Organizational climate is the overarching emotional quality of a workplace and is created primarily through interpersonal communication - the amount of trust, openness, listening, and supportiveness present in the interactions between organizational members. Two types of organizational climates exist; defensive and supportive climates. (McCornack, 2019, p. 387)
A defensive climate is unfriendly, rigid, and unsupportive of workers' professional and personal needs. In contrast, a supportive climate may be described as warm, open, and cooperative.
I heard once that when a person reflects upon former offices and the worst office memories recall first and then a best past office surfaces. I took that to mean that when it is bad, it sticks and words like triggering, PTSD, trauma, and similar are used when discussing a person's memory of their worst workplace. Worst workplaces have defensive climates.
I recently spoke with a former coworker after reading McCornack's chapter on relationships in the workplace. Timely!
My boss and his boss both discounted that I would leave despite my dialogue over months. When I gave notice, my decision was met with disbelief, displeasure, and alienation. One former office friend (almost collegial peer, from p. 390) recently telephoned to check up on me and proceeded to tell me about his successes. He figured (didn't ask) that I missed the office. I am unsure if this telephone call could be classified as friendly, warm, and open but I remained supportive by affirming the caller’s greatness. I will remember that office as the one with a most defensive climate.
Image from: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-to-deal-with-an-unfair-boss/
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