Organizational Climates and Administrative Performance

ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to answer three kinds of questions: What are the effects of organizational climates (1) on the factorial structure of measures of administrative performance, (2) on the correlations between measures of administrative performance and various predictors of such performance, (3) and on the means of various measures of administrative performance? Data were collected at a two‐day “Research Institute” at which 260 executives employed by the State of California served as subjects. Each served as Chief of the Field Services Division of a fictitious department of the state, using an elaborate situational test that simulated an administrative position by requiring the examinee to respond to items in his in‐basket as though he were actually on the Job. All subjects were presented with the same problems and all served under the same superiors and had the same subordinates. Only the organizational climates were varied. Some subjects, for example, were led to believe that the organization encouraged imaginative solutions to problems, while others were given the impression that the organization required close adherence to rules and regulations. Subjects also took a variety of ability tests and inventories and provided biographical information. The in‐basket protocols provide scores on a large number of performance categories, such as “makes plans only,” “takes leading action,” and “requires further information,” These scores are the dependent variables. The experimental variations in organizational climate were found to produce different factorial structures in the domain of the dependent variables, but the patterns of correlations between predictors and performance factors are in the main not significantly affected. The principal conclusion with respect to means is that productivity is influenced significantly by the interaction of the experimental climate conditions. A three‐mode factor analysis produced interpretable performance factors, item factors, and person factors. The person‐factor structure is markedly influenced by organizational climates, and correlations between person‐factor scores and measures of personal characteristics differ from one climate condition to another.