Organizational Climate - A Performance Enhancing Aspect
| June 10,2010 11:38 am IST
Work performance, like all other phases of individual behavior, is a function of both the individual and the circumstances in which he or she exists, specifically, the firm. It is also rational to anticipate, on the basis of day-to-day practice and research evidence, that the organizational climate will have an impact on the human resource's performance.
As work performance is contextual in nature, it is estimated that behavior is reliant on the climate prevailing in the company.
As per Moran and Volkwein (1992), Organizational Climate is defined as "a relatively enduring characteristic of an organization which distinguishes it from other organization, hence,
(a) embodies members' collective perceptions about their organization with respect to such dimensions as autonomy, trust, cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation and fairness;
(b) produced by member interaction;
(c) serves as a basis for interpreting the situation;
(d) reflects the prevalent norms and attitudes of the organization's culture; and
(e) acts as a source of influence for shaping behavior."
The organizational climate facilitates the firm to identify the deficiencies in connection with different organizational factors, such as organizational structure, employee compensation system, communication level, physical atmosphere, organizational culture, etc. It is the apparent trait of a firm and its sub-systems as replicated in the mode in which an organization deals with its associates, team members and organizational problems. It is comparatively enduring excellence of the in-house atmosphere that is experienced by its employees which influences their performance and can be described in terms of the values of a specific set of behaviors in the firm.
Motivational Analysis of Organizational-Climate (MAO-C) is an instrument that assess motivational climate of an organization based on the six motives mentioned above. The profile includes six scores on six motives. The two highest scores are generally used to interpret the climate: the highest score shows the dominant climate and the next highest the secondary climate. The combination of these two motives, thus, characterizes the organizational climate. Generally, there are six different kinds of dominant climate characterized by different motives.
The six motives characterizing dominant organizational climates are listed in the table given below: -
Factors Influencing Organization Climate
Various aspects of organizational climate influencing learning in firms are: -
Organizational Context: The climate is said to be highly favourable when the existing organizational techniques are such that workers' objectives are absolutely harmonized to the principles of the company.
Structure: It is the framework that establishes formal relationships and defines power as well as functional responsibility.
Process: Communication, decision making and control are some of the significant procedures through which the organization carries out its goals.
Physical Environment: The external conditions of environment, the size and location of the building in which the staff works, the size of the town, climate conditions, noise in the work place, etc., affect the organizational climate.
System Values & Norms: Every firm has apparent and fairly evident formal value system where certain types of behavior are rewarded as well as motivated, and certain kinds of behaviour compels a person to formal sanctions.
Organizational climate is the summary perception which people have about their organization. It is, thus, a global expression of what the organization is. The 90s era has seen the shift in trend to people desiring to work more in the private sector. Lured by higher remuneration, better working conditions and more incentives, the organizational climate of the public sector was viewed as a less favourable. The conduciveness of the organizational climate depends on various factors such as organizational context, organizational structure, company customs and values, physical environment, communication, reward system, employee encouragement, performance evaluation system, training and development programmes, supervision, etc.
Today, latest technology is also being implemented to survey organizational climate of the company to establish a set of baseline measures to analyze the organization's current effectiveness and level of operation. Organizational climate has a note-worthy impact on workforce performance and organizational outcomes. Workplace climate helps in boosting employees to perform their level best which in turn results in perking up of returns, increasing revenues, reducing production costs, and improving consumer satisfaction. All these outcomes have been confirmed time and time again!.