A STUDY OF ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE IN INDUSTRIES
by
U.A. KUNHUMOIDEEN
Centre for Management Studies
Thesis submitted
in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
to the
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI
March 1992
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis entitled 'A Study of Organisational Climate in Industries"
being submitted by Mr. U.A. Kunhumoideen to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, is a record of bonafide research work carried out by him.
Mr. U.A. Kunhumoideen has worked under my supervision and guidance and has fulfilled the requirements for the submission of this thesis, which to my knowledge, has reached the requisite standard.
The results contained in this thesis have not been submitted in part or in full, to any other university or institute for the award of any degree ir).Y diploma.
'•••• f Lge•■.,*
Dr. Sabitha Karunes
Supervisor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am extremely grateful to Dr. (Mrs.) Sabitha Karunes for her valuable guidance and help in each stage of my work from the beginning till the completion of the thesis. I would like to express my gratitude to the Head of the Department and all the members of the staff of the Centre for Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and specially to Dr.
Sushil, Dr. P.K Jain and Mr. Harish Choudhury for their kind help extended to me during the course of my work. I an highly obliged to Prof T.K Datta for the timely help rendered by him for clearing certain doubts arose during the course of the study. I am very much indebted to the Managements of the industries who gave consent to conduct surveys and to all the respondents who participated in the survey and helped me to make this study a success.
Let me express my sincere gratitude to all my friends who helped me at various stages for the successful completion of my work. Finally, I thank M/s Penta Software House for the neat typing of the thesis.
KUNHUMOIDEEN)
ABSTRACT .
This thesis consists of seven chapters. In the first chapter, the term 'Organisational Climate' is introduced and its various definitions reproduced. The terms Organisational Climate, Quality of Work Life and Organisational Culture are differentiated. The need for the present study is projected and its objectives are stated.
In the second chapter, a review of literature on Organisational Climate is reported. A brief outline of the ongoing debates on the issues of dimensions of Organisational Climate, the unit of analysis, and, the difference between Organisational Climate and Job Satisfaction are given. The current state of research and limitations of the existing approach are also discussed.
The third chapter comprises of two parts. Part A deals with the description of a theoretical 'H.R.M model' to create a healthy Organisational Climate. Part B is concerned with the development of hypotheses. Altogether six hypotheses were developed for this study. The deveopment of a questionnaire (Index) for measuring Organisational Climate is dealt with in chapter four. This Index was developed by item analysis and consists of fifty seven items under nine dimensions. The fifth chapter gives an account of the reliability and validity studies of the questionnaire used for the field survey. This survey was conducted in industries in the state of Kerala giving equal representation for private and public sectors,and,for large and medium scale industries.
In the sixth chapter, measurement of Organisational Climate in industries in the state of Kerala and the details of the various programmes for improving the Organisational Climate are presented. The Correlational Studies of the developed Organisational Climate dimensions with the Background personal variables like age, education, experience etc. and with the Organisational structural variables like size, span of control etc. are reported. The critical determinants of Organisational variables namely Reward, Support, and, Identity, and, Job attitudinal variables viz. Overall Job satisfaction,and,Job Involvement were found out through multivariate analysis using multiple regression technique. A comparative study of Organisational Climate with the available Organisational
performance indicators namely percentage increase from previous year in employee turn over, in production, and, in loss of man-hour due to strike are also reported in this chapter.
Chapter seven provides summary of major findings and its implications. The limitations of the study are outlined and specific suggestions are made regarding scope for future extensions of this research work. The thesis is supported by an extensive bibliography followed by appendices and a list of
publications.
(V)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Definitions of Organisational Climate 2 Q.W.L, Climate . and Culture 5
Need for the Present Study 7
Objectives 10
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
12Aetiology of Climate 12
Different Approaches to Climate Studies 14 The Unit of Theory and Analysis 16 Aggregation of Climate Perceptions 18
Various Types of Climate 20
Dimensions of Organisational Climate 21 Organisational Climate and Job Satisfaction 28 The Current State of Research 30 Limitations of the Existing Approach 32
CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL MODEL AND
DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES 34
A— THEORETICAL MODEL 34
Relevance of aH.R.M
Model 34Integrated H.R.M Model 36
Page
B— DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES 55
Personal Background Variables and Climate 55 Organisational Structural Variables and Climate 56 Organisational Climate and Performance Indicators 57 Reward, Support, Identity and Organisational Climate 57 Organisational Climate and Job Satisfaction 58 Organisational Climate and Job Involvement 59
CHAPTER IV: DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDEX 60
Preliminary Questionnaire 60
Expert Opinion 61
Revised Questionnaire 67
Index Development 71
CHAPTER V: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY STUDIES 80
Aggregation of Data 81
Reliability Studies 97
Validity of the Climate Index 104
CHAPTER VI: MEASUREMENT OF ORGANISATIONAL
CLIMATE AND SOME RELATIONSHIP STUDIES 116
Measuring Organisational Climate 117
Testing of Hypotheses 131
Some Predictions 139
Page CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSION 158
Summary of Major Findings 159 Limitations of the Study 162 Scope for Future Research 164
Implications 165
BIBLIOGRAPHY 167
APPENDICES (A-E) 188
