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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION.
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Significance of; assessing & improving morale.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Significance of; assessing & improving morale.
Paper Introduction:
EMPLOYEE MORALE
Introduction
The significance of employee morale is reviewed. Techniques for improving employee morale are addressed and incorporated into an action plan.
Significance of Employee Morale
Low levels of employee morale are indicative of both job dissatisfaction and alienation from the organization. Each of these latter factors tend to affect adversely employee attitudes toward both work and the organization. In turn, employee performance suffers and organizational productivity deteriorates (Johnsrud, Heck, & Rosser, 2000). Ultimately, low levels of employee morale reflects decisions by employees to terminate their relationships with their employing organizations. Employee turnover is one
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Stress, however, isalso associated with so-called underload situations. Studies also found that stress is often higher among blue-collar workers than among managerial personnel. Antecedents andconsequences of salesperson job satisfaction: Meta-Analysis and assessmentof causal effects. Employee morale Introduction The significance of employee morale is reviewed. By contrast, when only individual variations in employee moraleare assessed, the role of shared values and responses to an organizationalenvironment and culture are discounted. Journal of Higher Education, 71(1), 34-56. Cardiac souses' help-seekingexperiences. Job underload was found to create higher levels of anxiety,depression, and physical illness than did job overload (Lee & Ashfort,1993). If little progress was indicated, a secondfocus group would be conducted to develop additional information upon whichto base future strategies. Group & Organization Management,21(1), 67-83. (1997, May). T., & Ashfort, B. The attitude surveywould be used to measure individual variations in relation toorganizational factors affecting employee morale, while a focus group wouldbe used to assess the role of share values and responses to organizationalfactors. References Brown, S. Johnsrud, Heck, and Rosser (2 )contend, therefore, that tools for assessing employee morale should be usedin a way that provides a role for each of these dimensions in theassessment. Takingas an example a phlebotomy laboratory in an urban hospital where employeemorale has suffered in the wake of downsizing, ineffective and unresponsivemanagement, and poor pay, both an attitude survey a focus group approachwould be included in the initial data collection. Santa Monica, California: Goodyear PublishingCompany. Social stress and medical ideology. Such a definition means that alienation could have an impact,whether or not its presence in the environment was perceived by thoseindividuals working in that environment. V. Job underload means that an individual is not challenged in hisor her work, and may be subject to periods of boredom, or fatigue stemmingfrom boredom. Role ambiguity occurs when itis difficult for an individual to determine exactly what the expectationsrelated to her or his job are (Naylor, Pritchard, & Ilgen, 1999). An empiricalstudy of empowerment in the workplace. The needs assessmentfocused on the identification of the underlying causes of deterioratingemployee morale (Szedlak, 1997). H., & Murray, R. Role conflict develops most often when multiple expectationsare placed on an individual in a single job. The initiative designed to improve employee morale would bemultifaceted. The focus groups too is appropriate for assessing awide scope of behavioral issues, including employee morale within anorganizational environment . Rewards would be related directly to performance inrelation to compensation. P., & Meyer, J. In the organizational environment, stress has been implicated in thedeterioration of performance efficiency by both managers and subordinates.The loss of efficiency may be traced to lower levels of employee moraleresulting from an ineffective management of stress. (1999). Moralematters. Signs of Deteriorating Employee Morale Johnsrud and Rosser (1999) concluded that morale is a multidimensionalconstruct that includes job satisfaction, organizational commitment, sharedvalues, and enthusiasm. When performanceefficiency suffers, the quality of the overall organizational environmentdeteriorates, and organizational productivity deteriorates. General Motors does a needs analysis.Training & Development, 51(5), 1 3-1 4. These behaviors include the following: a tendency on thepart of an individual to blame others in an organization for one's ownproblems; increased absenteeism; increased involvement in interpersonalconflicts and confrontation; and increasing isolation from others in theorganization (Lee & Ashfort, 1993). Conclusion Low levels of employee morale are harbingers of future problems thatmay be expected to lead to deteriorating organizational performance. (1999). It isincumbent on both human resource management and line management in suchsituations to both assess the underlying causes of low morale and to deviseand implement actions to counter the problems identified. A theory of behavior oforganizations. E. Techniques for Improving Employee Morale One of the most effective approaches to human resource management isthe development of ties between performance and reward (Anderson & Fenton,1993). Job burn-out is held to result from the combined effects of work-related factors that create unrelieved work stress, which, in turn, leadsto a generally debilitated psychological condition in individuals. One approach that satisfies the requirement to consider bothindividual variations and shared responses is the needs assessment.General Motors and the United Automobile Workers conducted a joint needsanalysis in a metal fabrication facility operated by the company to assessemployee morale and its impact on productivity. J. Lower self-esteem wasassociated with higher levels of stress and lower levels of employeemorale. (5th ed.). A new mandate for human resources. St. Certainbehaviors associated with job burn-out have been observed in a wide varietyof occupations. Focus groups foster aninterchange of ideas among the members of the group. (1996, March). A willingness to leave an organization, an intention that precedesactual turnover, consistently has been found to be related negatively tojob satisfaction and employee morale (Tett & Meyer, 1993). An action plan designed to improve employee morale would begin withthe collection of data to assess the actual state of the problem. PersonnelPsychology, 46, 259-293. (1996, February). Employees would be empowered to make decisionsin a broader spectrum of situations. (1995). The empowerment of employees within organizationsinvolves and depends on the use and delegation of power by seniormanagement. The individualinterview approach assured that the dimension of individual variation wouldbe included prominently in the needs assessment. Dickerson, S. Ultimately,low levels of employee morale reflects decisions by employees to terminatetheir relationships with their employing organizations. Human behavior in the workenvironment. In Stress andsurvival. Employee empowerment also an effective approach to the improvement ofemployee morale. (1998, January). (2 , January). (6th ed.). J. Studies of plantclosures and involuntarily unemployed workers found that health problems-physical and mental-are higher during layoff periods than during periods ofemployment. (1993, February). J. Johnsrud, K., Heck, R. Mosby Company, pp. An in-house dispute resolutionprocedure would be established to deal with employee grievances that cannot be settled at the laboratory level. 85-124. Szedlak, F. (1993, Summer). P. Each of these latterfactors tend to affect adversely employee attitudes toward both work andthe organization. (4th ed.). Johnsrud, K., & Rosser, V. College and university mid-leveladministrators: Explaining and improving their morale. Tett, R. At a point six months subsequent to the implementation of the actionplan, a post-implementation attitude survey would be administered. HarvardBusiness Review, 76(1), 124-133. Occupational stress, work overload and underload,alienation, the "burn out" phenomenon, organizational role definition,performance and reward, and employee empowerment also are involved (Francis& Milburn, 1995). Techniques forimproving employee morale are addressed and incorporated into an actionplan. P. A. Another approach to accounting for shared values in the assessment ofemployee morale is to conduct focus groups. (1995). Job level, associated withjob status, was found to be tied to self-esteem. The key to motivating an individual to remain in and perform wellwithin an organization-to develop a high level of employee morale-lies notin urging an individual to remain or perform, but, rather, in thedeveloping within that individual a strong commitment to the organization.From such a commitment will flow the desire to remain in and perform wellin an organization. Journal of OrganizationalBehavior, 14(1), 3-21. P., & Peterson, R. Role definition is also important with respect to employee morale.Role definition problems occur with respect to role conflict, and roleambiguity. Employee turnoveris one of the most costly outcomes of low levels of employee morale foremployers (Ulrich, 1998). Some theorists view employee morale as acollective response of all employees to an organizational environment andculture, while others view employee morale as an individual response toorganizational an environment and culture. Ulrich, D. Even on the job, job underload creates as much stress as does joboverload. Thorlakson, A. Occupational stress and employee morale are often associated in themass media with overachievers or "workaholics." These individuals arecharacterized by high levels of self induced stress. In turn, employee performance suffers and organizationalproductivity deteriorates (Johnsrud, Heck, & Rosser, 2 ). A further examination ofmanagerial burnout: Toward an integrated model. Data for the needs assessment at the General Motors facility werecollected through the conduct of individual interviews. (1993, January). Ifsubstantial improvement in employee morale is observed, the action planinitiatives would be continued. Naylor, J., Pritchard, R., & Ilgen, D. S. Stressors inorganizational environments have been investigated within the context ofoccupational, or on-the-job, stress (Lee & Ashfort, 1993). Alienation also has been related to the development of occupationalstress, and, in turn, deteriorating employee morale. New York: Academic Press. Journal of Marketing Research, 3 , 63-77. Organizational commitment is manifested as a strongdesire to remain as a member of a specific organization, willingness on thepart of an individual to exert high levels of effort for a specificorganization, and belief in and acceptance of organizational values andgoals by an individual (Porter, 1994). Job satisfaction,organizational commitment, turnover intention, and turnover. 96). Managers and supervisors would be required to participate insensitivity training. H., & Rosser, V. Significance of Employee Morale Low levels of employee morale are indicative of both jobdissatisfaction and alienation from the organization. One reason that employee empowerment programs frequentlyfail is that organizational managers are reluctant to relinquish power(Thorlakson & Murray, 1996). Garfield, J. When individual measurements of employee are aggregated to assessemployee morale within an organization individual differences tend to behidden. Clinical Nursing Research, 7(1), 6-24. Tools for Assessing Employee Morale Johnsrud, Heck, and Rosser (2 ) noted that a difficulty associatedwith assessing employee morale lies in the different ways in which employeemorale is conceptualized. Louis: The C. Francis, G., & Milburn, G. One major problem area within organizations is the need forsome individuals to exercise authority over others-superior/subordinaterelationships. Review of HigherEducation, 22, 121-141. Jobsatisfaction is generally perceived as an antecedent to a propensity toleave an organization (Brown & Peterson, 1993). Lee, R. Alienation withrespect to morale is defined as "an objective social situation that existsindependent of its recognition by those in that situation" (Garfield, 1995,p. Assessors then areable to determine the relative extent to which shared perceptions andindividual variations account for the state of the factor being assessed(Dickerson, 1996). To account for sharedresponses by employees to the organizational environment and culture,individual date were aggregated on a sub-unit, or departmental, level(Szedlak, 1997).
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