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INTRODUCTION
Evidence from numerous studies demonstrates that organizational climates exist as empirically-verifiable entities (Drexler, 1977; O'Driscoll & Evans, 1988; Paolillo, 1982; Zohar, 1980). However, a comprehensive explanation of how they emerge or form has not been developed. A central question in the formation of organizational climate is how individuals who are presented with a vast array of stimuli come to have relatively homogeneous perceptions of those stimuli, and, moreover, attach similar meanings to salient features of organizational life (Schneider & Reichers, 1983).
The technical issues in the problem of the formation of organizational climate are related to the absence of an adequate composition theory. James presents these issues in the following terms;
Of concern here is the "unit of theory" for climate and a "composition theory" for climate. The former pertains to the appropriate level of operationalizing a construct, e.g., individual or organization, and the latter term refers to a specification of how a construct operationalized at one level of analysis, e.g., psychological climate, is related to another form of that construct at a different level of analysis, e.g., organizational climate (1982, p. 219).
Essentially, the dilemma is this: organizational climate has been validated as an organizational phenomenon, therefore, what theoretical model accounts for the process by which the perceptions of individuals are transformed into an organizational entity. Despite inadequacies, there have been a number of attempts to account for this process and explain how organizational climates are formed. These are grouped below into three general categories: "the structural," the "perceptual," and the "interactive," which summarize approaches to the development of climate appearing in the literature on organizational theory during the last 25 years. These approaches are examined and critiqued. Additionally, a fourth explanation, termed the "cultural approach," is developed. This model builds on the "interactive approach" and incorporates the interaction of group members as a key determinant of organizational climate, but further posits that the predominate influence on these interactions is the shared knowledge and meanings presented by the organization's culture. The insights offered by the cultural approach make possible the following comprehensive definition of organizational climate. This definition incorporates elements of previous definitions, particularly those of Forehand and Gilmer (1964) and Pritchard and Karasick (1976) and the dimensions of climate reported by such...