Organizational Climate Assessment

Early childhood administrators play a pivotal role in creating work environments that promote high performance and personal fulfillment. Assessing attitudes about organizational practices is one way directors can better understand the collective perceptions of staff and help improve overall morale and job satisfaction. If anonymity is preserved, the quality and reliability of survey results can be particularly useful. A survey of work attitudes can serve to validate why things are going well. It can also help isolate those areas that may need to be improved to create a more positive organizational climate.

The Early Childhood Work Environment Survey is an assessment tool that measures worker perceptions and attitudes about such things as co-worker relations, supervisor support, decision-making influence, goal consensus, and the physical setting. It is designed for programs that employ at least seven staff members.

An organizational climate assessment of the quality of work life for staff has been conducted in over 2,400 centers in the United States and Canada using the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey. The process is fairly straightforward: administrative, teaching, and support staff of a program complete the survey and return it to the Center for computer processing. In approximately four weeks the program receives a Work Environment Profile detailing the collective perceptions of the staff along ten dimensions of organizational climate: collegiality, opportunities for professional growth, supervisor support, clarity, reward system, decision-making, goal consensus, task orientation, physical environment, and innovativeness. The Profile comes with an interpretation of results, providing suggestions for improving the climate in each dimension.

The Early Childhood Work Environment Survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. It should be completed by the program director as well as all paid teaching and support staff who work more than 10 hours per week.

The Work Environment Profile describes the combined ratings of all participants. Thus, anonymity is ensured for each individual respondent. The profile includes a summary of worker perceptions of current organizational practices along 10 dimensions, their levels of job satisfaction and commitment, and their perceptions of how their current work setting compares to their ideal. You can download a sample profile.

Also available—Improving the Quality of Work Life in the Early Childhood Setting. This technical guide and resource manual more fully describes the 10 dimensions of organizational climate and provides a wealth of practical ideas for enhancing job satisfaction and professional orientation in early childhood programs

A Head Start version of the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey and Profile is also available. For additional information on how it can be used with your Head Start program, contact Jill Bella, Director of Special Projects at (800) 443-5522, ext. 5059 or jill.bella@nl.edu.

What people are saying...

Distributing the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey to my staff let me show them that I really cared about their feedback. It was a wonderful, nonthreatening way to demonstrate my concern for their well-being.
–Alpha Jackson, director, faith-based early childhood program

Our center profile served as a springboard for a lively discussion on center goals. It really helped us prioritize our time.
–Joni Scritchlow, director, Head Start program

The results summarized on the work environment profile helped me see how my perceptions of center policies and practices differed from my teachers’ perceptions. It marked our first important step in team building.
–Deborah Muscato, director, corporate-sponsored program

Ordering Information

If you are interested in ordering copies of The Early Childhood Work Environment Survey for your center, please visit our Publications section.