Values and value - two perspectives on understanding stakeholders

Whilst most teams understand that delivering value is the key goal of a project or business, many do not have structured ways to make explicit and measure aspects of value that go beyond functionality and cost. The aim of this paper is to present Value in Design (VALiD), a new approach to help project teams identify and maintain a value delivery culture. A value framework is outlined that could help stakeholders articulate, in a structured way, their values and judgements of value by consistently stimulating their discussions during project activities to express and agree stakeholder priorities and expectations. Ultimately it is hoped that project teams will critically appraise their own approaches to determine whether they are successfully integrating stakeholder values and value in their design delivery processes. VALiD (see www.valueindesign.com), has been developed by Loughborough University and adopted by Constructing Excellence in the UK as an approach to move away from a short term cost focus to a broader stakeholder view. It equips construction teams with a cultural toolkit, that can be customised and integrated with other methods that address more objective time, cost and quality criteria, to enable them to better understand stakeholders’ value judgements as they are framed by values and beliefs.