Shared Values, Beliefs, and Perceptions

Shared Values, Beliefs, and Perceptions

Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, MAM, MBA

Professor of Exercise Physiology

Department of Exercise Physiology

The College of St. Scholastica

Duluth, MN 55811

Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another.

-- GeertHofstede

O

Culture represents collectivelearned behaviorsthat act as a template, shaping consciousness and behavior,from generation to generation.
-- Prof. Marina Fernando

RGANIZATIONS reflect the norms of the members who characterize the core values of their discipline or profession. The more the members agree on the norms, the less likely they are to experience internal conflict. Organizational commitment is important, especially given the current exercise science behavior that needs changing. It is necessary to explore the change process and the way organizational culture promotes new ideas.

Organizational culture implies in the broadest sense of the word – shared thinking! It is based on past and present information with expectations of something different and/or better in the future. The ASEP shared thinking is driven by a shared vision about the nature of the exercise physiology as a healthcare profession. Vision and leadership are critical to the success of exercise physiology students. Both are in accordance with socially linked and transmitted values and beliefs [1].

Valuing the exercise physiology code of ethics is exactly what board-certified exercise physiologists share. Their beliefs guide them to support the ASEP accreditation and especially the ASEP board-certification [2]. Both are core values of the profession of exercise physiology, which will help exercise physiologists evolve as professionals. As beliefs become unified, a strong organizational culture helps to ensure consistent beliefs among members of the organization. This will help to minimize conflicts and create a healthy expectation of leading the change process [3].

Open dialogue becomes easier as new thinking is supported. Shared assumptions and common values help to hold the organizational change process together. That is why goals are important as they help to structure and refine what needs to be done to empower exercise physiologists. This thinking is consistent with the results of established healthcare organizational infrastructure in addition to improving the career opportunities of the members. Communication and encouragement builds trust and member satisfaction. It influences attitudes, behavior, and expectancy.

The future is not the result of choices amongalternative paths offered;
It is a place that is created,
Created first in the mind and will,
Created next in activity.
The future is not some place we are going to,
But one we are creating.
The paths to it are not found, but made.
And the activity of making them
Changes both the maker and the destiny.
-- Anonymous (1987)

The ASEP organization has taken the lead in bringing professionalism and exercise physiologists together as a healthcare profession. The expectation is a new way to think of exercise physiology beyond “just research” or “physiology of exercise.” It is pastime to get beyond the physical education connection, which today is the exercise science mindset. The solution lies in the principle of shared values and beliefs as exercise physiologists. Professionalism and independence are necessary to address the college graduates’ needs and challenges. Shared thinking is the 21st century way to achieve success. It is the belief in exercise physiology as a profession that is transforming the use of exercise as medicine [4].

Reality is what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is what we believe.
What we believe is based upon our perceptions.
What we perceive depends on what we look for.
What we look for depends on what we think.
What we think determines what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is our reality.
-- Zukav [5]

Yet, it is clear that ASEP is still in its genesis. It requires new leaders, thinkers, doers, skills, and knowledge to gain the collaborative interaction it needs as healthcare business entrepreneur. Clearly, “exercise is medicine” and exercise should be prescribed by board-certified exercise physiologists. But, a greater understanding of the same thinking must exist at the societal level. Academic exercise physiologists, in particular, must stop turning a blind eye to the need to promote exercise physiology as a profession. The must step up to the plate of enabling shared values rather than working against ASEP. In fact, their failure to support ASEP has not helped the leadership harness its full potential and edge in selling ASEP as “the” organization of exercise physiologists.

Because acting as trainers and fitness directors, not as healthcare professionals, has the public uneducated as to the full power of exercise physiologists using exercise to heal and promote overall health and well-being, change is slow. The moment is now to put a new cultural face on exercise physiologists. Our customers are the people of the world who need physical activity to avoid chronic diseases and/or death. The ASEP organization is exactly the organization of choice to meet the needs of a large and growing society. This will move “exercise” to the next level of health innovation and business entrepreneurship. Learning how to create shared value is the exercise physiologist’s best chance to legitimize its professionalism.

We become what we think, what we talk about, and what we do. If we think that our work is for the right reasons, if we think that our actions will produce positive results, and if we start living as professionals, we will become our vision.

The concept of shared values and beliefs recognizes that organizational needs define its vision. It also recognizes that the harm to members of the organization when time is wasted doing nothing or doing the wrong things on behalf of the members’ education. Unfortunately, far too many students are experiencing the economic problems and wasted energy and time majoring in useless degree programs. Professional awareness is the foundation of change in exercise physiology. It involves the ability to stand back from how exercise physiologists presently think of themselves as well as becoming aware of their values, beliefs, and perceptions.

Why do exercise physiologists continue to do things as they have for decades? How do they place in healthcare? Why are they working so hard to ensure that there are students to apply to Physical Therapy programs? Why do they emphasize research more so than helping students? Perhaps their thinking will change as they start reading and interacting with new and different ways of thinking outside of their traditional way. That way, in time, they will come to realizethat exercise physiology is a healthcare profession in its own right. Then, they will interpret and evaluate their students’ success in light of the American Dream (i.e., a credible college degree = a credible job) [6].

Becoming aware of our values, beliefs, and perceptions of the culture of exercise physiology is difficult because exercise physiologists have not learned to look beyond their physical education connection/sports medicine connection. Yet, this is exactly what exercise physiologists must do. They must step outside of their present day cultural boundaries in order to realize the impact that culture is having on the students of exercise physiology. This thinking might come as a surprise, especially since the reader is probably wondering why it is necessary to even talk about these points. The fact is that exercise physiologists are in many ways the least able to see the problem since they are the problem. They embody the culture of “what is” and not “what should be.”

Change within exercise physiology is dependent on the idea of “organizational coupling.” This means that together two distinct entities are greatly influenced by the beliefs held by the leaders of each entity, and that these beliefs can serve as guiding principles for positive interaction and change [2].

In short, though, organizational coupling is not easy! Leaders of different organizations are often threatened by the awareness of impending change. The idea that “truths” they have known for decades might be wrong or pushed aside by some other belief is often too troubling to deal with. The tendency is to fight back to keep one’s position. After all, who enjoys being wrong? No one, and so “paradigm change” is a more often than not a very slow process. This must also change since the sports medicine definition of “what is exercise physiology” and “who is an exercise physiologist” does not benefit students [7].

Imagine yourself looking back from some time in the next century. What do you judge the most important thing that happened for the students of exercise physiology? Was it earning a personal trainer certification? Was it the idea that exercise science is exercise physiology? Or, was it the development of exercise physiology as a healthcare profession with board-certified exercise physiologists who graduated from an accredited academic institution to provide the scientific knowledge and tools to properly prescribe exercise as medicine? My hope and expectation is that it will be the latter; the significance of which will not be fully apparent until academic exercise physiologists begin to think of themselves as healthcare professionals and not as members of a research discipline.

Key Point: Remember that every transformation however relatively invisible and outrageous to many begins with one step at a time.

In closing, the ASEP’s affirmation of the final month of 2012 is a powerful message. It is simply this: The ASEP vision is the exercise physiologist’s hopes and expectations of something better! It is the greatest gift that can be given to exercise physiologists. The ASEP Vision generates hope, provides endurance, and motivates the discouraged. No matter how difficult, the essence of the ASEP vision is to see the future.

“To be recognized as the leading professional organization of American scholars and practitioners in the study and application of exercise physiology to fitness, health promotion, rehabilitation, and sports training. The Society of Exercise Physiologists is dedicated to unifying all exercise physiologists in the United States and worldwide to promote and support the study, practice, teaching, research, and development of the exercise physiology profession. Through proactive and creative leadership, the Society empowers its members to serve the public good by making an academically sound difference in the application of exercise physiology concepts and insights” [8].

References

1. Boone, T. (2002). The Power and Influence of Beliefs. Professionalization of Exercise Physiologyonline. 5:7 (Online).
2. American Society of Exercise Physiologists. (2012). Board Certification. (Online).
3. Boone, T. (2001). Leading Change in Exercise Physiology. Professionalization of Exercise Physiologyonline. 4:2 (Online).

1. Boone, T. (2004). The Culture of Exercise Physiology. Professional Journal of Exercise Physiology. 2:10 (Online).
2. Zukav, G. (1979). The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics. New York, NY: Morrow.
3. Boone, T. (2012). The Selling Out of the American Dream: Student Rights. Professionalization of Exercise Physiologyonline.15:12 (Online).
4. American Society of Exercise Physiologists. (2012). Exercise Physiology. (Online).
5. American Society of Exercise Physiologists. (2012). ASEP Vision. (Online).

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