Effect of Organizational Climate on Employee Motivation and Organizational commitment in PakistanResearch based Thesis

8/16/2014Institute of Business Management

Submitted to: Sir Ashraf Janjua

Prepared by: Sameen Salman

ID: 9929

Subject: Seminar in Economic Policy

Page 0

Executive Summary

Organizations have become very different then what they were previously. The systems, processes have changed and an individual is well aware of his or her interests and demands. This creates a lot of challenges for the organization to continuously evolve their systems and keep their eyes peeled for upcoming changes and find out new ways to deal with these challenges.

Previously, organizational climate was just a concept whose application was limited but that’s not the case today and this concept has evolved a lot and its importance has increased immensely. Now this concept is in a position to impact other factors on the job which make up the organization.

This paper researches on the possibility of organizational climate to have impacts on motivation and commitment of employees working in any organization. Sufficient literatures regarding its concepts have been pondered over in this paper. Data has been collected specifically from those individuals who have minimum one year experience in any corporate field in management of a company. Further analysis is carried out using questionnaire which comprises of questions aimed at identifying the importance of climate and its effects on motivation and commitment level of employees.

The findings of the questionnaires are further analyzed by help of different theories. The analysis came to discover that there is direct relationship between these three factors. Meaning that organizational climate directly influences motivation and commitment of employees. Negative organizational climate will have negative impacts on these two and positive organizational climate will have positive effects.

There were some limitations in the study which were delayed responses of the targeted audience because target respondents were all working professionals and were busy In their work and the other limitation being short time. However, the study was completed within the time frame developed and was successful in studying the cause it set out to.

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ContentsExecutive Summary.....................................................................................................................................1

Introduction to the topic:............................................................................................................................3

Literature Review........................................................................................................................................4

Organizational Climate............................................................................................................................4

Motivation...............................................................................................................................................6

Motivation Theories:...............................................................................................................................7

Organizational Commitment.................................................................................................................10

Significance of the study:...........................................................................................................................11

Hypothesis:................................................................................................................................................12

Variables:...............................................................................................................................................12

Research Objectives..................................................................................................................................12

Research Questions...................................................................................................................................13

Research Design:.......................................................................................................................................13

Methodology:............................................................................................................................................13

Data Collection Method:.......................................................................................................................13

Sources of Data......................................................................................................................................13

Sample Size............................................................................................................................................13

Statistical Tool.......................................................................................................................................13

Research Findings......................................................................................................................................14

Analysis:.....................................................................................................................................................24

Conclusion and Recommendations:..........................................................................................................25

Limitations:................................................................................................................................................26

Appendix:..................................................................................................................................................27

Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................27

Questionnaire used:..................................................................................................................................29

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Introduction to the topic:

Organizations are more concerned about maintaining an effective organizational climate now because of fast growth and competition. It can be made a competitive advantage of the company.

There has been a lot of research on the topic of organizational climate and its impacts. The earliest researches can be tracked back to 1930s. Organizational climate is synonymous with corporate environment. It is the direction to measure the culture of an organization. It comprises of many components which shape up the environment both directly and indirectly influencing employee attitudes and behavior.

Researchers suggest that organizational culture is very closely related to organizational climate. Early researches such as Hawthorn studies were one of the pioneers in this topic. The main aim or objective of the research was to study the effect of environment or surroundings of employees and also to study the effect of different variables on their behaviors. Thus a concept of organizational climate came into being. (K.Selvarajan, 2014)

Organization Climate has a rich history and implementations in both industrial and organizational set ups. Kurt Lewin was one the first researcher who studies about this concept and presented an argument that behavior is a product of an individual and the environment surrounding him or her. Organizational climate studies took the stage in late 1970s and the focus was to integrate the climate research into a broader spectrum and also studies on related concepts of satisfaction and organizational structure.

Understanding the concept of climate became more important as the organizations grew and more awareness spread regarding this concept. Previously organization climate was seen as a set of objectives, structures, size, policies and organizational characteristics. Climate plays a great role in developing and enforcing positivity in the employee’s behaviors, motivation levels, commitment and loyalty etc. (Castro & Martins, 2010)

Organizational Climate is a set of important propositions in order to understand the employee behavior in a particular organization. As mentioned before, many researches have been conducted to study this phenomenon. Studies have been done to understand the role and importance of organizational climate in shaping up the employee behaviors, the negatives and the positives, the impacts and outcomes.

There are a lot of definitions for organizational climate, although a precise definition doesn’t exist but scholars have determined certain elements or characteristics which may define organizational climate:

It is common and identified between the organizational members It is formed by the impressions which the organization gives to its members regarding the

work, values, processes and information flows. These are then adapted and shaped by the employees through whom they communicate, develop policies, structures and processes.

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Climatic insights are depictions of environmental activities and circumstances rather than assessments of them.

It is a multi dimensional concept It affects the behavior of the employees

Organization climate can be defines as set of perceptions, feeling and attitude which organizational employees have about the significant factors of the company. These reflect the established norms, value and belief systems of the company’s climate and culture which in turn affects the employee’s behavior positively or negatively. (K.Selvarajan, 2014)

Literature Review

Organizational Climate

Organizational Climate is a mechanism for understanding the problems and challenges of organizations. It is described as a set of perceptions which individuals have about different work aspects in the organization. (Evans, 1996)

There is extensive research which provided the evidence of how essential is organizational climate for a company to function up to its potential. Researchers regularly said that organizational climate is a very important factor which directly impacts the organizational performance of the employees.(Fullan & Miles, 1992) (Fullan M. , 1991)

The Climate is defined as a model of perceptions about the firm, made by the group of employees who learn these things along the way of doing job for that company and solving problems. (Kouzes & Posner, 1987)

Organizational climate is a broad concept of different factors which make up an organization. The climate or the culture maybe considered as the value system of the company. It’s determined by values of the top management or leadership of the company. It sets up a system which trickles down to the different levels of management and takes its root in the company mindset. (Tierney) (Lenz, 1999) A work environment which illustrates that what each employee is valued and makes an important contribution to the organization by utilizing the talent to its potential. (Berry, 1999)

According to Band (1991) customer satisfaction also is a factor in organizational climate development. It can be termed as a successful method that every employee knows and understands. This then turns into the feeling of team work throughout the organization which helps to transfer it to the customers and provide a better service. (Band, 1991)

Organization determines the value system and image of the organization. It is made up of factors such as ethics, mission and goals of the organization, the hierarchy, policy, organizational behaviors and workplace dynamics.

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Peterson and White suggest that it is the deeply rooted guidelines of organizational behavior and the shared values and beliefs and ideologies that employees have about the company and the works. (Peterson & White, 1992)It’s an environment in which people work. It can be positive or negative or conductive and supportive or not supportive at all. This all depends on if this was all provided to the people to do their jobs. There are eight factors which shape up the workplace. Which are; amount andquality of job-related information, availability of tools and equipment, availability of materials and supplies, amount of budgetary support, amount of help available from other people, time available for doing the job, and physical features of the work environment. (Peters & O’Connor, 1980)According to Blanchard and Bowles organizational climate is in the organization and consists of two things; the value of employees and of customers. (K.Blanchard & Bowles, 1993)

Andrew Halpin and Don Croft (Halpin & Croft, 1963) constructed the climate description questionnaire through a research which was conducted in a school. The purpose of the research was to discuss organizational climate and the factors affecting it. As a result; they were able to discover 6 types of organizational climate:

1. Open Climate:It is the climate in which people generally worked well with each other. They had friendly relationship with one another and the heads of departments.

2. Autonomous Climate: where the employees have control over their objectives, the plan of action, self governance and initiative. Generally the morale of such people tends to be higher as they are independent in thinking thus problem solving becomes better.

3. Controlled Climate: in this environment, less independence is given to the individuals and more control is implied. The individuals are goal oriented and mainly concerned about accomplishment. The individuals are told what to do rather than using own instincts because of more control implemented by the top management. Feelings for others are not part of this type of climate.

4. Familiar Climate: In this, the climate is friendly and more social oriented i.e. social connectivity and needs of the people are mainly considered. Main concern isn’t the productivity of the people that’s why they do not work up to their full potential.

5. Paternal Climate: in this the employees are not motivated as the top management acts paternally thus the behavior was insincere as well.

6. Closed Climate: this is climate where there is neither concern for high achievement nor any social connectivity. As a result the employees did not work well together and the top management was ineffective in its decisions and managing the people.

The Organizational Climate Index

A way for measuring organizational climate was developed by a researcher. He considered two aspects in his work; both individual and groups in the work setting. He felt that there are some factors which affect the organizational climate and developed an index to measure those factors.

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The index is Organizational Climate Index which measured 6 aspects of climate, which are:

1. Intellectual Climate: where the people of the organization supported intellectual and academic interests.

2. Achievement Standards: it’s an indicator of how much the climate of the organization emphasize on high personal success.

3. Personal Dignity: an indicator to if the environment emphasized a sense of ethicality, openness, integrity, sincerity and support for individual needs.

4. Organizational Effectiveness: this indicator shows the extent of the environment enhanced by the skills and talents of the people to efficiently do their jobs.

5. Orderliness: which measures the conformity pressure to mold one’s self with defined code of conduct, personal appearance and organizational image?

6. Impulse control: it indicates the limitation and control of the organization over the employees and work climate.

Organizational climate can be measured by these factors of Organizational Climate Index. When analyzed these can give signs of how and what is the organizational climate of the company. (Gratto, 2001)

The Importance of Organizational Climate:The working conditions and climates are changing rapidly and are far different from what they were in the previous years. The reason for these rapid changes is because of the wide spread of awareness, the increasing challenges which companies face now such as; technological changes, changes in the structure and nature of companies, the challenges of employees’ demands and needs management. (K.Selvarajan, 2014)

MotivationMotivation is foundation of target oriented performance. Motivation is deeply rooted in the need of maximizing achievement and minimizing failure or as explained by Maslow; the basic need of social interactivity, physical needs, psychological need etc or it can be associated with less visible reasons such as selflessness, self centeredness or ethics.

“Motivation is that in and around us, what brings us to behave like we do and do not.” (Nick)

“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it” (Dwight D. Eisenhower) (Jelencic, 2010)

“Motivation is comprised of factors both internal and external which stimulate desire and passion in people to be interested and committed to their work in order to achieve the goals set. Motivation is a product of both conscious and unconscious factors such as desire, incentives, rewards, vale of goals, expectations etc. These factors then lead the person in behaving in a certain way.” (Dictionary)

Types of Motivation:

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There are two main types of motivation:

Intrinsic Motivation:

Intrinsic motivation emerges from within the person. It leads to a particular behavior because the person sees it as aligned to his or her value system and belief system which then fulfills a desire which hold specific importance. Deep seeded needs have the maximum motivational power. Examples may be; of Acceptance by the society of who we are, to be Honored, Independence and autonomy, Power and authority to perform, Social interactivity, and good Social Status, recognition etc

Extrinsic Motivation:

This kind of motivation deals which the motivation which is generated by external desires fulfillment. Some examples may be: of Salary and benefits package, monetary rewards, bonuses etc. (Central)

Motivation Theories:

Theory X and Theory Y:

According to this theory (McGregor, 2006) there are two types of managers or people. Theory X sees an individual as a lazy person and procrastinator who must be pushed and forced to their tasks. They must be monitored and controlled, threatened with bad consequences if they do not perform their duties and achieve the goals set. According to McGregor, this is an average human being who takes direction, avoids authority, and lacks ambition to perform.Whereas on the other hand, there are people who come In Theory Y. these individuals do not procrastinate neither are they pushed to perform but they do it by will and find satisfaction in it.They do not see threat of punishment as a motivator for doing their jobs but they are self directed and set their own goals and paths. As they set their own goals, they are automatically committed to them and as a result they perform up to the standard required. The goal achievement is reinforced by incentives associated with goal achievement.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

In this theory (Maslow, 1987) Maslow has developed framework about human behavior and the composition of needs which man wants. A need which is satisfied cannot be a source of motivation but only those needs which are unsatisfied are a source of motivation.Our needs are of different sorts thus a hierarchy comes into existence. There is a lower level, the next level and then the higher level. Our needs travel through them i.e. as the lower needs are met; they progress to next levels and reach the highest level and demand to be satisfied. Maslow believed that there are five levels of needs which carry specific needs to be satisfied, which are:

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(Fenwick)

Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation:

In this theory of motivation, the findings were that certain events lead to satisfaction and they are not surprising and were very different from those which cause dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, there are two types of factors, in one, if some of them are absent then it may cause dissatisfaction and these factors are related to job context. They exist in external environment of the job and are called Hygiene factors.The other type of factors is called motivators, these if are present in the context will motivate individuals. (Herzberg, 1959)

(Training, 2013)

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Social Need

McClelland’s Theory:

It was developed by David McClelland, who defined different types of needs which are motivating needs in individuals. Every need is present in individuals but there weights vary. The three needs are (McClelland, 1987):

(WikiSpaces, Expectancy Theory, 2014)

Vroom’s Expectancy TheoryExpectancy theory explains behaviors of individuals are shaped by their expectations of the result that their behavior will yield. Thus, behavior is directly related to the desirability of the reward. Individuals may behave in certain way with regard to the expectations regarding the reward and how it satisfies them and motivates them to achieve the goal. Motivation is a product of effort put in by the individual, the effort required for best performance to get the reward. These are relationships which determine the power of motivation. The strength of the person’s preference for a reward will dictate the amount of effort he or she puts in for achieving the goal. (Koontz & Weihrich, 2009)

(WikiSpaces, Need Theories, 2014)

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Adam’s Equity Theory:

It’s concerned with equalities and inequalities which employees perceive in their jobs. When an individual feel a sense of inequality then they will make an effort to put it into balance by reducing their input into the work as they perceive inequality in the output they are receiving.

Employees who feel positive inequality i.e. for e.g. being over paid then they increases their input to balance the situation but those who are underpaid will do the opposite. These feelings of inequality are driven by the individual perceptions. (Biswajeet, 2005)

Organizational Commitment

Organizational Climate influences the person’s decision to continue the job or not. Organizational commitment is the power of an employee’s involvement in the organization and if the employee identifies himself with the organization. It is seen, that those employees who have been with the company for a long time tend to have a stronger commitment with the organization than of those who have served the company on a shorter scale. The characteristics of organizational commitment are:

A strong hold of and acceptance of the organization’s objectives and principles A motivation to put forth good amount of effort on behalf of the company An aspiration to stay with the organization

Highly committed members of the organization can be seen as dedicated employees. They have a sense of belongingness to the organization; they identify themselves with the organization and give personal references whenever they talk about the company. These people are generally satisfied with the work and the company. However those employees who do not see a commitment with the organization will be dissatisfied with their jobs.

Organizational commitment is not only restricted to loyalty to the organization but also extends to achievement of goals and organizational processes. Organizational commitment is an attitude which is work oriented.

Organizational commitment is more stable than satisfaction because it is less volatile, and isn’t affected by day to day activities. The commitment to the organization depends upon the person’s own characteristics such as personality, values etc. it affects the job experience of many individuals it can lead to satisfaction. (Hellreigel & Slocum, 2009)

Researchers have suggested that understanding a concept of organizational commitment has propositions for the members of the organization and the organization itself. It also benefits the

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society as it receives benefits from increasing employees’ organizational commitment as if they are committed then they want change jobs quickly and thus the productive would increase on a whole basis.

Researchers have defines organizational commitment in many ways. Buchanan (1974) defines commitment with help of 3 factors:

Identification with the organization’s values and objectives Engagement or involvement Loyalty

Scholars say that a committed individual will show these characteristics:

Acceptance and support of goals and values Organizational involvement in decision making and other matters A motivation to stay with the company and serve it A desire to go beyond the efforts required for goal achievement of the organization

There are three elements which are important for organizational commitment:

A strong acceptance of organizational values, beliefs, standard and procedures Desire and willingly able to perform beyond requirement of the goal achievement Strongly wanting to stay with the organization. (Cortez, 2008)

Significance of the study:

There always has been a great interest in finding out the impacts of organizational climate on the success of an organization and on behaviors of the employees working there. It is important mainly because of the relationship of organizational phenomena such as job satisfaction. Job performance, leadership, quality of work life balance, group dynamics etc. Recent work done on job satisfaction highlights organizational climate as a key factor for increasing or decreasing satisfaction. The main point being that if the organization environment is good, conductive and supportive then it will much more desirable for the members to work in it and results in satisfaction among the employees.

The objective of this study is to explore the effects of both positive/supportive and negative/strict organizational climate on employee motivation and organizational commitment to conclude if employee perception of the organizational climate influences the level of motivation and commitment.

Organizations are facing more challenges than ever before. These challenges are not limited to certain organizations or industries, but influence all organizations. Organizational climate specifically is continuously challenged by changes impacting organizations today. The

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motivation for this research is particularly to check of how the organizations foster a supportive organizational climate and how much importance does it carries in perspective of the employees.

Hypothesis:Organizational Climate and its relationship to various concepts require research and to tap into the professional individuals mind set to see whether they see the relationship as positive or negative. As already observed in the literature review considerable work has been done in this field but continuous researches are needed to keep a check on the rapidly changing work environment in the organizations. The following hypotheses have been constructed to conduct the research paper. The hypotheses are alternative hypotheses and on basis of research tools they will be analyzed further for the relationship being direct or not.

H1A: There is a direct relationship between Organizational Climate and level of motivation of employees

H2A: There is a direct relationship between Organizational Climate and Organization Commitment of employees.

Variables:The independent variable is; Organizational Climate and dependant variables are; Level of Employee Motivation and Organization Commitment as displayed by employees.

Research ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to:

To discover the relationship between organizational climate and employee motivation and organizational commitment, whether it is positive or negative.

To determine if employees’ perceptions of the organizational climate influence their level of motivation and commitment.

To help me understand the dimensions of organizational climate and its impact on a better organizational commitment and employee motivation.

To make this research available so that it can benefit all those who seek to maintain a healthy organizational climate which supports the employees in decision making, maintaining work life balance, building social relationships and professional relationships, fostering employee engagement etc.

Research QuestionsThe research questions which led me to take this topic up were:

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What is the nature of relationship between these three variables of organizational commitment, employee motivation and organizational commitment?

Does this relationship effects performance and satisfaction of the employees in the long run?

What are the main perceptions of the professionals regarding importance and application of conductive supportive organizational climate?

What elements do they deem necessary for constructing a well suited organizational culture and what elements they want more work to be done by the management?

Research Design:

Methodology:

Data Collection Method:As mentioned previously, Primary research was conducted with help of questionnaire developed for this research paper along with short interviews with the business professionals who were asked to fill in the information. (Questionnaire used is attached in the Appendix section)

Sources of DataThe source of Primary data are; Questionnaires and Interviews. Sources for secondary research includes international journals, magazines and well acclaimed theories and researches published. Such as, Society for Human Resources Management, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), The Motivation To Work by Herzberg,Personnel Today (online magazine) etc

Sample SizeThe sample was chosen from those professionals who had working experience of at least 1 year. The sample size chosen by random sampling and was constructed at 50 professionals who are currently employed and carrying the experience mentioned previously.

The target respondents will be particularly those working and employed at middle management level and top management. The organizations would be multinational organizations working in Pakistan specifically Karachi.

Statistical ToolStatistical Analysis has been done by using Microsoft Excel worksheets for construction of graphs, data bar charts, percentages based on frequency of data.

Research FindingsThe following data has been generated with help of Excel and from the data gathered from respondents through questionnaires.

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1

1. What is your perception of a good/healthy/conduc-tive organizational climate?

Good Internal communicationSupportive Organizational culture Availability of Professional de-velopment opportunities Performance based EvaluationPerformance based PromotionTop Management’s Regard for Employee’s growth

Explanation:

The question asked from the respondents was to judge their perception of what elements are to be included in a good organizational climate to make it more conductive and supportive of the organizational member. For this purpose certain elements were given in options as can be seen above along with another option given to respondents to add in their own views about any other element they deem important in an organizational climate. It is quite visible that the respondents termed Performance based Promotion to be the most important element for a good organizational climate where as, availability of opportunities and a supportive climate are termed as important as well. It can be easily seen that top management’s regard for employee’s growth is rather at a lower importance than others which is rather surprising as if the employees are deeming opportunities for growth an optimum element then why is the top management not seen as an important tool in this development? Probably because the employees see their growth ladder to be self made and less intrusion from the top management which is a sign for top management to start involving the employees and make them see that they are concerned about their growth. Another point highlighted by the respondents was the presence of Respect for every individual to be present in every good climate of any organization.

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0

1

2

3

4

5

2. Which of these is the cause of motivation and commitment to the organization in an employee such

as you?

Participation in Decision-MakingAutonomy to take InitiativesGood Quality Relationship with Col-leagues, peers, subordinates and supervisorSupportive Organizational climateEquitable Salary and Benefits

Explanation:

The second question was related to identify the major causes of motivation and commitment. The participants were asked to rank the mentioned elements in order of preference on a scale of 5 (1: Most important cause 5: Least important cause). The elements selected were specifically to identify their relationship with organizational climate. Although respondents gave very diverse rankings but the average score lied in almost the same rank of importance and no element took the top most priority. It can be observed from the graph about that almost all elements seemed to be ranked in top places thus indicating that these all are relevant motivators and important elements in maintaining organizational commitment. The top element was supportive organizational climate, others were separate just by difference of decimals and were; participation in decision making and autonomy to take decisions. These both are interlinked because both include employee engagement in decision making. Other element which made it to being highly ranked was Good quality relationship with colleagues, peers, subordinates and supervisors. This indicates that employees favor good interpersonal relationships and is a source of motivation and commitment. This can only be possible with the help of good organizational climate, as if a climate which is doesn’t foster good communication and open door policy then interpersonal relationships cannot be established. Lastly, equitable salary and benefits falls at a rather neutral spot, ranked third in the overall ranking. This ranking proposed that all these elements are important in creating motivation and commitment in the employees

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10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

3. What is the significance of these elements in a good organizational climate?

Job satisfaction

Performance management

Working Climate

Trust between coworkers

Leadership

Equitable Rewards and remu-neration

Teamwork/ cohesiveness

Training and development

Communication

Image of the company

Organizational support

Organizational policies and HR development policies

Explanation:

The third question asked was another ranking question specifically targeted at finding out the significance of the mentioned elements on a scale of 1-12 where, 1: Highest significance and 12: lowest significance. The top rated element is job satisfaction later performance management and Work environment. Seeing that working climate in the top three most significant elements highlights its importance in effective organizational building and management. The neutral elements included image of the company, organizational support, training and development. Approaching 8 on the scale which is going towards elements carrying lowest significance can be seen easily as organizational policies and HR development policies, which is then again contradictory of the responses as these are the organizational policies which shape up the climate of any organization. However, the major emphasis lies on the employee participation in developing and fostering the climate of any organization so this ranking can be justified in that perspective.

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4. Which of the mentioned elements are present in your organizational climate?

Trust between coworkers

Job satisfaction

Communication

Performance management

Teamwork/ cohesiveness

Image of the company

Training and development

Leadership

Organizational support

Equitable Rewards and re-muneration

Work environment

Organizational policies and HR development policies

Explanation:

The next question inquires the respondents to give an insight about the elements present in the climate of their organizations respectively. The top element which is visible in the graph is working environment and coming behind it is image of the company. Keeping in mind that in the previous question, the respondents ranked image of the company to be a rather neutral element in their organizational climate meaning that it doesn’t carry much significance but they are well aware that it is present in their organizations. Another element which can be seen as highly present is team work and cohesion which is an element of supportive organizational climate as a good and conductive climate fosters team work. The element which has a lesser presence according to the respondents is; effective performance management, which is again an issue for top management to consider. Seeing that trust and job satisfaction are present in almost all companies, lets revert back to last question in which respondents ranked job satisfaction as the top significant factor in good organizational climate. This is something for the policy and structure makers of an organization to keep in mind while maintaining the climate of organization.

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93%

4%4%

5. Are you satisfied with the working environment/ organizational climate established in your organiza-

tion?

YesNoIt doesn't matter

Explanation:

This question was directed towards finding out whether the respondents were satisfied with their job and other work related elements. As it can be seen in the graphical representation, 92% of the respondents were satisfied with their jobs however 3% of them were not satisfied and 4% believed it did not matter. Come to think of the motivation theories mentioned earlier, with reference to Two Factor Theory, whereby there are motivators and hygiene factors and opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. It can be deduced that the 3% who perceived not to be satisfied with their jobs because some of the elements missing from motivator factors in the organizational climate thus having an effect on their motivation and commitment.

Looking closely at the data provided by these particular 3% respondents, I was able to identify the elements they thought were missing in their organization’s climate which reflected on both their motivation and commitment. The elements identifiably missing were common in these 3% personnel. These included; job satisfaction, leadership, organizational support and communication to be absent in the climate. Referring to the two factor theory again, these factors are hygiene factors, which are to be ensured by the management to ensure that an employee does not become dissatisfied. They do not lead to higher levels of motivation but without them there is dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction however is a motivator and its absence can hurt the employee’s sense of commitment to the organization and overall his or her motivation to work harder and progress.

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The rest of 4% believe it doesn’t matter to have a supportive organizational climate or not probably because they perceive organizational climate supportiveness as a hygiene factor rather than a motivator and believe that without it they can succeed or move up the ladder in their career.

77%

23%

6. According to your perspective, does a good conductive or-ganizational climate boost an employee’s commitment to the

organization and motivation level?

Yes definitelyNo, it’s not necessaryDepends upon the individual

Explanation:

The next question was aimed at knowing the perceptions of the regarding the actual topic of research which is to judge the relationship between the organizational climate and motivation and commitment. The data gathered suggests that 77% of the respondents see direct link between the three variables mentioned above. Whereas 23% believe it varies according to each person. Different people have different personality and a way of seeing things in life. For example, an area where sales are hard to gain and require hard work but carry a lot of potential maybe seen as a challenge, a source of motivation for one sales representative but for the other it can be seen as a dreadful job and maybe a source of demonization. It was fascinating to see that no one perceives that organizational climate doesn’t boost employee motivation and commitment, which then again tells that they perceive organizational climate to be an important factor in motivation and commitment. In the next question I’ve also inquired about the possible reasons for the responses which will shed some more light on this perception.

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7. if yes, mention a few points supporting your answer. If no, mention a few points supporting your answer.

According to majority of respondents who marked yes on the previous option, gave very detailed look into their perspective. According to the respondents, Organizational climate carries great significance because it includes very important elements which are necessary for every successful and progressive organization these include management or leadership styles, participation in decision making, provision of challenging jobs to employees, reduction of boredom and frustration, provision of benefits, personnel policies, and provision of good working conditions of the employees. In a good organizational climate People would like to come to the place every day committed and with high energy level less absenteeism increased

productivity. It definitely has an important role to play because in such environment individual’s

personal and professional skills enhance.

Good Organizational Climate is a key enabler where one can speak out his mind and make an effort to bring in positive change with the consideration that the change for the sake of improvement would be embraced by colleagues, top management and colleagues.

A conductive organizational climate will definitely be a potential factor for an employee by

which the employee will perform for the betterment of the company and foremost his company. If the working environment is satisfactory, training and development is there and the supervisors are supportive and motivating and encouraging you ten naturally employee's commitment to

organization will increase.

Continuous appreciation and organizations support definitely boost the motivation level as we know monetary remunerations are not the only factor of motivations there are other intangible gains that help an employee to stay loyal to its organization and keep doing better.

Organizational climate is important because without the back organizational support employee can never feel comfortable to work then it is very difficult for an individual to be fully

committed with the organization hence low motivation and poor performance.

According to the respondents, level of employee motivation is directly proportional to his or her commitment to the organization, therefore. It is not wrong to say that there is a positive co-relation exists among all these three elements are. If the climate of the organization is not good, it will de-motivate the employee no matter how good he/she is. It will impact his/her performance in an adverse manner.

Although salary and benefits matter, but to work effectively, environment, support, team, etc. are major factors for smooth and satisfactory performance.

Its importance is mainly because if the organization’s climate isn’t supportive of employee’s actions then he or she would not be creative and will not come up with new ideas to manage any

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problem or propose changes in systems. If an organization provides a healthy working climate and maintains it with ample autonomy and communication flow then employee’s motivation

level will increase and he'll be more committed to his work and organization.

However one of the respondents who were in the 25% suggested that an individual determines his or her own career path irrespective of the acceptability work environment offers.

85%

15%

8. How important is organizational climate in improving or re-ducing the employee’s motivation to come to work every day?

It’s very important; as if the climate isn’t open, innovative and conductive no one will be pushed to perform to their full potential.

It’s partly important; as if the em-ployee is working hard then climate would not be an obstacle in his or her motivation.

It’s not important, as salary benefits package is good then non conductive climate can be ignored

Explanation:

This question is targeted towards finding out the significance of organizational climate in employees’ perspective. As it was already pondered upon in the previous question very deeply by the respondents, it will not be covered in much detail over here.

Here the respondents were given detailed options to fully suit their answers and 85% of the respondents termed it as very important and believed that potential can be fully utilized even it is backed by proper climate, which corresponds to the responses gathered earlier of the respondents.

A rather smaller percentage opted for the option which signifies that it’s important but not that much that it influences work a lot but it depends upon the employee and his self drive to excel.

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One of the respondents explained the reason behind choosing this option as; although organizational climate is important but idealistic type of organization are very rare so people tend to comply with existing one and each for idealistic organization so this doesn’t reduce motivation to work every day.

None of the respondents opted for the last option which terms organizational climate to be of no importance. This establishes that it does carry some weight and just cannot be ignored even if monetary benefits are being provided in abundance.

100%

9. If you work at a place where you receive ample praise for your work and supportive organizational climate for your ini-

tiatives, would that effect your motivation to work harder and commitment to the organization?

Yes it would No it will not It will not have any impact at all

Explanation:

This is a situational question, which was asked to the respondents. It is human psychology to respond better to positive reinforcement and that is the sole reason as to why all the respondents marked in the favor of only one option that supportive organizational climate, communication, appreciation would help motivate them and also would promote organization citizenship behavior amongst them.

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63%

2%

4%

31%

10. In a situation, where you are being provided great salary package and work according to your preference but the cli-

mate is neither conductive nor supportive of your actions and initiatives. How would that impact your motivation and

commitment?

NegetivelyPositivelyWill not have any impactMy motivation and commitment would decline to an extent of quit-ting

Explanation:

Another situational type of question was asked to the respondents. A big chunk of the respondents 63% believed that it would have a negative impact on the motivation and commitment. The second highest preference was given to another option which may explain the extreme conditions in which employees are so de-motivated by the climate of the organization and its impacts that quitting seems like an easy option.

This immensely illustrates the importance of organizational climate and its effects on motivation and commitment of any employee. Even though salary and benefits are being provided and work is being provided as well but just because the climate isn’t nurturing and supportive, it’s having bad impacts on the employees’ drive to stay with the company.

Apart from that, 4% of the respondents believed that it will not have any impact. These respondents are specifically the ones who responded earlier in response of question 8 that supportive climate is partly important for over all motivation and commitment.

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Analysis:

The analysis or the results that were discovered by the administration of this research found a direct relationship between organizational climate and motivation and at the same point found direct relationship between organizational climate and organizational commitment. Thus it would be relevant to say that both hypotheses mentioned previously were proved to be correct. Organizational climate does impact both motivation and commitment. However the degree to which the positivity is present in the relationship between these variables can be argued.

Through the analysis and studies, it can be said that a strong positive/ direct relationship is present between climate and motivation. If the climate is positive, conductive and nurturing then it will have a positive impact on motivation level of the employees and negative climate bearing elements will have a deteriorating effect on both motivation and commitment. Commitment is more oriented to towards the number of years that a particular employee has been with the company. Apart from that it can be seen from the responses of the individuals that they do see a positive relationship between commitment and climate.

In the short interviews I was able to ask some of the respondents about what enhances the organizational commitment in employees? The elements highlighted by them included loyalty due to long tenure, job satisfaction, working climate, top management support and ample opportunities to grow. Although it is emphasized that commitment comes with longer tenure however with the data acquired I observed that those who just had one to two years of experience were able to comment that they are committed to their respective organizations because they are satisfied with the elements which make up the climate and over all provide a satisfied and good professional environment.

These results are consistent with the previous work done on these topics and determining their relationships. Research suggests that there are certain climate elements which may impact the employee’s motivation and in longer run may impact commitment. According to one research (James, A, M.W, & A.P, 1977) there is a relationship between psychological climate and components of motivation model. The research concluded that psychological climate was significantly related to various aspects of motivation.

As highlighted previously in the report, one of the research questions was to see if this relationship effects performance and satisfaction of the employees in the long run. It is evident that motivation impacts performance and causes it to escalate and results in better performance and that performance when supported by the organizational climate would then effect the perception that the employee carries for his or her organization and in the long run affects organizational commitment.

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Conclusion and Recommendations:

The findings from this study suggest that if the climate is open, supportive and is concerned about the welfare of the employees coupled with a good structure, performance management will definitely have a positive and direct impact on the motivation and commitment of the employees.

A supportive organizational climate can facilitate the company to boost its productivity and also motivate the employees and foster commitment amongst the employees. It’s the management’s task to make all arrangement to maintain positivity of the environment to foster job satisfaction and create a sense of belongingness. There are many ways in which this can be made sure by the management. Some actions which may help the management to create such conductive environment:

Organizational vision and mission

Clarity of goals and objectives

Input from employees in decision making and important changes

Autonomy and initiative

Personal growth and top management support

These all factors well help the organization to maintain a positive working environment and increase the motivational level of the employees and the sense of belongingness.

Establishment of trust and open door policy will help the employees to open up, take initiatives as they’ll know that the top management will be supportive of the right actions. Management should make sure by communication and frequent feedback throughout the organization; this would help in motivating the employees and keeping the morale high. Another benefit would be that employees will be able to communicate problems and solve them with a combine effort. This will not only help the smooth operations of the company but also will help the employees in personal development and will help them in identifying their strengths and weaknesses and improve the performance.

Establishing an open door policy is one of the main tools for positive organizational climate. This facilitates communication and interpersonal relationship building between the employees. Communication and freedom of expression can be encouraged. This can give birth to more creativity, better problem solving, new ideas etc.

Personal development Plans should be constructed, so that the employees may see a clear career ladder to their personal success. This will not only help the employees but also for the company to identify high potential employees for promotions and succession planning.

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Limitations:

• There was some discrepancy and inconsistency in responses as even those respondents who marked organizational climate to be a secondary factor in motivation and commitment also chose the options which signified that it is an integral part later in the questionnaire. For e.g. a respondent who gave an opinion about climate being partly important also said that if he or she receives a positive climate to work in, it will have a positive impact on the levels of motivation and commitment.

• Another limitation can be that organizational climate is unique to every organization and the respondents in this sample interpreted the items differently rather than generally.

• The limited time was a pressurizing factor and probably a limitation for the research.

• As the target audience required for the study needed to be professionals who are working in an organization, it was very difficult to gather data from them as most of them delayed because of their busy schedules.

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Appendix:

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Questionnaire used: Effects of Organizational Climate on Employee Motivation and Organizational commitment in Pakistan

Note: Please fill in all the fields as required. All the information will be used for educational purposes only.

Name (optional): Gender:Company: Position in the Company (optional):Total Professional Experience (in years):

1. What is your perception of a good/healthy/conductive organizational climate? (Mark the desired answers, you may choose multiple answers)

□ Good Internal communication□ Supportive Organizational culture□ Availability of Professional development opportunities□ Performance based Evaluation□ Performance based Promotion□ Top Management’s Regard for Employee’s growth □ Other (please specify)

_____________________________________________________2. Which of these is the cause of motivation and commitment to the organization in an employee such as you? Rank the following in order of preference (1: Most important cause 5: Least important cause)

Participation in Decision-MakingAutonomy to take InitiativesGood Quality Relationship with Colleagues, peers, subordinates and supervisorEquitable Salary and BenefitsSupportive Organizational climate

3. What is the significance of these elements in a good organizational climate? Rank the following in order of preference on the scale of 1-10 (1: Highest significance 12: lowest significance)

Trust between coworkersJob satisfactionCommunication Performance managementTeamwork/ cohesivenessImage of the company

Training and developmentLeadershipOrganizational supportEquitable Rewards and remunerationWork environmentOrganizational policies and HR development policies

4. Which of the below mentioned elements are present in your organizational climate? (Mark the options which are present)

TrustJob satisfactionCommunication Performance managementTeamwork/ cohesivenessImage of the company

Training and developmentLeadershipOrganizational supportRewards and remunerationWork environmentOrganizational policies and HR development policies

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Others (please specify):

5. Are you satisfied with the working environment/ organizational climate established in your organization?

• Yes• No• It doesn’t matter

6. According to your perspective, does a good conductive organizational climate boost an employee’s commitment to the organization and motivation level?

• Yes definitely• No, it’s not necessary• Depends upon the individual

7. If yes, mention a few points supporting your answer. If no, mention a few points supporting your answer.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. How important is organizational climate in improving or reducing the employee’s motivation to come to work every day?

• It’s very important; as if the climate isn’t open, innovative and conductive no one will be pushed to perform to their full potential.

• It’s partly important; as if the employee is working hard then climate would not be an obstacle in his or her motivation.

• It’s not important, as salary benefits package is good then non conductive climate can be ignored

• Other:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. If you work at a place where you receive ample praise for your work and supportive organizational climate for your initiatives, would that effect your motivation to work harder and commitment to the organization?

• Yes it would• No it will not• It will not have any impact at all

10. In a situation, where you are being provided great salary package and work according to your preference but the climate is neither conductive nor supportive of your actions and initiatives. How would that impact your motivation and commitment?

• Negatively• Positively• Will not have any impact• My motivation and commitment would decline to an extent of quitting

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Additional Statistics:

59%

41%

Percentage of Male and Female Participation

Male Female

78%

4%

15%

4%

Participants' Experience

1-5 years

6-11 years

12-20 years

21 years+

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