This article presents a discussion about human values in a situation of abrupt change caused by an acquisition operation. The aim of this theoretical and empirical research is to understand how the employees, who experienced the acquisition of the institution where they worked, managed to cope with the situation, considering their human values. This is a descriptive qualitative research, with a sectional temporal cut and a longitudinal perspective. Data was collected by structured interviews and interpreted with of content analysis technique. Rohan's (2000) theoretical model, of a dynamic human values system, has been used as the lens through which the empirical findings are interpreted. This approach brings as innovation to previous discussions that values are more than part of a person's survival. Instead, this author takes them as orientations that allow people to live the best way they can. The results led us to conclude that, although there are differences between the personal value systems and social priority systems of the interviewees, each one found his/her way to adapt to the new circumstances respecting and preserving such value systems, avoiding suffering. This interface, between the human values of the interviewees and the organizational change they experienced, points out to aspects that go beyond survival and being part of a society. At the same time, it showed that the complex formation of a group may contain different systems of personal and social values prioritization in interaction, which does not mean reaching a homogeneous way to cope with the situation. This comprehension justifies why, preserving their values, the employees developed new attitudes and behaviors that allowed them to continue in their jobs: because they gave new meanings to the experienced situation through new ways of feeling and thinking about their work.
Workplace; Human behavior; Organizational change; Work relations; Values