Definition of Morale

Morale is the feeling of willingness, determination and spirit to accomplish a task. A willing worker is more efficient and productive, or at least tries to work efficiently and effectively. The magic is in the mind set, preparedness, determination and most of all, the willing, wishful effort that he puts into his job. Morale is the word that describes all these things.

Let us imagine a case scenario to understand this concept better. As a student, you might have gone through a “group studies evening” during examinations. For example, let us say that the subject you study that evening is your group’s favourite, or one of your team mates is an expert on the subject and helps others to understand the concepts. Now, the overall climate of the group performance becomes good. The spirit and zeal of the group increases and your interest and willingness to accomplish the task that is learning, manifolds. We can see that your group’s morale level is high and obviously you all are going to get through the examination with very good grades.

Flippo defines Morale as “a mental condition or attitude of individuals or group which determines their willingness to cooperate”. Yodder defines yet simply -”Morale is a feeling, somewhat related to spirit, enthusiasm and Zeal”.

Employees with high morale are usually not only like their job, but also passionate about

The effects of high morale are

It is infectious and hence the team spirit increases

Generates high interest in the employees towards the job

Loyalty towards the organisation increases

Employees extends cooperation to achieve goals

A sense of pride prevails in the organization

Employees feels the bond among themselves and with the organization

If the organisation is having a low morale, you can just write all the opposite reactions to the above said effects as the impact of low morale. No team spirit, no interest, no loyalty, no cooperation, no pride – simple. So, the overall effect will be disastrous to the organisation.

Employee morale by itself is a very complex phenomenon to understand. When morale is this important, then we should look at the practices by which an organisation can boost their morale, is it not?

Practices to Promote Morale

Equality: Gender bias free, discrimination free work place createshigh morale. When the organisation policies and procedures have a wider thinking on equality among the employees, the employee’s grievances comes down. This promotes morale

Employee Welfare: Welfare schemes for employees like EPF,ESI, Paid vacations, Pension schemes, perks, Education for employees children, Canteens, sports clubs, residential quarters, transport facilities are all part of morale boosters. TCS’s health care benefits are the best in the industry, says Mukherjee. “One of our initiatives is called ‘Mpower'. As part of this, we have people managers at our centres and they deal with issues that employees might have".

Just Compensation: Compensation structure on the basis ofthe job entrusted to the employee gives no space to complaints against the organisation. Pay is a big motivator, for which the first step to get employed is taken by an employee. There is an old saying that “stomach is the way to satisfaction”. Hence, any unfairness in pay structure will not lead to high morale.

Job Enrichment: job enrichment and job rotation methods helpsin eliminating the stale feel of doing the same work again and again, which leads to boredom and low morale. When job enrichment or job rotation is introduced, the new challenge in work creates a kind of interest towards the job and the employee gets himself involved with the job and hence the morale goes high.

Clear Vision: One of the important factors to improve moraleis the clarity in the vision, mission and goals of the organisation. Clear goals give clear job roles, and hence, the individual career goals get aligned. When the employee’s personal needs gets satisfied, his morale goes up.

Personal Factors: The personal factors like knowledge, skill,aspirations, age, IQ level all plays a part in the performance of the employee. The career goal drives them to reach higher and higher. When his goal gets sidelined, obviously morale cannot be affecting him.

Organisational Structure and design: The organisational designshould be taken care of, to set a smooth sail of communication channels, giving ways for both upward and downward communication. This enables a sense of empowerment and participativeness for the employees which is an important component of building morale.

Belongingness and Socialising: Encouraging socialising ofemployees and their families through get-togethers and parties creates a bond between the employee and the employer beyond work relationship. It creates belongingness feeling towards the organisation. A Tata Consultancy Service initiative, called as ‘Maitre‘‘, reaches beyond employees, to their families, bringing them together for a number of cultural events. No need to say that the attrition rate in Tata group is very low, might be the lowest in the country at times.

Employee as part owner: Among Indian companies, Infosys isoften noted for high morale and the most commonly pointed our reason behind this successful morale rate is – share in the profit. ESOP -Employe Stock Option Plans. The employees can be the equity share holders of the company, and become owners of the company they work for. How does it sound? “Infosys Employees say they are not bothered about the quantum of equity shares they will get, but are proud to be owners of the company” - reads an article in Business Standard, 2010. Owing to this success, Infosys reintroduced this scheme in 2010 after its discontinuation of ESOP policy in 2003.

Apart from these factors,

A good and clean environment,

Health and safety assured work floors,

Health and safety assured work floors,

Adequate rewards,

Performing team building culture and

Training
also plays a role in building Morale.

And also note that unattended Grievances of the employees directly affects the morale of the organisation. We have already seen the consequences of very low morale under UNIT -II, as Work Place Violence.

How to measure the morale? If you can measure, then you can say whether it is low or high, is it not? There are some methods to measure morale of an organisation. It takes a lot of analysis to see through the process of morale build up or brought down. Let us see them.

Direct Observation – By monitoring the employee’s behaviour,their outbursts, absenteeism, late attendances, attrition rates, achievement of targets, quality of production – all these are "give aways" of how employees feel.

Records and statistics: High morale reduces complaints, conflicts,absenteeism, employee turnover, and request for transfer etc. They are the outcome of prevalence of low morale. By the analysis of well kept records of leave, accidents and grievances, morale can be measured.

Suggestion Boxes: A suggestion box may bring out the unsayablegrievance of employees. If at all there is any grievance, like an employee threatened by a superior for not being his accomplice in any fraudulent activity, the tension of keeping it within himself may be a big torture for an employee. When an outlet is given, with assured confidentiality , it would be a way of understanding and eliminating the obstacles to high morale in a work place. When the suggestion box is not getting any more remorse letter, it indicates high morale.

Open door Policy: When the superiors and top managers areapproachable, it gives confidence to the employees – they can approach with suggestions, and they can approach for grievances. Top managers can observe and analyse the pulse of employee’s morale through this system.

Counselling Session: Counselling is also a method to understandthe level of morale, as the counsellor comes to know the real problem for dissatisfaction towards the job. Under this method employees are advised to develop better mental health. So that they can imbibe self confidence, understanding and self control. This method is used to find out the causes of dissatisfaction and then to advice the employees remedial measures.

Attitude Surveys: This method is largely used in present day.Questionnaires or interview method may be used in these surveys. The survey is to look at what is the need for employees to get their morale heightened.