Morale is a fundamental psychological concept.

It has been defined in many ways but the fundamentals of Morale revolve around the attitude towards the accomplishment of organizational goals. It is the mental health of individuals related to each other on some basis Morale is the degree of enthusiasm and willingness with which the members of a group pull together to achieve group goals. It is the state of mind and spirit affecting willingness to work which, in turn, affects organizational and individual objectives. Nature of Morale: Generally the term Morale is used to describe an overall climate prevailing in the organization. It is not an absolute concept which can convey a specific meaning. Like the word health, the word morale by itself does not convey any favorable and unfavorable meaning. It has to be qualified with the degree, as high morale or low morale. Thus it is a relative concept. If the enthusiasm and willingness is high we say that morale is high in the organization and vice versa. Morale represents the collective attitude of the workers. Morale is both individual and group phenomenon. In the latter case, high morale is reflected in good team work and team spirit. Under conditions of high morale, workers have a few grievances, frustrations and complaints as they are clear about the goalsindividual and organizational, and their relationship with others in the organization. Morale is multi dimensional in nature. It is a long term phenomenon. Raising morale to high level and maintaining it is a long run and continuous process which cannot be achieved through short run gimmicks, contests or one shot actions.

Difference between Motivation and Morale: 1) Motivation is concerned with the needs of an individual. 2) Motivation is the driving force which induces an individual to 1) Morale is concerned with the overall attitude of the group towards the organization and management.

show higher productivity. 3) Motivation is directly linked with productivity. Higher the motivation, higher is the productivity.

2) Morale is the capacity of the group to pull together persistently for the achievement of a common purpose 3) High morale need not be associated with high productivity and vice versa. High morale may be associated with low productivity and low morale with high productivity.

morale of the employees must be kept high to achieve following benefits: willing co-operation towards objectives of the org. loyalty to the organization and its leadership good discipline high degree of employee interest in their job and organization pride in the organization reduction of absenteeism and labour turnover

low morale will lead to following situations: high rates of absenteeism and labour turnover excessive complaints and grievance frustration among workers friction among workers lack of discipline

Measurement of Morale: By observation: The managers can measure the morale of the employees by observing their activities and behavior. Generally managers try to measure morale by checking the extent to which the organization is achieving the results in respect of the productivity. By attitude or morale survey: through direct interviews or questionnaires the attitude of the employee may be known, which in

return could help us to know the overall environment of the organization. By Morale indicators: these are the factors which tend to show the attitude among the employees towards the organization and its management. These factors include labour turnover, absenteeism, fluctuations in output, quality records, excessive waste and scrap, training records, accident rates and number of grievances.

Relation Between Morale and Productivity: It is generally assumed that morale and productivity have direct relationship with each other, i.e. they are positively co-related. Human researchers contended that high morale and high productivity always go together like east and west sides of an elevator. It was argued that high productivity results as the workers are with high morale do not shirk work, are least tardy, show good team spirit and contribute their best to attainment of organizational objectives. But this is not always true. Generally there is some positive correlation between morale and productivity, but they are not absolutely related, i.e., an increase of 10% in morale does not guarantee a proportionate increase i.e. 10% in productivity. It is possible that morale may increase with either favorable or unfavorable shifts in productivity. Studies say that morale is not the only factor that helps in developing a direct relation between morale and productivity; there are many other factors responsible for increasing productivity. Therefore, it is possible to find high morale related to low productivity and low morale associated with high productivity. This means that workers who perform very well in their work do not necessarily have high morale.

there are 4 possible combinations of morale and productivity high morale and high productivity high morale and low productivity low morale and low productivity low morale and high productivity

High productivity goes with high morale when workers are highly motivated, the supervision is considerate of workers and the workers are highly trained. This is an ideal situation and makes the best possible use of human resources. High morale is associated with low productivity when employees are merely happy and they are not properly motivated to do work. Other reasons for low productivity may be inefficiency of supervision, faulty materials and technology, and low degree of employee skills. It is also possible that low morale is associated with high productivity. This occurs in situations where an autocratic OB model is being used in an organization. Factors improving morale: Two way communication Proper incentive system Human relations approach Welfare schemes

Participation in management Improve workers training Job enrichment