Effect of Morale in Workplace

Question: Discuss about theEffect of Morale in Workplace. Answer: Introduction Morale in the workplace is mostly connected with the employee morale. It is known as the emotions, approach, contentment and largely viewpoint of employees during their time in the workplace environment. As mentioned by Paek et al., (2015), productivity of employees and profitability of a business organization totally depends on morale of the employees. Employees that are happy and positive at work always carry a positive or high morale. According to Turner (2013), high morale in the workplace facilitates greater feelings of team work and shared vision. It is evident that in one-on-one communication and in work teams, positive morale always helps to improve the level of collaboration among the employees. It also helps to develop positive working relationship with colleagues and co-workers which are known as a frequent supplier of good employee morale. If both employees and managers of an organization are carrying a high morale, then they will high self-esteem (Khan Al Hosni, 2016). On the other hand, high morale means greater satisfaction in the workplace along with better working relationship. It is see that maintaining high morale in the workplace is extremely important for any organization. Low morale is absolutely not welcomed in the workplace as it causes additional expense like employee turnover and drop in productivity and profitability. That is why; according to Rukshani and Senthilnathan (2013), each business organization should understand the factors that can directly or indirectly affect morale in the workplace. Morale or employee morale is known as the connection that an individual employee or a group of employees have with their work and the company they work for. High employee is necessary in the workplace as it exhibits that employees are happy (Eller, 2014). On the other hand, low employee morale means productivity will be hampered. As mentioned by Dalton E. McFarland, morale in the workplace can be defined as a group of phenomenon. It is a perception that signifies the level of favorable or unfavorable approach of the employees. Based on different situation s and aspects there are several natures of employee morale (Sageer et al., 2012). It states that morale mostly represents a compound of feelings, approaches and sentiments that donate to normal feelings of satisfaction. It is a state of mind and spirit that affects willingness to work, that, in turn influences organizational and personal objectives. One nature of morale can be understood from high morale and low morale. In a business organization, if the eagerness and readiness to work in a team is high, then it can be said that morale is high. High morale extremely important for any organization as it caters an approach of satisfaction with desire to continue and willingness to struggle for the goals of the team and organization (Patel Desai, 2013). It is seen that under the situations if high morale, workers have few grievances, frustrations and complaints. They can produce more productivity and profitability as they can understand individual and organizational goals clearly. Morale and workplace motivation is connected to each other. However, as mentioned by Bodla and Danish (2013), these two concepts are cognitive and are different from each other. In spite of that it is true that morale can be distinguished from motivation. Morale is defined as the combination of feelings, approaches and sentiments that contribute to general feeling of approval at the workplace. On the other hand, motivation is concept that that allows an employee to give his best willingly for the organization. As mentioned by Goyal and Goyal (2014), it is a method of stimulating individuals to action to achieve the desired goal. Motivations is mostly concerned with mobilization of energy, where moral is concerned with mobilization of sentiment. However, it seen that employee motivation is impossible if employee morale is low. If employees are not happy in the organization, it is obvious that morale will be low. If their morale is low then they will not give their best in the organiza tion which will show that they are not motivated. Morale also has a direct impact on organizational productivity (Kristekova et al., 2012). High morale leads to high productivity whereas low morale leads to low productivity. That is why; it is important to measure morale of the employees in a workplace. There are several arguments about how morale affect workplace environment. However, Turner and Arif (2012) described six best impacts that morale can have on a workplace. Those six impacts are hereby mentioned below. The major impact of morale in workplace can be seen through improved productivity. When employee morale is high in an organization, then everyone works with full dedication. Productivity in an organization improves when employees love to come to work (Manson 2014). In many successful business organizations it is seen that employees coming to the office early and staying late without expecting rewards. They do this as they love being at work and enjoy his tasks (Kube et al., 2013). Therefore, it is evident that if a management of organizations wants to develop an effective workplace with high level of productivity then that management must improve employee morale. According to Whitaker et al., (2013), enhanced performance and creativity is another impact that high morale can have on an organization. It is seen that individual employees tend to perform better when their morale is high in the workplace. Most of the organizations implement brainstorming meetings to solve an issue when staff morale high as creative solutions is found easily in this way. On the other hand, if the same meeting is conducted with a group of employees who are depressed and bored, no answer to problem will be found. In any organization one of most critical thing is the number of leave days employees take. If employee morale is low then they will take frequent leaves to take a single day off instead of dragging themselves into the workplace. On the other hand, if employee morale is high in an organization then they will cut back on sick and leave days as they enjoy the work they do. They will feel highly motivated and will want to join every team meetings and tasks. It is counted as one of the most major impacts that morale can have in an workplace as an organization have to pay for an employees leave (Tannenbaum, 2013). On the other hand, if there is no replacement then the organization will lose productivity. Higher attention to detail is another advantage of high employee morale in the workplace. When employees enjoy what they do, they will pay attention to what they are performing. On the other hand, if morale is low in the workplace then employees are more likely to become distracted which will force them to make mistakes. Besides, in todays business context developing a safer workplace is extremely important (Akintayo 2012). It not only attracts qualified employees from outside of the organization but also builds a positive brand image of the company within the customers. When employee morale is high in the workplace then employees will pay attention safety rules and regulations. On the other hand, employees with low morale will be distracted easily and will be unable to provide greater focus on the task which will increase the chances of workplace accidents. High employee morale also increases quality of work in a workplace. As mentioned by Upadhyay and Gupta (2012), employees with high morale are expected to produce work with higher quality that the employees who are low on morale. On the other hand, as mentioned by Rice (2013), there are some impacts of high morale that are important to develop a better workplace environment. Those impacts are hereby discussed below. High morale in a workplace is expected to deliver a competitive edge in good times and bad times of an organization. Nowadays, business industries are extremely competitive and it is expected that each organization will face a situation of crisis. While facing a crisis, it would be easier for an organization to handle it is morale is higher in the workplace. On the other hand, sacrifices in the workplace are shared quite easily if morale of the employees is high. That is why; in this context, high morale works as a protective armor. In an organization where the morale is high, employees will support the implementation of organizational strategies. As mentioned by Tannenbaum (2013), organizational strategies are not important, what important is the method of implementation. A good strategy is a fine thing; however, it is useless if management cannot implement it. Whenever management tries to implement new strategies it is expected that lots of changes will take place. If employees are on low on morale then they will deny accepting the changes. However, if morale is high then they will happily comply with the organization and will respond positively. For any organization, it is important to recruit best possible employees to increase productivity and profitability. There are several strategies to attract new employees. However, developing a workplace that includes high morale is the most important one. Besides, if morale is high in the workplace, then management and higher authority personnel can manage its employees with ease (Akintayo, 2012). A workplace where morale is high, employees become less fearful. In this situation management can easily focus on things that can make it more productive. On the other hand, it is also seen from multiple and highly credible sources that workplace morale is positively related with superior stock prices, superior income per share and even five year survival following an IPO. It is also true that workplace morale is a leading indicator and helps and organization to prevent possible negative situation. However, it is not easy to implement positive workplace morale. There are several steps that can help an organization to spread positive moral in the workplace. As mentioned by Kube et al., (2013), there are seven ways through which employee morale can be improved in an organization. Recognizing employees in the easiest way in which management can thank employees then they are doing good job. Employees can be praised at staff meetings or the management can thank them in a hand-written note. However, more than the message, the most important thing is to exhibit that the management is noticing his hard work. Management can also show employees the outcomes of their hard work. If management shows its employees that their hard work is actually helping the organization to expand then they will be motivated to work harder which is obviously a positive morale. On the other hand, management of an organization can establish strong and transparent promotion tracks. In order to facilitate positive and high morale among the employees, an organization needs to highlight the viability of their promotional tracks (Kristekova, 2012). An organization must clear about opportunities to grow, not just throughout the time of employment but on a regular basis. It is also seen that employees experience higher morale when higher authority personnel appreciate then as human first and employees second. Management can help its employees to distinguish personal milestones and losses while respecting their solitude. Discounts and sponsored programs can also be offered that will not only help to develop high moral but will also help to develop a positive relationship with employees (Bodla Danish, 2013). An organization can believe paying for or subsidizing shipping, technology gym connection or childcare. From the entire discussion, one thing is clear that morale in the workplace is extremely important not only for an organization but also for the employees. Having high morale helps an organization to compete against its rivals and to improve their market position through high productivity and profitability. On the other hand, if employees are having high morale, then they will work harder which will help them to improve their career. In this study, after analyzing all the benefits of morale in workplace, some strategies are also discussed that can help an organization to facilitate high morale in the workplace (Goyal Goyal, 2014). Besides, it is also mentioned that morale and motivation are connected to each other. Therefore, these mentioned strategies will also help to improve employee motivation. References Akintayo, D. (2012). Working environment, workers morale and perceived productivity in industrial organizations in Nigeria.Education Research Journal,2(3), 87-93. Bodla, M. A., Danish, R. Q. (2013, June). Intervening Role of Social Exchange Perceptions between Perceived Organizational Politics and Employee Morale. InProceedings of 21st International Business Research Conference(Vol. 10, p. 11). Eller, T. G. (2014).The effects of humor and fun on employee morale and well-being(Doctoral dissertation, WALDEN UNIVERSITY). Goyal, R., Goyal, M. D. (2014). 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