Summary
This article presents a preliminary synthesis of what are the external, internal and result factors that act on the organizational climate and that have allowed the increase of studies in this thematic area.
Based on this increased demand, certain methodological guidelines are proposed that can help interested parties to carry out studies of this type both at a theoretical level and in specific organizational contexts.
Abstract
In this paper is presented a previous synthesis of which are the external, internal and resulting factors that work over the organizational climate and that have allowed the increasing of studies in this thematic area.
In order to this incremented demand, certain guide lines are presented which can help the interested persons to realize this kind of studies in the theoretical level as well as in specific organizational contexts.
In modern national and international organizational consulting, organizational climate studies are the ones that have seen their demand increased the most.
We can test a systemic explanation of this phenomenon by locating the external, process and result factors that have contributed to this increase:
External contributing factors:
New business approaches to organizational culture that increasingly highlight the important leverage factor that culture plays in business. Thus we speak, for example, of an export culture, an entrepreneurial culture, a business culture, a culture of employability, etc.
Culture and climate result according to specialists, such as the fully associated consulting firm PA & Partners. Culture precedes climate and acts as its base or foundation.
Therefore culture is the permanent factor from which climate is derived, but while culture is more constant, climate is more variable. The internal or external factors that act on it can make it vary at any time.
Process contributing factors:
The association that has been made in modern management between the productivity of human resources and the work environment.
The climate is increasingly becoming a factor that reflects the facilities or difficulties that the worker finds to increase or decrease his productivity or to find his equilibrium point.
Therefore, evaluating the work environment, what is being done is to determine what type of difficulties exist in an organization at the level of human and organizational resources, internal or external, that act by facilitating or hindering the processes that will lead to the productivity of workers and of the entire organizational system.
Resulting factors:
The redefinition of the concept of Human Resources, which has changed, from a concept and a passive role to an active one, becoming the central axis of business management.
This reality therefore leads us to the need to permanently evaluate through Human Resources how the organization is managing.
Climate studies then become one of the most complete and powerful tools that allow us to evaluate and measure how certain input factors or inputs are acting on the climate, which will act as a mediating factor because it is located in the center, between the input and the resulting product, specifically according to specialists, in the perception of the worker himself and that will allow the resulting factor or effect: individual and organizational productivity.
The concept of work environment is therefore very complex, sensitive and dynamic at the same time.
Complex because it encompasses countless components, sensitive because any of them can affect it, and dynamic because by studying the situation of its components we can improve them by applying the necessary corrective measures.
This situation contributes to organizational climate studies becoming more and more relevant and necessary.
Against this background and to contribute to the purposes of this work, it is pertinent to ask ourselves the questions that methodologists ask themselves every time they want to test the viability of any research study: the what of the research (problem) the how of the research (methodology) and for what (objectives, importance, benefits) of the research.
1. What to investigate about organizational climate ? Possible Research Problems in Climate Studies.
The preceding analysis helps us to open up a wide range of study possibilities on the organizational climate in such a way that in order to take better advantage of them we have to carry out a classification that allows us to both choose and locate the study to be carried out. Thus, we can propose two levels of studies:
to. Studies at the macro-phenomenon level: They are those of a substantive or basic nature that contribute to knowing more about the nature of the climate and that include the investigation of the phenomenon or fact itself and the relationships that it may have with other contributing or resulting phenomena or events.
These studies would have the purpose of developing a greater theorization on the subject and are not located in a specific field of application.
At this level we could study the following:
- The situation of external contributors such as factors located in the external environment of the organization and in the organizational culture. Internal contributors belonging to the human resource or resources, such as capacities, perception, abilities, motivation, knowledge, experience, training, etc., and others that are linked to the generation of the climate. Processes such as dimensions or indicators inherent to climate from a theoretical point of view. The resulting productivity factors that are directly related to the climate. For example, the identification of climate factors that increase, decrease or keep productivity in the right balance. We could also study all the possible combinations from each of these themes,Thus, some of these combined problems could be associative, such as the existing relationships between culture and organizational climate, between the characteristics of human resources and the generation of the climate, between the situation of the climate dimensions and productivity levels.
They can also be causal-explanatory, in which certain causes generate certain effects, such as the influence of culture on the organizational climate or the effects that climate dimensions generate on productivity levels, etc.
b. Studies at the microphenomenon level: They are of an applicative nature and allow us to know the climate situation in a specific organizational environment.
These studies have the utility of diagnosing the climate in situ and detecting which of its factors or components are affected, detecting the causes and levels of affectation.
You can go further and use climate studies to regulate the correct organizational functioning in such a way that the study is preventive and not just reactive.
It is investigated to prevent problems before they appear externally, leading to negative consequences on productivity and worse still on financial results.
What should prevail in any case is the situation detected in the systemic set of the organization and that merits a climate study.
Climate studies at this level according to different authors could be specifically linked to certain dimensions or aspects of analysis inherent to climate and which have already been defined by researchers as evaluation and measurement variables.
Litwin and Stinger (1978) cited by Paulina Bustos and others were the first to determine that the organizational climate comprised nine components: Structure, responsibility or autonomy in decision-making, the reward received, the challenge of goals, relationships and cooperation among its members, productivity standards, conflict management, and identification with the organization
The consulting firm Hay Group, based in Venezuela, has identified six critical dimensions of climate that are measured through an instrument specially built for this purpose called ECO (Organizational Climate Study):
- Clarity: everyone in the organization knows what is expected of him / her Standards: challenging but achievable goals are set Accountability: employees have authority to achieve goals Flexibility: no unnecessary rules, policies, or procedures Recognition: employees are recognized and compensated for good performance Team spirit: people are proud to belong to the organization
According to this consultant, when employees obtain a high score in these dimensions, they are saying that they feel motivated by their workplace; it is a pleasant and productive place to be; they give their best and feel confident that they will be recognized for their contribution.
When they score low on these dimensions, they are saying the complete opposite and the organization runs the risk of seeing this turn into a drop in morale, performance, and profits.
For the Gestar Consultant, the variables to be measured would be the following twelve: Organizational Clarity, Organizational support, progress and development, communication, remuneration, cooperation between units, benefits, leadership, physical environment and safety, work organization, identification with the company and participation.
In any case and for a more effective investigation, it is recommended that these dimensions can serve as reference elements and that each company can choose the investigation variables and the dimensions that it considers pertinent to the problems detected or to be prevented.
The dimensions of the analysis must be set by a team linked to the management of the issue, with the possibility of participating Human Resources specialists and specialists from other areas.
It is preferable that it be a multi-area team to avoid bias in the vision of the subject. The hypotheses about which would be the possible dimensions that will intervene in any instrument for detecting and evaluating the climate have to be validated by the members of the team of experts.
This means that there must be a consensual agreement on which are the climate dimensions that correspond to be studied in correspondence to the type of organization in which they are located.
b. ¿ How to research on organizational climate?
Methodologically, micro-level climate studies comprise the same stages as any scientific investigation and, according to the consulting firm PA & Partners, are the following:
Stages in Research:
- Preparation - identification of the problem Planning - general hypotheses Execution of the investigation Interpretation of the data Conclusions Suggestions
How to investigate also includes the instrumental aspect of research that in methodology responds to the choice of techniques and instruments that are most relevant to gather the necessary information about the organization's climate.
The know-how of organizational consulting has designed a series of instruments linked to these dimensions that are already made and sold for their application or that are part of the consulting programs already developed. According to the consulting firm PA & Partners, the most appropriate techniques for this type of study would be the following:
- Questionnaires Interviews Observation Documentary Analysis Group Dynamics Debates Projective Games Analysis of Critical Incidents.
Regarding these technical and instrumental possibilities, it is pertinent to recommend the use of several simultaneous ones, both because each one can provide a different perspective on the subject and because we need them to confirm the hypotheses we had formulated in various ways.
Regarding whether it is more convenient to use an instrument already designed and for sale in the market or your own, this would be a decision that corresponds to those responsible for its application.
Those made have the advantage of being instruments with guaranteed validity and reliability but the disadvantage that their dimensions may not be the most pertinent or relevant in relation to the specific organizational context.
In any case, their own could better reflect the dimensions that we are interested in focusing on due to their pertinence or relevance, but they must follow all the necessary processes to give them validity and reliability.
Validity refers to a group of experts agreeing on which items or reagents should be considered to study each of the previously agreed-upon pertinent dimensions and that this agreement is statistically consistent.
In other words, there must be a coincidence not only in the qualitative criteria of the experts of which are the items that correspond to each of the dimensions of the climate but also a quantitative or statistical coincidence as close as possible to the opinion of the experts on the items.
Validity also implies that the instrument has been tested in its content, that is, that the items proposed to measure the climate are adequate.
This must be determined by the experts as well as the users themselves through pilot applications or tests, prior to the definitive application of the measurement instrument that result in a statistical validation, that is, statistically which items have been accepted and which have been rejected.
Reliability means that the instrument is so well built that we can trust its results.
To test the reliability, it is convenient to use two applications of the instrument elaborated with a certain time interval between the two and that in yield statistically very close results.
c. Why do research on organizational climate ?
Or what is the same, what objectives do the studies on organizational climate have?
According to Alexis P. Gonçalves “knowledge of the Organizational Climate provides feedback about the processes that determine organizational behaviors, also allowing to introduce planned changes in both the attitudes and behaviors of the members, as well as in the organizational structure or in one or more of the subsystems that compose it.
The importance of this information is based on the verification that the Organizational Climate influences the manifest behavior of the members, through stabilized perceptions that filter reality and condition the levels of work motivation and professional performance, among others ”.
These studies allow us in synthesis to carry out accurate interventions both at the level of design or redesign of organizational structures, strategic planning, changes in the internal organizational environment, management of motivational programs, performance management, improvement of internal and external communication systems, improvement of production processes, improvement in remuneration systems, etc.
The possibilities are open and can be increased even more. We must always remember that the most valuable business capital is found in human resources, since it is the one that possesses and develops organizational know-how.
References
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