Leadership Qualities Needed to Develop Employee Morale - Report Example

number] Employee Relations Principles Leadership Qualities Needed to Develop Employee Morale Introduction There willbe detailed discussion of leadership qualities needed to develop employee morale. Developing employee morale, in other words, means encouraging and motivating employees to perform their tasks and duties productively and efficiently. Using various sources, information and points would be referenced. By the end of this paper, reader should know the strengths and weaknesses of this core competency area, the solutions to the possible weaknesses and the importance of strengths. Labor is one of the most important assets of any company. If all employees are not motivated, it becomes very difficult for an organization to run at full potential. Discouragement at the work place can strike at any time. As Leigh Goessi explains, there is no one sole reason which may lead to dampened spirits. It is hence important for leaders to get to root of the problem, which may be a personal issue or work related problem. Locating the problem and finding solutions for it leads to a well motivated and productive workforce. After all, satisfied employees are more likely to find happiness in work. I wanted to know how employees working in diverse work environments get discouraged. Hence, I conducted interviews of two workers in different work settings. First was a 45 year old assembly line worker who had been doing the same job for 15 years. Second was a Human Resource manager at a call center. Interview For 6 hours daily, assembly line worker does the same repetitive and unimportant job. The alienating environment discourages him from socializing with other workers, thus frustrating the worker. The HR manager, on the other hand, has no decision making power. The organization structure is bureaucratic, and the rigid nature of the head of organization makes it difficult to introduce changes or make decisions. Due to this structure, manager can not introduce changes to make work interesting for his employees. Thus, he continuously faces immense pressure. Both examples are similar is the sense that none of them get a chance to be a part of decisions of organization. The assembly line worker informed that there is no communication among employees, and very little communication between assembly line employees and managers. Alienation from the organization decisions and boredom faced by him are never addressed. Further, he neither gets a chance to be a part of decision making process nor his advice is ever asked for solutions. Once he has worked for 6 hours, he gets time-based pay and leaves the premises. The assembly line worker feels that the work he does is menial and unimportant. He also feels that doing the same job over and over again has bored him, which reduces his ability to concentrate on the same job anymore. The tall organizational structure, he thinks, makes it difficult for managers to communicate and understand employee problems. The HR manager works in a call center. The structure being rigid, she finds it difficult to practice her skills to motivate workers. If the manager does anything out of the ordinary, such a ordering coke for all employees to celebrate national day, it angers the head of organization. Therefore, her confidence to motivate human resources has started to weaken. Analysis of What I Learnt I have learnt that employee morale is a very important factor in determining the success of an organization. For example, loss of concentration due to repetitive tasks increasing the chances of mistakes. Discouragement faced by both the interviewees suggests that different leadership qualities need to be adopted according to the employee perception and motivation. There will definitely be differences in opinions regarding how to deal with decreasing employee morale. However, I learnt the importance of involving all employees in the decision making or problem solving process. ‘Discouragement at the work place can have a rippling effect on everyone at the office’ (Leigh Goessi). As I studied HR manager’s case, this seems to be very true. As he is the manager, his motivation is important to motivate other workers. If he is unhappy at his work, it is impossible to make other human resource happy and satisfied. Recommendations An article written in Reuters (2009) suggests that should release some power and listen to ideas. Secondly, leaders should maintain realistic expectations regarding employee’s work. Thirdly, leader should not keep all decision-making to himself and share some work with other employees. In the assembly line worker’s situation, I recommend that positive reinforcement and recognition to be adopted by managers. Further more, they should involve workers in decision making process and probably practice job rotation. Although he does a small repetitive task along the line, positive reinforcement such as giving bonus on least mistakes made would be encouraging. This would also encourage employees to concentrate on task no matter how boring. Involving workers in decision making or problem solving process would remove the alienation felt by workers. As workers directly deal with machinery, they know the best how to solve factory related problems. Hence, their views can be asker for, thus boosting their morale. As assembly line worker complained of getting no chance to socialize, having a slightly relaxed atmosphere and giving small break to employees would help them socialize and relax. In the case of HR manager, I suggest the leader to adopt a democratic leadership style and relax decision making to lower level managers. Adopting this style would neither force a decision on employees, as HR manager complaint, nor the entire decision making transfers to employees. Hence, leader would be able to boost morale without having to lose complete power. The team and the leader, together they reach a solution through consensus. As the manager feels his confidence weakening, his morale may boost if his ideas are valued and his advice considered. Furthermore, getting some decision making power would enable him to perform his job more efficiently. Even though I do not think it is wrong to transfer complete decision making power lower down the hierarchy, however, in practice, it is at the same time difficult to change from rigidness to completely relaxed atmosphere. Reflection Interviewing both of them and taking this course taught me how important it is to have leadership qualities which boost employee morale. Leadership is, I now believe, the most important skill needed in an organization. I say so as it is the leaders who play a major role in helping us shape our work lives. Success is determined on how well leaders can motivate workers to perform their jobs at the highest level of productivity and efficiency. I always believed in motivating others to do various tasks, however, conducting these interviews and this course engraved in me the qualities needed to uplift employee morale. I now feel confident that I will do well as a leader, as I now have learnt how to encourage employees to work at their full potential. Works Cited Fairholm, Gilbert. Understanding Leadership Perspectives: Theoretical and Practical Approaches. New York: Springer, 2008. Goessi, Leigh. “Techniques to increase employee morale”. Helium. (n.d.). 02 Dec. 2009. “How to Destroy Employee Morale – Be a Bad Business Leader”. Reuter’s Post. (n.d.). 02 Dec. 2009. Read More