Virtue as a Source of Organizational Development
Let’s start with a question. What does the word “deviation” commonly mean?
For 95% of people, the association will be exclusively negative. Deviation is a deviation from the norm. Derived from the Latin “deviatio,” it means “deviation,” so it doesn’t in itself mean anything negative. We assign specific meanings to words. So why not positive ones?
There is the concept of positive deviance as behavior that deviates from the norm but is perceived by society as beneficial or desirable.
Let’s now consider deviance in the context of an organization like the healthcare system. Like any organization, this one strives to organize and eliminate processes and behaviors that deviate from the norm. Theoretically, it aspires to be exactly in the middle of a continuum—not deviating too far to the left (negative) or right (positive). The moment actions that cause a shift to any extreme state occur, broadly defined resistance begins.
We can consider this using the examples of health and illness. The healthcare system focuses on the state of illness—how to diagnose, how to treat—something inherently negative. The moment we emerge from the state of illness, we disappear from the system. The goal of the process is to bring the patient precisely to the middle of the continuum—to a state somewhat subjectively assessed as well-being. But what next?
Kim Cameron’s rhetoric on organizational improvement features the Latin word “virtus,” meaning virtue/excellence. It is a natural human need to live in accordance with the highest moral standards. Initially, Cameron (2003) included these as compassion, integrity/honesty, forgiveness, trust, and optimism. The list has subsequently evolved somewhat, but the foundation of virtue as a source of excellence and competitive advantage has remained unchanged to this day and likely will remain so.
Unfortunately, our education system, from primary school to university, teaches that the foundation for success is focusing solely on deficits and the hard work required to minimize them. Cameron, however, proves that the key to achieving success, both as an organization and as an individual, is focusing on the positive – on strengthening and developing the ability to cultivate what is good, which Cameron calls “beautiful blossoming.” The effect that appears here as a consequence of multiplying positive behaviors/processes is the so-called heliotropic effect. A natural turning toward the sun, toward light. A process known from the biology of plants, which, as they grow, turn toward light. Every individual, the smallest cell, including the human body, gravitates toward what is bright and good and away from darkness. Naturally, people gravitate toward morality, goodness, and positive energy. And they flee from negativity. We therefore turn to what strengthens us, not weakens us. We are born with a natural tendency to learn based on positive reinforcement and then adapt to the environment we find ourselves in.
Let us consider whether such an effect could ever appear in the Polish healthcare system? Is consensus across divisions possible? Can we create conditions in which healthcare system reform will not be just a technical correction of institutions, but a moral transformation based on the language of virtues and not interests?
How can we turn the Polish healthcare system “toward the sun”?
The current tendency to focus solely on failures must change. We all focus solely on negative deviations, pointing out the mistakes of successive managers. We don’t seek solutions. We look for those responsible.
If we were to use one of the assumptions of the PDIA tool created by public management researchers and practitioners from Harvard Kennedy School, Andrews, Pritchett & Woolcock (2016), we could look at this differently. Part of the PDIA process involves searching for solutions among existing ones, which fall within the scope of so-called hidden practices or positive deviations (practices that are very effective, but not particularly effective). Are there really no actions in our healthcare system worth replicating? No attitudes that would enable the translation of diverse moral intuitions into a single, commonly identified public value in healthcare – a value that will endure regardless of changes in government or current political tensions? The state’s dominant focus on deficits would suggest this. However, if we look at this issue from the perspective of, for example, the development of electronic prescriptions or online patient accounts, the conclusion would be the opposite. The problem is that there are too few such actions that change the status quo by shifting in the positive direction – towards the sun, as we would like to put it –.
Undoubtedly, employing people with exclusively positive traits will not lead an organization to achieve extraordinary results. Why? People who, for example, are guided by kindness, are friendly, and supportive, but do so solely for their own interests, remuneration, or position, will not build a heliotropic effect in the organization. This would be pure manipulation. I will only be good if it benefits me. I will be loyal and act morally if in return I receive a position, a higher salary, or greater power.
For two decades, Kim Cameron has been studying organizations that achieve significant results across all dimensions – revenue, employee turnover, job satisfaction, etc. The results of this research are astonishing, showing that organizations whose organizational culture was based on cultivating fundamental moral principles achieved statistically better financial results, and their customers were more satisfied, cared for, and loyal. Doesn’t sound like healthcare, does it?
It’s not without reason that healthcare system reform is so demanding. It requires a radical shift in approach to what we call public value. Cameron’s aforementioned virtues lie at its foundation. Robert Mołdach (2025), as part of his work on the Agreement for Public Value, proposes using the following set of virtues in the Polish context and in relation to healthcare: forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, trust, optimism, and humility.
Forgiveness allows us not to dwell on accusations and past mistakes. Compassion will allow us to see the human side of disputes instead of dry arguments. Gratitude will rebuild appreciation and respect for the efforts of others, even if they are on the other side of the argument. Trust will provide a sense of stability and certainty that agreements won’t be overturned at the first change of political power. Optimism will open the imagination to the possibility that the system can be better than it is today, not just “less bad.” And finally, humility – the awareness that no one has a monopoly on the truth, and that shared solutions emerge only through dialogue. To turn the health system toward the sun, as Mołdach points out, we need to change our approach, organizational culture, and culture of dialogue, guided by the aforementioned virtues. But what specific actions should be taken in practice, and why is it so difficult?
The Heliotropic Effect in Positive Health System Practice
What prevents the light from reaching the system’s participants, and who is blocking it? In the author’s opinion, this is due to the following phenomena:
- Selfishness and polarization: individual freedom vs. collective responsibility
- hierarchical subordination and administrative pressure
- the decline of authority
- lack of dialogue, openness, and accountability
- the inability to agree on shared values—what we consider to be the common good, cross-party, and timeless
For the heliotropic effect to truly manifest in the Polish healthcare system, it’s necessary to remove the obstacles that keep the sun out of the eyes of system participants and keep them in deep shadow. Among these actions, the author sees:
- Rebuilding trust. Trust that the data we receive is accurate. That promises won’t end with the next term. That doctors tell patients what’s best for their health, not what’s most convenient for the system. This is what the National Health Fund (NFZ) will “hold accountable.” Trust takes years to build and is lost in an instant – that’s why we need a framework of transparency and accountability that doesn’t depend on who’s currently in power. Trust is the foundation of non-partisan stability.
- A return to humility – a virtue rarely associated with power, but absolutely crucial in healthcare. Humility is the recognition that no one has a monopoly on the truth. Not politicians, not doctors, not economists, not patients. Only through dialogue, in which each side contributes their perspective, can lasting solutions be developed. Humility opens the path to community – and without community, reforms will always be partial and short-lived.
- Changing the rhetoric and creating a culture that supports and reinforces good practices, including those derived from the experiences of other countries. This includes introducing mandatory quality monitoring systems, not to punish, but to educate, draw conclusions, and foster a sense of shared responsibility.
Kim Cameron points out that building an organization based on moral foundations and virtues has at least two measurable effects – the multiplier effect (reinforcement) and the buffering effect. The amplification effect is self-sustaining; people are naturally drawn to it. They turn “toward the sun,” are, in a sense, carried by the desire to do good, and want to be an inspiration to others. Organizational productivity increases when moral principles and values are nurtured. Buffering refers to an organization’s resilience to, colloquially speaking, “damage.” Resource depletion, the maze of changing regulations and systems, confusing rules, demanding patients, broken trust, broken relationships, escalating conflicts. Research shows that organizations built on the foundations of morality and virtue are able to resist destabilization attempts much more quickly and effectively and return to balance much more efficiently. Isn’t this the healthcare system we want?
Sources
Universality of the heliotropic effect; Kim Cameron, TEDxUCCS, 2018
Ethics, Virtuousness, and Constant Change by Kim Cameron for Noel M. Tichy and Andrew R. McGill (Eds.) The Ethical Challenge, San Francisco: Jossey Bass. (pp. 85-94)
Cameron, K. (2003). Organizational Virtuousness and Performance. Positive Organizational Scholarship. Chapter 4 (pp. 48-65). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler
Andrews, M. Pritchett L. & Woolcock, M. (2016) Doing Iterative and Adaptive Work. CID Working Paper No. 313.
Mołdach, R. (2025). Beyond Term Limits, Beyond Divisions – Public Value as a Strategy for Health System Reform. Healthcare Forum, Economic Forum. Institute of Eastern Studies.