Organizational Climate and Informal Helping Processes in Work Settings

This investigation examines the relationship of managers' descriptions of organizational climate to their participation in informal helping interactions at work. Three distinct aspects of organizational climate, derived from the work of Likert (1967) and Argyris (1962, 1970), were related to several areas of helper and helpee behavior and disclosure of problems and help-seeking at work. Organizational climate was found to exert an influence on (1) several aspects of the informal helping process as it existed in work settings, (2) the amount of problem disclosure across hierarchical lines, and (3) the amount of disclosure of personal versus work-related problems. In general, climates approaching the YB pattern of Argyris and the System IV style of Likert were more conducive to these potentially therapeutic behaviors.

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