Organizational Climate in Select Public Elementary Schools in Cebu City: A Reality Check

Organizational climate influences to a great extent the performance of teachers in school. It is important to know the shared perceptions and psychological conditions of teachers on workplace activities. This study utilized the descriptive method which is a quantitative research method that attempts to collect quantifiable information and presented facts concerning the degree of occurrence of identified institutional climate in select public elementary schools in Cebu City. Using the Organizational Climate Index (OCI) authored by Hoy, Smith and Sweetland (2002), it was found out that the 86 public elementary school teachers coming from Malubog Integrated School, Adlaon Integrated School, Sibugay Integrated School, Sirao Integrated School, and Alaska Elementary School, have high regard to their schools’ climate in terms of institutional vulnerability, collegial leadership, professional teacher behavior, and achievement press. The researchers concluded that organizational climate of trust which involves great relationships with teachers and staff contributes to the affective commitment of teachers and improves their perception on organizational performance, principals and school head. School heads should be openly communicating with their teachers, subordinates, and other big or small employees like secretaries, messengers, and helpers in schools to ensure that these people will continuously receive feedback and support when needed. It is important that they feel valued. With this positive climate, schools’ work environment will improve and warmth and cooperation will be felt by many.


Introduction
Organizational climate has become dynamic and globalized through the course of time. The fact that schools are academic environment, how key players execute their functions matters a lot. When teachers feel that they are in a safe place where suggestions are welcome and opinions are heard, they will feel a sense of belongingness because they know that their voice matters. The psychological atmosphere is felt by the students based on how teachers communicate with them. The more confiding the communication is, the more respect for each other is expressed through it, and the easier it is for everyone to interact. In any organization, the relationship between its officials and employees matters a lot. When employees are having a healthy and strong relationship with their employers, the entire company benefits from it. The same thing when teachers are having a good relationship with the principal and other officials, the school will gain reputation out from the mutual respect between them.
Teachers will become happier, more loyal, and more productive in the long run. Although building a relationship is not easy, there is no way principals and teachers alike should stop establishing rapport.
In schools, losing great teachers is devastating. When teachers are not comfortable where they are, they will leave the school and will look for another environment where they can grow and be more free in expressing their thoughts and ideas. Schools that encourage positive relationships among principals and teachers are generally more successful since teachers tend to stick around and be more productive in contributing on what is good for the school. In reality, when a person enjoys the company where he works, the person is less likely to seek out conflicts. A peaceful workplace is just one of the many benefits of having a good organizational environment. When a school has been the scene of conflict recently, teachers may want to reevaluate how they relate with other workers. Principals will do the same towards their teachers. An organizational climate with the presence of conflicts reduces productivity levels and increase disharmony.
Teachers who have positive relationship with their colleagues and principal are more likely to be productive. The more productive teachers are, the more reputation the school can generate which can translate into higher enrolment, and lower dropout. When teachers feel happy to work with the principals, they are more likely to put their best effort and ensure success on projects they work on.

Theoretical Background
This study is anchored on the (JD-R) theory. It stands for Job-Resource Demand (JD-R) and suggests that a perceived favorable organizational work environment may function as a job resource that mitigates job demands and motivates employees to do better, enhancing their willingness to dedicate themselves to their job by doing perhaps the best possible work there is (Demerouti et al., 2001). The social exchange theory and/or the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960), involves repayment; a teacher, for example, who receives something good from the school will repay the school with good services.
One way for teachers to repay the school is to increase commitment to the organization (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). In other words, they will dedicate themselves to better the school and contribute to its growth and development. Another theory that supports this study is the Human Relations Theory developed by Elton Mayo. This theory exemplifies that the laid foundation of human relations movement improves productivity. The focus here is changing the working conditions. In schools, changing the working conditions will definitely change the organizational climate. Examples of these conditions are lighting, break times, and the length of the work day. The teaching performance of teachers may change when the lighting of classrooms is improved. Moreover, teachers will be more energized if given breaks in between classes.
There is more to happen when climate is change and when it happens an improvement in the performance is always observed.

Related Literature and Studies
Organizational climate has indeed sparked the interest of many researchers. Glisson and friends (2008) discussed its impact on employees' behavior toward specific phenomena or occurrence. Teacher's behavior to intentionally file a leave for instance may have been triggered because of some not-so-good policies, practices, and measures of the school. Job satisfaction, sustainability, and organizational change are some of the many expected deviations in behavior brought about by their understanding on "how things work around here.". Organizational climate has a major influence on motivation, productivity and job satisfaction. The level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of employees could be triggered by organizational climate experienced by them and affects the quantum of their turnover (Singh et al., 2011). In 2012, Susanty investigated its effect on employee commitment and job satisfaction of the Open University. It yielded the same results as other researches on organizational climate. It significantly affected organizational commitment, how they religiously do their job, consistently dedicate their time in accomplishing given tasks and dutifully engage in activities that will affect their workplace as a whole. However, job satisfaction is less affected. Saks ' (2006) mentioned that mutual exchange relationships will be maintained based on loyalty, trust, and mutual commitment in between engaged employees and their organization. This will result to a favorable reciprocal exchanges between them.
In the context of the present study, age, gender, civil status, highest educational qualification, relevant trainings/seminars attended for the last 3 years, and length of service were considered as influencing factors of organizational climate. The study of Ibrahim in 2015 revealed that teacher professionalism and commitment to teaching profession was satisfactory in general. Teachers in Government high schools for boys in Charsadda district were committed to their teaching profession. Teachers had the ambition to continue teaching without economic needs and perceived the values of teaching profession more important than those of other values. Most teachers underlined their intrinsic motivation to become teachers and felt proud of teaching profession.
In the study, it was concluded that there was positive correlation between the commitment to school and to teaching works. As teachers' commitment to professional values increased, the level of the commitment to teaching work also increased. Teachers were becoming more productive in their teaching and their commitment to school activities significantly increased.
In today's society, one can effectively function if his voice is heard, his actions are accepted, his ideas are considered, and his uniqueness is valued. In schools, teachers can function positively and carry out their duties and responsibilities more fruitfully if they are heard, accepted, considered, and values. For instance, if a teacher's idea on certain projects is considered, the teacher will likely to engage in discussions when new projects are introduced. A teacher whose voice is heard during crucial decision-making would feel that he matters.
In Imbrahim's study in 2015, he further added that teachers and principals shared the same view with regards to professionalism and commitment. From the mind of the principal, teachers' professionalism has something to so with the desire to continue teaching without economic need. Their choice to become teachers is their own. It showed that teachers were professionals and committed to teaching profession.
The earlier studies of organizational climate focused on openness and health more than anything else.
These things do overlap although they differ in so many ways. Questionnaire and the Organizational Health Inventory.  thoroughly examined six dimensions from the OCDQ and six dimensions from the OHI and identified four dimensions that measure both openness and health when tested. These four dimensions were environmental press, collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, and academic press. Hoy, Smith, and Sweetland (2002) defined these four dimensions as follows: Collegial Leadership is a principal behavior executed and displayed to meet the social needs of teachers and the objectives of the school. Principals are regarded as friendly, open, and democratic in their dealings with others. They further laid down their expectations and standards of performance from teachers.
Professional Teacher Behavior is marked by respect. When a person has high regards for his colleague's competence, commitment to students, autonomous judgment in critical situations, and common cooperation and support of others, that is respect. It means that professional teachers value others and respect their capacity in accomplishing things.
Achievement Press describes a school that sets high but achievable academic standards and goals. The goal to raise the standards of the school becomes a collective effort of all stakeholders. Teachers give high value on students' drive to improve, learn, and excel.
Institutional Vulnerability is the extent to which the school is exposed and not spared from few vocal parents and citizen groups. High vulnerability means that both teachers and principals are unprotected from criticisms and put on a defensive mode.

The Problem
This study determined the organizational climate in select public elementary schools in Cebu City namely Malubog Integrated School, Adlaon Integrated School, Sibugay Integrated School, Sirao Integrated School, and Alaska Elementary School.
The study specifically answered the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the public elementary school teachers in terms of:

Significance of the Study
The study is believed to have the following importance for the institutions under study, the researchers and other potential researchers. This study is undertaken with the hope that the findings will prove helpful and beneficial to the following:

Select Public Elementary Schools in Cebu City.
The results of the study will provide Malubog Integrated School, Adlaon Integrated School, Sibugay Integrated School, Sirao Integrated School, and Alaska Elementary School a clear picture of their own organizational climate and will give the schools priorities in which to invest, improve, and get highly qualified employees, particularly teachers, who will be contributors to the schools' productivity, healthy work environment, and developing system to ensure success in the future.
Principals. The findings of the study will give the principals overall climate of schools they are handling.
It will give them the idea on how to innovate and change the organizational structure of the school.
Moreover, their personal dealings of employees specifically teachers will be guided accordingly and the programs geared towards improvement and enhancement of teachers and the school as a whole will be planned out intellectually.

Result and Discussion
On the Profile of the Participants. Tables 1 to 6 presented the data to answer the problem on the profile of the participants in terms of age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, relevant trainings, and length of service. From the survey, it was revealed that most of the elementary school teachers were aged 31-35 with twenty-six (26) respondents or thirty percent (30%) and forty-six (46) or fifty-three percent (53%) were still single. Moreover, there were forty-five (45) or fifty-two percent (52%) female teachers compared to forty-one (41) or forty-eight percent (48%) male teachers. From the survey, it was revealed that forty (40) or forty-seven percent (47%) were Bachelor's Degree holders, thirty-two (32) or thirty-seven percent (37%) were able to attend more than two (2) seminars for the past 3 years but not more than four (4) seminars, and forty-one (41) or forty-eight percent (48%) have served their schools for more than thirteen (13) years. Age plays a role in organizational climate. Kunze et al. (2010) investigated age diversity, age discrimination climate and performance consequences. Their investigation on an important trigger for overall company performance yielded results that age diversity seems to be related to the emergence of an age discrimination climate in companies, which negatively impacts overall firm performance through the mediation of affective commitment. As people age in the workplace, their work becomes more involved with processes, mechanisms, and conditions that gives employees favorable outcomes.
The older they get the more objective and subjective favorable outcomes they will achieve (Hansson et al., 1997;Kooij, 2015;Zacher, 2015). According to Kumar et al. (2018), employees from government utility and a private sector company viewed their identification level, clarity of goals, perceived equity, welfare measures and outward focus of the organization differently. Larger social context in the absence of any structural arrangement in both government utility and a private sector company determined employees' differences in their identification level and goal clarity. On the other hand, gender differences regarding perceived climate of welfare measures, outward focus of the organization and fairness were dependent on the structural context of both government utility and a private sector company on account of differing arrangements in both the organizations. Moreover, women participants were perceived by their supervisors to indulge less in deviant behavior as compared to male participants in one of the study.
As reported by Thomas in 2016, the World Bank data shows that the percentage of women working as teachers is on the rise and that the phenomenon known as men regarded as "dying breed" in schools raised some concerns among professionals. A lot of studies have affirmed that teaching profession has been dominated by women. According to Mim (2020), economic factors have something to do with how the world view teaching as a profession for women and assumed teaching with gender-related characteristics. In today's society the idea of managing a job whether stressful or not and giving an ample time to family is a challenge. Even if one is successful, they also want to live a private life and at the same time succeed in their career. The table above revealed that 53% or 46 are single, 47% or 40 are married. Duxbury and Higgins (2008) in their study on parental responsibilities revealed that a large body of research links the parental responsibilities of working couples or those who are married to the incidence of work-family conflict. Whether single or married, an employee will have more demands and less control over his or her time. This will result to problems where parents seem to encounter more difficulties in balancing work and outside work activities than nonparents or those who are not married or have no children at all. Similar results are reported by Galinsky, Bond and Friedman (1996)  Of the eighty-six (86) respondents, forty (40) or forty-seven percent (47%) were Bachelor's Degree holders and rest have reached higher educational qualification with five (5) or six percent (6%) have finished their Doctoral Degree which is considered the highest educational attainment.
The quickest way to achieve new heights professionally is through education. The results revealed that these teachers believe that education opens doors of opportunities and rewarding careers to them.
Having pursued higher education will somehow inspire others to do the same. Education in itself or having professionals in school with distinctive masters and doctoral degrees will definitely improve the organizational climate of the school. Moreover, it will encourage everyone to do more and be more in performing their jobs.
According to William Peace University (2019), there are many reasons why higher education is important. One obvious reason is the wage gap between those who have pursued higher education and those who have not. For example, a bachelor's degree holder earns more in their lifetime compared to those who only have a high school diploma. Another reason is the rise and growth of artificial intelligence. As the world progresses and moves forward, a great demand for artificial intelligence is inevitable. There will be a great demand of knowledge when it comes to artificial intelligence and investing in education will likely address the issue. Another reason is the need for a well-rounded dynamo. Companies and school are looking for candidates with well-rounded education to fill in key positions. For example, companies don't' just need engineers who are good in math. They also need engineers who can speak and communicate their minds. Thus, pursuing higher education is very important. The table revealed that teachers were able to receive trainings that will improve their skills and knowledge and professionalize their work, function and the entire school. When organizations such as schools send their employees to different trainings whether in-campus or off-campus, it gives employees assurance that the organization cares for them. In return, they will care about the fate of the school. Empowering employees will help create an atmosphere of professionalism within the school. It will give them the impression that their school is the best school for them to work and grow. Even if the country and the rest of the world is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers still attend seminars and trainings through the use of available virtual platforms. Teachers need to be effective and efficient at all times, the reason why seminars and trainings are important in a teacher's development both personally and professionally.
According to Tharenou et al. (2007), conducted a review of 67 pertinent studies to determine what and to what extent organizational outcomes were affected by training alone or training in the context of other business initiatives. It was revealed that as a general rule, training directly affects HR outcomes and indirectly affects organizational and financial performance, mediated through HR outcomes. HR outcomes include low absenteeism and turnover, high motivation, high job performance.
According to Ruvirosa B. Felipe (2013), it is important to attend and join seminar or training in order to create a learning environment that is effective. Moreover, it will improve teaching-learning situations where teachers and students alike can function wholly, keep updated modern instructional device in the delivery of lessons, and inspire teachers to become better in their field. The need to be competitive is very in demand and joining seminars or trainings would be a great help. (2016) discussed the importance of experience. According to them, the more experiences teachers will get, the more they will become effective in teaching. If teachers are able to carry out their job successfully, it will result to a better test score among students and perhaps their attendance in school.
As teachers spend more time with the learners in school, they can somehow impart life skills which are important in making oneself relevant in the world.
Institutional Climate. The overall average of the degree of occurrence of identified institutional climate is 3.41 which is interpreted as very frequently occurs. It shows that collegial leadership gained an average of 3.28 which is interpreted as very frequently occurs, professional teacher behavior gained the mean of 3.48 and interpreted as very frequently occurs, achievement by principal got a mean of 3.49 or interpreted as very frequently occurs, achievement by teachers has an average of 3.42 which is interpreted as very frequently occurs, achievement by parents gained an average of 3.31 and interpreted as very frequently occurs and institutional vulnerability got a mean of 3.44 and interpreted as very frequently occurs.

Very Frequently Occurs
Collegial Leadership frequently occurs with an average of 3.28. The result revealed that the principals are on the right track in meeting the social needs of the teachers. When teachers are heard and listened to, they will feel the value of being part of the organization. In doing so, their dedication towards work and their behavior towards others will manifest positively and will contribute to a better and healthier organizational climate.
Professional Teacher Behavior as shown in the table has an average of 3.48 which is also interpreted as very frequently occurs. It means that teachers are respecting and recognizing the competence of their colleagues. Furthermore, these teachers are into serious business in making their students learn and they can readily decide on things independently. The study of Ibrahim (2015) supports this finding. On his study, it was found that teachers are professional and committed to their work. If one is affectionate towards his or her job, then a good institutional climate is felt by everyone.
It is not easy to take on the job of a principal. The job requires more time because of its complexity. In Personal and professional growth within the school happens when principals know how to reach out to their teachers. Trust is highly positive and the support is enormous if the school showcases a climate that is ethical. The psychological and behavioral disposition of a person is positively affected as well (Riggle, 2007). According to Porter et al. (1974), commitment to an organization stems from the individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization.
Parents' support is as important as others. Support can be shown through participation is projects and other school activities. The result shows that achievement by parents is evident. The overall result which is interpreted as very frequency occurs implies willingness among all stakeholders in making and producing a more progressive school and productive students.
Institutional Vulnerability as shown in the table has an average of 3.44 which is interpreted as very frequently occurs. While it is true that schools are not spared from vocal parents and aggressive citizen groups, schools can very well stand its ground specifically if they fully support their teachers. With the kind of teachers these schools have, the impact would be less negative.

Findings
Age, gender, civil status, highest educational qualification, relevant trainings/seminars attended for the last 3 years, and length of service were found to be influencing factors of organizational climate. The select public elementary schools have good organizational climate. Teachers trust the leadership of the schools. Teachers expect so much from their leaders for equal treatment. In return, they become more open and comfortable with them. The relationship among principals, teachers, staff, and other employees is very commendable and is based on mutual respect. Principals delegate work in an organized and respectful way which maintains the morale and foster the overall success of the school.
Teachers' works are supported and recognized. The overall environment of the select public elementary schools is suitable for productive performance and potential growth and development among teachers.

Conclusion
Organizational climate is developed through trust. Principals who knew the value of recognizing the efforts of their teachers will create a great extent of influence in motivating excellent performance and job satisfaction among them. It determines an environment where teachers will feel satisfied or dissatisfied with how the school operates, how the administration works the system, and how other employees deal with them. The overt and covert factors in creating a healthy organizational climate contributes to the growth and development of the school in general. If the school recognizes the unique qualities of individuals and the importance of their role in making a better academic environment, teachers will take risk in testing, exchanging, and sharing knowledge and ideas knowing that their action will be valued and considered. In order to develop a sound organizational climate, participation is required from everyone who is involved in school operations. An atmosphere of cooperation opens access among teachers, staff, and ordinary employees and job satisfaction becomes evident among them.
Funding. This research received no external funding from any agency or organization. Furthermore, this research is solely designed and conducted by the researchers in an attempt to know the reality of organizational climate teachers are currently experiencing in different public elementary schools namely Malubog Integrated School, Adlaon Integrated School, Sibugay Integrated School, Sirao Integrated School, and Alaska Elementary School.
Acknowledgement. The authors are grateful to the teachers who have responded positively to be part of this undertaking. The authors recognized the work around in completing the questionnaire especially that the city is still experiencing restrictions due to covid-19. The authors are also thankful to the principals who paved the way in reaching out to the respondents. Moreover, the authors are grateful to our families who have supported us morally to make this research a reality.
Conflict. The authors declare no conflict of interest. There is established financial relationship between the authors and any organization or agency since the research is solely decided by the authors with no sponsorship.

Recommendation
Much has been written about the characteristics and needs of principals or school heads and learners in order to know and determine the learning expectations and styles, the ideal learning spaces for learners, and the best ways to support their learning. However, just as the leadership has changed and continues to change, so too are faculty members changing. The findings of the study led the researchers to recommend Faculty Assistance Care Training and Services or F.A.C.T.S. This program is designed to enhance through collaboration by promoting peer-to-peer visits with time for feedback. In this way, teachers will be guided on how to do things and when to execute them. It will be a healthy practice to learn from each other and this program will do just that. Moreover, it will strengthen peer-to-peer instruction and promote and nurture effective and active professional learning communities.