Measure your organizational climate to make your organization ‘agile’

Organizations are facing increasing competition, and technological developments are taking place at an ever-increasing pace. Therefore, continuous improvement and adaptation of the organization is necessary to remain competitive.

Organizations with a dynamic environment respond better to chaos and constant change. They better meet customer needs and launch not only more new, but also better products and services. This is in contrast to organizations with stagnant climates that fail to do so… Research on developing new products can be summarized by four main aspects; strategy, focus on people, process, and resources. Part of people focus is the right climate for creativity (Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1996) and Montoya-Weiss and Calantone (1994)). Furthermore, a “significantly high” correlation between innovative climate in relation to profitability was found. Interesting enough, then, to take a look at how working on organizational climate can make your organization agile or “agile.

What do we mean by organizational climate?

Organizational climate is a more concrete dimension of organizational culture. Culture is about the values, beliefs, history, traditions, etc., that reflect the deeper foundations of the organization.

Climate, on the other hand, is about shared perceptions about patterns of behavior, attitudes and feelings that characterize the atmosphere in the organization. Climate is about the “oxygen content” present in the organization, and to establish a certain dynamic, an organization needs that oxygen. Organizational climate is also called “organizational culture on the surface. When we talk about organizational culture, we are talking about norms and values shared by employees within the organization. Something that has crept in over years. Or something that comes from the history of an organization, for example.

Organizational climate is much more about the perception people have of the more visible aspects such as the policies, the procedures, present or not, that they use while working. Culture is below the surface and climate is more visible. By addressing climate, you can work to change culture.

Measuring organizational climate for creativity
The climate for creativity and innovation can be measured with questionnaires. The Situational Outlook Questionnaire (SOQ) focuses on the climate for creativity and change by assessing interactions within the organization or subgroup.

The questionnaire contains 53 questions covering nine dimensions. These dimensions of the SOQ and their meanings are shown in the table below.

The degree to which the people on the team are emotionally involved in the operations and goals of the team and find pleasure and meaning in their work.

The independence of behavior exercised by members of the team. In a climate with a high degree of freedom, people are given autonomy to determine much of their own work.

The way new ideas are handled. In a supportive climate, managers and colleagues receive ideas and suggestions in a thoughtful and receptive manner and there are opportunities to try out new ideas.

The degree of perceived emotional safety in relationships. When there is a high level of trust, everyone dares to express ideas and opinions, since initiatives can be taken without fear of reprisal or ridicule in case of failure.

The perceived ease and spontaneity, a relaxed atmosphere with laughter and jokes.

Meetings, exchanges or clashes between ideas, viewpoints, and different experiences and knowledge. Many voices are heard and people are eager to put their ideas forward.

The degree of emotional and personal tension in the team. In a climate with a lot of conflict, groups and individuals dislike each other and there is a lot of gossip and backbiting.

The tolerance of uncertainty in the team. In a high-risk climate, decisions and actions are made quickly, opportunities are seized, and concrete experimentation is preferred to detailed research and analysis.

The amount of time one can use to develop new ideas. Teams characterized with lots of idea time provide opportunities to discuss and test impulses and suggestions not planned or included in the task assignment.

The SOQ instrument has sufficiently high reliability and validity to be used as a measurement instrument that meets the requirements of ISO 10075-3. Thus, based on the results of the measurement, well-founded management decisions can be made to improve the creative organizational climate!

Would you like more info about the SOQ questionnaire to measure your organizational climate? Send an email with your question to luc.deschryver@o2c2.eu!