ASSESSING PERFORMANCE: THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATES AND POLITICS ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS' PERFORMANCE
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Author | DVIR SHLOMI,ERAN VIGODA‐GADOT,DANA R. VASHDI |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2011.01968.x |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9299.2011.01968.x
ASSESSING PERFORMANCE: THE IMPACT
OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATES AND POLITICS
ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ PERFORMANCE
DANA R. VASHDI, ERAN VIGODA-GADOT AND DVIR SHLOMI
This study examines multiple organizational climates and their relationship with politics and
performance in public organizations. We argue that four types of climates (participative, innovative,
leadership and service) impact employees’ performance and public service outcomes, and that
perceptions of organizational politics mediate these relationships. A theoretical model is suggested
and examined empirically in a field study of 2102 teachers from 108 public schools and three
major districts in Israel. Standard regressions and hierarchical linear model statistics are used to
examine several hypotheses about the relationship between climate, micro-level performance and
macro-level performance. The findings, both micro- and macro-level based, indicate that multiple
climates in the school environment are positively related to teachers’ satisfaction and organizational
citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, perceptions of politics and such micro-level performance
indicators are also related to school level achievements.
INTRODUCTION
The public service environment is important as it has an immense effect on the routines of
our daily lives, on our interactions with other citizens and with governmental institutions,
on our overall satisfaction with life, and on our prosperity under the political umbrella of
the administrative state. This environment is operationalized and examined both in the
public administration and in the management literature in terms of the organizational
climate. In recent decades the generic managerial literature has accumulated extensive
knowledge about organizational climate, its meaning, diversity and effect on performance,
for individuals, teams and the organization as a whole (Tagiuri and Litwin 1968; Glick
1985; Reichers and Schneider 1990). It has also acknowledged that the organizational
atmosphere is not uni-dimensional. Rather, it is best described as an integration of multiple
climates (Schneider 1975). This compound atmosphere of a multiple-climates structure is
also one of the most salient elements in determining employees’ motivation, expectations
and willingness to exert effort (formal or informal) and contribute to organizational
performance (Kopelman et al. 1990).
Nonetheless, only scant attention has been paid to the exploration of multiple climates
in public sector organizations. Based on studies that found meaningful between-sectors
differences we see promising potential in developing a more specific rationality and logic
for the multiple climate–performance connection in public organizations. We believe this
is an important step towards exploring the uniqueness of the effects of such multiple
climates in the public sector and that such research will add to the current knowledge
in public administration and policy analysis. Obviously, such a discussion should be
focused on the problems, goals, demands and overall uniqueness of the public sphere,
beyond those of conventional business organizational settings. It should also draw on
the continuous flow of knowledge between private sector and public sector organizations
(Rainey 1991; Rainey and Bozeman 2000) as reflected in contemporary approaches in
Dana R. Vashdi is a lecturer, Eran Vigoda-Gadot is a professor and Dvir Shlomi in the Department of Public
Administration & Policy, school of Political Sciences, at the University of Haifa.
Public Administration Vol. 91, No. 1, 2013 (135–158)
©2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden,
MA 02148, USA.
136 DANA R. VASHDI, ERAN VIGODA-GADOT AND DVIR SHLOMI
public administration, such as the New Public Management (NPM) doctrine or the
performance oriented paradigm in public organizations (Osborne and Gaebler 1992;
Hood 1991).
Hence, the major goals and potential contributions of this article are fourfold. First, we
hope to enhance our knowledge about the multiple-climates perspective and determine
the particular meaning that it has for public organizations. Second, we will develop an in-
depth theory about multiple climates and use this terminology to explain micro-level and
macro-level performance in public schools. Third, we will argue that multiple climates
in public organizations are related to employees’ attitudes and well being, and affect
overall excellence and achievement at the organizational level (e.g. school achievement).
This argument will be examined empirically in the Israeli education system. Finally,
organizational politics (e.g. Romm and Drory 1988) will be tested as a potential mediator
in the multiple climates–performance relationship.
PIECES IN THE PUZZLE: BACKGROUND AND THEORY
Public organizations are an important segment of any national economy and a major
construct of its social infrastructure. However, being bureaucratic entities, they are
frequently criticized for lacking a highly innovative climate (Borins 2000a), and for
having strong authoritarian chains of control, dual lines of leadership (administrative and
political) as well as a non-competitive style of service. Whereas serious improvements in
the image and productivity of public organizations have been made in recent years (e.g.
Borins 2000b) there is still much to progress in this respect. Policy makers and public
administrators are encouraged to reduce the cost of red tape in bureaucratic systems
and to redesign old organizational models and build new ones that favour creativity,
commitment, the mixed flow of communication, autonomy and responsibility (Vigoda
and Golembiewski 2001). One way in which public organizations may improve their
organizational processes and management style is by putting together the pieces of the
climate puzzle in public agencies. A careful investigation of the meaning and aftermaths
of multiple climates may help us understand performance and other job outcomes in
public organization as a whole. Such an understanding may have consequent meaning for
improved public services in various fields of public and social action such as education,
health, welfare and environment.
Multiple organizational climates
Organizational climate emerged in the 1960s as a core concept in research on organiza-
tions (Litwin and Stringer 1968; Friedlander and Marguiles 1969). Studies have pointed
to both climate and culture as important factors in describing the general atmosphere of
the workplace (Reichers and Schneider 1990). Tagiuri and Litwin (1968, p. 27) defined
organizational climate as the ‘relatively enduring quality of the internal environment of
an organization that (a) is experienced by its members, (b) influences their behaviour, and
(c) can be described in terms of values of a particular set of characteristic of the organi-
zation’. Organizational climate thus refers to formal and informal interpersonal practices
and inter-subjectively developed meanings resulting from organizational sensemaking
processes (Glick 1985) and consists of empirically accessible elements such as behavioural
and attitudinal characteristics (Drexler 1977; O’Driscoll and Evans 1988; Moran and
Volkwein 1992).
One important aspect of organizational climate research is its multi-dimensionality
(MacCormick and Parker 2010). Whereas early writing on organizational climate treated
Public Administration Vol. 91, No. 1, 2013 (135–158)
©2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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