Concept Of Morale

What is morale? Can it be measured? If so, how? And what if it is measured and discovered to be low—what then? Can it be improved? If so, how? These are some of the many questions and concerns that make the concept of morale so difficult to grasp. Despite the disparity in understanding of these issues, one fact remains—the employees of successful organizations tend to have high morale, and unsuccessful organizations can often attribute their lack of success to a deficiency in this vital category of employment.

All organizations should aspire to improve morale, whether everything appears to be functioning stupendously, or there are clear indications that change is needed. However, before we can learn how to improve morale in an organization,

The term applies particularly to military personnel and to members of sports teams, but is also applicable in business and in any other organizational context, particularly in times of stress or controversy.

CONCEPT AND NATURE OF MORALE:

Meaning of Morale?

The term ‘morale’ has been defined in many ways. However, all the definitions revolve around the attitude towards work for the accomplishment of organization goals. William Spriegel has defined morale as the cooperative attitude or mental health of number of people who are related to each other on some basis. According to Alexander H. Leighton, “Morale is the capacity of a group of people to pull together persistently in pursuit of a common purpose.” These definitions reveal that morale is the degree of enthusiasm and willingness with which the members of a group work to perform their assignments.

Morale represents a composite of feelings, attitudes and sentiments that contribute to general feelings of satisfaction. It is a state of mind and spirit affecting willingness to work, which in turn, affect5s organizational and individual objectives. It shapes the climate of an organization.

Nature of

Motivations

Morale should be distinguished from motivation. Though both are cognitive concepts, they are quite different. Morale is a composite of feelings, attitude and sentiments that contribute to general feeling of satisfaction at eh workplace. But motivation is something that moves a person to action. It is a process of stimulating individuals to actions to accomplish desired goal. Motivation is concerned with ‘mobilization of energy’ whereas morale is concerned with ‘mobilization of sentiments’. Motivation provides high potential for morale and morale reflects motivation.

IMPORTANCE OF MORALE

Morale is an important part of organizational climate. It is a vital ingredient of organization success because it reflects the attitudes and sentiments of organizational members towards the organization, its objectives and policies. These attitudes and sentiments largely affect productivity and satisfaction of individuals. Morale is the total satisfaction and person derivers form his job, his workgroup, his boss, his organization and his