Organizational Climate and Culture Patti Chapter 10 By

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Organizational Climate and Culture

• Patti Chapter 10
• By
• Charles Glisson

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Psychological Climate Organizational Climates

• Are created by SHARED psychological climates
• It is the employees PERCEPTION of the work
  environment and not the environment that is
  important

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Definitions of Culture

• The shared values, beliefs, and behavioral norms
  in an organization (Ouchi, 1981)
• The social process by which members share their
  values, beliefs, and norms

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• Culture describes the social context of the work
  environment
• Climate describes the psychological impact of the
  work environment

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Why are climate and culture important?

• The success of Human Services organizations
  generally depends on the relationships and
  interactions between service providers and
  service recipients. These relationships are
  central to the quality and outcome of services.

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The Role of Norms Values

• The norms and values that drive service providers
  behavior and communicate what is valued in
  organizations and the shared perceptions that
  influence service provider attitudes create a
  social and psychological context that shapes
  tone, content, and objectives of the service

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How Does Climate Develop or Change?
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Individual Differences

• Administrators use selective hiring and firing as
  means of either maintaining existing norms or
  changing them.
• Individual perception is consistent across work
  environments - Positive or negative views carry
  from one workplace to another.

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Importing Climate and Culture From the External
Environment

• Organizations adopt ways from other organizations
  with which they compete or cooperate.
• Organizational mimicry- norms of one organization
  adopted in effort to emulate success.

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Impact of Organizational DesignStructure,
Technology Leadership

• Structure, core technology, and leadership
  describer the patterns of interaction between
  practitioners, interaction of practitioners and
  clients and administrations style of governance.

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Structure Impacts

• Flexibility, approval seeking, risk taking and
  innovation
• Highly centralizes structure restricts
  participation in decision making
• Highly formalized division of labor with strict
  procedures place little value on flexibility and
  innovation

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Core Technology Impacts

• Introduction of new computer technology
• New service delivery methods
• New technologies may impact the relationships
  among workers

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Leadership Impacts

• Manipulation of culture is an essential function
  of leadership
• Values in practice are often those of the leader
• Symbolic acts are important
• Leadership shapes perception of fairness and
  support

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Leadership Impacts (cont.)

• Good leadership has been identified as one of the
  few factors that contributes to both employee job
  satisfaction and commitment, each which is highly
  correlated with positive organizational climate

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How Are Climate Culture Maintained in an
Organization?
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The Need for Certainty

• Organizations abhor uncertainty
• Certainty is engendered by sharing common ideas
  about the way things get done
• Culture contributes to certainty in through
  shared norms and values

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The Need for Power

• Power is distributed both formally and informally
  through processes of conflict that lead to a
  negotiated order.
• Many have an investment in maintaining existing
  norms to maintain power base.
• Mergers, reorganizations and new administrations
  are are opportunities for culture change.

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Transferring Climate and Culture to New Employees

• New employees are socialized into the culture and
  climate of their work group or they resign.
• Employee selection is important in maintaining
  existing cultures and climates.
• More experienced, competent hires may import new
  norms, values and perceptions.

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Conclusion

• Organizational climate and culture are important
  to social welfare administration because they
  provide the critical links between organizational
  characteristics and service outcomes.