Examining organizational climate in Greek hotels from a service quality perspective

Abstract

Purpose Organizational climate, which includes the setting of values, rules and priorities to be followed by all individuals involved in the organisation, has been receiving increased attention over recent years. The purpose of this paper is to look into the prevalent organizational climate within hotels and to identify variations in employees' perceptions, based on whether they hold managerial or non-managerial positions. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports a study conducted in 24 Greek hotels located in the Thessaly region, providing 217 usable responses. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the relative importance placed on the climate dimensions and then t-tests were used to check for significant differences between managerial and non-managerial employees. Findings The results show that efficiency, reflexivity, innovation and flexibility, supervisory support and quality were among the most prominent characteristics affected by organisational climate, whereas outward focus and pressure to produce were least affected. Moreover, the only differences revealed between managerial and non-managerial employees were in the areas of involvement and efficiency. Research limitations/implications Since Greece is a very diverse country in terms of tourism, including hotels that operate in other regions of the country would improve the generalizability of these findings. Future research should also try to link organizational climate directly with measures of the actual service quality provided to customers. Originality/value Identifying the prevalent organizational climate can help managers to optimize performance by identifying inherent strengths and weaknesses. Managers can then exploit the opportunities offered and evade the threats evident in the globalized hospitality setting. In addition, variations in perceptions between managers and non-managers may help the organization to identify common priorities among all individuals employed.