PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSORS

---

Talent Management Perspectives

Published March 2009

Manage Workplace Climate for Better Business Results

  Agatha Gilmore

Times may be tough, but there are ways to sustain and improve performance without spending a lot of money. Just ask employees.

According to research from Forum, a corporate strategy consultancy, workplace climate has a significant effect not just on productivity and engagement, but on the bottom line, as well.

"Climate may sound soft, but it's actually been shown to make a very hard difference to organizational performance, including financial results," said Jocelyn Davis, executive vice president of research and development at Forum.

Most important, new Forum research suggests frontline managers have the greatest impact on workplace climate, accounting for about 70 percent of the variability. Ultimately, this means climate can be managed and improved for better business results.

"A leader might expect things like company strategy or company history or systems and technology to have a huge effect on climate, but actually those things don't have that much effect," Davis said. "The thing that has the most effect is what the manager of that workgroup does on a daily basis. If you can get your mangers to do some fairly simple things, that's going to have a large effect on climate and that, in turn, will have a large effect on performance and results.

"In these difficult economic times, climate is really the perfect lever for an organization and for managers because it is a relatively cost-effective, simple approach to sustaining or improving performance."

To that end, Forum has developed a matrix by which companies can measure their workplace climates. The matrix consists of six dimensions: clarity, standards, commitments, responsibility, recognition and teamwork. Each dimension calls for certain management practices or behaviors that can lead to improved performance, Davis said.

For example, clarity is about the degree to which people understand the organization's overall goals, as well as the specific requirements of their jobs, she said. "An example of a management practice might be explaining tasks thoroughly when they're assigned to people, as opposed to being vague or unspecific."

The standards element relates to the degree to which employees feel management emphasizes high levels of performance, Davis said.

"An example of something managers can do there is checking performance against established goals regularly," she said.

Commitment refers to the degree to which employees are dedicated to achieving goals and contributing to the organization's overall success. A useful management practice or behavior in this arena might be to involve people in setting their performance goals.

"Responsibility is the fourth one, and that's all about the extent to which people feel personally responsible for their work and accountable for solving problems," Davis said. "One thing that managers can do there is, for example, encouraging people to exercise their own judgment in resolving business challenges."

---

 

---