Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1984

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major Professor

John M. Larsen

Committee Members

Eric D. Sundstrom, R. Thomas Ladd, Gerald H. Whitlock

Abstract

The concept of climate in organizational settings has received widespread attention in recent years despite admonitions and concerns about the utility of such a construct. The purpose of this paper was to explore two of the most pressing climate issues: the role of climate as an intervening variable between organization structure and job satisfaction, and the level at which psychological climate scores could be aggregated to represent collective climates in organizations.

An initial set of analyses was directed towards the discovery and measurement of underlying dimensions of work climate. A principal components analysis of the climate perceptions of 912 employees of an insurance organization revealed 11 components of climate which cross-validated against an independent sample of 1,218 employees. These 11 empirically-derived climate components could be generalized with a high degree of association across widely diverse jobs, positions, and geographical areas.

A second set of analyses examined the interrelationships among organization structure, work climate. and job satisfaction. Canonical analyses indicated that organization structure was significantly related to job satisfaction (Canonical R-Squared=.28) and work climate (Canonical R-Squared=.42) and that climate was also highly associated with job satisfaction (Canonical R-Squared=.62). When the influence of climate was statistically removed from the structure-satisfaction relationship, a 16% decrease in prediction resulted, providing initial support for the premise that climate functions as an intervening variable between organization structure and job satisfaction.

Mixed findings from the final set of analyses argued against the aggregation of psychological climate scores to represent collective climates. Although reliable and significant mean score differences were exhibited between structurally-different employee groups, there was relatively little agreement among employees within these collectives regarding their perceptions of climate.

Several implications were drawn out on the basis of this study's results. These included conceptual implications regarding the underlying components of work climate, the role of collective climates in organizations, and the potential of climate as an important construct linking organizational and psychological theory and research. In addition, practical suggestions were made for improving management of the work environment, organizational intervention strategies, and employee communication processes.

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