The impact of fostering personal values on leadership mechanisms in organisations: narratives of CEOs, managers, and staff in Arab countries

People’s personal values, human energy and leadership are critical organisational resources that enhance employees’ capacity to do their work and achieve their goals. A number of studies have primarily focused on quantitatively exploring these three constructs separately, or have examined the relationship between values and leadership. This research focuses on qualitatively exploring these three constructs and how they are inter-related in the workplace. It focuses on the role of people’s personal values in their thoughts, feelings and actions, and how values in themselves can be energising or whether they can be a source or a cause of energy in the workplace. It also explores the impact of fostering personal values on how leadership is enacted or transmitted in organisations in Arab countries. This is an exploratory qualitative research and applied narrative inquiry as its methodology. The data were mainly collected through narrative interviews with individuals from three different organisational levels (CEOs, managers and staff) in two private organisations in Jordan. The data generated from the stories they told were analysed using a combination of content analysis, thematic narrative analysis, and cross-thematic analysis. The research found that fostering personal values in leadership mechanisms has a number of key benefits; first, individuals function better, achieve their potential and goals, and are energised to work effectively. Second, the willingness of leadership to exert influence, and enhance trust, quality of connections and the spirit of teamwork is strengthened. Third, the organisation is able to enhance collaboration and coordination, energise the workplace, and achieve values alignment, common goals, and organisational thrive. It also found the positive impacts of how leadership is transmitted to followers when leaders align their values with their words, actions and practices. Significantly, this research showed that in the Arab world, Islamic values are perceived as personal values by the individuals themselves, and they have vital impacts on and benefits for individuals, leadership and organisations in the Arab countries. The research found that the more personal values are understood, emphasised and followed, the greater they will be demonstrated in the thoughts, feelings and actions of individual workers, also in the leadership and the organisation as a whole. Finally, this research contributes to knowledge in the area methodologically, empirically and theoretically. It has filled the gap in knowledge concerning what is being practiced and what is truly needed in regard to the way organisations are led, how people are managed, and how personal values impact the mechanisms of leadership in the Arab world. This research showed that fostering or practicing values in the workplace should be the mechanism by which organisations are led and how leadership is transmitted. This mechanism should be an ongoing process that seeks to transform values into actions and behaviours; translate values into perceptions; and in return develop the mental programming of individuals including employees, managers and leaders.