Applying Corporate Climate Principles to Dental School Operations

Abstract

Decades of research have shown that organizational climate has the potential to form the basis of workplace operations and impact an organization's performance. Culture is related to climate but is not the same. "Culture" is the broader term, defining how things are done in an organization, while "climate" is a component of culture that describes how people perceive their environment. Climate can be changed but requires substantial effort over time by management and the workforce. Interest has recently grown in culture and climate in dental education due to the humanistic culture accreditation standard. The aim of this study was to use corporate climate principles to examine how organizational culture and, subsequently, workplace operations can be improved through specific strategic efforts in a U.S. dental school. The school's parent institution initiated a climate survey that the dental school used with qualitative culture data to drive strategic planning and change in the school. Administration of the same survey to faculty and staff members three times over a six-year period showed significant changes to the school's climate occurred as a new strategic plan was implemented that focused on reforming areas of weakness. Concentrated efforts in key areas in the strategic plan resulted in measurable improvements in climate perception. The study discovered that culture was an area previously overlooked but explicitly linked to the success of the organization.

Examining the Influence of Organizational Change Management Strategies on Employee Resistance and Adaptation

“…Moreover, the relationship between ethical climate, organizational culture, and organizational performance has been investigated, highlighting the mediating role of strategic service management in tax service offices (Zatna et al, 2022). Additionally, research has shown that organizational culture significantly affects employee retention, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, while climate impacts human resource management, strategy, and performance (Robinson & Reddy, 2016).…”

The status of climate studies in the United States and Canadian dental schools: Deans’ perspectives

“…Schneider et al defined organizational climate in their review article as "the shared perceptions of and the meaning attached to the policies, practices, and procedures employees experience and the behaviors they observe getting rewarded and that are supported and expected." 8 Robinson and Reddy published an excellent example of an organizational climate study in a dental school in 2016, 9 while McCann and colleagues provided information about their cultural climate study at the Texas A & M College of Dentistry in 2017. 10 Despite these school-specific climate studies, no research so far explored the academic climate in dental schools in the United States and Canada comparatively.…”