Alfred Tora

Since the worldwide pandemic and the economic downturn, Company Culture has had its share of the limelight as practitioners and academics alike try to understand its role in retaining employee satisfaction and motivation – two important indicators of how likely employees are going to stay with the company. Company culture is generally defined as a shared set of values, goals, attitudes and practices that make up an organization. Harvard Business Review, in a wonderfully recommended article for anyone that wants to dive into company culture, states that culture emerges from interactions between employees and how employees react to change. The fact that this value system has the word “culture” alludes to the overlap this topic has with indigenous knowledge on culture-building and the propagation of the idea, accumulated from millenia of lived experiences. 

In line with the theme of this article, we will dive into the iTaukei value systems and see how these principles can be implemented by modern business leaders that want to create a company culture that is inclusive AND competitive. With this in mind I, once again, enlisted the expertise of Mr. Simione Sevudredre to help me properly circumvent the iTaukei knowledge system to find the right examples. Needless to say Sevudredre delivered on the goods with an article of his own, which I will use here. 

So, do iTaukei values overlap with modern theories on company culture? Are there lessons that we can learn from the iTaukei? 

The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture, the HBR article I referenced earlier, alludes to an Integrated Culture Framework, which has been lauded as the most comprehensive structure produced by modern theorists. It captures eight different styles of culture that were discovered through research conducted in 230 organizations, 1300 executives, and across most regions in the world. 

The styles – pay close attention to these – are as follows: 

1. Caring focuses on relationships and mutual trust. Work environments are warm, collaborative, and are welcoming places where people help and support one another.
2. Purpose is exemplified by idealism and altruism. Work environments are tolerant, compassionate places where people try to do good for the long-term future of the world.
3. Learning is characterized by exploration, expansiveness, and creativity. Work environments are inventive and open-minded places where people spark new ideas and explore alternatives.
4. Enjoyment is expressed through fun and excitement. Work environments are lighthearted places where people tend to do what makes them happy.
5. Results is characterized by achievement and winning. Work environments are outcome-oriented and merit-based places where people aspire to achieve top performance.
6. Authority is defined by strength, decisiveness, and boldness. Work environments are competitive places where people strive to gain personal advantage.
7. Safety is defined by planning, caution, and preparedness. Work environments are predictable places where people are risk-conscious and think things through carefully.
8. Order is focused on respect, structure, and shared norms. Work environments are methodical places where people tend to play by the rules and want to fit in.

A successful company culture has a mix of these different styles. For example, a culture that emphasizes caring and order encourages a work environment in which teamwork, trust, and respect are paramount. Each of these styles have their strengths and weaknesses and need to be paired with mutually supporting values. 

All these insights are from an extensive study that is backed by solid evidence and founded on the shoulders of previous research over the years. These same insights can also be found in the iTaukei values system, which speaks to the wealth of knowledge that our ancestors accumulated over the years through lived experiences. Here are iTaukei values that corroborate the need for an integrated company culture of different styles, while also providing insight into the culture these values create when merged. 

Veiwekani

The iTaukei governance structure is founded on one crucial principle that defines the aspect of the indigenous Fijian culture – veiwekani or relationship and the relational. Veiwekani, much like the modern style of caring, speaks to the importance relationships have in the workplace. In the iTaukei culture, veiwekani governs all aspects of one’s interactions with their kin and genealogical relationships, their traditional roles in society, and with the natural and spiritual world. Caring, as a style, emphasizes a workplace where members support each other in order to achieve individual and organizational goals. Veiwekani, being the omnipotent principle in iTaukei society, promotes the same kind of oneness that a modern organization strives to have.

Veidolei

The iTaukei social structure comprises various roles that operate in different value systems that regulate and determine their relationships. One such concept is veidolei or reciprocity – the belief that when receiving a kindness, it must be repaid in full. For example, for most parts of Fiji , during the isevusevu ni yaqona – a presentation of gifts and kava by guests to introduce themselves and their purpose – the hosts will reciprocate this presentation with one of their own. When compared to modern styles, veidolei combines two styles – caring and order. Order promotes a workplace that promotes respect, structure and shared norms in the workplace, and reciprocity is essential in order to maintain such values. Positional power – where one uses their position to exert power on someone else – has lost its prestige in the modern day workplace which has led to relational power prominence, where veidolei plays an integral part.

Veiqaravi

Another value system that supports veiwekani is veiqaravi – literally translates to “facing each other” and means mutual service between roles. Much like veidolei, veiqaravi assimilates a number of styles, including caring, order, and purpose. Purpose focuses on creating a tolerant and compassionate workplace where employees are working for the future of the world. Veiqaravi encourages service towards others, the physical and spiritual realm, and the maintenance of these relationships for the good of the community – be it in the traditional setting or in the modern workplace. 

Veirogorogoci

In an environment with so many moving parts – like a modern business or traditional community – communication, but more specifically listening, is key. Veirogoci – listening – is comparable to modern styles like safety, order, caring, learning, and results. Listening, really listening, is such an important value that a lot of modern organizations have seemed to forget or just do not put much emphasis on it. 

Veidokai

These traditional roles operate independently while fulfilling their duties to each other and the community. This recognized autonomy has a value embedded with it veidokai. Veidokai – mutual respect – expounds the same principles of caring, safety, and learning. Safety focuses on creating work environments that are cautious and prepared, while learning encourages a workplace that is inventive and open-minded. By practicing veidokai, we understand that we may not be experts in a field and we respect those that are. For example, the gonedau – the fisherfolk in iTaukei communities – are recognized as the experts in the field of fishing, where their opinions and suggestions are held in high regard, and other members of the community, like the turaga (chief) or bete (priest), heed their counsels in these matters. Autonomy, where individuals are free to learn and be prepared, encourages innovation in the workplace – and all this comes from veidokai. 

Research has shown that company culture can improve organizational performance. Having a strong culture is essential to remaining competitive in this modern cut-throat business environment. As with all modern theories, the business theories that we have today are founded on years of research and observations and we can learn a lot from modern studies, backed by evidence-based experimentation. However, these same lessons that are being “discovered” can also be found if we look into indigenous value systems that govern its society. 

What I find interesting, as I go through these iTaukei values, is that each value encompasses multiple modern company culture styles. Again, the research on company culture mentions that there is a need for each modern style to be supported by another complementary style and as we look into each iTaukei value, we find that it does exactly that! Complementary company culture styles are merged together to create value systems that the iTaukei observed millenia ago, before it was “discovered” again recently.

The list of values above is by no means exhaustive and we can look into this topic further. What I did want to emphasize is the fact that we, as Pasifika people, need only to look into our indigenous value systems to gain inspiration for innovation in the business world.

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