Morale & Monotony

Morale
The dictionary definition of morale is “a prevailing mood and spirit conducive to willing and
dependable performance.” High morale is defined as “a confident spirit of wholehearted cooperation
in a common effort”. High morale then would imply perseverance at work, which is important to the
objective of management.

Low morale can exist in a manager or in a group of manager. Companies occasionally make separate
morale surveys with questions for managers and supervisors different from those for rank-and-file
employees. Morale is almost always higher among managers than among rank-and-file employees.

Morale is the term usually applied to armed forces during wartime, and to sports and athletic teams.
It refers to team spirit and togetherness of people for a common purpose. Industrial morale is defined
as the possession of a feeling on the part of an employee or a group of employees being accepted and
belonging to the work group and the organization, through adherence to common goals and having
confidence in the desirability of these goals. The significant point in industrial morale is the will or
the urge to do good work rather than upon contentment or satisfaction.

Morale and motivation are not synonymous terms. The employee can be motivated to do the job in
spite of having a low morale. Similarly, the term morale and job satisfaction are not interchangeable.
Job satisfaction is the result of various favourable attitudes the individual holds towards his job,
towards related factors, and towards life in general. Industrial morale is the composite expression of
the attitudes of the various individuals employed by the organization which is ultimately reflected
through the generalized feeling of the individual employed both as an individual as well as the
member of his work group. It is generated by the group and its leadership through the development
and maintenance of adequate inter-personal relationships. It is important, therefore, to view industrial
or organizational morale within the context of the reality of the organization where the leaderships
operate through management/ supervision at all the levels and functions.

Motivation, morale and job satisfaction develop in the process of performance of the job within the
prevailing working condition and the behavioural climate in the organization. Motivation, morale
and job satisfaction of employees can thus be thought to be in a circular relationship continuously
– affecting each other and in turn affecting, also in a circular relationship, the attitudes and
competence of employees at work. To elaborate further, if the process of performance of the job is
technically sound and the employees are dealt with an related properly, then only and the satisfactory
performance will result into adequate motivation, improved morale and job satisfaction. If, on the
other hand, the process of performance of the job is technically sound but the way of dealing and
relating with people is uncongenial, the performance in the short run may still be technically
satisfying but humanly will inevitably lead to low morale, low motivation and job dissatisfaction.
This is bound to affect the performance adversely in the long run.

In this condition, the employees are apt to feel that they are operating with less freedom and
excessive control. If, however, the way of dealing and relating with people is what is socially
desirable but the process of performing the job is not technically sound, the condition may prove to
be superficially satisfying and will result into a superficially high morale in the short run.

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In such a condition the employees are apt to feel that are operating with less control and a good deal
of freedom. This condition will also eventually lower the morale in the long run, because the job will
not be done satisfactorily.

The concept of morale may be further elaborated if we consider the factors which have been taken to
indicate the measures of morale in organizations. The Survey Research Centre of the Institute for
Social Research, Michigan, has considered, for instance, that “Group morale is not a single unified
entity, but rather breaks down into a number of different types of motivation …… Industrial morale
breaks down into (a) intrinsic Job satisfaction, (b) pride in work group (c) satisfaction and
identification with the company, and (d) satisfaction with wages and chances for promotion …. The
exact number of moral dimension varies however. It is not necessary that every study should yield all
these components. The components involved depend upon the design of the study, the importance of
their role in the organization and the fineness of the analysis”.

There is a tendency to replace the term morale by other terms, like work ‘commitment’ and
‘involvement’ possibly in order to extend the scope of the concept and to bring it nearer to the point
of motivated action.

a. Worker’s Involvement: A worker’s ‘involvement’, in its dictionary meaning would mean

the worker’s feeling of being bound up with the organization in which he works.
Operationally, involvement would mean that the worker’s decision about himself would
include his considerations for the well-being of the organization; and that for him the two
interests would lie in the same direction.
Likert and Marrow suggest that employees’ involvement can result from participation in
decision making and from a sense of satisfaction with their job. The assumption is that if
these conditions exist in an organization, employees will voluntarily feel as part of the work
system and their involvement would be reflected by their performance with organizational
tasks. This can also be considered as the industrial purpose of worker’s involvement.
b. Workers’ Commitment to Work: The workers’ ‘Commitment’ has been defined as his
mental state based on a combination of favourable attitudes towards work. The point which
tends to be made here is that, among other factors, a belief on the part of the workmen in the
type of work itself is an important factor contributing to morale.
The significance of ‘commitment’ to work lies in the consideration that the development of a
‘committed’ workforce in the industrial sector of economy is of great importance to the
management of industrial enterprises, the trade unions, the planners and many others.
c. Measurement of Morale: The attitude questionnaire is the most usual method of measuring
the morale of employees. If structured properly, the results can be conveniently handled and
even computerized. The analysis of results for interdepartmental and interplant comparison
also is possible. Sometimes, when standardized attitude questionnaires are used, the results of
a fresh morale survey of employees in any company can be compared and interpreted
according to norms already set.
The use of morale surveys is not very frequent in Indian organizations. Some serious
attempts, however, have been made to systematically develop and use attitude scales in
Indian conditions. One such example of attitude scale is given in the table below. The
original questionnaire was constructed to measure the morale of workers in an engineering
factory in India. For the construction of the original questionnaire a sample of 380 workers
was used. Absenteeism data were collected for those workers for a period of 12 months

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 preceding the investigation as validity criterion. The high morale indicated by the
questionnaire was found to be associated with low absenteeism of workers, showing a fair
degree of validity of the questionnaire, the 12 items which were selected, involved attitudes
to job itself, wages, security, supervision, and to company in general and welfare activities.

Fully Partly Cannot Somewhat Fully

Agree Agree Decide Disagree Disagree
1 I think I would be able to do some
other work better than my present … … … … …
work
2 I am satisfied at the changes of
… … … … …
increasing income at this factory
3 I do not think I will lose my job as
… … … … …
long as I work efficiently
4 My ‘mistry’ is reasonable in the work
… … … … …
he expects from me
5 Our supervisor takes interest in our
… … … … …
general welfare.
6 General supervision of my section is
… … … … …
satisfactory.
7 I am satisfied with the running of the
… … … … …
factory canteen
8 This company is sympathetic to and
appreciative of the workers’ point of … … … … …
view
9 The company policy is to over drive
the workers and get the maximum out … … … … …
them
10 The company satisfies the reasonable
… … … … …
demands of workers
11 This factory is a better place to work
… … … … …
than other neighboring factories.
12 I feel satisfied with my progress
… … … … …
made in this company up to now

Factors Affecting Morale:

(1) Role of the Supervisor

There are many factors which affect industrial morale. There are undeniable indications that a
number of cultural and social factors exercise some measure of influence upon the individual’s
attitude, capacity for adjustment, or adaptability and job performance. It is also noted that
environmental conditions and several contingent factors may bring about change in behavior pattern,
but resistance to change is also remarkable in many quarters. To control all these factors, the role of
the supervisor is very significant.

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The morale of the supervisor affects and determines morale of his workers. There is a direct
relationship between the supervisor’s own morale and the morale of his workmen. The supervisor’s
relation with his own supervisors has some influence on the productivity of his work group. The
support and confidence the supervisor gets from his superior and the degree of autonomy he has in
running the section are found to be positively correlated to the productivity of his group. In short, it
could be concluded that management’s handling of the supervisor (and consequently developing his
morale) has an important bearing on the productivity of his section.

Supervisors should take more personal interest in their workers; train them for better jobs; and must
not be so primitive in the sense that when a worker makes mistakes, he just pulls him up without an
explanation rather he tries to explain how to do the job right or just informs him of the mistake.
These actions and behavior are best shown by the supervisors to their works when they have high
morale themselves.

The supervisor stands in the precarious position between the ordinary worker and higher levels of
management. He has his morale raised when he is allowed to act and feel like a member of
management. It is not so much the title by which he is called as it is the actual position and power he
is given which determine his morale. Management must provide the supervisor with visible symbols
of dignity and authority such as office space, a desk, and a telephone. Differences in pay between
supervisors and rank-and-file workers are important to the morale of the supervisor. A managerial
climate which places the supervisor in the position of making and implementing decisions is perhaps
most important to the supervisor’s morale, especially now when union representatives have taken
over so many in-plant functions

(2) Organizational Structure:

There are a few facts about organizations which are enumerated below:

1. The organization ‘structure’ which provides for fairly flexible areas of operations and
decentralized authority to employees, has a record of employees showing high morale. Such
organizations involve their employees in the ‘process’ of result-oriented, high speed of
operations which further enhances their morale as it is also an opportunity to show their true
worth.
2. The organization ‘structure’ which is rigid in operational requirements and is highly
centralized in authority, matches with the organization ‘process’ of sticking more to
procedure than seeking results, requiring too much of written reporting and too less of oral
contacts, consequently slow in speed of performance, is seen to experience low morale (what
prevails is a sense of pessimism, low sense of participation and a sense of discouragement for
initiative)
3. If the organization ‘structure’ is viewed by employees as rigid and authority and is viewed as
centralized. While the management expects the organization ‘process’ to be result-oriented,
fast in its speed of performance and to involve good deal of written reporting than the
‘structure’ and ‘process’, such a dichotomy do not smoothly fit into each other. The anomaly
or imbalance between the employees view and the expectations of the management creates a
climate of tension and tends to lower the morale of employees.

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(3) Equipment:

The condition of the equipment, the tools and machines is another factor which has been found to
affect morale. The poor condition of equipment was found to be an important cause of grievances,
irritability, absenteeism and turnover. The workers on the ten poorest machines in one plant indulged
in arguments and non-cooperation whereas those on the ten best machines were good humoured and
gave mutual assistance. Over a one-year period, grievances from operators of poorly maintained
machines amounted to five times over grievances on good machines. Later, those who left the
company gave this factor as an important reason for leaving. If the condition of equipment continues
to be poor, it ultimately lowers the morale. A study of absenteeism amongst spinners and weavers in
textile mills conducted by Bombay Textile Research Association (BTRA) is a case in point where it
is revealed that the workers tend to remain absent when the machines become very dirty.

(4) Turnover:

High turnover may sometimes be traced to low morale but low turnover does not necessarily imply
high morale. Ganguli, Kasberkar and Divekar conducted a study in three divisions of a large
industrial complex in India where there was high rate of turnover and poor responses to
advertisements inviting applications for various posts.

They noted that besides some obvious reasons for high turnover (viz. geographical remoteness of
workplace, inadequate transport facility, and lack of other amenities), the study revealed a number of
other issues on which the feelings of employees were much more involved than had been thought of.
It was noted in the study that the feeling of employees that adequate recognition was not given by
management appeared to be highest in division A, in which, incidentally, the rate of turnover was
also highest among the three divisions. The feeling that sufficient authority had not been delegated
was comparatively higher among employees of divisions A and C, and lower in B. The rate of
overall turnover was, however, similar in divisions B and C.

(5) Absenteeism:

Absenteeism as a morale problem appears to be related to turnover in both causes and

manifestations. Both absenteeism and turnover are the likely symptoms of low morale, or little
involvement at work, as demonstrated by the employees staying away from work. However, as there
is no direct relationship between low morale and absenteeism, it is important to view incidence of
absenteeism in its totality in order to relate it with morale. There are, situations, where it has been
proved possible to trace some absenteeism to low morale.

(6) Production: The assumption that high morale leads to high productivity has been proved to be an
incorrect assumption. Any attempt to combine high moral and high productivity is bound to have a
moderating influence. A low morale can be, and does get associated with high productivity in any
organization in the short run.

Monotony

Monotony of work is a frequently mentioned as basis for low industrial morale. A job is monotonous
or boring when it is not interesting. Monotony is a characteristic, not of a particular job, but of the

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relationship between the job and the worker at a particular time. A job that may look very
monotonous to a bystander may have considerable interest for the man who is doing the work. The
situation and the meaning of the work determine to a large extent whether or not monotony occurs.

Let us examine a few facts about monotony before taking up the discussion further in this section:

1. The primary cause of monotony in jobs is repetition, or lack of variety. There is no case
known where a job with variety is monotonous. There are situations in which repetitious
work is not considered monotonous. During wartime, for instance, workers were doing
routine, repetitive jobs which were considered interesting because of their meaning.
2. With the increasing mechanization of industry, jobs have been becoming more and more
repetitive, making the matter of monotony one of increasing importance. This trend to more
repetitious work is changing with the advent of automation. Some of the most routine work is
being done by machine, so that the skill level of work is being upgraded.
3. In some situations shifting jobs from time to time is a good way to combat monotony.
Individual differences in susceptibility to monotony are so pronounced that they deserve
study and consideration during placement.
4. Monotony indicates the psychologically undesirable effect of repetitive work found in the
factories and offices of industrial and business organizations of today. This is one of the
major factors which appears to be adversely affecting Indian office and manual workers and
their morale, motivation and productivity in the process of rapid business and industrial
developments, and as such, deserves a special mention.
5. Monotony is a problem in clerical work as well as in the manufacturing plant. Indian studies
generally indicate that the problem is somewhat greater in the office workers than among
manual workers.

Causes of Monotony

Monotony due to mechanization:

Mechanized, routine work leads to feelings of dissatisfaction among workers at all levels. Also there
is seen least level of commitment possibly because of greater degree of mechanization and
monotony. The impact of machine technology on workers, psychologically speaking, tend to make
the men sub serve the machines, where machine processes have become mechanical since primary
producers are power-driven machines and not the human beings. The tasks of those who operate
them are to serve machines – the tasks are of loading, unloading, correcting faults, making
adjustment and carrying out routine maintenance and periodic overhauls. Moreover, the products of a
machine technology are standardized which also leave no room for variance or opportunities for
breaking the monotony.

Personality traits causing monotony:

Certain findings have shown the effects of personality traits on monotony.

i. Younger workers are more susceptible to monotony than older workers.

ii. Susceptible workers are more restless in their daily habits and leisure time activities than non-
susceptible workers.

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 iii. Susceptible workers are less satisfied with their personal and plant situation than non-
susceptible workers.

Methods of Reducing Monotony at Work

Job Enlargement and socio-technical Systems Approach:

Job enlargement is considered as an effective method for reducing the monotony of overspecialized
mass production jobs. It was realized by International Business Machines (IBM), U.S.A., and way
back in 1943 that machine operators could save a lot of time and gain variety in their jobs by setting
up their own machines and checking the result of their work, thus eliminating set-up men and
inspectors, who could be transferred to other jobs. This type of job enlargement has been claimed to
bring more pride in work, and less specific strain and fatigue, as well as less monotony.

The method gives a higher measure of discretion to workers in performing their jobs. The success of
job enlargement is reported to be consistent with notions of personality and in a sense confirms the
findings of behavioural science research. In another example of General Electrics (GE, USA), the
welder’s job was enlarged to include multiple operations related to the task. The welder, who
previously had to depend upon a small portion of the total product and jokingly suggested to an
interviewer that he felt like the General Manager for being responsible for the product.

It may be noted that the approaches to job enlargement as taken by IBM and GE hold good when the
job involves activities that do not demand group work. In such cases Individual Psychology has a
predominant part to play. But, in the other types of jobs which require group effort, at the same time
involve repetitive operations, the group Psychology is at play.

It is argued, that since mass producing technology does not yield to an individual worker performing
a whole job a small group of worker can be responsible for the whole task. Therefore, the technical
system, i.e., the inter-related and inter-dependent requirements of the mass producing technology,
has to be matched properly with the social system, i.e., the inter-dependent social relationships of the
people in the work group to produce consistently effective results.

Take another example of the “socio-technical system of work origination” by reorganizing the work
groups at Calico Mills at Ahmedabad conducted a few years ago. The Calico Mills had imported
automatic looms but relative advantages of increased production from new technology were not
achieved. Twenty-nine workers manned the 224 looms in the automatic shed following the
traditional approach to organization of work, Once the looms were loaded and set up, eight weavers
were responsible for keeping them running, discovering reasons for stoppages, mending broken warp
threads, and dealing with major entanglements. Three smash-hands, regarded as weavers in training,
dealt both with major entanglements and smashed, five battery filters kept batteries full of new
bobbins. Two gaters removed exhausted beams and gated in new ones, and two cloth-carriers cut and
removed the finished cloth.

The reorganization consisted of dividing up the shed into units of 64 looms for a group of eight
workers who had the responsibility for the ‘whole’ task, with considerable mobility within and
between the group members. It appeared surprising to the consultant and the top management when
the proposal for reorganization was given, it was quickly and spontaneously accepted by the

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supervisors and the workers. They thought that the acceptance would be possible only after several
meetings with employees. The best description of the situation is that the supervisor and the workers
‘grabbed’ the opportunity. Soon after the experiment frequent changes in patterns became necessary
and the work-group adjusted easily to these changes whereas in the old way of working, changes of
this nature caused considerable conflict.

The productivity increased by approximately 12-14% and wastage dropped by 11%.

Reports later came in that the new organization gave workers security and the protection of small
group membership which they had lost by leaving their villages and their families to enter industry.
At the same time the new system allowed them to perform their task effectively and thus provided
them with an important source of satisfaction. The experience of Calico Mills proves two main
points

1. that human organism by nature cannot respond favourably to only the repetitive nature of
work inherent in the machine technology of routinised operations; and
2. that human organism can still respond positively if its social and Psychological nature is
given due respect in relating it with the machine technology.

As can be seen, the socio-technical systems approach and the approaches which emphasize the
necessity of inter-dependence and inter-relatedness among employees, have far-reaching
consequences, much beyond merely overcoming monotony on the job. The approaches have resulted
ultimately into improved morale, better motivation and higher productivity, through developing
appropriate interpersonal work relationships.

Music:

Music has also been believed to counteract the monotony of factory work. It has been used by many
companies abroad, and by some in India, with the same purpose. While music has been generally
liked by the employees, its contribution towards increasing production has been somewhat doubtful.
Ghosh in his study of a synthetic jewels plant in Gujarat found that piped pop (film) music was liked
by the workers but morale of the workers was considerably low – the male workers showing lower
morale than the female. This was in spite of the physical conditions which were ideal (air
conditioned etc.) and were similar to one in advanced countries. The causes were obviously not in
the physical conditions and music could not, and cannot by itself, bring in higher morale.

In a study of effect of music on production on a highly repetitive machine line operation which was
on incentive pay, the workers on two separate shifts, day and night, were studied simultaneously for
twelve weeks. The result showed that production under varying conditions of music increased 4 to 25
per cent. The average increase on the day shift was 7 per cent, while it was 17 per cent in the night
shifts. The increases were statistically significant and were large enough to be of economic
importance.

A number of other methods have been pointed out, including ‘rest pauses’, which are found to be
effective in countering the effects of monotony and boredom.

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References
Books and Journals:

1. Ghosh P K and M B Ghorpade. Industrial Psychology (Himalaya Publishing House, 2008: New
Delhi)
2. Alexander H. Leighton, Human Relations in a Changing World: Observations on the Uses of the
Social Sciences (1949)

Websites /Net References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotony

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