الفهرس 
The Concept of Organizational Climate
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Abstract
Organizational climate is defined as a set of measurable properties of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by the people who live and work in this environment and assumed to influence their motivation and behavior. Job satisfaction is the degree to which employees have a positive affective orientation toward employment by the organization. Several dimensions of the job satisfaction have been identified: pay, promotion, supervisors, co-workers, work itself. Turnover is commonly defined as the percentage of employees that have quit within a given time period, usually one year. Stress is defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the workers.
Aim of the study:
1. To measure level of organizational climate in the study hospital
2. To compare perception of organizational climate by physicians and nurses
3. To identify relationship between organizational climate and some employee outcomes
Target population and study sample:
The study was conducted at one governmental hospital in Benghazi, Libya. The target population consisted of all nurses and physicians in the selected hospital who had been employed for at least 6 months. The total number of nurses and physicians in the selected hospital was 448; the total number of respondents reached 311 nurses and physicians, rendering a response rate 69.4%.
Methods:
Data collection was carried out by a self-administered questionnaire to collect the following data:
- Socio-demographic characteristics of the study sample.
- Measure the level of organizational climate by the Organizational Climate Measure. It consists of 17 scales, which divide organizational climate into the following four dimensions: human relations (includes subscales of autonomy, integration, involvement, supervisory support, training, and welfare), internal process (includes subscales of formalization and tradition), open systems (includes subscales of innovation & flexibility, outward focus, and reflexivity) and rational goal (includes subscales clarity of organizational goals, efficiency, effort, performance feedback, pressure to produce, and quality).
- Measure of employee outcomes: overall job satisfaction, intention to stay and stress.
The study revealed the following findings:
A. Level of organizational climate in the study hospital
1. The internal process had the highest mean score, (2.84 out of the maximum score of 4), followed by rational goal (2.41), then human relations (2.25), while open system had the lowest mean score (2.21), the corresponding percent score being 61.3%, 47%, 41.6%, and 40.3%, respectively.
2. The highest mean scores for subscales were accorded to tradition, effort, and pressure to produce (3.05, 2.90, and 2.82, corresponding to 68.3%, 63. 3%, and 60.6%, respectively). The lowest mean scores were accorded to efficiency, innovation & flexibility, and autonomy (1.74, 1.95, and 2.0, corresponding to 15.6%, 31.6%, and 33.3%, respectively).
B. Perception of organizational climate by physicians and nurses
1. The study revealed no statistically significant difference between the perception of physicians and nurses for all the four dimensions of organizational climate.
2. The study revealed statistically significant difference between the perception of physicians and nurses for seven subscales. The mean score was significantly higher for physicians for four subscales, namely integration (2.72 for physicians versus 2.60 for nurses, p= 0.001), supervisory support (2.59 for physicians versus 2.48 for nurses, p= 0.045), outward focus (2.33 for physicians versus 2. 14 for nurses, p= 0.011), and quality (2.45 for physicians versus 2.34 for nurses, p= 0.010). On the other hand, the mean score was significantly higher for nurses for three subscales, namely involvement (2.06 for physicians versus 2.20 for nurses, p= 0.021), formalization (2.58 for physicians versus 2.71 for nurses, p= 0.002), and pressure to produce (2.74 for physicians versus 2.93 for nurses, p= 0.000).
C. Relationship between organizational climate and some employee outcomes:
1. The study revealed that all job satisfaction components are significantly and positively correlated with human relations dimension, with r = 0.52 for the total satisfaction score. Similarly, all job satisfaction components, except for supervisor component, are significantly and positively correlated with rational goal dimension, with r = 0. 27 for the total satisfaction score. In addition, all job satisfaction components, except for co-workers and work itself, are significantly and positively correlated with, open system, with r = 0. 35 for the total satisfaction score. On the other hand, only two job satisfaction components are significantly correlated with internal process dimension; with a significant positive correlation between pay component and internal process dimension (r=0.12) and negative correlation between co-workers and internal process (-0.20).
2. The study revealed a statistically significant negative correlation between mean stress score and two of the four climate dimensions, namely, internal process (r = - 0.19) and open system (r = -0.29).
3. The study revealed a statistically significant weak positive correlation between mean intent to stay score and only one of the four climate dimensions, namely, internal process (r = 0.11).
Based on the study findings, the following recommendations were suggested:
1. The hospital administration should develop good strategic plans to include decentralization of decision- making and an environment that enables free expression of ideas and exchange of opinions among staff.
2. The hospital administration should increase and encourage the development of skill variety by in-service training especially on new technology, and re- design staff jobs to increase autonomy and challenge.
3. The hospital administration should attempt to improve peer cohesion and relation between nurses and physicians by creating a conflict-free environment, and fairness feeling among the staff this is an important tool for good climate and job satisfaction.
4. Training of nursing and staff manager on leadership skills is suggested, with special emphasis on motivation, participative management, and provision of feedback.
5. Regular monitoring of level of job satisfaction and organizational climate of staff in Libyan hospitals, identifying dissatisfying aspects and factors related to organizational climate, and attempting to improve them.
6. The hospital administration should clearly define, document and disseminate the job description for all categories and job titles of staff working in the hospital.
7. The hospital administrator should explain to all hospital employees its direction, strategies, which include mission, vision, values, and strategic goals.
8. Conducting similar studies in other health institutions and other governorates in Libya is recommended.