My aim in this thesis is to improve understanding of the contributions of organizational climate to organizational effectiveness. Climate is defined as the shared perceptions of the work environment (Schneider & Reichers, 1983). First, I developed and empirically validated four targeted climates ??? climates for involvement; mission-alignment; consistency; and adaptability ??? reflecting a broad range of management perspectives. These climates are based on Quinn and Rohrbaugh???s Competing Values Framework (1983a), and extend the work of Patterson et al. (2005). Using secondary data from 2027 business-units from diverse industries, worldwide, these climates were, as expected, inter-related, yet distinct. Second, I explored the relationships between multiple climates and stakeholder outcomes (staff motivation, perceived customer loyalty and perceived business performance) using structural equation modeling and discriminant function analysis. Separate but matched manager and employee samples from 620 business-units were used to assess relationships linking the four climates and three effectiveness outcomes within a single model. The findings indicated that employees??? perceptions of workplace characteristics influence important organizational outcomes. Overall, key findings were: (1) a climate for mission related directly to perceived business performance; (2) climates for consistency and adaptability both related to higher business performance through their positive link with customer loyalty; (3) a climate for involvement also related to business performance, but only when the context was uncertain; (4) while climates for involvement and mission related to staff satisfaction, staff satisfaction did not uniquely predict business performance; (5) the most effective business-units, with high scores on all three outcomes, had a balance of high levels of all four climates. The thesis discusses the implications of these results for both theory and practice, as well as suggestions for future research. In particular, the comprehensiveness and empirical integrity of this multiple-climates model indicates its potential to provide new insights about the relationships between perceived organizational characteristics and outcomes. Furthermore, my research suggests that organizations can foster high levels of all four climates concurrently, and in doing so achieve better outcomes for a diversity of stakeholders. This has implications for change management: specifically that organizations should embed and integrate multiple approaches concurrently rather than move from one to the next.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/257166 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | MacCormick, Judith S., Australian Graduate School of Management, Australian School of Business, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Australian Graduate School of Management |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Judith S. MacCormick, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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