摘要：The study investigated academic staff perception of organizational climate in universities in Edo State, Nigeria. The sample for the study was made up of 1025 participants drawn from three universities in Edo State. From the data, it was found that academic staff in universities in Edo State perceived the organizational climate of their institutions as favourable; that there is a significant difference among academic staff in their perception and that academic staff do not differ in their perception of organizational climate in their institutions based on sex, age and status. var currentpos,timer; function initialize() { timer=setInterval("scrollwindow()",10);} function sc(){clearInterval(timer); }function scrollwindow() { currentpos=document.body.scrollTop; window.scroll(0,++currentpos); if (currentpos != document.body.scrollTop) sc();} document.onmousedown=scdocument.ondblclick=initialize PHILIPA O. IDOGHO 72 is the subordinate level of participation in the organization's decision- making process. Hannah's (1967) study clearly stated that the role of a worker in decision-making in an organization depends on the size of such organization and the management system adopted. A participative management system for example, would create a great deal of interaction between the School Head and his/her subordinates. In a study conducted by Hand, Richards and Slocum (1973), they found that employees who perceived the organization as participative had greater increases in their performance than employees who perceived it as autocratic. Organizational climate has several critical dimensions. Most important of these dimensions in an educational setting are intimacy, morale, consideration, and thrust. Intimacy and morale are traits displayed by staff while consideration and thrust are traits exhibited by the School Head. Based on the interplay of these dimensions, organizational climate can be classified into open and closed climate typologies. The openness or closeness of any university depends on whether the dimensions of organizational climate are positively or negatively demonstrated by the School Head and the subordinates. Certain objective criteria constitute the foci of both the organizational climate types and dimensions. They are namely: positive work motivation, enhanced performance, increased productivity and job satisfaction. What this means is that if the organizational climate of any institution is open and the dimensions are positively demonstrated, there is bound to be positive motivation, enhanced performance, increased productivity and job satisfaction. On the contrary, if the organizational climate is closed and the dimensions are negatively demonstrated, there is bound to be negative motivation, poor performance, low productivity and job dissatisfaction. Statement of the Problem Education is important for national develop- ment. This is because skilled manpower is very vital to the process of national planning and implementation. For any educational plan to succeed, the teacher is required to be there to see to the full implementation of the programme. This is so because no educational system can rise above its teachers (Ukeje, 1986). Also, if education is to survive and continue to play a vital role in the promotion of cognitive, affective and practical competence in individuals and ensure the preservation of our cultural values, it is important that the teachers who are responsible for helping the students acquire the knowledge, skills and practical orientations essential for self as well as for national development, be effectively motivated. Inspite of their importance, they are not accorded the recognition they deserve. Hence Katz and Kahn (1996) say that the climate in an organization reflects the type of people who compose the organization, the work processes, means of communication and the exercise of authority within the individual organization. Further, they recognize that it is easy to detect differences in the climate of organizations but it is difficult to name the dimensions of these differences. The investigation became necessary in view of the fact that the problem of lack of motivation and the negative effect it has on the perception of academic staff of organizational climate in universities in Edo State seems to be growing. The relatively high attrition rate of academic staff from universities to other countries or to the private sector are indicators of low motivation (Onwuechekwa, 1996). The lack of sponsorship or the long duration of time that lapses before it gets to the turn of a lecturer in the case of universities, to attend a conference or seminar may be another problem that could affect academic staff perception of their organizational climate. There are also allegations of ill preparedness among some academic staff for scholarly work and lack of commitment to work. The result is that these universities that ought to be centres of academic and social activities have remained dull and uninteresting (Atafo, 1986). Among the academic staff, there is also low level of mutual interaction leading to disharmony, suspicion and distrust, which have led to the formation of different camps and in fighting. Members of academic staff have also accused School Heads of aloofness while School Heads have complain- ed of the uncooperative attitude of academic staff (Osia, 1993). There is also, the problem of inadequate working materials, which include reference journals, books, stationeries and office accommodation. Under such administrative and social climate, staff are bound to have feelings of self-pity, insecurity, uncertainty, frustration,
