ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE

&ORGANISATIONAL

CHANGE

ANOOPA NARAYANAN

The shared perceptions, feelings and attitudes organisational members have about the fundamental elements of the organisation which reflect the established norms, values and attitudes of the organisation’s culture and influence individuals’ behaviour either positively or negatively.

(Castro, M., & Martins, N.,2010).

ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE :DEFINITION

CLIMATE AND CULTURE

Organizational culture is defined as a set of shared values and norms held by employees that guide their interactions with peers, management, and clients.

Organizational climate represent employees’ perceptions of organizational policies, practices, and procedures, and subsequent patterns of interactions and behaviors that support the same.Thus climate can be understood as a surface manifestation of culture. It is more behaviorally oriented

(Schneider, B. ,1975)

•Schneider (2000) succinctly summarizes the differences between these two concepts by highlighting that organisational climate describes events and experiences and represents the patterns of behaviour of employees whereas culture is explored when individuals are asked why these patterns of shared values, common assumptions and beliefs exist.

DIMENSIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE

Dimensions measuring organisational climate (Litwin and Stringer, 1968). They identified the dimensions based on organisations that are mainly task orientated and that will describe a particular situation. According to Litwin and Stringer (1968), the nine dimensions of organisational climate are as follows: (1) Structure(2) Responsibility(3) Reward(4) Risk5) Warmth(6) Support (7) Standards (9) Identity

(1) Structure The aim of this dimension is to gauge how employees perceive the organisation(2) Responsibility. This dimension is concerned with how employees feel about being able to make their own decisions without having to constantly “check in” with a boss. This involves knowing what one’s role entails and making sure the work gets done. (3) Reward. This dimension focuses on how employees perceive being rewarded for the work they do. The emphasis is on positive reinforcement and the perception of fairness regarding payment and promotion policies. (4) Risk. This dimension seeks to describe the risk or challenge associated with a particular job as well as the organisation’s general approach to taking risks or its inclination to adopt a more stable view.

5) Warmth. The focus of this dimension is on the group’s or organisation’s general feeling of friendliness. (6) Support. The aim of this dimension is to gauge how employees perceive their manager’s and colleagues’ willingness to help and provide support. (7) Standards.This dimension refers to the emphasis that is placed on achieving set goals and meeting the standard and doing outstanding work. (8) Conflict. This represents the extent to which managers and employees wish to openly discuss issues or concerns rather than ignoring them as well as wanting to explore varying views. (9) Identity. This dimension measures the extent to which employees feel valued in the group and feel part of the organisation.

Campbell et al. (1970) reviewed the work of various authors. In their review, they revealed four factors (1) Individual autonomy.The extent to which the employee has freedom to be his/her own boss and has the power to make decisions without constantly having to obtain managerial approval. (2) The degree of structure imposed upon the position. The key to this dimension lies in the extent to which managers establish the job’s objectives and methods as well as how these are communicated. (3) Reward orientation. it generally refers to reward associations that are evident in all of the studies. (4) warmth and support. This dimension refers to the human relations evident between organisational members.

LEVELS OF CLIMATE

According to Field and Abelson (1982), empirical evidence supports the notion that three levels of climate can be identified

•Organisational Climate•Group Climate •Psychological Climate.

Group climate

Sub climates exist for different organisational groups because of differences relating to task relationships and job functions. climates differed across groups in the same organisation. Climate responses can be seen as more of a group function than being caused by personal characteristics.

Psychological climate

Psychological climate is studied at the individual level of analysis, referring to individuals’ descriptions of the organisation’s policies and processes.

MEASURES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

•One of the best-known general measures of organizational climate is the Organizational Climate Questionnaire (OCQ) by Litwin and Stringer (1968).

• It comprises 50 items that assess nine dimensions of climate. Organisational climate is measured by means of the average perceptions of organisational members, referring to a collective description of the same environment

FOUR APPROACHES

1. The Structural Approach 2. The Perceptual Approach 3. The Interactive Approach 4. The Cultural Approach

Castro, M., & Martins, N.,2010).

THE STRUCTURAL APPROACH •This approach views organisational climate as a characteristic or attribute of the organisation. These attributes are considered to be owned by the organisation and existing independently of The perceptions of the individual members (Moran & Volkwein, 1992).

•organisational climate is the result of the objective aspects of the work environment, namely the organisation’s size, a centralised or decentralised authority structure, number of hierarchical levels, advancement of technology as well as the extent to which organisational rules and policies influence members’ behaviour

THE PERCEPTUAL APPROACH

•According to this approach, the individual interprets and responds to the situation in a way that is psychologically meaningful to him/her.

•the individual perceives the organisational conditions and then creates a psychological representation of the climate. The term “organisational conditions” refers to the structural characteristics highlighted in the previous approach but is more encompassing in the sense that it includes organisational processes such as communication, influence, leadership and decision-making patterns

THE INTERACTIVE APPROACH •This approach builds on the aforementioned approaches and combines the objectivism of the structural approach and the subjectivism of the perceptual approach

•The underlying assumption of the interactive approach is that organisational climate is the result of the interaction of individuals in response to their situation which results in the shared agreement of organisational members.

•This approach identifies communication as a key contributor of organisational climate.

THE CULTURAL APPROACH • According to the cultural approach, organisational climate is shaped by individuals in a group who interact and who share the same abstract frame of reference, organisational culture, as they learn to deal with the organisation’s demands .

•the cultural approach includes the role of organisational culture as a key factor in the development of organisational climate.

IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE

•Organisational climate has a effect on an variety of important outcomes at the individual, group, and organizational levels.• managerial effectiveness (Umesh Kumar Bamel, 2013)• Organisation performance and to individual job satisfaction (R.D.

Pritchard et.al,1973: Edward E. Lawler,1974)

•IBM recognizes the importance of workplace climate and the role it plays in the success or failure of organisations.

•There is a relationship between climate and the attraction and retention of employees, productivity and effectiveness which, when translated into results.

“Change is the law of nature- Those who

change, survive, those who do not, perish”

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

An alteration of an organization’s environment, structure, culture, technology, or people

A constant force An organizational reality An opportunity or a threat

EXTERNAL FACTORS Technological changes Social changes Political changes Change in marketing condition

INTERNAL FACTORS Nature of the work force Change in managerial personnel Deficiencies in existing management structure

FACTORS IN ORGANISATION CHANGE

Lewin’s Three-Step Model For Implementing Change

UNFREEZE

MOVEMENT

FREEZE

Kurt Lewin proposed a three stage theory of change commonly referred to as Unfreeze, Change( or Transition), Freeze.

UnfreezingChange efforts to overcome the pressures of both

individual resistance and group conformity.

Arouse dissatisfaction with the current state. Activate and strengthen top management

support. Use participation in decision making. Build in rewards.

MovingEfforts to get employees involved in the change

process.

Establish goals. Institute smaller, acceptable changes that

reinforce and support change. Develop management structures for

change. Maintain open, two-way communication.

RefreezingStabilizing a change intervention by balancing driving

and restraining forces.

Build success experiences. Reward desired behaviour. Develop structures to institutionalize the

change. Make change work.

Exhibit 10-7 Unfreezing the Status Quo

Time

Drivingforces

Restrainingforces

Desiredstate

Statusquo

J KOTTER’S 8 STEPS PROCESS OF CHANGE

• Step 1: Create a Sense of Urgency• Step 2: Creating the Guiding Coalition• Step 3: Developing a Change Vision• Step 4: Communicating the Vision for Buy-in• Step 5: Empowering Broad-Based Action• Step 6: Generating Short-term Wins• Step 7: maintain state of emergency • Step 8: anchoring changes in corporate culture

(strengthen change)

(J. P. Kotter, 1996).

Step 1: Create a Sense of Urgency

50% of the companies that fail to make needed change make their mistakes at the very beginning.

Leaders may underestimate how hard it is to drive people out of their comfort zones, or overestimate how successfully they have already done so, or simply lack the patience necessary to develop appropriate urgency

Step 2: Creating the Guiding Coalition

Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change

The coalition must have the right composition, a significant level of trust, and a shared objective.

The Four Qualities of an Effective Guiding Coalition

Position Power: Enough key players should be on board so that those left out cannot block progress.

Expertise: All relevant points of view should be represented so that informed intelligent decisions can be made.

Credibility: The group should be seen and respected by those in the firm so that the group’s pronouncements will be taken seriously by other employees.

Leadership: The group should have enough proven leaders to be able to drive the change process.

Step 3: Developing a Change Vision

Clarify how the future will be different from the pastsix key characteristics of effective visions have Imaginable: They convey a clear picture of what the future will

look like. Desirable: They appeal to the long-term interest of those who

have a stake in the enterprise. Feasible: They contain realistic and attainable goals. Focused: They are clear enough to provide guidance in

decision making. Flexible: They allow individual initiative and alternative

responses in light of changing conditions. Communicable: They are easy to communicate and can be

explained quickly.

STEP 4: Communicating the Vision for Buy-in

Ensuring that as many people as possible understand and accept the vision

A single memo announcing the transformation or even a series of speeches by the CEO and the executive team are never enough.

To be effective, the vision must be communicated in hour-by-hour activities.

The vision will be referred to in emails, in meetings, in presentations and will be communicated anywhere and everywhere.

STEP 5: Empowering Broad-Based Action

Removing as many barriers as possible and unleashing people to do their best work

Structural Barriers Troublesome Supervisors

STEP 6: Generating Short-term Wins Creating visible, unambiguous success as soon

as possible

STEP 7: Maintain state of emergency

Consolidating gains and producing more change

“Resistance is always waiting in the wings to re-assert itself”

STEP 8: Anchoring changes in corporate culture

Anchoring new approaches in the culture for sustained change

Organisational Resistance

Sources of Individual Resistance to Change

Security

Economicfactors

IndividualResistance

Fear ofthe unknown

Selectiveinformationprocessing

Habit

Economic factors. Organizational changes sometimes can be seen from the employee’s side simply as something that will decrease or increase their salary or other economic privileges that some workplace brings to them in the moment before implementation of the change process.

Job’s security. Organizational change can eliminate some work places, can produce technological excess, layoffs and so on. Fear of unknown. When employees feel uncertainty in a process of transformation, they think that changes are something dangerous.

Habits. Employees work in large part is based on habits, and work tasks are performed in a certain way based on that habits. Organizational changes require shifts of that habits and because of that dissatisfaction from the proposals.

Selective information processing. Individuals usually doing selective information processing, or hear only something that they want to hear. They simply ignore information that is opposite of the current situation, and with this, they are preventing to accept important aspects of proposed changes, and it affects appearing resistance to change;

Sources of Organizational Resistance to Change

OrganizationalResistance

Threat to establishedresource allocations

Structuralinertia

Threat to establishedpower relationships

Limited focus of change

Threat toexpertise

Groupinertia

Threat to power relationshipsan individual level. It is more likely that managers will resist changes that will decrease their power and transfers it to their subordinates;an organizational level. With the change process, some groups, departments or sectors in the organization become more powerful. Because of that some persons will be opposed to such a proposal or processes where they will lose their organizational power;

Reallocation of resources. With organizational changes, some groups, departments or sectors in the organization can receive more resources why other will lose. So, this will bring resistance from the individuals, groups or departments who will lose some of there currently available resources.

Specific approaches to managing resistance to change Education and communication Participation and involvement Facilitation and support Negotiation and rewards Manipulation and cooperation Forcing and coercion

© PhotoDisc

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Education and communication This tactic assumes that the source of resistance lies in

misinformation or poor communication. Best used: Lack of information, or inaccurate information

Participation and involvement Prior to making a change, those opposed can be brought

into the decision process. Best used: Where initiators lack information, and others

have power to resist Facilitation and support

The provision of various efforts to facilitate adjustment. Best used: Where people resist because of adjustment

problems

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Negotiation and agreement Exchange something of value for a lessening of resistance. Best used: Where one group will lose, and has

considerable power to resist Manipulation and cooperation

Twisting and distorting facts to make them appear more attractive.

Best used: Where other tactics won’t work or are too expensive

Explicit and implicit coercion The application of direct threats or force upon resisters. Best used: Speed is essential, and initiators have power

REFERENCES

Umesh Kumar Bamel, Santosh Rangnekar, Peter Stokes, Renu Rastogi, (2013) "Organizational climate and managerial effectiveness: an Indian perspective", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 21 Iss: 2, pp.198 – 218

Robert D. Pritchard, Bernard W. Karasick ,1973, The effects of organizational climate on managerial job performance and job satisfaction Original Research Article, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Volume 9, Issue 1, February 1973, Pages 126-146

Edward E. Lawler, Douglas T. Hall, Greg R. Oldham, 1974, Organizational climate: Relationship to organizational structure, process and performance Original Research Article, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Volume 11, Issue 1, February Pages 139-155

Schneider, B. (1975). Organizational climates: an essay. Personnel Psychology, 36, 19–36.

Jones, A.P., & James, L.R. (1979). Psychological climate: Dimensions and relationships of individual and aggregated work environment perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 23, 201−250.

Castro, M., & Martins, N. (2010). The relationship between organisational climate and employee satisfaction in a South African information and technology organisation. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 36(1), Art. #800, 9 pages. DOI: 10.4102/sajip.v36i1.800

J. P. Kotter, Leading Change (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996).