The shared perception approach emphasizes the importance of shared perceptions as underpinning the

notion of c1imateyl Organisational climate has also been defined as "the shared perception of the way things are

around here".141 There is great deal of overlap in the two approaches.

feelings that characterize life in the organization,[2! while an organization culture tends to be deep and stable. Although

culture and climate are related, climate often proves easier to assess and change. At an individual level of analysis the

concept is called individual psychological climate. These individual perceptions are often aggregated or collected for

analysis and understanding at the team or group level, or the divisional, functional, or overall organizational level.
 Cognitive Schema- the organization of knowledge about a particular concept. The schema contains the features or

attributes that are associated with a category membership. (Sims & Lorenzi, 1992)

o Person Schema: Schema about the attributes (skills, competencies, values) of a particular individual. This

often takes the form the personality we attribute to that person.

o Event schema (cognitive scripts): These are processes, practices, or ways in which we typically approach

tasks and problems. They are the programs vve call upon when faced with a certain stimulus. These are

behaviorally oriented

o Role schema: These schemas contain sets of role expectations, that is, how we expect an individual occupying

a certain role to behavior.

o Self-schema: Generalizations about the self abstracted from the present situation and past experiences. This

is essentially one's self concept which is in essence perceptions of oneself in terms of traits, competencies,

and values (see Laura's notes on Self Concept Based Motivation). Self-efficacy is a type of self schema that

applies to a particular task.

o Evaluation: When we evaluate individuals occupying a certain role (e.g., dostor, accountant, actor, artist), we

compare their behavior to our culturally derived role schema for that role.

o Identification: We often identify and categorize individuals by the role they assume. We use this role schema

to help us place individuals into a certain category by matching their observed behavior with our role schema.

o Prediction. Once an individual is placed into a category (role) we tend to assume he or she will behave in

accordance with the role schema and use this as basis to predict future behavior ofthis person.

I
t
1/
fJ

~
information

situations.
Schema organizes

and the retrieval

knowledge

and events. Types of Information

Data-driven or stimulus-driven
about specific

of stored information.
stimulus domains and guides

They can be viewed as structured

Processing
both the processing

expectations

processing occurs when no schema exist form which to process information.

of new

about people,

i The individual examines all information and proceeds through a careful decision making process.

I
L _
 Schema-driven processing occurs \yhen an individual responds to a stimulus (decision making or problem

solving situation) by evoking a programmed response or behavior script (schema). This is done 'without

extensive data collection or analysis.

Script- a type of schema involving behavior or action.

o Schema Development

Schema is constructed through experiences with specific instances. They start as a simple network and

develop into more complex structures. Mature schemas are more extensive; more organized, and contain more

characteristics that do less mature schemas. Cognitive scripts can be acquired either directly or indirectly. Direct-

going through a process and confirmation through repetition. Indirect- Stories, myths, films, movies, conversations,

role models. Behavioral scripts are learned through organizational socialization and on the job experience

A group script can be viewed as a consensual cognitive structure that, when :lctivated, establishes the

expectations and sequences of events for a given situation. Organizational culture can be viewed a set of consensual

schema, through the development of shared understanding of how things are done. One function of a common

organizational culture is to create fairly similar mental models for organizational members. which promote efficiency of

operations and communications the establishment of rigid cognitive schema can retard organizations when they'

thwart the organization's ability to change in response to a changing environment. Socialization provides the means

whereby new members of an organization develop consensual schema or scripts

o Schema and Decision Making

An individual's schema can range between relatively tlexible and relatively !igid. A schema is said to be

relative rigid then: The individual no long questions the relationship between the enacted schema (process, work

method, plan) and the intended outcome. Even negative feedback relative to expected outcome does not lead to a

questioning of the schema. This tends to block accurate diagnosis of problem causes. The stimulus that enacts the

schema is very generalized. The individual does not see or does not make distinction among similar but relatively

different situations (stimuli) and thus uses the same plan or work method (schema) as a response to a wide variety of

problem situations. This presents a performance problem when the situations actually require a unique response. Rigid

schema, or rigid mental models. tends to be associated with a strong Judging (1) cognitive style, while individuals with

a strong Perceiving (P) cognitive style tend to develop flexible mental models.

Some researchers have pursued the shared perception model of organisational climate. Their model identifies

the variables which moderate an organization's ability to mobilize its workforce in order to achieve business goals and

maximize peIiormance.
 - * Go beyond the stated positions or solutions to figure out what the paliies really need to have satisfied in

order to reach agreement

* Brainstorm and generate ideas, looking at the problem from all angles and considering as many different

ideas as possible

The general attitude towards the organizational climate shows a moderate global appreciation of the climate

in the organization. The employees notice both positive and negative aspects in connection with the organization of

their work, interpersonal relationships, management styles and the motivational system in their organization. Most of

them tend to perceive the organization as a whole in a positive way, but there are also employees who notice certain

deficiencies.