Post on 16-Mar-2020
ISSN-2249-7196
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
AND REVIEW
Sept -2011/ Volume – 1/Issue- 2 / Article No -5/50-63
STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MORALE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH
PERFORMANCE, WORK LIFE AND HOME
Rashmi Shahu1*
1 School of Management Studies, SRKN Engg. College, Nagpur, India.
*Corresponding author : e mail: rashmishahu17@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Employee morale is an important trait of any employee. In today’s competitive world it is very
important for an employee to have high morale because then only he will be self motivated to
perform better. In the same way it is equally important for an employee to perform well to
survive the tough competition. To survive the constant pressures of the competitive world, an
employee also needs to have a good work and home life. Thus this paper aims to find out how
the employee morale affects his work performance and how his work life and home life affects
his morale, This project is a research done to find out the level of morale and work performance
and the quality of work life and home life of an employee, thereby suggesting ways to improve
the employee morale.
Key Words: Morale, work performance, productivity
INTRODUCTION
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible
term used for the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in
oneself and others.
According to Alexander H. Leighton, "morale is the capacity of a group of people to pull
together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose".
Studies have proven that the morale of a company's workforce is directly linked to profitability.
Low morale - low profits. High morale - high profits. This is because workers who are happy in
their job and with their employer perform better, resulting in higher and improved productivity
and profitability. Employees and managers need to feel emotionally attached to their work and
their employer in positive and uplifted ways. Senior management needs to convey optimism and
send that down the line, with a message that conveys strength and security. They need to
encourage and show frequent appreciation of every employee's efforts, and find ways of helping
employees work in jobs that utilize natural talents. Both employees and management need to
know that what they are doing is highly appreciated, that opportunities for advancement and self-
growth are available within and by the company, and they need to come to work in a happy and
positive environment. When everybody goes to work and loves what they do and where they
work, their performance is high which produces the profitable results for the business. The
challenge is matching employees to roles in which they can and will shine - sometimes it is
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possible to modify existing roles to bring out the best in the employee, and other times it may
require a transfer to a different position or department. In any case, consultation with the
employee is important. It is very important to keep the morale of the employees high because the
work performance of the employee depends on their morale. Work performance means the way
an employee performs at the tasks given to him. He will perform better if his morale is high, that
is, he is in high spirits. Thus work performance of an employee is dependent on his morale.
Now the morale of an employee depends on various factors. Two of the most important ones are
the Work Life and the Home Life of the employee. The environment at work and at home plays
a vital role in determining the employee morale. If an employee is happy with his work and
home life then his morale is going to be high and this high morale will be reflected on his work
performance. An employee will be happy with his work environment if he gets a healthy work
environment and a positive work culture. If he has an encouraging superior, friendly peers and
growth opportunity at work, his morale is bound to be high. Similarly if an employee is happy
with his home life, he will stay in high spirits. An employee will be happy with his home life if
he has all the basic necessities of life, has a sound social network and enjoys a respectable
position in the society. This project looks into these aspects of an employee’s life and determine
how and to what extent is the morale of an employee related to his work performance, work life
and home life.
Literature Review:
It’s easier to describe it as a “state of mind, a mood, a mental condition” (Bennet & Hess 1998),
when these things are all positive and upbeat. It’s the idea that work is not really work, it’s
enjoyable, a source of pride. But, this is perhaps too mentalistic of a definition. A more
theoretical definition would be “positive affective orientation towards membership “(Price
1972), which is the equivalent of the sociological concept of ‘group cohesion”. In this sense,
morale is the behavior of employees wanting to belong to the organization. But, there are many
other reasons for this kind of behaving in the behavior definition. The morale problem or what is
commonly defined as the “morale problem” of the employees is as variously defined, as is
professionalism, with a tendency to settle for rather superficial explanations; for example, that
the morale problem is largely a matter of money.
How does a person learn who he is? Psychologists tell us that an individual discovers a large part
of the answer to this question in the feedback he gets from others. To illustrate this point, we
may say that people harbor certain attitudes regarding what a person does- his job or calling.
This is what is meant by ascribed status. Some jobs have high status, other low status, depending
upon such attitudes. The status of a person’s job or occupation is an important factor in the
satisfaction he gets from it, but it is, of course, not the only factor.
What a person does for a living is one basis of feedback for his self-image for learning who he is
and how he rates in the status hierarchy of a given society. The feedback process means simply
that each of us governs his actions according to the estimate he believes others are making of
him. This may be tabbed to social self. An individual discovers who he is be seeing himself in
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the actions of others towards him. A University of Michigan social psychologist, Charles Cooley,
long ago tabbed this process “the looking-glass self.”
We have said that occupation is one source of personal identity. Possession, where we live, what
we do for recreation, and what we wear are others. However, we tend to screen or filter the
information that comes to us in the feedback process, to be selective in what we perceive and
accept about ourselves. We tend to see and accept what is pleasant about ourselves and provides
a positive image, to reject what is negative, and often to project on others what we cannot accept
in ourselves. Some psychologists say that the closer our self-image is to the image that most
people hold of us, the nearer we are to good mental health. Achieving this realistic appraisal of
ourselves is the process and goal of personality maturation
PARAMETERS OF MORALE
The various parameters used to find out the morale of the employee are as follows:
� Job Satisfaction
If an employee is satisfied with his job, then it means that his level of morale and enthusiasm is
bound to be high.
� Job Rotation
If an employee is given opportunity to do different types of work, it not only enhances his skills
but also keeps monotony and boredom away, thereby keeping his spirits high.
� Responsibility & delegation of authority
Handing over responsibilities to the employee and delegating authority to him helps to boost his
spirits.
� Target achievement & reward
Another parameter to find employee morale is to find whether targets and rewards encourage the
employee or not.
� Motivation
An employee is having high morale if he is self motivated to improve and perform better in his
work.
� Work environment
The type of work environment that an employee has is also judgmental in finding out the
employee morale.
� Relationship with peer and superior
Cordial and healthy peer and superior relationship ensures high employee morale as it means that
he is in good spirits when at work.
� Healthy interpersonal relationship
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Healthy interpersonal relationships at work and home ensure that the employee is in high morale.
� Recognition for work and appreciation
Another important parameter for employee morale is whether he is recognized and appreciated
or his work or not.
� Career plan & growth
The kind of growth that an employee achieves in his career is also a reflection of his morale
level.
PARAMETERS OF WORK LIFE & HOME LIFE
The various parameters that determine the work and home life of an employee are based on the
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy.
Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness, Needs for
Esteem, Needs for Self-Actualization.
Based on the above five needs the questionnaire to determine the work and home life of an
employee has been designed.
� Method of Survey: Personal Survey, Interview and Questionnaire
Personal Survey research provides a wide scope; detailed information can be obtained from a
large population.
� Data sources: Primary & Secondary data.
� Research instrument: Questionnaires is the method of collecting first hand data by asking
directly. The questionnaire used is structured-non-disguised.
� Sampling technique: Convenient sampling.
� Sample – size: 100 {Executives & Management Staff}
� Universe to be studied: Management Staff of Unit-Automotive
Manufacturers Private Limited, Nagpur
The survey was conducted in the office time by meeting the employees face to face, the language
used in the Questionnaire was explained to the respondents at the time of interview and if need
assistance was given to all the employees for any query that they had. Apart from Primary data
through Questionnaires, Secondary data was also collected from corporate brochure and news
letters of the organization. The data for research is collected through the following ways:
Primary Data
Survey questionnaires
Interviews with Employees
Interview with the Assistant HR Manager
Secondary data
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News Articles on Employee Morale
Websites on Employee Morale, Work Performance, Work Life and Home Life of employee
Journal on Employee morale
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Statistical analysis is the most important part of any research, without appropriate statistical
analysis no accurate inference can be drawn on the research. Based on the response of research
appropriate statistical techniques are used to get the desired results. There are following
statistical tools that I have used in this research:
Regression and Correlation analysis
Bar graphs, Pie charts etc.
REGRESSION ANALYSIS BETWEEN WORK PERFORMANCE AND EMPLOYEE
MORALE
Regression Statistics
Multiple R 0.839679074
R Square 0.705060948
Adjusted R
Square
0.702051366
Standard Error 3.31288754
Observations 100
Y = f (x), Where y = Work Performance of employee; x = Employee Morale
y = 0.7074x + 13.672, R2 = 0.7051, This shows that there is a strong positive relation between
work performance and employee morale.
Coefficient of correlation (r)between Work Performance and Employee Morale
r = 0.8397, This shows that there is a strong and intense positive correlation between work
performance and employee morale.
REGRESSION ANALYSIS BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MORALE AND WORK LIFE AND
HOME LIFE OF EMPLOYEE
Regression Statistics
Multiple R 0.634538586
R Square 0.402639218
Adjusted R
Square
0.396543699
Standard Error 5.596773503
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Observations 100
Y = f (x), Where y = Employee Morale, x = Work Life & Home Life
y = 0.7169x + 16.821
R2 = 0.4026, This shows that there is a positive relation between employee morale and work life
and home life of employee but the relationship is not intense.
Coefficient of correlation (r)between Work Performance and Employee Morale:
r = 0.6345, This shows that there is a strong and intense positive correlation between employee
morale and work life and family life of employee.
MAJOR FINDINGS
Pie Chart 1
Inference: It is visible from the pie chart above that 44% of the employees have Average
Morale and 56% of the employees have High Morale. No employee has Low Morale.
Pie Chart 2
1. LEVEL OF MORALE OF THE EMPLOYEESS
0%
44%
56%
LOW MORALE
AVERAGE MORALE
HIGH MORALE
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Inference: We can infer from the above pie chart that 49% of the employees are satisfied with
their work life whereas 51% of the employees are happy and contended with their work life.
No employee is unhappy with his work life.
Pie Chart 3
Inference: We can infer from the above pie chart that 53% of the employees are satisfied with
their home life whereas 47% of the employees are happy and contended with their home life.
No employee is unhappy with his home life.
Pie Chart 4
2. QUALITY OF WORK LIFE OF EMPLOYEES
0%
49%
51%
EMPLOYEES NOT
HAPPY WITH WORK
LIFE
EMPLOYEES
SATISFIED WITH WORK
LIFE
EMPLOYEES HAPPY
AND CONTENDED
WITH WORK LIFE
3. QUALITY OF HOME LIFE OF EMPLOYEES
0%
53%
47%
EMPLOYEES NOT HAPPY WITH
HOME LIFE
EMPLOYEES SATISFIED WITH
HOME LIFE
EMPLOYEES HAPPY AND
CONTENDED WITH HOME LIFE
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Inference: From the above pie chart we can see that 52% of the employees are Average
Performers whereas 48% of the employees are High Performers. No employee is a Low
Performer.
MAJOR PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE EMPLOYEE MORALE, WORK LIFE &
HOME LIFE OF EMPLOYEE (Bar Graph 1)
Inference: It is clearly visible from the above bar graph that the parameter that influences the
Morale of the Employee the most is Job Satisfaction.
4. WORK PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES
0%
52%
48%
LOW PERFORMER
AVERAGE
PERFORMER
HIGH PERFORMER
1.MAJOR PARAMETERS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE
MORALE
814
568
754
669
692
729
693
707
736
661
0 500 1000
1
PARAMETERS FOR EMPLOYEE
MORALE
TOTAL SCORE
CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND
GROWTH
RECOGNITION AND
APPRECIATION FOR WORK
HEALTHY INTERPERSONAL
RELATIONSHIP
RELATIONSHIP WITH PEERS AND
SUPERIORS
WORK ENVIRONMENT
MOTIVATION
TARGET ACHIEVEMENT AND
REWARD
RESPONSIBILITY AND
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
JOB ROTATION
JOB SATISFACTION
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Next important parameters are Responsibility & Delegation of Authority pertaining to work and
Recognition & Appreciation for work.
The least influencing parameter of Employee Morale according to the bar graph above is Job
Rotation of the employees.
Major Parameters affecting Employee Work Life (Pie Chart 5)
Inference: The above pie chart shows that the most important parameter influencing the quality
of Work Life according to Maslow’s Need Hierarchy is Social and Self-Esteem Needs at 21%.
Next to these needs, the most important needs influencing the Work Life of an employee are
Physiological and Safety & Security Needs at 20%. The least important parameter that
influences the Work Life of an employee is the Self-Actualization Needs at 18%.
Major Parameters affecting Employee Home Life (Pie Chart 6)
Inference: The above pie chart shows that the most important parameter influencing the quality
of Home Life according to Maslow’s Need Hierarchy is Safety and Security Needs at 22%.
2. WORK LIFE PARAMETERS ACCORDING TO
MASLOW'S NEED HIERARCHY
20%
20%
21%
21%
18%
PHYSIOLOGICAL
NEEDS
SAFETY AND
SECURITY NEEDS
SOCIAL NEEDS
SELF ESTEEM NEEDS
SELF ACTUALIZATION
NEEDS
3. HOME LIFE PARAMETERS ACCORDING TO
MASLOW'S NEED HIERARCHY
20%
22%
18%
21%
19%
PHYSIOLOGICAL
NEEDS
SAFETY AND
SECURITY NEEDS
SOCIAL NEEDS
SELF ESTEEM NEEDS
SELF ACTUALIZATION
NEEDS
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Next to these needs, the most important needs influencing the Home Life of an employee are
Self-Esteem and Physiological Needs at 21% and 20% respectively.
The least important parameter that influences the Home Life of an employee is the Self-
Actualization and Social Needs at 19% and 18% respectively.
ANOVA
The morale was significantly high in happy home and work life group (M=74.65) in comparison
to the morale of unhappy group (M=63.19), F = 33.41, p < .01.
� The performance was seen greater in high morale group (M=71.35) in comparison to the
performance of low morale group (M=66.49), F = 5.87 p < .05.
� Interaction effect between home life & work life was found to be non-significant F = 0.16, p <
.05, p < .01.
ANOVA analysis
Source SS Degree
of
freedom
MS F
A (morale) 403.2 1 403.2 5.87
B (home
and work
life)
2292.68 1 2292.68 33.41
A X B 11.06 1 11.06 -0.16
Within 5832.8 85 68.62 NS
88
CONCLUSION
From the analysis done in the project we can infer that there is a strong positive relation between
employee morale and employee work performance. Similarly we can also infer that there is a
positive relation between employee morale and employee work life and home life.
Thus we can conclude that the work performance of an employee depends on his morale and his
morale depends on his work life and home life. Thus to improve the work performance of the
employee we need to improve his morale and to improve his morale we need to improve the
quality of his work life and home life.
Improving employee morale benefits everyone involved in a work place. Boosting employee
morale means that people will take more pride in their work, call in sick less often and be more
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productive. Happier employees mean happier employers, since the employer will not lose money
due to inefficiency and lost time.
RECOMMENDATIONS (10 Keys of keeping Employee Morale up)
� Let employees express their feelings about the difficulties and changes that are going on. If
you try to curtail this and tell them they need to “move on”, these feelings will only fester and
turn into anger and resentment, or result in employees becoming disengaged.
� Don't focus all of your efforts on getting buy-in to the changes you seek. Remember "Seek
First to Understand". People need to know you understand their perspective and their feelings
before they will listen to your exhortations.
� Support constructive criticism. Make it safe for employees to express dissent or criticism
without being labeled as not being a "team player." If you don't, you will miss out on important
information and will create a workforce that learns not to care.
� Give employees as much opportunity as possible to solve problems and take constructive
action. Taking constructive action is perhaps the strongest antidote to fear and the feeling of
helplessness. Thus, engaging employees in constructive action plays a central role in keeping
morale up in times of uncertainty and difficulty.
� To facilitate employees taking constructive action and feeling like winners during difficult
times, establish and communicate clear short-term goals and objectives. Not only does it build
confidence and a sense of purpose, it also channels employees' attention in a useful direction,
rather than on feeling sorry for themselves and scared.
� Amp up your communication. Make sure employees know what is going on each step of the
way. When people are feeling vulnerable, their tolerance for ambiguity decreases dramatically.
To feel safe and secure, they need to know as much as possible about what is going on. To
increase the efficacy of your communication, get employee input about what information and
what forms of communication would be most useful.
� When you talk about your vision and the challenges you are facing, use as many stories and
analogies as possible, rather than PowerPoint slides filled with statistics and facts. Great leaders
are masters at inspiring people through compelling stories and analogies.
� Make sure you are "wired into the voice of your internal customers" through Employee
Advisory Groups, presidents breakfasts, team meetings, focus groups, etc. During times of
uncertainty, this is of paramount importance. By having a vehicle for ongoing conversations with
employees, you get valuable "customer feedback" that allows you to come up with the most
effective strategies for executing and communicating changes. Getting employee feedback also
helps you avoid making huge morale damaging blunders. Soliciting input and engaging
employees in ongoing conversation, also communicates respect - a significant factor in employee
morale, and keeps employees engaged. Keeping employees engaged not only increases buy-in,
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as everyone knows, it also enables employees to take constructive action, and thus prevent them
from feeling helpless and then demoralized.
� When asking for employee input and ideas, clearly define the parameters of employee input
and involvement. If you don't, employees will feel "set up" if their input is not used. Also, make
sure you keep employees apprised of the status of their ideas and requests, as well as the final
outcome.
� Celebrate victories and examples of excellence both formally and informally. During times of
difficulty, it is especially important for employees to feel like winners.
SUGGESTIONS
Following are some suggestive steps to improve Employee Morale
Entrepreneurs may have some ideas why morale is poor, and may call in external consultants to
help solve the problem. However, the easiest and fastest way to determine at least some of the
sources of the issue is to simply ask the employee. Ask what the cause of poor morale is and
what the employee believes can be done to turn it around. Obtaining information directly from
the person who's experiencing the poor morale can often be an important key to solving this
mystery. Additionally, these people will receive a sense of pride and worth that their boss asked
them for their input. Some ways to improve Employee Morale are:
Show concern: If the employee believes the boss doesn't care about the task at hand or doesn't
care about the employee, then the employee probably won't care about the task, the employer or
the company. Start showing concern by using the person's name. Large or small,
every business should have names on desks, work stations or cubicles to show that a real person
with worth works there, not just a machine. Next, ask their opinion whenever an opportunity
arises rather than always telling them what to do or the way to do it. This allows employees to
add their own creative thoughts to the work process, which then can lead to more of a feeling of
ownership. Finally, ask how they are. Without wanting to know deeply personal data, the boss
can easily show an interest in the individual worker.
Provide appropriate feedback:The employee needs to know two crucial variables in this
morale equation: what's expected of them and how well they’re doing. Without this crucial
information, the employee will inevitably overwork or under work, think of their work as above
average or below average, and may stray from achieving the supervisor's goal. In any case, the
consequences may be dire and not what the supervisor would want.
Create goals:Create mutually acceptable goals. As they say, if you don't know where you're
going, you'll probably end up someplace else. An employee without a clear understanding of the
goals or without a sense of how thier work fits into the overall goal of the unit, department or
section, can easily waste time on tasks that aren't consistent with the boss's objectives. The result
is squandered time and resources, plus a reprimanded employee who doesn't understand why the
boss disapproves of their efforts. Once the supervisor can sit with the employee and explain in
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clear, action-oriented terms what the task at hand is about, the employee will feel better and
perform more effectively. If given a chance to moderate, modify or discuss the goals and reach a
mutually acceptable conclusion, the employee's performance will usually skyrocket. Morale will
definitely improve as a result.
Offer recognition for the employee's efforts:It takes but a few seconds to say, "Nice job,"
"Well done," "Marked improvement," "You're on the right road," or any number of other phrases
that communicate to the employee that you care about the job and about them, and that you
recognize an improvement in productivity. Also, employees can be given performance awards or
have their name mentioned at staff meetings, posted on a bulletin boards or in employee
interoffice e-mail to say that someone did a noteworthy job. All of these simple modes of
pointing out individual, team or group behavior serve as very strong methods of improving
productivity, self-worth and morale. Another strategy for identifying the cause of poor morale
and turning it around is to determine if the work load is sufficient or too pressured, challenging
or boring, professionally satisfying or not. As long as the current job isn't overly taxing, provide
more challenging tasks--either in breadth or depth to spark an interest in employees. When
completed, the employee will discover a sense of accomplishment, feel increased self-worth, and
be more productive. And as a result, productivity and morale will increase. The next step, and
one that often follows more challenging tasks, is to promote people for their achievements.
When employees see that their boss recognizes and rewards accomplishments, they'll be more
satisfied, and their self-esteem and prestige will increase along with the amount in their paycheck.
This method of attacking poor morale can be extremely productive for all parties involved.
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