Running head: EMPLOYEE MORALE 1

Employee Morale

By

Leonard Walker

MGT 496

A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of

Bachelor of Science in Management

Indiana Wesleyan University

August 5, 2013

EMPLOYEE MORALE 2

I have read and understand the plagiarism policy as outlined in the syllabus

and the sections in the Student Bulletin relating to the IWU Honesty/Cheating

Policy. By affixing this statement to the title page of my paper, I certify

that I have not cheated or plagiarized in the process of completing this

assignment. If it is found that cheating and/or plagiarism did take place in

the writing of this paper, I understand the possible consequences of the

act/s, which could include expulsion from Indiana Wesleyan University.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 3

Table of Contents

Case Study

Introduction.........................................3

Purpose of the study.................................4

Significance of the study............................4

Significance to the writer...........................5

Significance to the department, division, company, alliances,

etc..................................................5

Broader implications.................................6

Organization Overview................................6

Identification and Discussion of Issues..............7

Question(s) to Be Answered...........................7

Case Solution

Information and Literature Review....................8

Analysis of the Issues..............................20

Conclusion..........................................25

References

EMPLOYEE MORALE 4

Introduction

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics nearly two

million Americans voluntarily abandoned their jobs in May of 2011

(Weilsul, 2011). Why would so many people quit their jobs? In

this paper, the goal is to look at the question of why so many

people voluntarily leave their jobs. We will also investigate

what effect employee morale has on an employee’s motivation for

leaving a company. This will lead us to ask questions of how

management styles, change, and corporate culture affect employee

morale. Last, recommendations on how to improve employee morale

are reviewed. All of this will be accomplished through personal

experience and research from the experts on the topic of employee

morale.

Purpose of the study

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The reason this topic has been chosen is, I have personally

seen the deference between the positive effects employees with

high morale can make on an organization and on the people around

them. On the other side, I have observed how an employee with

low morale can drain the life from everyone around them and cause

problems within any company. The purpose of this paper is to

achieve a better understanding of what motivates employees in a

positive way and how to apply these technics to the workplace.

We will also investigate the reasons some employee’s exhibit low

morale. By gaining a better understanding of why some employees

have low morale, maybe we can turn these employees around and

motivate them to become productive employees. Happy employees

come to work ready to give their best and tend to perform at a

higher level.

Significance of the Study

According to Blake (2006) employee turnover can cost

companies from 30-50 percent of the annual salary of entry-level

employees, 150 percent of middle level employees, and up to 400

percent for specialized, high level employees. The cost to

EMPLOYEE MORALE 6

replace employees alone should make managers interested in the

study of employee morale. Human capital is the most valuable

asset most companies have. Just think about employees for a

second. A person could come up with the best idea in the world,

and they would have a hard time turning it into a reality without

the help of others.

The Significant to the Writer

This topic is significant personally, because I have been on

both sides of the employee morale issue. In 1998, I started a

car wash business in Shelbyville Kentucky and at the time, it was

the only full service carwash in town. With no real competition

and the knowledge possessed of the car wash business, I believed

there was, no way would I not be successful. What was not

understood, was just because, I had a very good understanding of

the car wash business, did not mean I could get other people to

do what I needed them to do just because, I was the boss.

The only problem with this business was my lack of people

management skills. If I would have had the proper motivational

skills, the business could have been a major success. Because of

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my lack of understanding, about employee morale and how to

motivate people, I ended up selling the business and moving on.

If I had a better understanding of employee morale, maybe the

business could have grown into a business that would have made a

large impact on my life and the lives of my employees.

Significance to the Department, Division, Company, Alliances, Etc

Management is concerned about morale affecting employee

retention, customer satisfaction, and company profits. Low

morale shakes employee confidence. Low employee confidence tends

to make employees indecisive and perhaps even incompetent. This

means managers must spend more time working with employees

training them and watching them closely insuring task are

completed correctly.

Broader Implications

Quality is a major concern for our company. When morale is

low, quality has a tendency to suffer. Our company has built its

reputation on building the highest quality products on the

market. Our concern is, if our employees are not concerned with

producing the highest level of quality products possible because

EMPLOYEE MORALE 8

morale is low, our customers will buy our competitors’ products

and we will be put out of business, if employee morale does not

improve.

Organization Overview

It is my belief that if a person or a company is going to be

successful they must first have a clear vision of what success

means to them and their organization. In the process of

determining their vision for the future, they must understand

their history as company. Being considerate of the company

culture and understanding the history of the company will help

management better understand the values of the people and company

for a smoother road and happier employees.

Spector (2012) defines organizational culture as follows

“Organizational culture refers to the common and shared values

that help shape employee behavior and are typically passed down

from current to future employees” (p.172). Spector (2012) also

defines values like this “Values refer to the beliefs and

assumptions that individuals bring with them into the workplace.

They are deeply held beliefs concerning such fundamental matters

EMPLOYEE MORALE 9

as the nature of people and relationships, how to deal with

conflict and solving problems, as well as the goals and purpose

of the organization” (p.173).

Zoeller Company is based in Louisville Kentucky. We are a

family owned business that started operations in the basement of

our founder’s home in 1939. We are now in the fourth generation

of family ownership. This company has grown from being a

business ran out of the basement of the founder’s home in 1939 to

the largest independently owned pump manufacturer in the United

States. Zoeller Company has also expanded to have a global a

reach; we now have manufacturing facilities in Kentucky, Indiana,

Texas, Canada, and Taiwan. Our core business is wastewater

management however, we now provide a complete line of water

solutions.

The Zoeller Company is a conservatively ran company and I am

glad to say in my experience management operates under the

“Theory Y” assumption toward employees. Spector (2012) describes

theory Y assumption as follows:

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People will exercise self-direction and self-control in the

service of objective to which they are committed. The average

person learns, under the proper conditions, not only to accept

but to seek responsibility. The capacity to exercise a

relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity

in the solution of organizational problems is widely, not

narrowly, distributed.

I believe this attitude toward employees makes for a fertile

environment for employees to grow and learn to the best of their

ability. This attitude also lets the workers feel empowered

without worrying about what is going to happen if they make a

mistake. When an employee is given the freedom to chart his or

her on course they are going to work harder to align themselves

with the values and culture of the company and try very hard to

avoid mistakes.

Zoeller Company has a cultural value that values the

validity of many stakeholders. Spector (2012) says that

“Assuming that shareholders, employees, and customers are

legitimate stakeholders in organizational outcomes leads

EMPLOYEE MORALE 11

management to adapt to shifts in customer expectations and

employees needs while aligning their actions with outstanding

performance” (p. 182). That being said I believe Zoeller Company

is a very good company that cares about the communities it

operates in, the people it employees, the shareholders, and the

quality of the products it produces.

Identification and Discussion of Issues

It seems to be that employee morale is becoming an issue at

the Zoeller Company. We have many older employees in the company

that are getting very close to retirement age. The next

generation of employees Zoeller is depending on to move the

company forward seem to lack the motivation and morale the older

employees possessed. Our older employees seemed to view the

company as part of their family and believe in working not only

to protect their futures but the future of their fellow employee

and the company.

This younger generation of employees acts as if they are

only interested in what they can get out of the company until

they move on to the next better thing. They do not show any

EMPLOYEE MORALE 12

signs of having any deep belief in the company or any concern for

the people they work with. These employees only seem to care

about how they can work as little as possible and receive as much

compensation as they can get out of the company without any

regard for their fellow workers or the company. It is as if they

do not believe in anything so, expecting them to display any sign

of morale would be a complete lost cause. However, in order for

Zoeller Company to survive we must learn how to raise the morale

of these employees and give them something larger than themselves

to believe in.

Questions to be answered

Why is morale low?

This question is important because in order to fix any

problem one must understand why the problem exist. By getting to

the root of the problem, leaders can start making plans to

address the issues surrounding the problem. Without a complete

EMPLOYEE MORALE 13

understanding of why the problem is there, management can only

guess at possible solutions.

Who is affected by low morale?

People and companies must understand, everyone is affected

by low morale. If the company truly understands the effects, low

morale has on their employees, customers, venders, and everyone

associated with the company. Then the company will be willing to

dedicate the time and resources required to study how low morale

is affecting the company and are more capable of resolving the

issue of low morale.

What is our vision?

In order for people to be truly, motivated they must believe

in the company vision and share a common goal. By sharing a

clear vision, the company will have an easier time in raising

morale levels. People must believe in something before they are

going exhibit high levels of motivation. If people think they

are just a number and they are punching a time clock to make it

to the next paycheck they will only give minimum effort.

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The methodology used to answer these questions will come

from literature review, personal communications, and newly gained

knowledge as a result of this study.

Information and Literature

In the book Fish the authors (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen,

2000) tell the story of Mary Jane Ramirez. Mary is a widowed

manager at a large financial company in Seattle. Her husband is

recently deceased and she has been task with turning around a

department with the lowest morale in the financial company in

which she works.

After Mary Ann’s husband dies unexpectedly. She becomes a

widow with two young children to support. Mary Ann and her

husband had moved to Seattle and just about a year after the move

her husband died of a brain aneurysm.

This left her a single mother in a new city forced to manage

on one income. Mary Ann had become over whelmed with the

responsibility of maintaining her house hold and her work duties.

She often avoided interaction with her workers and peers at work.

She also felt like she was not spending enough quality time with

EMPLOYEE MORALE 15

her children. Most days she would leave her office for lunch and

eat her food alone outside of the office. She did this in order

to avoid the negative attitudes of her coworkers.

One day she took a walk at lunch to the nearby fish market

on the pier. Something special was happening at the fish market,

she noticed the workers seemed to enjoy their work. She had

almost forgotten work could be enjoyable. Mary Ann visited the

fish market several times over the next year. Each time she

visited the market it inspired her to start enjoying life and

work more and more. The main thing she noticed at the fish

market was the workers had turned an otherwise boring task into

play and they all seemed to enjoy their work.

When Mary Ann applied the lessons she had learned at the

fish market, her life began to take a turn for the better. The

things she learned and applied were, we all have a choice of our

attitude and our attitude affects our moods. Play, we all enjoy

task more when they seem like play. Make others day, if possible

try to make others day better and they will be more likely to

respond in a positive way. Be present, when we are in the moment

EMPLOYEE MORALE 16

and people feel like they have our attention, it makes them feel

important and we are in a better position to fully understand

other people’s message and respond in a desired way.

This book is important to this study because it shows how

our perception of the world around us affects everything about us

and the people we come in contact with. The book gives great

examples of how life can take unexpected turns for the better or

worst on a moment’s notice. This book drives home the point that

we may not have a lot of control over the events in our life, but

we can have control over how we react to those events.

In this article Anderson (2013) discusses what impacts

morale in an organization. Mr. Anderson list changes in

management, employee opportunity, confidence in management, and

communication as the main causes affecting employee morale.

Anderson says employees sometimes have a hard time adjusting

to changes in management. Employees resist management changes

for many different reasons. Some employees find it difficult to

adjust because of their loyalty for their previous boss. If a

person was hired by the departing supervisor or had built a

EMPLOYEE MORALE 17

personal relationship with their supervisor, they might feel like

they are betraying their previous supervisor by responding

positively to the new comer. Others could experience a decline

in morale simply because of a personality conflict with the new

supervisor. Some employee’s may well be resistant to change

because they have done things the same way for so long they do

not want to do things the way the new boss wants them to because

it makes them uncomfortable.

Employee morale can be adversely affected if workers feel

like there is limited room for advancement and their employer

does not recognize their efforts. Some people would call this

the glass ceiling. Most people need to feel like they are

appreciated and there is the possibility for upward mobility to

maintain a high level of morale.

Confidence in management plays a large role in employee

morale. If employees do not have a sense of confidence in the

leadership of the company, employee morale will suffer. No one

wants to follow a leader they do not believe in. Management

needs to communicate with employees and send a message to

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employees that makes them feel management is competent and can

move the company in the right direction.

This article is valuable to the study, because it discusses

some common reasons employee morale can suffer. Management

changes, employee opportunity, confidence in management, and

communication are among some of the most common reasons employee

morale suffers or improves. All of these factors can raise or

lower employee morale depending on how the employee perceives the

effect they have on them directly. Understanding these points

can help management develop action plans for employee morale

based on these common factors.

In this article Mann (2013) conducts an interview with Logan

Baker, president, CEO and founder of Golden Rule Signs LLC. In

the article Mr. Baker talks about his business changing from a

hardware based business to using more software applications in

his sign design to meet customer demands. A couple of things

stand out in this article that makes it important to this study.

First, Mr. Baker is aware his business needs to change to

meet consumer demand. Second, he understands that employee buy

EMPLOYEE MORALE 19

in is an important first step in implementing any change plan.

Lastly, Mr. Baker is concerned about his employee’s morale and

how these changes might affect their morale moving forward.

Mr. Baker continues to discuss the significances of the

employee’s morale and how their early buy in and high level

morale has helped him improve his business. Baker believes by

involving his employees in the decision making process and

keeping them involved has made a large impact on the overall

outcome of his business model change. The positive effect high

employee morale has is invaluable on any business change.

In this journal study Wild (2010) focuses on the key factors

of business turnarounds. The main points of this article are

strategic change and learning from history. There is an emphasis

on learning the right lesson from research.

This study discusses the importance of the learning from the

mistakes of others and not repeating those mistakes. Management

should approach any change strategically. By using a strategic

approach, management should have done their research and

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understand from history the importance of morale in any change

effort.

In this article Kapel (2010) focuses on trust levels in

organizations and how it is related to morale in the

organization. Low levels of trust are associated with low

commitment levels, individual and organizational performance

levels. This article starts out by asking the reader if the

level of trust in their organization is improving or declining.

The article says, because of the current economy employee

trust is suffering. Trust is being hurt and will cause employee

morale to fall off. Employee trust is an important issue and it

needs to be addressed.

In this article the Kapel (2010) says “lack of trust” and “A

lack of transparency in communications” are the two most common

reasons employees gave for looking to change employers. The only

reason these employees gave for not having left their current

employer, is current economic conditions. Most of these people

plan on leaving their current job when market conditions improve.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 21

Seidman (2012) discusses the issue of employee engagement

and how most of what we think about employee engagement is wrong.

This article goes on to give ways to help employees reengage. The

main focus of how to build engagement is by “deploying trust,

values and a purpose-driven mission as the primary drivers for

all business activities, interactions, and decisions.”

Seidman talks about how the amount money companies spend on

improving employee morale continues to increase and how employee

morale remains in decline. He says this is because companies are

focused on the quantity of the action to improve morale instead

of the quality of their actions. This article talks about how

the employer can transform employees by giving them a mission to

believe in thereby elevating the workers level of commitment.

The author discusses how having employees involved in

exercises like lunches with the boss and extra community projects

may not be the best way to motivate workers. He says giving

workers a larger mission and having view of the big picture will

improve morale. As he describes in his article the goal of

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improving morale is to turn the average working into the super

engaged worker.

In this paper the authors Chung and Scoullion (2013) examine

the importance of employee-centered Corporate Social

Responsibility considerations in exploring Corporate Social

Responsibility effect on employee morale. This paper places

interest on how Corporate Social Responsibility impacts employee

motivation.

In this article Ford and Ford (2010) discuss why

organizations should stop blaming resistance to change and start

using it as a source of feedback. The Fords give many good

reasons why resistance to change is a good thing and describe how

to use resistance for successful change. The Fords list three

primary reasons for resistance as follows: “cognitive biases,

social dynamics, and managerial missteps.”

In the article the Fords talk about why managers should see

resistance as feedback. When people resist something what they

are really telling us is they have unresolved issues. If

management will take the time to listen to their employees and

EMPLOYEE MORALE 23

try to resolve the issues the employee might have with change,

ways to overcome issues will present themselves. In this way

management is getting feedback that can be useful in implementing

the required changes and retain employee morale.

“Stop blaming resistance” use resistance as a tool for

understanding and feedback. The authors go into great detail

about how to use resistance as tool for change. They also give

tips for why managers that avoid dealing with resist to change

are domed in their change efforts, because morale is affected if

management does not try to understand why employees are resisting

the change.

In this report Hasting (2012) gives facts and figures

related to job satisfaction. Historically employees have been

most concerned with job security. Today’s workers are more

concerned with chances to practice their abilities and use their

knowledge.

Hasting uncovers the numbers behind what employee covet most

in today’s work place. For the first time since numbers have

been tracked workers are more interested in something besides job

EMPLOYEE MORALE 24

security. Workers are becoming more interested in being able to

use their talents, knowledge, and skills in the work place. This

is now the number one concern of workers today.

With the days of leaving school for the work place and being

there until one retires fading. Employees seem to have an

understanding of how important it is to be skilled in their labor

of choice. It seems people have become more self-aware and

unwilling to give up their dreams for a security blanket.

This study by Lee, Holtom, and Hinkin (2012) takes a dynamic

multilevel approach to examine how the relationship between an

employee’s job satisfaction and turnover may change depending on

job satisfaction.

In this study He (2012) focuses on a behavioral perspective

to examine the detrimental effects of free-riding on team

performance, and investigates team morale as a key factor that

counteracts the tendency of free-riding among team members. He

concludes teams with high team morale negate free-riding through

their high level of team cohesion.

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Team members not doing their share of a project can be like

a bad apple. When team members do not complete their share of a

project the other member are affected in two ways. First, they

not only have to do their share of the project, they also have to

carry the free-riders by correcting or finishing the uncompleted

work left behind by the free-rider. Second, they can experience

a drop in morale because of inequity they feel because of the

free-rider.

Mr. He’s study found that teams with a high level of morale

pressured free-riders to complete their task more often. The

high morale in these teams and their enthusiasm seemed to be

contagious. This motivated the free-riders to complete task more

often.

Spector (2012) defines organizational culture as follows

“Organizational culture refers to the common and shared values

that help shape employee behavior and are typically passed down

from current to future employees” (p.172). Spector (2012) also

defines values like this “Values refer to the beliefs and

assumptions that individuals bring with them into the workplace.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 26

They are deeply held beliefs concerning such fundamental matters

as the nature of people and relationships, how to deal with

conflict and solving problems, as well as the goals and purpose

of the organization” (p.173).

This paper by Kraimer, Shaffer, Harrison, and Ren (2012)

uses identity theory to explain why employees returning from

overseas assignments may leave their companies shortly after

returning home from their overseas assignments. According to the

authors “social identity is the portion of an individual’s self-

concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social

group.” The reason expatriates have a hard time adjusting when

they return from overseas assignments is because of their “social

identity.”

Most of the time when a company assigns a person to an

overseas post, it is to direct the company’s operation in the

host country. These employees are treated like very important

people in their overseas position. They typically are in charge

of running entire operations in their assignments.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 27

When the expatriates return home, they often return to a

position with less responsibility and fewer benefits and perks.

Most of their coworkers rarely understand the scope of their

responsibilities in their foreign post. This makes it hard for

the expatriates to adjust when they come back home. Their

feeling of purpose and status is diminished and they quite often

leave their companies shortly after returning from an overseas

because of their loss of morale.

This study examines how the start-of-workday moods affect

performance during the workday. This study shows how “affective

prime” can cause a positive or negative affect on productivity

and quality. The authors Rothbard and Wilk (2011) examine the

moods of people as they start their day and how this start

affects their morale in the work place.

This study by Iverson and Zatzick (2011) examines the link

downsizing has on organizational morale. The study examines

whether the organizations consideration for employee welfare has

any effect on the process or productivity. The authors conclude

with the opinion that the care a company shows in their

EMPLOYEE MORALE 28

employee’s welfare during the downsizing process does have direct

relations on processes and productivity.

The more care that is given to the employees involved in the

downsizing process the employees not affected by the downsizing

seem to maintain a higher level of morale. This seems to be

caused by the unaffected employee’s empathy for their coworker’s

position. By showing care for displaced workers through

retraining programs and severance packages, the company displays

compassion for all of their employees. These actions can be

beneficial in maintaining employee morale.

In this article Marques (2010) discusses what matters most

to employees in challenging times. With the economic downturns

in business employees are reporting they are more concerned with

their connections to other people in the workplace.

This study by Goerg, Kube, and Zultan (2010) examine the

importance of fair and equal treatment of workers in an

organization. In this case the experiment shows that unequal

rewards can potentially increase production. The authors

describe how rewards can be used to increase morale.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 29

By over rewarding employees for jobs that require special

skills or knowledge employers can motivate workers to fill

difficult positions. Unequal rewards can also create competition

between employees thereby increasing productivity. Employees

seem to strive for the greatest rewards even when a task may be

undesirable workers will overcome many things if they perceive

the reward for completing the task as desirable.

This paper tested the conceptual model developed by Seo,

Barrett, and Bartunek (2004) that predicted the impacts of core

effects on three behavioral outcomes of work motivation,

generative-defensive orientation, effort, and persistence.

Generative-defensive orientation is described as persons

orientation to different out comes in a given situation. A

person with a generative orientation will accept the risk

associated with the possibility of a desired outcome. A person

with a defensive orientation will avoid risk no matter how great

the reward might be.

The effort a person will exert in a given situation is

directly reflected by their orientation. If the person has a

EMPLOYEE MORALE 30

generative orientation they will apply great effort in the face

of high risk or loss if they covet the reward at stake. People

with a defensive orientation apply great effort to avoid any

situation where they perceive the possibility a loss will occur.

Both types will persist in their orientation in avoidance loss or

pursuit of reward in the face of high risk.

In this article Pryor, Singleton, and Humphreys (2010) look

at the concept of workplace fun as a real phenomenon which has

distinct causes and consequences, some of which are discussed in

this article. The authors discuss fun in the workplace and its

effect on employee morale. Fun affects workers in a positive

way.

This study shows the level of fun employees have at work

directly relates to employee morale, higher levels of

productivity, and lower turnover. Employees that have fun at

work tend to display greater employee satisfaction. Greater

morale is directly connected to lower employee turnover rates.

Employees who are happy and have fun on the job do not seek out

new employment options.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 31

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics nearly two

million Americans voluntarily abandoned their jobs in May of 2011

(Weilsul, 2011). In this article the author gives facts and

figures on the number of people from sample groups that are

planning to leave their jobs within the next twelve months. The

most common factor these people state as being the reason for

looking for other jobs is they do not like the direction they

feel their companies are heading.

According to Blake (2006) employee turnover can cost

companies from 30-50 percent of the annual salary of entry-level

employees, 150 percent of middle level employees, and up to 400

percent for specialized, high level employees. The cost to

replace employees alone should make managers interested in the

study of employee morale. Human capital is the most valuable

asset most companies have. Just think about employees for a

second. A person could come up with the best idea in the world,

and they would have a hard time turning it into a reality without

the help of others.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 32

In this article Maccoby (2010) covers the fours R’s of

motivation which are Responsibilities, Relationships, Rewards,

and Reasons. The article describes how to use these tools to

motivate workers in a way that is easy to understand and use. As

described in the article sometimes workers respond better to

satisfying work because for some people satisfying work is the

reward.

The way to use responsibilities to motivate workers is to

give them jobs that play to their nature. For instance, if a

person is good with numbers and details maybe the most satisfying

work for them would be reviewing reports or working in the

accounting department. If you put this person in position that

does not let them exercise their natural talents and interest

their morale will likely suffer. The key here is to match the

personality type with the positions when possible.

Relationships are important when it comes to morale. When

people feel they have strong relationships in the workplace they

feel a sense of belonging. If workers do not bond with their

coworkers and management it is possible morale will be suffer.

EMPLOYEE MORALE 33

Reward can take many forms. Some people are motivated by

money as a reward, others are satisfied by public recognition.

Whatever form the reward takes it must be the type of reward that

fits the recipient to be effective.

People need reasons to be motivated. If a person believes

in the job they are doing they will perform at a high level. For

instance, think about teachers, most teacher are driven by the

pride they feel in knowing they are making a positive difference

in the lives of the students they teach.

Analysis of the Issues

Why is morale low?

Morale can suffer for many reasons. Some of the main things

that affect worker morale include trust, respect, creativity,

relationships, and rewards. Throughout this research these five

themes keep repeating as main reasons employees reported morale

as either high or low.

Employees over and over said their level of trust in a

company made big different in their level of commitment to the

company. The article by Iverson and Zatzick (2011) confirms

EMPLOYEE MORALE 34

these comments. The study examines whether the organizations

consideration for employee welfare has any effect on the process

or productivity. The authors conclude with the opinion that the

care a company shows in their employee’s welfare during the

downsizing process does have direct relations on processes and

productivity.

The more care that is given to the employees involved in the

downsizing process, the employees not affected by the downsizing

seem to maintain a higher level of morale. This seems to be

caused by the unaffected employee’s empathy for their coworker’s

position. By showing care for displaced workers through

retraining programs and severance packages, the company displays

compassion for all of their employees. These actions can be

beneficial in maintaining employee morale and building trust.

All people would agree that the amount of respect that is

shown to them in any situation could have an effect on their

attitude. When employers show respect for their workers in the

form of safe working conditions, decent wages, and saying thank

EMPLOYEE MORALE 35

you for a job well done they are showing respect for their

workers.

When companies give employees the freedom to be creative in

their positions employees will exhibit higher levels of morale.

By give people the freedom to use creativity in solving problems

without feeling like they are under a microscope employees feel

empowered.

This is proven best by Kraimer, Shaffer, Harrison, and Ren

(2012) in the study of expatriates returning home from overseas

assignments and leaving their companies shortly after returning

home. This study uses identity theory to explain why employees

returning from overseas assignments may leave their companies

shortly after returning home from their overseas assignments.

According to the authors “social identity is the portion of an

individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership in a

relevant social group.” The reason expatriates have a hard time

adjusting when they return from overseas assignments is because

of their “social identity.”

EMPLOYEE MORALE 36

Most of the time when a company assigns a person to an

overseas post, it is to direct the company’s operation in the

host country which requires creativity. These employees are

treated like very important people in their overseas position.

They typically are in charge of running entire operations in

their assignments.

When the expatriates return home, they often return to a

position with less responsibility and fewer benefits and perks.

Most of their coworkers rarely understand the scope of their

responsibilities in their foreign post. This makes it hard for

the expatriates to adjust when they come back home. Their

feeling of purpose and status is diminished and they quite often

leave their companies shortly after returning from an overseas

because of their loss of morale.

Relationships employees have with their coworkers and

supervisors can be a large factor in their morale. If employee

connect with their coworkers and supervisors they are more likely

to exhibit higher morale because they have strong relationships

EMPLOYEE MORALE 37

with their peers. If workers have strained relationships with

their coworkers and supervisors their morale is likely to suffer.

Rewards come in many different forms and many people

have different needs. When management is task with who to reward

and how to reward them it can be a tricky situation. For

instance, one person might view extra work duties as a reward,

because they perceive the extra duties as a sign of managements

believing in their capabilities. Another person could see these

extra duties as inequity and be resentful because, they feel like

they are doing more work than others they see as being equal to

them.

Who is affected by low morale?

People and companies must understand everyone is affected by

low morale. If the company truly understands the effects low

morale has on their employees, customers, venders, and everyone

associated with the company. The company must be willing to

dedicate the time and resources required to study how low morale

is affecting the company. If morale is to improve it will happen

only when management realizes that employee morale is an ever

EMPLOYEE MORALE 38

moving target and they must make adjustments and changes as

require by the people and task being performed.

The best example of this from came from a book call “Fish.”

In this book the authors (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2000) tell

the story of Mary Jane Ramirez. Mary is a widowed manager at a

large financial company in Seattle. Her husband is recently

deceased and she has been task with turning around a department

with the lowest morale in the financial company in which she

works.

After Mary Ann’s husband dies unexpectedly. She becomes a

widow with two young children to support. Mary Ann and her

husband had moved to Seattle and just about a year after the move

her husband died of a brain aneurysm.

This left her a single mother in a new city forced to manage

on one income. Mary Ann had become over whelmed with the

responsibility of maintaining her house hold and her work duties.

She often avoided interaction with her workers and peers at work.

She also felt like she was not spending enough quality time with

her children. Most days she would leave her office for lunch and

EMPLOYEE MORALE 39

eat her food alone outside of the office. She did this in order

to avoid the negative attitudes of her coworkers.

One day she took a walk at lunch to the nearby fish market

on the pier. Something special was happening at the fish market,

she noticed the workers seemed to enjoy their work. She had

almost forgotten work could be enjoyable. Mary Ann visited the

fish market several times over the next year. Each time she

visited the market it inspired her to start enjoying life and

work more and more. The main thing she noticed at the fish

market was the workers had turned an otherwise boring task into

play and they all seemed to enjoy their work.

When Mary Ann applied the lessons she had learned at the

fish market her life began to take a turn for the better. The

things she learned and applied were, we all have a choice of our

attitude and our attitude affects our moods. Play, we all enjoy

task more when they seem like play. Make others day, if possible

try to make others day better and they will be more likely to

respond in a positive way. Be present, when we are in the moment

and people feel like they have our attention it makes them feel

EMPLOYEE MORALE 40

important and we are in a better position to fully understand

other people’s message and respond in a desired way.

This book is important to this study because it shows how

our perception of the world around us affects everything about us

and the people we come in contact with. The book gives great

examples of how life can take unexpected turns for the better or

worst on a moment’s notice. This book drives home the point that

we may not have a lot of control over the events in our life, but

we can have control over how we react to those events.

What is our vision?

In order for people to be truly, motivated they must believe

in the company vision and share a common goal. By sharing a

clear vision, the company will have an easier time in raising

morale levels. People must believe in something before they are

going exhibit high levels of motivation. If people think they

are just a number and they are punching a time clock to make it

to the next paycheck they will only give minimum effort.

Anderson (2013) discusses what impacts morale in an

organization. Mr. Anderson list changes in management, employee

EMPLOYEE MORALE 41

opportunity, confidence in management, and communication as the

main causes affecting employee morale.

Anderson says employees sometimes have a hard time adjusting

to changes in management. Employees resist management changes

for many different reasons. Some employees find it difficult to

adjust because of their loyalty for their previous boss. If a

person was hired by the departing supervisor or had built a

personal relationship with their supervisor, they might feel like

they are betraying their previous supervisor by responding

positively to the new comer. Others could experience a decline

in morale simply because of a personality conflict with the new

supervisor. Some employee’s may well be resistant to change

because they have done things the same way for so long they do

not want to do things the way the new boss wants them to because

it makes them uncomfortable.

Employee morale can be adversely affected if workers feel

like there is limited room for advancement and their employer

does not recognize their efforts. Some people would call this

the glass ceiling. Most people need to feel like they are

EMPLOYEE MORALE 42

appreciated and there is the possibility for upward mobility to

maintain a high level of morale.

Confidence in management plays a large role in employee

morale. If employees do not have a sense of confidence in the

leadership of the company, employee morale will suffer. No one

wants to follow a leader they do not believe in. Management

needs to communicate with employees and send a message to

employees that makes them feel management is competent and can

move the company in the right direction.

This article is valuable to the study, because it discusses

some common reasons employee morale can suffer. Management

changes, employee opportunity, confidence in management, and

communication are among some of the most common reasons employee

morale suffers or improves. All of these factors can raise or

lower employee morale depending on how the employee perceives the

effect they have on them directly. Understanding these points

can help management develop action plans for employee morale

based on these common factors.

Conclusion

EMPLOYEE MORALE 43

In conclusion, employee morale is an ever moving target.

Companies must be willing to put forth extra effort in

understanding their employees if they intend to motivate them.

Things that bring out high levels of morale in some groups of

employees could lower morale in other groups of employees.

Understanding your employees is significant when dealing with

employee morale.

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