Employee Morale and How It Is Affected by the HR Managers in Organizations - Example

RUNNING HEAD: Employee’s Morale Employee’s Morale Student name: Student ID: College: Course: Date: Employee morale and how it is affected by the HR Managers in organizations. Introduction According to Emerson, enthusiasm is important in an organization, culture or management in order to boost the morale of the employees. Morale is defined as the faith of the man, in the top. Clearly morale is usually an emotional issue with most of the employees. In the recent past, there have been very many problems with boosting the morale of the employees in the workplace. The employees are very much worried about the economy and even more possibly about their jobs. It is for this particular reason that the saying that ‘tough times call for great leadership’ has been proven to be true. For those employees who have a sense of enthusiasms in them, they turn out to be very good workers. They always end up showing up at work on time every day, they perform very well at their jobs, and they end up taking being satisfied with the work that they accomplish. They feel that they have done a good job all together (Bridges et al 2003, pg.499). They feel that they belong to a group that works extremely hard only if the company or management shows some care. The main aim of this essay is to provide the reader with clear explanations of the causes of low employee morale and what the managers in these organizations can do to prevent this problem from causing future problems. Possible causes of low employee morale In most cases, when an employee has a secure job and gets a good pay, receives a lot of appreciation by their superiors, their inputs are taken seriously, then in these conditions, the employees morale is said to be very high. These factors usually affect the quality as well as the productivity of the employees (Stevens, 2009). It is also very beneficial for the employees to have a high self esteem at work because they can be able to avoid absenteeism, employee attrition, accidents during work, among other reasons. If the company leaders do not take the necessary measures, the low morale will most likely increase work errors, decrease team co-operation as well as departments. This is why the employers have to do everything possible in order to come up with effective strategies that would be applicable to the company so as to improve the employee morale. Organizational mismanagement, usually leads to very negative employee impact. At around 2006, the Gallup organization, estimated that there were at least 32 million actively disengaged employees who were already costing the American economy up to $350 billion per year in lost productivity (Lavelle, 2003). To be able to dilute this problem, the research showed that it would really help to first of all build a great relationship with the employees through personal interactions as a key step require some feedback from their employers so that they may be able to gauge if what they have been doing has been helpful to the company in any way. Stress is one of the major causes of low worker morale. There have been several other factors that have also contributed to more employees to suffer from stress. The nature of the relationship between the manager and the employees really matters. Managers, who use the authoritarian system of leadership, are more likely to cause increases in the employee absenteeism.There are also some departments where the employees and the employers have a very poor relationship existing between them. According to Snape and Redman, (2003, p.82, 85), applying some managerial training skills would help restore some developments in the organization. The solution to training of the employees actually started showing its unpopularity in the companies during the economic volatility. Research findings show that employees are assets and require that special treatment. Training should never be stopped because this improves productivity and employee morale at all times. The Issues of low employee morale and productivity are great, volatile and difficult to control. According to Robinson, (2007) it is very important to manage an organization and the individual working there so that success is achieved in the organization. On another note, if the managers do nothing to rectify this issue, they will still have an employee morale issue in the company. The managers should take their time, seek remedies and keep morale high. From research reports, doing this attrition is lowered, improves productivity, increases profitability and above all, reduces the stress of the workers. Employee morale and absenteeism rates will decline. If the employer is an authoritarian leader, then it is possible that his communication skills are also very poor but he is given the opportunity to become better manager (Bridges et al 2003, pg.455). In situations like these, both the employees and the employer benefit by having a better working relationship which is also creates a conducive environment to hire more workers in order to increase the work quality. There are a number of disadvantages related to the trainings in the company. Training schedule must be created and due to various conflicts, sometimes it becomes necessary to reschedule and where unavoidable, some training sessions are postponed. It is also vital to come up with a comprehensive plan that should be followed up and feedback collected by the managers. With these training sessions, the managers are able to understand and apply the techniques learned in training. After the management training has been completed successfully, there could still be some employees who may be a bit resistant to accept the random changes. It might be hard for these individuals to trust the genuine opinion of the manager. This means that the whole process can take longer than expected so as to respond to the new management style (Rousseau and Parks, 2006 p.45). Among other causes of low employee morale are Rumors, negativity, and gossip among employees. This can lead to low morale and increase the absenteeism of employees. For these reasons and more, it becomes very common for the employees to ask for a sick leave since they are afraid of or even angry with other employees. The research done by the experts also show that teambuilding can efficiently eliminate all these negative actions by fostering genuine respect among the employees (Ewton, 2007). The teams formed usually allow the employees to do everything within their power in order to solve problems, plan, and make decisions. By solving various problems most of the members are able to appreciate this chance, while planning events the members learn how they can implement various solutions. By giving their contribution towards important decisions in the company the employees are able to raise their self esteem. They propose ideas that help employees realize their importance to the company. For this same reason, It the attendance rates is also improved because this feeling of importance makes the employees feel that the company needs their presence. It is important for every team to choose a leader who has a facilitating nature and very leadership qualities. Facilitating leaders usually help team members feel empowered, evaluate suggested ideas critically, and utilize their individual talents (Ewton 2007). Team members with these skills will work well together and make them feel that they are part of a larger group. When teams work together in this harmonious manner they are able to reduce or even totally eliminate several incidences of negativity, rumors, and gossip. Working together in a team encourages members to combine their individual strengths. Individual weaknesses are covered, because other members' strengths naturally make up for those weaknesses. Most Members appreciate each other more because they experience each others' strengths first hand, and appreciate the help they get from others in areas where they are weak. Rumors and negativity are eliminated because members are now working together, instead of competing against each other. It is obvious that People working together in a team also feel needed thus promoting their sense of responsibility (Neely, 2009). However, there are some disadvantages of applying team building in a work place. Especially if the team leader is controlling or authoritative, then the results will be reduced communication within the team, which may cause the proposed solution to backfire by causing more problems among team members. In some other instances, some of the team members may raise some agendas that only serve to magnify the problems that teambuilding was supposed to solve. Power struggles can happen without proper leadership (Tourish, 2004 p.510). Team building can sometimes be very difficult to maintain especially if some of the members have, negative feelings towards the whole process. This only ends up making the situation severe that they resist any attempt to associate themselves with the other employees (Ewton 2007). The employee resistance can also be a problem if the rumors, negativity, and gossip among employees have gotten to an extreme level. Another major contributor of the lack of high morale and absenteeism among the employees is the lack of incentive programs. Most of the Employees lacking incentive feel that they have no good reasons to show up to work. To avoid this kind of situation, it is vital for the employer in any organization to ensure that the workers have access to well formed incentive programs since this will gladly improve their attitude and attendance rates(Purcell et al,2003). This usually affects most of the internal motivation of the employees. This helps to keep their spirits up and gives them the drive to show up at work and perform to their best. These people may need the external motivation that incentives provide. In addition, the incentives that are put up usually tend to promote certain goals that are beneficial for employees with the attendance problems. Some examples of such incentives programs include the ability to pay the employees even the sick days that they missed to attend work for a specific period (Lavelle, 2003). It would also be very important to allow the employees to leave early on Friday every month to encourage them to maintain perfect attendance. It has also been proved that bonus pay and gift vouchers for periods where the employees have had perfect attendance to act as a motivational factor. Interaction of the employer and the employee is an important factor that helps to boost the morale of the workers. Employees need to feel trust and respect from their managers. Most Employees aspire to have some feedback from management to understand that their work matters. The causes of low morale in the employees are different in each particular company and some of them include stress, rumors, negativity, and gossip and a lack of incentive programs. Most of the proposed solutions aim at dealing with low morale that increases the employee attitudes and improves their attendance (page, 2006). It is important for all employees to contribute to the formation of the attendance incentive programs. The employers should consider the type of incentive and the length of time required to complete them. The Input and feedback from employees helps the decision-makers to choose a program that works best for the specific people who are involved. This helps in the creation of one or more successful attendance incentive programs. In most cases the employees feel appreciated by the employer when they realize that they are being rewarded for perfect attendance. The attendance of incentive programs provides recognition to employees for positive qualities such as responsibility. There are some disadvantages that have are brought about by the creation of these incentives and they include the fact that it requires a lot of finances and time to be able to create an effective incentive programs. For this reason, it would be very recommendable for the organizations to start with offering small incentives and expand the program to larger incentives which grow to larger companies. Sometimes this approach is seen like it does not make much sense because either way, the process will still require expenses (Herzberg 2003, p.86). Another disadvantage is that the more diverse the workplace is, the more difficult it will be to create a program that is effective for most of the employees. It may be more effective very difficult duties. This formula is however difficult to follow when working with an employee whose base covers a wide range of ages and jobs that contains varying degrees of difficulty. In general, to create a successful attendance incentive program, proper research and planning is very necessary. From another angle, the way in which a culture is organized, mostly affect the employee morale and productivity. In some instances, the employers who are supposed to work as leaders fail in their role when they become very demeaning, ruthless and disorganized. In most cases, such leaders ensure that their salaries exceed that of their employees pay by around 425 times that of the average worker (O’Boyle, 2008 p.957). In any case, if the worker’s morale is to be improved, then the leaders need to act in harmony with employees and ensure equal treatment of all. Fighting within the company should be put to an end so that everybody is able to understand the reason why they are employed. The low levels of employee morale have also been proved to be a great contributor of the high turnover of most employees. In case there are Difficulties with interpersonal communication, this can heavily contribute to low levels of employee satisfaction and morale. Those of the organization and it would important to improve the overall team morale. In order to have better interpersonal communication skills it would be important for all employees to have the view that they should treat others as they would like to be treated. This is mainly because there is not proper communication between the employees and the employer on a regular basis in most organizations (Tourish et al, 2004 p.505). It is therefore important for employers to be given some feedback regarding their performance in the company. When the employee’s opinions are valued in a company, it helps to enhance their productivity. Discuss consequences of low employee morale with particular emphasis on employee engagement. Engagement of employees involves the creation of greater opportunities which the employees can use to connect with their colleagues, managers and the wider organization. It is also about creating an environment where most employees are motivated to connect with their work and show a lot of concern for their job. This is a concept that places flexibility, changes and above all continuous improvement of what it really means to be an employer and an employee in the workplace. There are some major differences between attitudes, behavior and outcomes in terms of engagement (Ewton, 2007). The positive outcomes may include lower accident rates, higher productivity, fewer conflicts, more innovation, as well as reduced sickness rates. The attitudes, behaviors and outcomes are part of the engagement story and these three aspects trigger and reinforce one another. Engaged organizations have very strong and authentic values with very clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual respect which in turn improves the employees work morale. Employee engagement is considered to be very vital since it brings about job satisfaction, it can also be measured in terms of the employees commitment to their organization. Most of the organizations are ussually keen to increase the contribution of every individual towards the corporate imperatives and metrics. At the same time the individual employees are expected to find their own satisfaction and gratitude in their work performance (Parker, 2007 p.290). By aligning the employee’s values, goals, and aspirations with those of the organizations would be the best method of achieving a sustainable employee engagement that is required for an organization to thrive. The engaged employees are even more than just committed to their work but they have their personal interests regarding their future and that of the organization’s mission and goals. They always try their best to incorporate success to the organization. There are several companies and organizations where the performance and profitability has been transformed by employee engagements which have transformed their lives dramatically. Several studies have proved that there is a clear correlation between engagement and performance of the workers. Engagement can be the key to unlocking productivity and transforming the employees and employers working life. The workers engagement deals with how the workforce performs and determines whether a company or organization will prosper or not (Rousseau &Park, 2006 p.40). The workers are always encouraged to perform to their best with the prime consideration that every leader and manager is placed at the heart of business strategies. Just like it miss important to have access to constant cash flow in order to have good policy and planning for successful public services, so is the same case for sustainable business strategy. In the current world, there are several factors that are affecting the production lines of goods and services and it is only through the employee engagement that a difference is experienced. In the current market, there have been several differences that have been brought about by globalized competitors, and even more graduates who are more skilled and committed than the workers in China, India and other economies produced every year (Oliver, 2009). Solutions for HR managers to tackle the low morale of employees Connect with the employees The Human Resource managers are central to the management process since they prevent and manage the stress that comes from within and outside the company. They are key to ensuring that all the set policies and procedures are developed and implemented. The Human Resource department is usually faced with a great challenge of reducing the uncontrolled employee turnover in the developed countries. It is important for the managers of the organizations to form some connection with their employees so that they can understand that the management is only there to help them where necessary (Oxen et al, 2003 p.270). For, instance it would help if the managers took a Gemba walk where they interact and work with thee employees so as to know the grass root problems. Challenge the employees When an employee is exposed to the same kind of work and responsibilities every other day, they can reach some limit and suffer from low morale over time. Since most of the employees fill a vital role in the work that they do and in most cases they would probably appreciate a new challenge or task put in their hands (Bridges et al 2003,p.572). Human Resource managers are trained individuals who have the mandate to delegate the various duties to the employees. It would rally help to boost their morale if they kept shifting them in various departments and units to avoid monotony in one particular duty. This will also help in their career development. Deal with the bad apples Employees who are underperforming in the organization usually drain the morale of the other hardworking colleagues very fast. The human resource managers should ensure that they take immediate measures as part of the progressive discipline to deal with this problem (Herzberg 2003, p.89). There should be follow up meetings and regular monitoring of their progress and if no change is observed, then they should simply be sacked before they infect the whole group. Conclusion In conclusion, Low morale in the workplace is usually an emotional issue for most employees. As it has been discussed above, there are various causes for this and they should be dealt with effectively. Poor leadership or poor management is the main problem. In addition to all the methods given above, the employers should strive to make the life of the employees worthy to lead in order to boost their morale. Employees need to know their work has a purpose and they are appreciated by both management and the companies (Herzberg, 2003 p.88). Reference Bridges, S., and Harrison, J. K. (2003). Employee perceptions of stakeholder focus and commitment to the organization. Journal of Managerial Issues, 15(4), 498-512. Ewton Z (2007). Sustaining employee morale: Keeping the peace or burning down the house. Available at: Herzberg F (2003). One more time: How do you motivate employees? 81(1): 86-89. Lavelle, L. (2003). Management Commentary. Business Week, p. 92. Neely G (2009). The relationship between employee morale and employee productivity. National Fire Academy as Part of the Executive Fire Officer Program. Tulsa. Oklahoma. Page, B., Horton M. (2006) Lessons in leadership, IPOs, MORI Parker, S. K. (2008) Illustrative IWP research on engagement, Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield. Parker, S.K, Chmiel, N. and Wall, T.D. (2007) Work characteristics and employee well-being within a context of strategic downsizing. Extracted from the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Sheffield University Vol 2, No4, 289-303 Purcell, J., Kinnie, N., Hutchinson, S., Rayton, B and Swart, J. (2003) Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black Box. London, CIPD Raines SC, Alberg MS (2003). The role of professional development in preparing organizational leaders, New Direct. Higher Educ., 124: 33-39 Robinson, D., Perryman, S., Hay day, S (2007) the drivers of employee engagement, Institute for Employment Studies Report 408. Rousseau, D. M., and Parks, J. M. (2006). The contracts of individuals and organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 15, 1-47 Seroka J (2009). Boosting employee morale needs to occur daily, not only during times of crisis. Available at: Snape, E., and Redman, T. (2003). Too old or too young? The impact of perceived age discrimination. Human Resource Management Journal, 13(1), 78-89. Stevens D (2009). The five causes of low employee morale and how to avoid them. Tourish D, Paulsen N, Hobman E, Bordia P (2004). The downsides of downsizing: communication processes and information needs in the aftermath of a workforce reduction strategy. Manage. Comm. Q. 17(4): 485-516. O'Boyle, E. J. (2008). Salary compression and inversion in the university workplace. International Journal of Social Economics, 28(10-12), 959-979 Oliver, J (2009) Culture Change and Employee Engagement: Overall Outcomes, Team Enterprise Solutions. Oxen bridge, S. and Brown, W. (2002) the two faces of partnership; an assessment of partnership and co-operative employer/trade union relationships, Employee Relations, 24(3):262-276. White B, White K (2009). Employee morale: Not brain surgery. Read More