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IDENTIFYING ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

AFFECTING LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Leila Canaan Messarra, Lebanese American University
Abdul-Nasser El-Kassar, Lebanese American University
ABSTRACT
In trying to successfully respond to a world of interdependence and change, some
companies are adopting the principles of a Learning Organization. However, while promoting a
Learning Organization, the organizational climate may exert an influence on the behavior of
employees. Consequently, the researchers believe that an appropriate organizational climate is
needed to facilitate the efforts of the Learning Organization. The purpose of this study is to
examine the effects of the different organizational climates on Learning Organizations various
learning dimensions. Data was gathered through questionnaires from 101 employees working in
small and medium size companies from different industries. The results of the statistical analysis
indicated that organizational climates do affect the various dimensions of the Learning
Organizations. It also identified the organizational climates that significantly affect a given LO
dimension and their degree of influence. In addition, this study also determined the best
combination of climates that affect a particular LO dimension.
INTRODUCTION
In these turbulent times, the only constant is change (Heraclitus, undated). However,
change can be daunting sometimes. One of the new approaches to embracing change in
organizations is by transforming their organizational culture. Thus, in order to successfully
respond to a world of interdependence and change, some companies are adopting the principles
of a Learning Organization. Learning Organization refers to a culture that has developed the
capacity to adapt and change continuously by promoting a learning environment that embraces
both individual and organizational learning (Robbins and Judge, 2011). Nevertheless, to facilitate
this transition, the proper organizational climate that can aid in this process is needed. Hence, the
purpose of this research is to investigate whether certain organizational climates promote a
Learning Organization.
Ideally, a Learning Organization is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transforming
knowledge, and at modifying behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights (Garvin, 1993, p.
80). It demands that an organization makes a conscious effort to facilitate learning activities and
generate adaptation and development capabilities (Lien et al., 2006).
Nowadays, organizations are under severe pressure to learn faster and effectively in order
to grow and outperform their competitors (Garvin, 1993). A Learning Organization has the
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capacity to empower people within and outside the workspace. This will increase both
productivity and learning (Marquart, 1999). Past research has indicated the Learning
Organizations positive relation with knowledge performance (Power and Waddell, 2004;
Selden, 1998), commitment, lower turnover, and employee satisfaction (Egan et al. 2004;
Ellinger et al., 2002; Sta. Maria and Watkins, 2003).
Watkins and Marsick (2003) developed a survey that assesses learning activities at all
levels within the organization. According to Watkins and Marsick, there are seven dimensions
essential for an organization to become a Learning Organization: Continuous Learning (creating
opportunities for continuous learning), Inquiry and Dialogue (promoting feedback,
communication, trust and respect), Team Learning (encouraging team learning and
collaboration), Embedded Systems (integrating systems to capture and share learning),
Empowerment (empowering employees toward a collaborative vision), System Connections
(linking the organization to its environment and community), and Strategic Leadership
(providing leadership by supporting and strategically utilizing learning).
In sum, a Learning Organization is an organization that facilitates learning for all its
members and consciously transforms itself and its context (Pedler et al., 1991). According to
Senge (1990), organizations learn best only when individuals are willing to learn. Pritchard &
Karasick (1973) argued that organizational climates exert an influence on the behavior of
employees. Consequently, the researchers believe that an appropriate organizational climate is
needed to facilitate the efforts of the Learning Organization.
ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE
Litwin and Stringer (1968, p.1) viewed organizational climate as a set of measurable
properties of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by people who live and work
in this environment and assumed to influence their motivation and behavior. Organizational
researchers have shown strong interest in the study of organizational climate partly due to its
hypothesized relationship to other organizational phenomena such as commitment, leadership
behaviors, job performance, job satisfaction, productivity, motivation and the quality of work
group interaction (Stringer 2002; Laschinger, et al., 2001; Goleman, 2000; Schnake, 1983;
Pritchard and Karasick, 1973; Friedlander and Greenberg, 1971). For example, Bhaesajsanguan
(2010) explored the behavior of 840 Thai Technicians in the Telecommunication private sector
and found that organizational climate goes hand in hand with job satisfaction. He also found that
organizational climate is positively related to organizational commitment through job
satisfaction. A study by Castro and Martins (2010) examined potential contributors toward the
job satisfaction of 696 employees in a South African call center, and found that the indirect
correlate of their satisfaction and work environment perception was the degree of supportiveness
of the organizational climate in which they were placed. Also, Poon and Ainuddin (1990)
examined the relationships between organizational climate and job satisfaction and performance
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using data from 462 employees of a large car manufacturing company in Malaysia. Results
indicated significant relationships between several organizational climate dimensions and job
satisfaction. However, only one of the climates was found to have an influence on perceived
performance. On the other hand, Stringer (2002) concluded from research and consulting work
that different organizational climates can arouse different kinds of motivation.
Although there are multiple organizational climate dimensions used by researchers
(Denison, 1996), the main organizational climates that have been identified (see for example
Stringer, 2002; Litwinand Stringer, 1968) are: Structure (sense of employees being well
organized and that their roles, and responsibilities are clearly defined), Responsibility
(encouragement of individual judgment and discretion, employees feeling of being their own
boss), Risk (willingness to take chances on employees' ideas), Reward (basing positive rewards
on performance and outweighing punishment in the organization), Warmth and Support (warmth
in the relationships among employees supported by a relaxed and people-oriented atmosphere),
Conflict (maintaining good interpersonal relations and avoiding open arguments and
disagreements), Expect Approval (pride and loyalty toward the organization and work
group).These climates will be used as the bases for our research.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the different organizational climates
on Learning Organizations various learning dimensions. This research will try to answer the
following queries:
Q1:
Q2:
Q3:

Which Organization Climate affects a given Learning Organization

dimension?
Which Learning Organization dimension is mostly affected by a given
Organization Climate?
Which combination of the main Organizational Climates best suit a given
Learning Organizational dimension?
METHODOLOGY

The study is conducted within Lebanese organizations. Data were gathered through
questionnaires distributed randomly to employees working in small and medium size companies
from different industries. Analysis of the data is based on seven climates and their relationship
with Learning Organizations. Preliminary statistical analysis based on pilot study found several
climates significantly related to different dimensions of the learning.
The study is based on a questionnaire composed of three parts: demographic questions,
Learning Organization questions and organizational climate questions. The Learning
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Organization part is based on a questionnaire developed by Watkins & Marsick (1997). Basim et
al. (2007) demonstrated its reliability and validity. This part contains seven sets of questions
corresponding to the seven dimensions of Learning Organization. Similarly, the organizational
climate part, developed by Litwin & Stringer (1968), has seven sets of questions corresponding
to seven organizational climates. Each Learning Organizational dimension and each
organizational climate is composed of several questions or statements rated on a seven-point
Likert scale ranging from 1= strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree, with 4 = neutral. A score
based on the average is calculated for each Learning Organization dimension and each
organizational climate. The Learning Organization scores are labeled as follows: Continuous
Learning Score (CLS), Dialogue and Inquiry Score (DIS), Team Learning Score (TLS),
Embedded Systems Score (ESS), Empowerment Score (ES), System Connections Score (SCS),
and Provide Leadership Score (PLS). The organizational climate scores are labeled as follows:
Structure Score (SS), Responsibility Score (RS), Risk Score (RKS), Reward Score (RWS),
Warmth and Support Score (WSS), Conflict Score (CS), Expect Approval Score (EAS). These
variables are used to conduct the statistical analysis.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The objective of this research was to examine the effect of the different organizational
climates on the Learning Organization dimensions.
The statistical analysis showed that the 101 respondents in the sample consist of 50.5%
males and 49.5% females. The age distribution is 51.5% in the 25 years or below range, 34.7% in
the 26 to 30 years range, and 13.8% above 30 years. Most of the respondents are employees 72.3
%, while 7.9% are supervisor and 19.8% managers. The employees years of experience found
68.3% in the range of 0-5 years, 19.8% in the range of 6-10 years, and 11.9 % with more than 11
years of experience. The distribution of the monthly salaries is 42.6 % below than $1000, 55.4%
between $1000 and $3000, and the rest in the range of $3000-$6000. These distributions could
be explained by the fact that older more experienced people in high level positions with higher
salaries maybe too busy to take the time to fill in the questionnaire.
To study the effects of organizational climate on the different dimensions within a
Learning Organization, we designated the various dimensions of the Learning Organization as
the dependent variables and the different organizational climates as the independent variables.
The overall reliability of the Learning Organization dimensions was checked and the
computed Cronbachs alpha value was 0.947. Similarly, the overall reliability for the
organizational climates resulted in Cronbachs alpha value of 0.86. Therefore, we can conclude
that the data was reliable and valid for statistical analysis. The descriptive statistics for the
various scores are given in the table below.

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Descriptive statistics of LO and OC Scores
SS

RS

RKS

RWS

WSS

CS

EAS

CLS

DIS

ESS

ES

SCS

PLS

Mean

4.4

4.2

3.9

3.9

4.2

3.5

4.6

4.4

4.5

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.8

Standard
deviation

0.7

0.7

0.8

0.7

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.9

1.0

1.2

1.0

1.1

1.0

Minimum

2.4

3.0

1.5

1.3

2.3

1.8

2.8

1.4

2.3

1.5

1.2

1.0

2.0

Maximum

5.9

6.0

6.0

5.3

6.4

6.5

6.8

6.7

7.0

7.0

6.3

7.0

7.0

1st quartile

4.0

3.8

3.5

3.4

3.7

3.3

4.1

4.0

3.8

3.8

4.0

3.8

4.2

Median

4.5

4.2

4.0

3.9

4.1

3.5

4.6

4.4

4.3

4.3

4.5

4.5

4.8

3rd quartile

4.9

4.7

4.5

4.3

4.6

4.0

5.1

5.0

5.0

5.0

5.0

5.2

5.3

Correlation analysis conducted to determine which organizational climate affects the

dimensions of a Learning Organization resulted in the following coefficients:
SS

RS

RKS

RWS

CLS

.375

**

.214

**

-.058

.516

DIS

.247*

.162

-.083

.417**

TLS

.311**

.243*

-.090

ESS

.375**

.302 **

ES

.286**

SCS
PLS

WSS

CS

EAS
**

.356**

.594**

-.386**

.350**

.558**

.565**

-.419**

.376**

-.194

.506**

.433**

-.366**

.294**

.372**

-.012

.644**

.535**

-.385**

.377**

.322**

.148

-.091

.595**

.599**

-.341**

.269**

.429**

.280**

-.197*

.539**

.521**

-.192

.400**

.510

**

-.393

The critical values for the two tailed test at a level of significance of 0.05 are 0.196 and
0.255 for a 0.01 level. The correlation matrix indicates the following:

The structure climate score is positively correlated at a level of

significance of 0.01 to all learning climate scores, except for (DIS) where
the level of significance is 0.05. The highest correlation is between the
structural climate and the leadership dimension in a Learning
Organization.
Although the responsibility climate score (RS) show less effect on the LO
dimensions than the structural climate, nevertheless, the effect of the
responsibility climate on empowerment is significantly higher. The other
significant dimensions were ESS, PLS at a level of 0.01, and CLS and
TLS at 0.05 levels. The LO dimensions dialogue and inquiry, and system
connections are not significantly correlated with the responsibility climate.

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The risk climate is negatively correlated with all LO dimensions.

However, it is only significantly correlated with the leadership dimension
where the level of significance is at 0.05.
Reward, and warmth and support climates both have very high positive
significant correlation with all LO dimensions. The reward climate has the
most effects on the empowerment dimension, followed by the system
connections and the team learning dimensions. The warmth and support
climate affect the systems connections and the dialogue and inquiry
dimensions the most.
The conflict climate is negatively correlated with all LO dimensions. All
correlations are significant at a level of 0.01 except for the leadership
dimension which is almost correlated at a 0.05 level. The highest negative
correlations correspond to team and continuous learning.
Similar to the reward and the warmth and support climates, the expect
approval climate is positively correlated with all LO dimensions at a level
of significance of 0.01. However, the association between the expect
approval climate and each LO dimension is less than the association
between the reward and the warmth and support climates and their effect
on LO dimensions. The highest correlation corresponds to the leadership
dimension.

The correlation analysis addressed both Q1 and Q2. The researchers believe that
organizations may possess more than one climate dimension that could influence learning in any
organization. That is why regression analysis was carried out to investigate the best combination
of climates that can positively influence LO.
For each Learning Organization dimension, a regression model having the seven climate
scores as the independent variables was constructed. The results are summarized in the
following table. In each row, we give the model p-value and the coefficient of determination as
well as the p-values for the individual variables.
SS

RS

RKS

RWS

WSS

CS

EAS

p-value

CLS

0.059

0.762

0.696

0.005**

0.312

0.007**

0.260

0.430

2.77E-09

DIS

0.946

0.812

0.352

0.323

0.000**

0.129

0.182

0.406

1.73E-08

TLS

0.499

0.649

0.362

0.001**

0.083

0.006**

0.181

0.483

4.01E-11

ESS

0.030*

0.102

0.033*

0.008**

1.000

0.002**

0.443

0.432

2.48E-09

ES

0.818

0.083

0.884

0.000**

0.416

0.006**

0.116

0.546

1.32E-13

SCS

0.625

0.183

0.571

0.000**

0.011*

0.037*

0.868

0.490

5.34E-12

PLS

0.031*

0.122

0.027*

0.065*

0.029*

0.596

0.002**

0.477

6.51E-11

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The above table reveals that all regression models are extremely significant and identifies
the significant individual climates for each LO dimension. Note that some climates identified by
the regression to be not significant for an LO dimension were previously found to be
significantly correlated to the same LO dimension. The reason for this is that correlation analysis
determines whether the association between one climate and a given LO dimension is significant
without any consideration of the other climates. On the other hand, regression analysis identifies
the significant climates for a given LO dimension when all climates are considered
simultaneously. It is important to identify the best climate combination for promoting a particular
dimension of a Learning Organization since an organization may possess the characteristics of
more than one climate and at varying degrees. From the above results we conclude the following:

The continuous learning dimension is significantly affected by the rewards and conflict climates, at a level
of significance of 0.01, and somewhat by the structure climate, p-value = 0.059. Hence, the continuous
learning dimension thrives in a structure and reward climate with a very low level of conflict.
The inquiry and dialogue learning dimension is only affected by warmth and support at a level of
significance of 0.01. From this we can conclude that in order to promote feedback, communication, trust
and respect, the organization must stimulate a warm and supportive climate.
Similar to the continuous learning dimension, team learning is significantly affected by the rewards and
conflict climates, at a level of significance of 0.01. Therefore, a rewarding climate with a very low level of
conflict encourages team learning and collaboration.
The embedded systems learning dimension is significantly affected by the rewards and conflict climates, at
a level of significance of 0.01, and by structure and risk, at a level of significance of 0.05. This means that
in order to integrate systems to capture and share learning, an organization must promote a highly
rewarding climate with a very low level of conflict. In addition, the roles and responsibilities of the
employees must be clearly defined along with a willingness to take chances with employees' ideas.
The empowerment learning dimension is significantly affected by the rewards and conflict climates, at a
level of significance of 0.01. Therefore, empowering employees toward a collaborative vision is
encouraged by a rewarding climate with a very low level of conflict. This will encourage team learning and
collaboration.
The system connections dimension is significantly affected by the reward climate at a level of significance
of 0.01, and by warmth and support and conflict climates at a level of significance of 0.05. Therefore,
linking the organization to its environment and community is promoted through a highly rewarding, warm
and supportive climate with a low level of conflict.
The strategic leadership dimension is significantly affected by the expect approval climate, at a level of
significance of 0.01, and by structure, risk, reward, and warmth and support at a level of significance of
0.05. This means that providing leadership by supporting and strategically utilizing learning is promoted by
the feeling of pride and loyalty toward the organization. Leadership also thrives in a structured, rewarding,
and warm and supportive climate within an environment that is unwilling to take high risk. We would like
to point out that these findings are supported by an earlier in-depth study by the same authors on the effects
of organizational climates on the leadership dimension only (El-Kassar and Messarra, 2010).

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CONCLUSION
This research aims at identifying the organizational climates affecting the Learning
Organization dimensions and determining the extent of the relationships. The relationships were
tested empirically by collecting information based on a reliable and valid questionnaire
distributed to Lebanese employees working in small and medium size companies from different
industries. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that organizational climates do affect
the various dimensions of the Learning Organizations. It also identified the organizational
climates that significantly affect a given LO dimension and their degree of influence. In addition,
this study also determined the best combination of climates that affect a particular LO dimension
(see table for summary of results):
Learning Organization
Dimensions

Climates Affecting LO
Dimension

Best Combination
of Climates For Promoting LO
Dimension

Continuous Learning

Rewards, Warmth and Support,

conflict, Structure, Expect
Approval, Responsibility

Inquiry and Dialogue

Warmth and Support, Reward,

Warmth and Support
Conflict, Expect Approval, Structure

Team Learning

Rewards, Warmth and Support,

Conflict, Expect Approval,
Structure, Responsibility

Rewards, Conflict,

Embedded Systems

Rewards, Warmth and Support,

Structure, conflict, responsibility,
expect approval

Rewards, Conflict, Structure,

High Risk

Empowerment

Rewards, Warmth and Support,

Conflict, Expect Approval,
Responsibility, Structure

Rewards, Conflict

System Connections

Warmth and Support, Rewards,

Rewards, Warmth and Support,
Conflict, Structure, Expect Approval Conflict

Strategic Leadership

Reward, Warmth and Support,

Structure, Expected Approval,
Responsibility, Risk

Rewards, Conflict

Expected Approval, Structure,

Low Risk, Reward, Warmth and
Support

Managerial Implications
This study adds to the literature on organizational climate and its relationship to Learning
Organization so that organizations can identify the ideal climate or climates needed to facilitate
the efforts of the Learning Organization. By identifying climate gaps that could influence
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learning or a particular learning dimension, leaders can then prepare strategies that can help
improve such climates which will ultimately improve learning.
Limitations
This study like most others has limitations. First, the sample selected was small and
limited to employees working in small and medium size Lebanese organizations. Future research
could explore whether these finding are global or are culture specific and using a larger sample.
Second, although demographic factors were collected, their relationships to the different
variables were not tested. Further study could consider whether demographic factors influence
our findings.
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