I've worked at two companies that have a definite set of values: Amazon and Shopify. In both companies the values serve two purposes. In decision-making, they a

I've worked at two companies that have a definite set of values: Amazon and Shopify. In both companies the values serve two purposes. In decision-making, they act as something you can point at when you weigh choices. And in performance evaluations, they act as something you can point at to say that you or other people demonstrated certain values. In this way they act as a norming force to keep everyone in a large company aligned on how decisions should be made and what behaviours are considered good. One of the biggest challenges a large organization faces is keeping all its parts aligned, and a specific set of values helps with that.