Workplace Dynamics: A Study on Organisational Climate, Perceived School Politics and Employee Turnover among Women Educators in Semiprivate Schools

Abstract

Teacher’s well-being and professional stability remain critical concerns in the field of education, particularly in the context of increasing workload, administrative demands, and institutional challenges. Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that results from prolonged or excessive stress, especially in work, caregiving, or study-related settings. Job satisfaction is the positive or negative feeling a person has about their job. It reflects how much people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their work. Organizational politics refers to self-serving behaviours at the workplace, where individuals or groups use power, manipulation, favouritism, or hidden agendas to gain benefits often at the cost of fairness, transparency, and teamwork. When workplaces are dominated by politics and favouritism, employees feel dissatisfied and demoralized. Over time, this dissatisfaction builds into chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, and eventually burnout in teachers. The present study examines the relationship between burnout, perceived organizational politics, job satisfaction, and turnover intention among teachers. Standardized scales were used to measure the relationship between variables. The results indicate that burnout was positively correlated with career satisfaction, perceived administrative support, coping with job-related stress, and attitude towards students, indicating its complex interplay with both positive and negative workplace factors. Conversely, job satisfaction showed strong negative associations with burnout, administrative support, coping strategies, and attitudes toward students, underscoring its protective role against stress. Additionally, turnover intentions were strongly linked to perceptions of mismanagement, work nature, and career opportunities, suggesting that organizational mismanagement substantially drives employee attrition. Overall, the findings  highlight the dual role of workplace resources and stressors in shaping employee well-being and retention. By analyzing these interrelated constructs, the study seeks to determine the predictive role of organizational politics and burnout in shaping job satisfaction and turnover intention. Moreover, the findings provide deeper insight into how political climate and occupational stressors affect teachers’ retention, while emphasizing the influence of job satisfaction in reducing turnover. This study contributes both theoretically and practically by highlighting areas for policy intervention and school level support to strengthen teacher well- being and organizational commitment.