Humanistic Management and Organizational Success: The Effect of Job and Work Environment Characteristics on Organizational Effectiveness, Public Responsiveness, and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

This paper is based on a 1983 attitudinal survey of Iowa public employees examining the effect of job (job challenge, role clarity, and performance appraisal fairness) and work environment (personal significance, supervisory relationship, and employee freedom), characteristics — used here as indicators of humanistic management — on organizational success (perceptions of organizational effectiveness, public responsiveness, and job satisfaction). The results document three findings: (1) organizations are perceived as being successful, (2) job and work environment characteristics are viewed as favorable, and (3) an across-the-board, albeit moderate, relationship between organizational success and humanistic management practices is perceived to exist.