How To Tackle Negative Workplace Climates Head-On: A Guide for Senior Leaders and Managers (Tool)

Are people in your organization afraid to speak up about potential or existing issues?
Do team members ruthlessly compete for power, resources, and control?
Do people feel like it’s pointless to try to improve the workplace because things seem like they will never change?

If you are a senior leader or manager and you cannot confidently say that people on your team or in your organization would answer no to these questions, then this tool is for you. You will learn to identify the symptoms of three negative organizational climates that affect many different components of the workplace, including the treatment of women:

• Climate of silence
• Combative culture
• Climate of futility

Catalyst global research found these climates to be impactful when it comes to men’s decisions not to interrupt sexism, but they are detrimental in other contexts too. Besides letting sexism fester, these negative workplace climates—characterized by conditions that can make employees fearful, aggressive, and/or dispirited—have been associated by broader research with many other harmful outcomes for employees and workplaces alike.

For each type of climate, you’ll find data on how prevalent it is, why it’s important to address it, the symptoms to look out for, and various actions you can take to overcome it. Let’s get started.

How to cite this product: DiMuccio, S. & Sattari, N. (2022). How to tackle negative workplace climates head-on: A guide for senior leaders and managers. Catalyst.

We thank our donors for their generous support of our work in this area: MARC (Men Advocating Real Change)

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