Organizational values statements. Healthcare executives need to lead the organization's culture in reviewing and implementing values statements.

In complex healthcare organizations it is impossible to provide policies or guidelines to direct all clinical and administrative behavior or to help staff make tough decisions. As organization and management consultant and author Patrick Lencioni noted in a July 2002 Harvard Business Review article, “Core values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company’s actions; they serve as its cultural cornerstone.” An organization’s core values set the standards of conduct that are considered important and therefore guide the behavior of individuals in the organization. The term “values” encompasses both right and wrong expectant behaviors.