Organisational Climate

Climate research is grounded in the Gestalt psychology of Kurt Lewin. From Gestalt psychology
comes the critical notion of the whole - the gestalt - meaning that individual elements of
perception are formed into wholes that represent more than the simple sum of the specifics of
the individual elements. Organisational climate is a gestalt that is based on perceived patterns
in the specific experiences and behaviours of people in organisations. That is, when experiences
and behaviours are perceived to be patterned in particular ways, the gestalt that the pattern
connotes in the abstract constitutes the climate of the situation. In other words, the sense
people make of the patterns of experiences and behaviours they have, or the other parties to
the situation have, constitutes the climate of the situation.