International Journal of Quality and Productivity Management

Vol. 07, No.01, December 15, 2007

Lichtman

Effects of an organizations climate on performance of

supply chain managers in Michigan:
A Perception Study
By
Robert J. Lichtman
Central Michigan University

Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine how organizational climate factors, such
as opportunity for personal growth, development, advancement, etc., influence the degree that
supply chain managers perceive their work situation as facilitating their giving their best effort
(performance) to their work. This study focuses on supply chain managers, as this is a new,
important, and previously unstudied managerial group. It was hypothesized, based on past
research, that supply chain managers who perceived a supportive climate in their organization
would feel that their work facilitates their giving their best effort at work while those supply
chain managers who perceived their organizational climate as unsupportive would perceive their
work situation as not conducive to their putting forth their best effort at work. The results
indicated that of the six climate questions dealing with self-fulfillment, advancement,
interpersonal relations, etc., supply chain managers who reported that their work environment
facilitates putting forth their best effort indicated that they perceived their organization as
providing a high degree of opportunity to achieve these factors. Whereas, supply chain managers
who perceived their organization as not supportive of these six factors perceived that their work
environment did not facilitate their putting forth their best effort.
KEY WORDS: organization climate, supply chain management

Introduction
A considerable amount of attention in the past 30 years has been concerned with the topic
of organizational climate and its effect on employees behaviors in the organization (Andrews
and Kacmar, 2001; Ashkanasy, Wilderom, Peterson, 2000; Carr, Schmidt, Ford, and DeShon,
2003) Lawler, Hall, Oldham, 1974; Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002; Shadur, Mark A., Kienzle,
Rene, and Rodwell, 1999; John J Starbuck, 1976). Climate perceptions are seen as a critical
determinant of individual behavior in organizations (Carr, Schmidt, Ford, & Deshon, 2003). In
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addition, the value of the climate factor is that it has allowed researchers to study multiple
dimensions of organizational behavior under one umbrella concept: organizational climate.
Although the research studies on organizational climate have used slightly different definitions
and measures of climate, they all seem to agree that climate refers to a systematic phenomenon
that pervades an organization and its parts and influences an individuals performance on the job
(Shadur, Mark A., Kienzle, Rene, and Rodwell, 1999).
Climate is a perceived phenomenon, knowledge of which is gained by administering a
questionnaire to employees and then correlating the results with some measure or measures
(either objective or perceived) of performance. For example, one might ask the following
question, To what degree does your position provide the opportunity for personnel growth and
advancement? and then correlate the answer with a measure of performance (objective measure)
or a measure of the degree that the subject perceives their work facilitating their effort on the job
(perceived measure).
Thus, just as individuals perceive their world differently, so, too, do they have various
perceptions of the climate of their organization. Climate is an employees subjective impressions
or perceptions of his/her organization. Schneider and Hall (1972) note that climate perceptions
emerge as a result of the employees numerous activities, interactions, and other daily
experiences with his/her organization. They further suggest that perceived climate may be related
to a number of outcome variables, such as individual job satisfaction, involvement in the job, and
effort. Thus, a simple model is suggested where we see climate influencing effort and job
satisfaction. Climate is important as it is seen as influencing day-to-day job experiences
(Schneider and Hall, 1972).
Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between organizational climate and
effort and organizational climate and job satisfaction (e.g., Andrews and Kacmar, 2001;
Ashkanasy, Wilderom, Peterson, 2000; Carr, Schmidt, Ford, and DeShon, 2003; Porter &
Lawler, 1965). All have reported data indicating that climate and effort and climate and job
satisfaction are related, and, thus, they are supportive of the Schneider and Hall model. In other
words, employees who perceived a supportive climate in their organization felt that their work
situation facilitated their giving their best effort to their work, while those employees who
perceived their organizational climate as unsupportive perceived their work situation as not
conducive to their putting forth their best effort at work.

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Researchers have invested a great deal of time and energy in trying to identify which
organizational climate factors have the most influence on managers perceptions of their
organizations commitment and, thus, on how motivated they feel. Various studies (Ashkanasy,
Wilderom, Peterson, 2000) have looked at a variety of categories of managers in organizations in
an effort to identify which climate factors have the greatest influence on effort. The most
important factors that past research have identified that influence climate perceptions are listed in
Appendix A. However, different studies of different managerial groups (i.e., marketing
managers, production managers, and finance managers) have found that different sets of these
ten factors influence a particular groups perceptions. So, for example, one study found that
finance managers are more influenced by the degree to which their position provided
opportunities for challenging problems and staying current in their fields more important.
Whereas, production managers organizational climate perceptions were found to be more
influenced by the degree to which they perceived their jobs to allow them to achieve established
objectives. (Lichtman and Mehra, 1980).
The study of organizational climate is complicated by the fact that it is a rather vague
term. In a review of the literature by Rhoades & Eisenberger (2002) and Payne & Pugh (1976),
they suggest that it includes, among other things, attitudes, feelings, values, norms, interactions,
and satisfactions. Climate, then, consists of perceived factors, such as the opportunities to
develop, grow, advance, a challenging job, etc. (see Appendix A).
Following this definition of climate, if the individual perceives that the organizational
climate in which he/she is working is supportive in terms of the opportunities for growth,
advancement, challenge, etc., then this will result in an increase in the individuals effort on the
job and feelings of job satisfaction. On the other hand, if the individual perceives that the climate
is not supportive in terms of the previously mentioned factors, then this will result in a decrease
in the individuals performance and feelings of job satisfaction. In other words, how people
perceive their organizations in terms of climate is important in terms of how they feel about their
jobs and how much effort they expend to perform their jobs.
Past studies have shown that organizational climate does affect performance (e.g.,
Ashkanasy, Wilderom, Peterson, 2000; Lawler, Hall, Oldham, 1974; Shadur, Mark A., Kienzle,
Rene, and Rodwell, 1999; John J Starbuck, 1976) for a wide variety of managers. However,
supply chain managers have remained an unstudied group in this research. Given the increasing

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importance of supply chain managers to organizations today, it is important to understand which

organizational climate factors influence their performance. The present study is designed to
identify the possible climate factors that supply chain managers perceive as affecting their
performance. This data will help global organizations adjust their environments so that they are,
indeed, supportive of high performance by their supply chain managers.
The purpose of the present study was to examine which organizational climate factors,
such as opportunity for personal growth, development, advancement, etc., are an influence on the
degree that supply chain managers perceive their work situation as facilitating their best effort
(performance) in their work. It was hypothesized, based on past research, that supply chain
managers who perceived a supportive climate in their organization would feel that their work
facilitates their giving their best effort at work, while those supply chain managers who
perceived their organizational climate as unsupportive would perceive their work situation as not
conducive to their putting forth their best effort at work.

Methodology
The study involves 68 supply chain managers from 10 different Michigan companies.
Each manager was surveyed using an administered questionnaire consisting of the 11 questions
in Appendix A. Ten of these questions evaluated the supply chain managers perceptions of their
ability to develop his/her potential (e.g. to grow, be fulfilled, be challenged), establish objectives,
and structure the organization to facilitate the success of the supply chain management function
(see Appendix A). These 10 questions, based on past research in the area (Ashkanasy, Wilderom,
Peterson, 2000; Kaczka & Kirk, 1968; Dunnette, 1973; Friedlander and Marguiles, 1969; Porter
& Lawler, 1965), are indicators of organizational climate. An eleventh question dealing with the
degree to which the work situation facilitates giving your best effort to your work was
statistically correlated (Pearson Product Moment Correlation) with each of the other 10 questions
in order to determine which factors have the greatest influence on supply chain managers
motivation. The questionnaire used a Likert scale with respondents indicating the degree of
opportunity (e.g., the opportunity for personal growth and advancement) to achieve each factor
on a five point scale.

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Results and Discussion

The survey results are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Relationship of the Ten Measures of Organizational Climate
to Supply Chain Managers Giving Their Best Efforts on Their Job
Questions related to organizational climate

Correlation Coefficient

1. To what degree does your position provide the opportunity

.51**

for personal growth and advancement?

2. To what degree does your position provide self-fulfillment

.37**

(i.e., ability to realize ones potential and/or capabilities?)

3. To what degree does your position provide the opportunity for

.48**

attaining established objectives (worthwhile accomplishments)?

4. To what degree does your position provide the opportunity to

.36**

use your capabilities in challenging work?

5. To what degree does your position provide challenging

.18

problems?
6. To what degree does your position provide opportunities to

.29*

stay current with the latest developments in your field?

7. To what degree does your position provide opportunities to

.41*

work with colleagues who make your job more interesting,

easier, and satisfying?
8. To what degree does your position involve satisfying too many

.10

colleagues at the same time?

9. Do you believe that it is possible to structure an organization such

.06

as yours so that the supply chain management job is less frustrating

than your current job?
10. In your job, can you do some looking good to your bosses by

.19

keeping inventory costs lower even though that may give the
production people some stock-out problems?
_________________________________________________________________________
*Asterisks indicate statistical significance: *p < .05 **p < .01

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The results indicate that six of the 10 questions on the survey were statistically significant
and positively related with the degree to which supply chain managers perceive their
organizational environment as facilitating their work. All six factors were related to intrinsic
perceptions: personal growth and development. The factors that related to extrinsic factors (i.e.,
opportunity to work with colleagues, having to satisfy too many colleagues at the same time,
etc.) did not significantly influence how supply chain managers were motivated. These results
provide support to the theory that organizational climate factors, such as capacity to develop,
advance, etc., affect the work behavior of supply chain managers. Of the six climate questions
dealing with self-fulfillment, advancement, and interpersonal relations. Supply chain managers
who reported that their work environment facilitates putting forth their best effort indicated that
they perceived their organization as providing a high degree of opportunity to achieve these
factors. Whereas, supply chain managers who perceived their organization as not supportive of
these six factors perceived that their work environment did not facilitate their putting forth their
best effort.
Organizations commonly value employee dedication and effort. Employees who are
emotionally committed to their organizations tend to put forth more effort in achieving
organizational objectives (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). Most organizations expect their
employees to put forth their best effort on the job. The results of this study suggest that, in the
case of supply chain managers, organizations need to especially focus on climate factors that are
related to personal growth and development.
Whether an organizations climate is, indeed, supportive or not is determined solely by an
employees perceptions of the work climate. Thus, it is easy enough to survey employees with a
simple questionnaire to measure exactly how supportive their organizational climate really is.
Based on the results of such periodic surveys, organizations could adjust their environments so
that they are, indeed, supportive of their employees putting forth their best effort on the job.
The present study was designed to examine possible climate factors that supply chain
managers perceive as affecting their performance. The results provide support for the theory that
perceived climate does, in fact, affect work behavior. Furthermore, climate factors that enhanced
the feelings of opportunities for personal growth and development seem to be the most
influential. Clearly, more work needs to be done in this area to eliminate overlapping concepts

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and identify why different combinations of organizational climate factors have different
motivational effects on different managerial groups.

References
Andrews, Martha C. and Kacmar, Michele K. (2001). Discriminating Among Organizational
Politics, Justice, and Support. Journal of Organizational Behavior, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 22,
4, 347-366.
Ashkanasy, Neal M., Wilderom, Celeste P.M., and Peterson, Mark F. (2000). Handbook of
Organizational Culture and Change, Sage Publications.
Carr, Jennifer Z., Schmidt, Aaron M., Ford, J.K., and Deshon, Richard P. (2003). Climate
Perceptions Matter: A Meta-Analytic Path Analysis Relating Molar Climate, Cognitive, and
Affective States, and Individual Level Work Outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 4,
605-619.
Dunnette, M. (1973). Performance Equals Ability and What? Unpublished paper, University of
Minnesota.
Friedland, F., and Margulies, N. (1969). Multiple Impacts of Organizational Climate and
IndividualValue Systems Upon Job Satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, 22, 171-183.
Gorsuch, R.L. (1990). Common factor analysis versus component analysis: Some well and
little known facts. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 33-39.
Kaczka, E., and Kirk, R. (1968). Managerial Climate, Work Groups and Organizational
Performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 12, 252-271.
Lawler, E.E., Hall, DT, and Oldham, GR. (1974). Organizational Climate: Relationship to
Organizational Structure, Process, and Performance. Organizational Behavior and Human
Performance.
Lichtman, Robert and Mehra, Satish. (1980). "Attitudinal Analysis of Production Managers,"
Presented at the Southwest AIDS meeting, San Antonio.
Payne, R., and Pugh, D.S. (1976). Organizational Structure and Climate, in Handbook of
Industrial Organizational Psychology, Marvin Dunnette, editor, Rand McNally, 1125-1173.
Porter, L., and Lawler, E. (1965). Properties of Organization Structure in Relation to Job
Attitudes and Job Behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 41, 23-51.
Preacher, K.J., & MacCallum, R.C. (2003). Repairing Tom Swifts electric factor analysis
machine. Understanding Statistics, 2, 13-43.
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Rhoades, Linda and Eisenberger, Robert. (2002). Perceived Organizational Support: A Review
of the Literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 4, 698-714.
Schneider, B. and Hall, D. (1972). Toward Specifying the Concept of Work Climate: A Study of
Roman Catholic Diocesan Priests. Journal of Applied Psychology, 56, 447-456.
Shadur, Mark A., Kienzle, Rene, and Rodwell, John J. (1999). The Relationship Between
Organizational Climate and Employee Perceptions of Involvement: The Importance of Support,
Group & Organization Management, 24, 4, 479-503.
Starbuck, W.H. (1976). Organizations and Their Environments, in Handbook of Industrial
Organizational Psychology, Marvin Dunnette, editor, Rand McNally, 1069-1123.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Robert J. Lichtman is a Professor of Management at Central Michigan University, Mount
Pleasant, Michigan, U.S.A. His research and teaching interest is in the areas of human resource
management.

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APPENDIX A

Environmental Climate Questionnaire

Description of the Question

response rating (scale 1-5)

1. To what degree does your position provide the opportunity

for personal growth and advancement?

1 2 3 4 5
none

2. To what degree does your position provide self-fulfillment

(i.e., ability to realize ones potential and/or capabilities?)
3. To what degree does your position provide the opportunity for
attaining established objectives (worthwhile accomplishments)?
4. To what degree does your position provide the opportunity to
use your capabilities in challenging work?

1 2 3 4 5
none

problems?

none

stay current with the latest developments in your field?

7. To what degree does your position provide opportunities to
work with colleagues who make your job more interesting,

a great deal

1 2 3 4 5
a great deal

1 2 3 4 5
none

6. To what degree does your position provide opportunities to

a great deal

1 2 3 4 5

none

5. To what degree does your position provide challenging

a great deal

a great deal

1 2 3 4 5
none

a great deal

1 2 3 4 5
none

a great deal

easier, and satisfying?

8. To what degree does your position involve satisfying too many
colleagues at the same time?

1 2 3 4 5
none

a great deal

9. Do you believe that it is possible to structure an organization such

as yours so that the supply chain management job is less frustrating
than your current job?

___yes

___no

___yes

___no

10. In your job, can you do some looking good to your bosses by
keeping inventory costs lower even though that may give the
production people some stock-out problems?
11. To what degree does your situation facilitate your giving your
best efforts to your work?

1 2 3 4 5
none

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a great deal