20 Key Dimensions of Organizational Climate

May 31, 2009 by kutenk · 1 Comment
Filed under: Organizational Development 

Organizational Climate is a systemic concept, made up of constituent parts which are individually distinguishable but which together form a new, greater construct with an identity of its own; a system, in fact.

20 Key Dimensions of Organizational Climate:




    ‘Communication: the openness and effectiveness of communications systems within and between levels’;
    ‘Participation: the extent to which people are involved in making decisions that affect them’;
    ‘Performance Monitoring: the extent to which job performance is monitored and fed back to employees’;
    ‘Welfare: the extent to which employees feel valued and trusted’;
    ‘Supervisory Support: the extent to which employees experience support and understanding from their immediate supervisor or manager’;
    ‘Formalisation: the degree to which rules and formal procedures govern the way things are done’;
    ‘Autonomy: the degree of autonomy employees are given to do their jobs’;
    ‘Quality: the level of importance placed in producing quality products and services’;
    ‘Effort: the degree of effort and enthusiasm employees put into their work’;
    ‘Pressure: the extent to which there is pressure on employees to produce’;
    ‘Vision: the extent to which employees understand the company vision and long-term aims’;
    ‘Efficiency: the degree of importance placed on efficiency and productivity at work’;
    ‘Tradition: the extent to which traditional established ways of doing things are valued’;
    ‘Innovation: the level of interest in new ideas and innovative approaches’;
    ‘Flexibility: the extent to which the company can adapt to change’;
    ‘Skill Development: the extent to which employees are encouraged and supported in learning new job relevant skills’;
    ‘Risk: the extent to which decision makers are encouraged to take risks to capitalise on an opportunity’;




    ‘Interdepartmental Relations: the level of conflict or co-operation existing between different groups in the organisation’;
    ‘Outward Focus: the degree to which management looks outside for market opportunities and the degree of importance placed on providing a high level of service for the customer’;
    ‘Reviewing Objectives: the extent to which organisational members take action in changing objectives, strategies or team processes in order to achieve successful outcomes’.

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Key Elements that form the core of leadership.

May 26, 2009 by kutenk · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Leadership 

There are numerous definitions of leadership and equally many different ways of categorising leadership. Yet despite this, there are very few leaders who really inspire or who can generate the kind of vision and values that are essential for organisational success. Sadly, there are many chief executives and senior managers in business today who are not leaders but good managers and understanding the difference between the two is crucial. Being a manager is a position in the organisation and it comes with power and responsibility, but it does not mean that the position necessarily inspires people to ‘follow’.
Unless the needs of people within the organisation are taken into account, leadership will be ineffective. People need to give their permission for leaders
to lead and have a desire for to follow them.

Leaders need to generate ‘followership’. So how can they do that? What are the key elements that form the core of leadership? The capability to lead must be coupled with the practical skills that leaders need to have to manage their day-today affairs. This has distilled the views of today’s great thinkers on leadership and developed a categorisation of leadership, the essence of which is noted here:




    Leadership can be considered to be a special type of power which can command and focus resources to achieve a particular vision, change or goal. Leaders can transform a business by creating a vision of the future, then investing heavily to share that vision with the rest of the organisation.
    Leaders should live the values that they share with the organisation. In other words ‘practise what they preach’. Without this, they lack integrity and their ‘followership’ will disintegrate.
    Leadership involves broad capabilities, including having the skills and ability to handle the mundane, operational and daily transactions of corporate life.
    Leaders need to have a high degree of people skills, to manage the complex human interactions that take place between people to ensure they get the best out of them. They recognise that they need to involve other people to achieve success.




    Leaders need to have good conceptual skills and good judgement to enable them to see opportunities where others are not able to.
    Leaders need to be politically astute. They need to know how to use their power in awkward situations and not just to seek power for the sake of it.
    Leadership requires character, namely: ambition, ability, conscience and integrity, so that leaders can follow an ethical and appropriate way forward. Sadly it is these two last aspects of character that are so frequently missing in many leaders, which has led to the recent failures of corporate America.
    Finally, leadership does not necessarily mean that you are the ‘boss’. Leadership can be exerted by people who are not in a position of authority.

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