competing values
Goals in tension
Competing values are principles or priorities that cannot all be fully satisfied at once, forcing tradeoffs.
Freedom and security compete—more of one often means less of the other.
Efficiency and fairness compete in policy debates.
Organizations face competing values when profit goals conflict with employee welfare.
The phrase acknowledges that reasonable people may weight these tradeoffs differently: The committee struggled to balance competing values of transparency and privacy.
- tradeoffsCosts of choosing
- zero sumGains offset by losses
- cost benefitExpense versus gain
- tensionsStates of strained relations
- prioritiesMost important things
work life balance · balance · conflict · turf war · moral dilemma · dilemma · hard choices · double bind · ethics · loyalty · autonomy · greater good · efficiency · flexibility · control · innovation · stability · hierarchy
competing, values, compete, value, competition, competitive, competitor, competitors, competitively