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2Health managers are under pressure to achieve sustainable results. To meet this challenge, managers must develop high-performing work groups and cultivate a positive work climate that fosters staff motivation. A positive work climate encourages and sustains staff motivation. In fact, experience in industry has shown that a positive work climate can account for nearly 30 percent of improvements in financial results. How can the findings in industry be used to improve employee motivation and organizational results in the health sector?

Managers can often sense when the work climate is affecting staff’s performance. Absenteeism, unmet performance objectives, lack of initiative, and reduced interest in their work or organization are signs that a work climate may be less than optimal and that staff may be holding back the “discretionary,” or extra, effort they could bring to their jobs. Managers can often turn their work groups around by applying leadership and management practices that promote on-the-job clarity, support, and challenge.

This issue of The Manager outlines the connections between work climate, employee motivation, and performance. It describes how managers can assess the climate in their work group and shows how they can use the results to make changes in leadership and management practices that will motivate their group to do the best work possible and improve results.