An Exploratory study on the practice of organizational climate assessment within large companies in Morocco

Abstract

Just like the weather, organizational climate has periods of disruption and periods of calm, and can have an impact on the well-being or malaise of employees and, consequently, on the performance of the organization. It is a perceptible and multi-dimensional concept whose definitions are abundant and which has become more and more known in the business world. Yet, in Morocco, few companies practice organizational climate assessment. Previous empirical studies have focused mainly on the causal link between organizational climate and other managerial or organizational variables, through quantitative studies. In this article, we will try to approach it from a different angle by putting under the microscope a sample of large companies in Morocco that practice organizational climate assessment in order to see how they evaluate the organizational climate that prevails, through a descriptive qualitative study of exploratory types using a content analysis from 14 semi-structured interviews with HR managers, HR consultants and employees. Despite its limitations, which are essentially due to the heterogeneity of the sectors of activity of the companies interviewed, and the lack of external validity, the results of this study show a divergence of the issues and approaches to evaluating organizational climate as well as a huge gap between theoretical work and field practices.

Keywords: Organizational climate, assessment, human resources.

JEL Classification: O15

Paper type: Empirical research