ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHING QUALITY IN 7 SOUTH-CAROLINA FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

Purpose. To explore the relationship between organizational environmen t and teaching quality in seven family medicine residency programs. Me thod. In 1995, a questionnaire on organizational environment was-admin istered to the faculties at all seven family medicine residency progra ms in South Carolina. Eighty-seven percent of the faculty members part icipated, as did convenience samples of residents, nurses, and adminis trative staff. The questionnaire measured seven variables: teaching qu ality job satisfaction, organizational climate, employees' autonomy, g oal attainment, organizational commitment, and job-related stress. Res ults. Residents, nurses, and administrative staff who were connected t o programs at which faculty expressed high levels of job satisfaction assessed teaching quality as higher than did those at other programs. The residents' perceptions of teaching quality were positively correla ted with high ratings of organizational climate and job-related stress . The staffs' ratings of goal attainment were also associated with tea ching quality. Faculty satisfaction was associated with their reported employee autonomy and goal attainment. Conclusion. The organizational characteristics of family medicine residency programs significantly i nfluence the perceptions of teaching quality: specifically, these perc eptions are correlated with the degree to which faculty are satisfied with their work environments. In addition, residents' and staffs' perc eptions of teaching quality are associated with their attitudes toward their organizations' environments.