The satisfaction and comfort an employee experiences at the workplace is termed morale. Morale is a widely used term in organizations. But in general, it refers to esprit de corps, a feeling of enthusiasm, zeal, confidence in individuals or groups that they will be able to cope with the tasks assigned to them. The result of high morale generally results in the high efficiency of the organization.
Morale directly impacts the working of an individual in a team towards the realization of common objectives. Morale therefore is individual specific as well as general. Unfortunately building of morale is not a mechanical problem that could be solved by either rewards or punishments. The best way to manage it is to proactively do a lot of employee related interventions that will together impact morale positively. Morale can also be understood as the spirit and confidence with which the employee performs his job. It is a complex psychological quality that is impossible to force on someone, difficult to measures, and easily destroyed. The level of morale is a result of the degree to which the overall needs of the individual are fulfilled.
It is assumed that high morale and high productivity/ high quality and creative work all go hand in hand. Since morale manifests itself in the attitudes of employees, it is important to know about the results of high and low morale. One of the most unpredictable effects of the level of morale is its impact on employee productivity. The productivity of a group is a composite of many factors, at least one of which is the general state of mind or the commitment of the group. Formerly it was thought that high morale resulted in high productivity. Research is repeatedly proving that this correlation is not as simple. Various studies have revealed that the group having the highest morale need not always be the highest in productivity. As morale is made up of so many factors, so is productivity, the result of a series of complex factors. When a group is convinced that high productivity will result in its getting the things it wants most, it is reasonable to believe that productivity will be high. It is likewise reasonable to believe that if the group’s satisfactions in the work situation are high and high productivity will enable it to get the things it wants most, the productivity may be high.
Though high morale may not be the single cause of the high productivity, a high-producing group nearly always has areasonably high morale, in terms of the company as a whole. Morale development is almost certain to accompany successful operations where the individuals can relate their respective endeavors and objectives to the success of the enterprise as a whole. “A morale-building organization tends to utilize fully the skill, initiative, judgement, and training of its members, and through such utilization succeeds in building up these and other qualities in everyone, so that the abilities of all constantly expand, and the organization thus is able to succeed and grow.”