Professional Documents
Culture Documents
various facets of organizational culture and climate and reported job satisfac-
tion for a sample of government employees. Results of the current study
provide focus for efforts at organizational intervention and assist in identrfy-
ing practices in human resource management that will enhance job satisfac-
tion and ultimately result in improved service to customers and positive re-
sults for business.
Sample
The sample consisted of 8,126 full-time employees within a large gov-
ernment service agency. At the time of the study, over 15,000 full-time em-
ployees constituted the workforce, 58% men and 42% women. The agency
provides public buildings, supply, and telecommunications services to the
federal government. Supervisors at all levels of management, i.e., senior ex-
ecutives and division, office, and branch directors, constituted 20% of the
sample; the remaining 80% were in diverse nonsupervisory occupations, in-
cludmg contract and realty specialists, telecommunications and computer
professionals, program and policy analysts, protective service officers, custo-
dlans, and support staff. Employees who worked at headquarters in Washing-
ton, DC and 11 nationwide regional offices were well represented in the sam-
ple, as were those employed in public buildings, supply, telecommunica-
tions, human resources, and various administrative and policy areas.
Survey
The Qu&ty Culture and Organizational Clunate Survey is administered
annually to all full-time employees in the agency. Its primary purpose is to
identlfy strengths, opportunities for improvement, and trends in relation to
the specific areas measured. The survey contains 86 culture and b a t e
items and 4 demographic items. A 7-point scale anchored by 1 ="strongly
dsagree" and 7 ="strongly agree" is tied to the 86 items; a "don't know"
response choice is also included for those items.
The Quality Culture part of the survey measures the extent to which
employees perceive that quality improvement principles and practices are
implemented in the organization for which they work, i.e., division, office,
or branch, the extent to which quality management perspectives and meth-
ods are integrated into the way business is conducted. This part of the sur-
vey consists of 40 items comprising nine sections derived from the criteria of
the President's Quality Award and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award. A sample survey item from each of the nine sections is provided in
Table 1.
The Organizational C h a t e part of the survey measures various aspects
of the work environment purported to support the implementation of qual-
JOB SATISFACTION: CULTURE, CLIMATE
TABLE 1
SAMPLEITEMS FORQUALITY
CULTURE
ity management principles and practices. This part of the survey contains 46
items comprising 10 sections that characterize organizational effectiveness.
Table 2 provides a sample survey item from each of the 10 sections.
TABLE 2
SMPLE ITEMSFORORGANIZATIONAL
CLIMATE
Procedure
An independent contractor administered the Quality Culture And O r -
ganizational Climate Survey to a l l full-time employees. Completion of the
846 J. J. J O H N S O N & C. L. McINTYE
TABLE 3
MU\N SCORESA N D STANDARDDEWATIONSFORQUALITY
CULTUREA N D CORRELATIONS
WITH JOBSATISFACTION
faction. Table 4 provides the same information for each of the 10 sections of
the Organizational Climate part of the survey.
All correlations in Tables 3 and 4 are positive, significant ( p < .001), and
moderate to high. Scores on Job Satisfaction are most strongly related to
scores on the Empowerment and Involvement (.65) and Recognition (.63)
measures of Quality Culture, and scores on the Communication (.69), Goals
(.67), Creativity and Lnnovation (.67), and Decision-makmg (.66) measures of
Organizational Climate.
JOB SATISFACTION: CULTURE, CLIMATE
TABLE 4
MUN SCORESAND STANDARDDEVIATIONS
FORORGAN~L~TIONAL
CLIMATEA N D CORREUTIONS
WITHJOBSATISFACTION
Organizational Climate Section M SD r
Communication 4.6 1.8 .69*
Creativity and Innovation 4.8 1.9 .67*
Goals 4.4 1.9 .67*
Decision-making 5.2 1.8 .66*
Training 4.9 1.9 .62*
Teamwork 5.2 1.8 .58*
Labor Management 4.6 1.9 .57*
Environment 5.2 1.5 .54*
Job Satisfaction 5.2 1.7 1.OO
*All correlations sigluficandy different from zero ( p < ,001).
TABLE 5
ITEMSO F QUALITY
CULTURE
MOSTHIGHLYCORRELATED
WITHSCORESON JOBS A T I S F A ~ I O N
Quality Culture Section Sunlev Item r
Empowermenr and Involvement Effective methods are used co encourage employee
involvement in quality improvement. .63 *
Empowerment and Involvement Managers provide an environment that supports
emdovee involvement .62*
Empowerment and Involvement Effective actions have been raken co increase the
authority of employees ro make job-related de-
cisions. .60*
Recogniuon Managers recognize employee contribuuons in a
fair and equitable manner. .59*
Recognition Mana ers recognize activities directly related to
q u J i t y improvement. .59
"All correlations significantly different from zero ( p < ,001).
ports research that has shown that job satisfaction is a construct comprised
of attitudes about several facets of the job experience (Spector, 1997). For
example, previous research has shown that organizational variables such as
supervisor support, training, teamwork, participative decision-making, cus-
tomer focus, rewards and recognition, and goal-alignment are positively and
significantly correlated with job satisfaction (e.g., Babin & Boles, 1996;
Burke, 1995; Hallowell, et al., 1996; Knoop, 1995). These results were also
found in the present study.
TABLE 6
ITEMSOF ORGANIZATIONAL
CLIMATE
MOST HIGHLY
CORRELATED
WITH SCORESON JOBSATISFACTION
Several variables have been associated with job satisfaction. Since down-
sized organizations work with limited resources, organizational factors hav-
ing- the most influence on employees' satisfaction and well-being must be giv-
en priority. Organizational interventions can then be designed around these
priority areas. Scores on measures of Empowerment and Involvement, Rec-
ognition, Communication, Goals, Creativity and Innovation, and Decision-
making were most strongly associated with scores on the Job Satisfaction
measure in this study. These aspects of culture and climate are therefore pri-
orities for improvement. It must also be noted that, since all of the variables
in this study were significantly and positively intercorrelated, interventions
designed around the areas of priority identified d llkely positively affect
the remaining aspects of culture and climate that were measured.
The results of this study have implications for enhancing employees' job
satisfaction and improving organizational effectiveness. A review of the con-
tent of the various aspects of culture and clunate, as well as the specific
survey items that were most strongly associated with the measure of Job Sat-
isfaction, indicates that employees should be provided with more autonomy
and authority to make job-related decisions, and with more opportunities for
participation and involvement in organizational planning, goal-setting, and
decision-making.
JOB SATISFACTION: CULTURE., CLIMATE 849
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