We understand the concept of Organizational Climate well and in a generic way we identify it as the environment that is lived in the company at a certain time; where it can be pleasant or unpleasant to work; or as the quality or property of the general environment that members of the organization perceive or experience, which may be internal or external and that influence their behavior.
A pleasant work environment, with a business culture that promotes a sense of belonging and commitment to tasks, will always be a competitive advantage for companies, since quality, productivity and the best performance of workers have a direct relationship. with the environment that revolves around it.
The Organizational Climate has a direct relationship in determining the Organizational Culture of the company, understanding as Organizational Culture, the general pattern of behaviors, beliefs and values shared by its members.
The perceptions and responses covered by the Organizational Climate originate from a wide variety of factors, related to leadership and management practices (types of supervision: authoritarian, participatory, etc.), and economic aspects (remuneration, incentive systems, social support, etc.) those that affect behavior at work.
The theory of Professors Litwin and Stinger establishes nine factors that, in their opinion, have an impact on the generation of the Organizational Climate (structure, responsibility, reward, challenges, relationships, cooperation, standards, conflict and identity).
Below I allow myself to make a brief description of what each of them is, without going into details, of how to achieve and / or sustain them.
1. Structure: Refers to the way in which the activities of organizations are divided, grouped and coordinated in terms of the relationships between the different hierarchical levels, regardless of the position at the level. Its foundation has a direct relationship with the organic composition, reflected in the organization chart, and which we commonly know as Organizational Structure.
Depending on the organization assumed by the company, in order to make it functional, it will be necessary to establish the norms, rules, policies, procedures, etc., that facilitate or hinder the proper development of activities in the company, and those that are faced workers in the performance of their work.
The positive or negative result will be given to the extent that the organization visualizes and controls the effect on the work environment. The formation of an adequate organizational structure in the company, facilitates or hinders the flow of communications, a transcendental aspect in any type of community that aspires to coexist in the best way.
2. Responsibility: This aspect is necessarily linked to autonomy in the execution of the entrusted activity and is, in turn, closely related to the type of supervision that is exercised over the missions given to the workers.
For each one of us, regardless of the position we occupy or the profession we carry out, if we are developing the activity that we are happy to do, our work will always be important, maintaining the idea that we are making an important contribution to the organization, and that importance We measure it with a direct relationship linked to the degree of autonomy assigned, the challenges posed by the activity and the commitment that we assume with the best results.
3. Reward: What is received in exchange for effort and dedication and above all for the good results obtained in the performance of the work?
A fair and appropriate salary, according to the activity carried out, constitutes the first incentive in an employment relationship. It is important not to forget that despite the fair salary and the results of the work achieve the expected balance, humans "demand" additional recognition.
4. Challenge: As the organization promotes the acceptance of calculated risks in order to achieve the proposed objectives, the challenges will help maintain a healthy competitive climate, necessary in any organization.
5. Relationships: These will be based on interpersonal respect at all levels, good treatment and cooperation, with support and based on effectiveness, productivity, utility, and obedience, all within precise limits, without becoming excessive and reaching to give rise to stress, workplace harassment (mobbing) and other inconveniences of this style.
6. Cooperation: It is related to timely support, with the birth and maintenance of a team spirit in the process of achieving common objectives related in turn to the objectives of the company.
7. Standards: A standard, we know, establishes a parameter or pattern that indicates its scope or compliance. To the extent that the standards are set with a sense of rationality and above all that they can be achieved without exaggerating the efforts necessary for it, the members of the group will perceive these, with a sense of justice or equity.
8. Conflict: Conflict will always be generated by disagreements between the members of a group. This feeling may well be generated for different reasons: related to work or to the social and may occur among workers of the same level or in the relationship with bosses or superiors.
9. Identity: Today we know it as a Sense of Belonging. It is the pride of belonging to the company and being an active member of it and having the feeling of contributing their efforts to achieve the objectives of the organization.
Each of the aforementioned aspects produces different types of perception among collaborators that have a direct impact on the individual Labor Morality and the sum of all at the group level, ends up shaping the Organizational Climate.
Perception is defined as the " inner sensation that results from a material impression made on our senses " and which, as we have already mentioned, is different in each of its collaborators.
The way in which each of the elements that make up the generation of the Organizational Climate in the company is perceived, produces in individuals, also a wide range of attitudes, positive or negative, according to the circumstances and the way in which they are evaluated. Hence, the Organizational Climate reflects the interaction between personal and organizational characteristics.
The perceptions depend to a great extent on the activities, interactions and other series of experiences that each member has with the Organization, and can tend to the determination of beliefs, myths, behaviors and values that will be part of the Organizational Culture.
The generation of an adequate Organizational Climate is directly related to the quality of leadership in the company, close leaders, who motivate, form interdisciplinary teams and give the greatest importance to communications, as a fundamental axis in relationships.
A positive internal culture is essential in the search for an organizational climate where internal conflicts hardly take place, awakening a great commitment to the organization, also creating an image of an outstanding employer among its competitors.
For its part, a negative organizational climate has a direct impact on the company's objectives, and as "unnoticed" as it seems to the managers, management experts agree that sooner or later, their influence will also generate a bad work environment, a negative impact on worker satisfaction, increased internal conflicts, decreased productivity, high turnover, maladjustment, absenteeism, low innovation or creativity, etc., and all this in the short, medium or long term in the economic results of the company.
It is extremely important that companies work on their intellectual capital: man, and take advantage of the favorable consequences generated by an excellent organizational climate.
Achieving an excellent organizational climate in the company is necessarily accompanied by the actions of the bosses towards their subordinates, adjusted to the clear established policies, to the way communications are given, the training programs are applied, to a fair remuneration, etc.
It will always be difficult, that the management, by mere observation, can be made to a centered concept of what happens in the company and that could be affecting in one way or another in the Organizational Climate.
The Organizational Climate turns out to be an extremely complex aspect due to the dynamics of the Organization, the environment and the intervening human factors.
Organizations require to have periodic measurement mechanisms of their Organizational Climate, which is linked to staff motivation and the expected results of the company in its day-to-day activities.
It is extremely important that we can know for sure the quality of the Organizational Climate of our company, and in fact vital, that we apply some type of tool to achieve the results that we expect in our intention to measure.
Achieving a qualification for the Organizational Climate will allow us to know if the idiosyncrasy and the practices of the company have a positive or negative perception in the collaborators, if they consider themselves as apathetic spectators or an active part of the organizational processes.
Numerous studies have indicated that Organizational Climate can make the difference between a high-performing and a low-performing company.
The measurement of the organizational climate is usually carried out through direct surveys, applied to the workers of an organization, or of some area of it, with the intention of measuring specific pre-established aspects, which obviously will be directly linked to the particular situation of each company.
Surveys generally point to aspects related to collaborators, such as thinking and acting individuals and to the results expected by the company in one way or another, related to the actions of the workers.
The quality of the surveys, the way in which the tool is applied and the opportunity to achieve the best results in its application are very important aspects to consider.
Finally, the results obtained in the measurement, once analyzed and duly weighted, should lead to an action plan that tends to correct situations considered to be problems or that could be, to some degree, the cause of emotional and behavioral discomfort in the workers.
