Organisational Climate: Factors Affecting, Levels and Dimensions

Organisational climate is also referred as an environmental determinant of human behaviour. It is the atmosphere, feeling or sense experienced by employees on daily or general basis in their organisation. Culture gives rise to organisational climate.

Organisational climate comprises of overall impressions of the institutions that the members build with the processes, structures, policies and by interacting with each other. It refers to common views, members of an institution have about their institute and work atmosphere.

According to Schein, "A climate can be locally created by what leaders do, what circumstances apply and what environments afford. A culture can evolve only out of mutual experience and shared learning."

According to Moran, "Organisational climate is defined as the shared perceptions, feelings and attitudes that organisational members have about fundamental elements of the organisation, which reflects the established norms, values and attitudes of the organisation's culture and influences individuals behaviour positively or negatively."

Factors Affecting Organisational Climate:

There are six factors given by Stringer and Litwin

Organisational Culture: How individuals perceive organisations regulations, rules, constraints and red tapes.

Individual Responsibility: Whether the individual has a feeling of helpfulness and good fellowship in the work environment.

Support and Warmth: Whether the individual has a feeling of helpfulness and good fellowship in the work environment.

Risk and Risk Taking: What is the perception of the individual about the challenges and risks in his work situation.

Rewards: Whether the individual is confident about appropriate, fair and adequate rewards.

Conflict and Tolerance: This is the extent to which an employee is confident that the organisational climate will tolerate conflicting beliefs or opinions.

Levels of Organisational Climate:

Psychological Climate: It is an individual feature and comprises of individual's depiction of organisational policies and procedures.

Group Climate: It is a subsystem climate that defines how individuals perceive the atmosphere of a subsystem for a group within the organisation.

Organisational Climate: It is an organisational feature that represents the average view/perception of all individuals giving a collective description of the organisation.

Dimensions of Organisational Climate:

Dominant Orientation: If there are established rules then climate is controlling, if the aim is to achieve efficiency then it is characterised by accomplishment.

Conflict Management: If conflicts are handled efficiently then climate is cooperative, if they are not then the climate will be non-cooperative and distrust.

Individual Autonomy: If more freedom is given to employees then there is a lighter atmosphere as the burden shifts from superiors.

Control System in Organisation: If there is a  rigid control, there will be a bureaucratic/impersonal atmosphere if there is flexibility in control there will be a scope of self-regulation.

Organisational Structure: If there is decentralisation, then the environment will be of participative decision-making, while in centralisation it will be authoritative.

Relation Oriented and Task-Oriented: If bosses are relation oriented, then the climate will be supportive whereas if superiors and task-oriented then the employees may face punishment.