cannot get value from xtype selection field

I have been trying to get value from an xtype selection field, within js - and i'm losing my patience with this product. the same code works fine as expected few lines above for another field, I can get the value fine. 

type: select
xtype: selection

I checked the Id and Xtype on this field, looks fine, and got back expected result, but, I could not get the value using: getValue() or getRawValue().

Any comments/pointers, appreciated.

Sivaram