Measurement of Morale

Measurement of Morale

It is difficult to measure morale directly as it is an intangible state of mind of the workers. There are three ways which can be used for measuring the morale of employees indirectly. These methods are discussed below.

Observation

The managers can measure the morale of the employees by observing their actions and behavior. But in practice, managers do not find adequate time to carefully observe the behavior of the employees. According to Theo. Hayman, The serious shortcoming of observation as yardstick, to measure current morale is that the activities and events indicate a change to a lowered morale which has already occurred. The manager, therefore, should be extremely keen in his observation in order iii order to do as much as possible to prevent such changes.” Usually, managers try to measure morale by checking the extent to which the organization is getting the results in respect of productivity. But this is not reliable method because morale may be high although productivity is low and vice versa because of various other factors. In many studies, it has been found that there was low .correlation between morale and productivity.

Attitude or Morale Survey

The management may organize an attitude survey to find out the morale of the employees. The attitude of the employees may be known either by direct interview or questionnaire. In case of direct persona! interview, attempt is made of find out the views of employees about their job, co-workers, supervision and the organization. The questions to be asked to the employees are selected before hand and the information received from every employee is put into writing. But under questionnaire method, same questions are printed and a copy of these is sent to each worker who is supposed to fill in the questionnaire and return it to the office of the, organization. The replies from various employees are then compiled and inferences are drawn about their morale.

Morale Indicator

Morale indicators are the factors which tend to show the opinions of employees towards the organization and its management. These factors include absenteeism, labor turnover, fluctuations in production, quality records, excessive waste and scrap, training records, accident rate and number of, grievances. These factors are sound indicator of any major variation in morale, but they are not as precise as morale surveys. The main cause for using such indicators is that their data are easily available and trend can be understood very easily. Management can easily analyze the causes of high fluctuations in any indicator.

Significance of Morale

High morale exists when employee attitudes are favorable towards their work, their company and their fellow workers—favorable to the total situation of the group and to the attainment of its goals. Low morale exist when attitudes inhibit the willingness and ability organization to attain company objectives. Thus morale employees should be high to achieve the organizational goals efficiently and effectively. A high morale curtails labor turnover, wastes and disharmony.

Employees with high morale like their jobs and co-operate fully with the management towards the achievement of objectives of the organization. It results from job satisfaction and creates job enthusiasm. High morale is indeed manifestation of the employee’s strength, dependability, pried confidence and devotion. All these qualities of mind and character taken together build high morale among the employees.