Giving Voice to Values (GVV) for Engineering Ethics

Module Introduction

This module on Giving Voice to Values was originally developed as part of a larger course on engineering ethics. The outline below presents the course in its intended order, but you may wish to extract specific materials for use in your courses. The course is designed to take place over 3-4 weeks, but can be completed at any speed. 

All course videos are linked below. Accompanying assignments, quizzes, and case studies are provided in PDF form. For those who are familiar with this module's content, a playlist of all GVV videos can be found here. Additionally, there are transcripts available in the Teaching Notes section.

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Section One: What is Giving Voice to Values? Why and How It Works

The Thought Experiment

• The Client Who Fell Through the Cracks
• The Client Who Fell Through the Cracks - What Happened? 
• What is Giving Voice to Values?

Survey

The Giving Voice to Values approach to values-driven leadership development calls on us to think about values conflicts and ethical challenges in an entirely new way. The following survey invites you to consider and surface your “starting assumptions'' about values and how they play out in your broader life. As we progress through this course, you will want to revisit these assumptions to reflect on how they may be changing.

Your responses to the statements in this survey can be a useful tool for self-reflection. Please note you will need to keep a record of your responses in order to review them later in this course. 

GVV Survey

Engineering Interviews

• Introduction to Interviews 
• Rick Interview
• Chip Interview
• Laura Interview

Research, Approaches, and Flips

• What the Research Tells Us
• The Three A's
• The Three GVV Flips

The Foundational Pillars of GVV

• The Seven GVV Pillars
• Pillar One: Values
• Pillar Two: Purpose
• Key Takeaways 

Section One Assignments 

• Section One Quiz
• Case Study: Plastics and Sustainability - Part A
• Case Study: Plastics and Sustainability - Part B

Section Two: Recognizing and Learning from Your Success and Failures

Welcome to the second part of the Giving Voice to Values module. Previously, you learned about the impact of an action-focused approach to building values-driven leadership skills. Now, you'll have the opportunity to recognize your own individual successes and failures at addressing these implementation challenges in your life by completing the “Tale of Two Stories” exercise. You'll see that you are both capable of enacting your values effectively, but also that you don't always do so. You’ll also have the opportunity to identify which conditions and which problem definitions empower you to effectively voice your values and which conditions make that more difficult for you. In this way, you'll develop an individual taxonomy of enablers and disablers.

You'll also learn about three more of the seven GVV pillars: choice, normalization, and self-knowledge and alignment. And by considering two examples, one from an extrovert, one from an introvert, and by completing the personal profile exercise, you'll have the opportunity to identify your own particular style and predilections when it comes to communication.

Based on the self-knowledge and alignment GVV pillar, you'll be invited to consider how to play to your own strengths in order to make it more likely that you'll be able to voice and act on your values effectively.

A Tale of Two Stories

• A Tale of Two Stories, Part One
• GVV Exercise
• A Tale of Two Stories, Part Two and GVV Pillar Three: Choice

Case Study

• Case Study: Creating Sustainable Products, Part A
• Case Study: Creating Sustainable Products, Part B

Obedience, Normalization, and Self-knowledge

• Obedience to Authority and Choice
• Pillar Four: Normalization
• Enablers & Disablers, and Pillar Five: Self-knowledge and Alignment 

Assignments

• GVV Personal Profile
• Section Two Quiz

Case Studies 

• The Diversity Consultant 
• The Diversity Consultant - What Happened? 
• Reconsidering Your Starting Assumptions 
• Case Study: International Negotiations, Part A
• Case Study: International Negotiations, Part B

Key Takeaways 

• Key Takeaways
• Interview with a Mechanical Engineer 

Section Three: Developing Scripts and Action Plans

Welcome to the third part of the Giving Voice to Values module. In this section, you'll learn how to develop practical and effective scripts and literal action plans for acting on your values. You'll be introduced to the final two GVV pillars: Voice, and Reasons and Rationalizations. You'll explore the different ways to build your own capacity for voice, and the variety of forms that voice can take. Then, you'll learn about four of the most common reasons and rationalizations that you might encounter when you begin to voice and act on your values, as well as useful ways to counteract them.

Case studies from two real life managers illustrate that although they had different levels of experience and authority in their organizations, they both found effective strategies for acting on their values. Through these stories, we encourage you to think about the levers you can use when you voice your values no matter where you sit in your life or organization.

GVV Pillar: Voice

• GVV Pillar Six: Voice 

Case Study

• Case Study: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Part A
• Case Study: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Part B
• Interview with Megan 

Reasons, Rationalizations, and Levers of Impact

• GVV Pillar Seven: Reasons and Rationalizations
• Levers for Influence and Impact: It Depends Where You Sit 
• GVV Case Study: Jeff (Part One) (Part Two) 
• GVV Case Study: Is This My Place, Speaking Up? (Part One) (Part Two)
• Key Takeaways

Assignments

• Section Three Quiz
• Peer Review - A Tale of Two Stories: The Do-Over

Module Wrap-Up

This final section of the GVV module wraps up the lessons we've covered and presents interviews from several business leaders and an engineer. You'll end the course with one final quiz and an exercise that will test your understanding of the GVV method. 

• The Challenges and Opportunities of Values-Driven Leadership
• Lessons of GVV
• Final Wrap-Up

Assignments 

• Final Quiz
• Exercise: GVV Implementation Plan 

Answer Keys

Answers to each of the quizzes are included in the PDF below.

GVV quiz answer keys

Teaching Notes

I. Sample Syllabus Integrating GVV

Download here

II. OEC Cases Useful for GVV Scripting and Rehearsing 

Chemical A or B?

III. GVV in the Workplace: The Solution

The following GVV videos could also be integrated into an ethics course. Suggestion is for instructors to preview them to decide where they would be most appropriate. 

• The Solution
• Royanne Interview
• Chris Interview
• John Interview
• Kevin Interview
• Sally Interview 

IV. Transcripts 

Click here to view a downloadable Google doc of transcripts for all video modules.