not whether or not a particular individual ’ s behavior can best be explained and/or
predicted by his or her values, but rather how widely that value is shared among
organizational members, and more importantly, how responsible the organization/
culture was in developing that value within the individual. Value is any phenomenon
that has some degree of worth to the members of giving groups: the conception of
the desirable that establishes a general direction of action rather than a specifi c objec-
tive. Values are the conscious, affective desires or wants of people that guide their
behavior.
Values infl uence individual behavior in a number of ways. For example, individuals
who internalize the value of honesty feel guilty when cheating or stealing. This nega-
tive affect state stops them from acting in a way inconsistent with their internalized
value. Public values arise when we believe that everyone around us holds a certain
value (social value). In this case, we often act in ways consistent with that value even
though we do not personally hold that value. This is done to gain acceptance and
support from the group.
A mental model or theory defi nes a causal relationship between two variables. The
idea that people rely on mental models can be traced back to Kenneth Craik ’ s (1943 )
suggestion that the mind constructs “ small-scale models ” of reality that it uses to
anticipate events. Mental models can be constructed from perception, imagination,
or the comprehension of discourse. They underlie visual images, but they can also be
abstract, representing situations that cannot be visualized. Each mental model repre-
sents a possibility. This phenomenon has been studied by a number of cognitive
scientists for the past few decades (e.g., Gentner and Stevens 1983; Johnson-Laird
1983 ; Rogers, Rutherford, and Bibby 1992 ; Oakhill and Garnham 1996 ). The belief
structure of managers can be represented as a complex set of mental models that they
use for diagnosing problems and making decisions. In organizations with strong cul-
tures, members of the organization begin to share common mental models about
employees, competition, customers, unions, and other important aspects of manage-
rial decision making. Mental models are often called basic underlying assumptions.
Mental models impact the behavior of individuals to a very large extent. Decisions
are often based on one or more of our mental models. For example, if a manager
believes that increasing satisfaction will increase employee performance, he or she is