What is our understanding of the word value and how does that affect how we interpret the value of our business and the knowledge within it? John Mitchell discusses. 

The world of value

Value to me - to help me achieve (e.g.: pass an exam); compulsion (need to know); to help me help someone else; boost my ego 

Value to someone important to me – to elevate importance/dependence to/from tutor, dean, boss, director, wife (loved one, etc.);

Value to something – to benefit an organisation, a commitment, a cause, a supported purpose, an addiction/passion;

Within an enterprise, for instance:

An enterprise or organisation can be said to work through commitment and contribution, with the latter being the active enabler. Hence, if we could but know the precise value to enterprise purpose of everything done or used, we could then better judge which elements are the more vital and focus investment there or judge which parts we could do without or what else we should acquire.

And, for an enterprise to know:

• how best to reorganise itself for greatest competitiveness,
• how best to rationalise its mission's resources,

it must first know:

• the business value contributed by its current operation;
• how to find an alternative and know the value of that;
• how to judge the best option, on a quantitative value-basis;
• how to map a highest-value path for change-migration

It is not possible to break out of this 'world of value' for wherever we are our own subtle values will underpin each judgement.  When no structure of values presents itself (explicitly or implicitly) our personal value structure becomes the default.  It is within this ‘jungle’ of  value that knowledge must find its place.

But what is meant by 'value'?

The difficulty with 'value', as we have known it, is its tendency to be subjective and parochial in focus. 

What if it could be non-subjective, stable, aligned with objectives, quantitative and computable?  

Could we then optimise on resource attributes, on knowledge, on methods and on techniques, optimise on roles, optimise an organisation?

Again, using the organisation/ industry view, the performance of the ‘widget' maker, the storekeeper, the purchasing clerk and the salesman are often presented in terms of their cost.  While this perspective may simplify the idea of monetary control, operationally, the pace of this information, its content and focus can seriously conflict with functional need.

Alternatively, from a value perspective:

• The contribution of the purchasing clerk to ‘widget' making is as an enabler
• The contribution of the ‘widget' maker to 'widget' stocking is as an enabler
• The contribution of the storekeeper to 'widget' selling is as an enabler

Thus a function is not be seen as a 'cost' but as the ‘contribution’ through which it enables enterprise goals.  Knowledge also should be seen as an enabler and measured as a valued resource, in the same way. 

But if knowledge is to have value, again, what is value?

• The value of something to you is realised through what it does towards helping you to better achieve your objectives
• The value of an organisation to its enterprise-purpose derives from the contribution made by each organisational element towards that purpose
• Within an organisation, the value of one element to another is the total contribution it makes to the objectives of the other

Value, therefore, is defined as the enabling contribution that 'the server' makes to the objectives of 'the served'. It can be measured and judged only from the perspective of ‘the served’.

Value, as a concept, is, clearly, not new but a satisfactory way of measuring it (value to what, value to whom) requires it to break free from subjectivity and to build upon the relationships suggested above for, in the absence of a formal contextual structure, it will always default to the subjective personal.

All of life is as an organisation,

Only man’s ego driven agenda sway its purpose towards his own.

• The ‘value of information’ has a similar derivation with, perhaps, an extra ‘twist’ from context.