Organizational Climate and

Culture
Psychological Climate –
Organizational Climates
• Are created by SHARED
psychological climates
• It is the employee’s
PERCEPTION of the work
environment and not the
environment that is important
 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
• Culture describes the social
context of the work environment

• Climate describes the

psychological impact of the
work environment
 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.
 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
How Does Climate Develop or
Change?
 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.
 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.
Impact of Organizational Design:
Structure, Technology &
Leadership
• Structure, core technology, and
leadership describer the patterns of
interaction between practitioners,
interaction of practitioners and
clients and administration’s style
of governance.
 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
 Core Technology Impacts
• Introduction of new computer
technology
• New service delivery methods
• New technologies may impact
the relationships among
workers
 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
 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
 How Are Climate & Culture
Maintained in an Organization?
 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
 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.
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.
 Conclusion
• Organizational climate and culture
are important to social welfare
administration because they
provide the critical links between
organizational characteristics and
service outcomes.