.(Published Online: 7th May 2007)

This article offers ideas developed based on a relatively small questionnaire survey I conducted some years back. It is not my intention to create an impression to the reader that I have exhaustively tested the survey items measured for statistically significant relevance to all situations. My main purpose is to offer suggestions for decision makers to consider in evolving a suitable program to boost employee morale in their respective organisations.

Your Individual Employees Are Different From Each Other

People may look the same outwardly and on paper (appear to) have the same backgrounds and competencies. The truth however is that when it comes to doing their work WELL and feeling good about it, to the extent that they - on their own - would decide to continue doing it even when not required to do so, EACH employee is likely to differ in terms of what s/he will want to see, hear or receive in order to ACT that way.

But a company's decision makers cannot "kill" themselves trying to meet every individual's needs or requests. Having said that, they CAN help employees get to a point where they(i.e. employees) feel that the company truly CARES for them and takes their NEEDS seriously PLUS that it can be trusted to ALWAYS fulfil its own end of the bargain when they(the employees) deliver desired results to the expected standards.

In many companies - big and small - the challenge is however that not much attention is paid to this easily missed area that can significantly affect the quality of employees' workplace performances. Few companies bother to do in-house checks aimed for instance, at measuring how enthusiastic people feel about coming to the workplace and doing their work DAILY. Yet most decision makers KNOW from attending many (expensive) training courses on management and leadership that people who are enthusiastic about what they do can deliver dramatically superior output compared to those who are reluctant, demoralised and/or frustrated.

So why don't these decision makers try to find out how their people "feel" regularly and take action to address any VALID issues that are raised? Going by my experiences, I think it is because they feel only few employees are complaining. They feel (and will often wait till ) it is only when many of the employees start grumbling loudly about their dissatisfactions that something would really need to be done. In their thinking taking action before then would amount to setting a wrong precedent. Hmm. Yet decision makers who think like this are often the first to talk about being "Proactive" when describing their preferred management techniques/philosophies!

I would say that if you are REALLY to be proactive, you would not wait till a confrontational situation develops between your employees' union leaders for instance, and your HR Management team before you investigate and redress identified imbalances in the working situations of your employees.

Think about this for a minute. If they(i.e. your employees) notice that you have a habit of quickly finding out and addressing any issues they are concerned about, in order to make doing their work easier, they WILL be more understanding if/when you say you cannot do something they want - or that it could take a while before you can. It is only when they FEEL they cannot trust or depend on you to do anything that makes doing their work easier and more fulfilling that the common tense relationship develops between both parties, resulting in the company's management/decision makers feeling they need to "threaten, force, and coerce" the workforce. The employee's unions in turn would naturally decide they need to issue ultimatums etc in order to have their needs/concerns taken seriously.

Of course there will always be the possibility that some individuals may try to push silly/selfish requests through, especially if they sense you are willing to be flexible, but these individuals would be easily managed with careful planning by showing others the folly of what they propose.

Organisations Need To Avoid Adopting New Management Fads & Concepts Without "ADAPTING" Them

Getting people to feel good about working in your company may sometimes require that you introduce new people/process management ideas or concepts. However this must be done intelligently else nothing worthwhile will be achieved for the organisation and its members.

In many companies today, new initiatives are continually being introduced/implemented with a view to enhancing the organisation's ability to attain set goals and objectives. Decision makers must however ask themselves at every opportunity: "Do we have to implement these new ideas to the letter "as is" or can we modify them to suit our peculiar business workplace/employee situations and needs? They must ask: "Do we have to accept every new concept or fad hook, line and sinker as being applicable for our use?".

People within the same society/culture typically differ in their workplace preferences and expectations. What works in a particular society/culture may not work as well(or at all) in another society or culture. The implication is that companies may find that the manner in which they have to manage their employees/team members may vary from one culture to the other in which they operate branches or subsidiaries for instance. Failure to do this could result in significant dis-improvements in employee performances that the company will eventually suffer for - as the "people" may "fight" the new initiative because it conflicts with their socio-cultural values or preferences.

Investigating Employee Workplace Morale(A True Story)

In a previous life, I worked as a trainee sales coordinator in a wine manufacturing company for about 6 months, before later joining a brewing multinational as a Graduate Trainee, and 7 years later voluntarily resigning as Technical Training & Development Manager. During my time in paid employment, I often discussed extensively with other employees within and outside my company about the workplace, employment conditions, boss-subordinate relationships, job satisfaction etc.

Most times people I spoke with dwelt more on the monetary remuneration/benefits they received from their companies as a means for deciding whether or not to be "happy" with their jobs/companies. But in certain instances I found that some (like me), wanted more than that - such as freedom to express their individuality in doing their work; more recognition from the company for their contributions etc.

This article explains why - I believe - every company needs to work hard to measure(possibly using a short Employee Morale Gauge quiz like the one I developed) and nurture the morale of their employees/team members IF the company is to progress.

In a paper criticising the indiscriminate/dogmatic adoption and application of new philosophies by some organiations, an American writer(whose name and other details I have sadly been unable to locate in my records) wrote in part as follows:

"Mindlessly following a concept is a recipe for disaster. Our organisations must begin to think and develop approaches (like the Japanese did) that best suit their organisational culture. No organisation should launch any company-wide initiative without first making a thorough assessment of the need to change and the cultural barriers to achievement."

In November 1999, I wrote a management paper titled "Performance Management and Employee Motivation"(*See "Note" section below) - for entry into the 1999 edition the Nigerian Institute of Management's Young Managers' Competition.

In the first chapter of the paper, I posed the following questions based on literature reviews I had done:

a. Do our people(i.e. employees/team members) see effort leading to performance, and performance leading to the rewards they value?

b. Do they trust management to fulfil its promises to them?

c. Why are employees often dissatisfied with management?

d. Why are employees ever complaining about being underpaid, overworked and disrespected?

e. Is there (in Nigeria) any company where employees are so well motivated by the management that they do not have any complaint to make against it?

The above questions were investigated using a simple 10-item multi-choice survey questionnaire mailed to/recovered from employees of a number of organisations in Lagos and Benin cities. Over 80% of the employees scored their companies low in areas relating to welfare, rewards/recognition, involvement in decision making and fulfillment of promises made to them etc.

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*Note: I did not get past the zonals unlike my maiden 1997 outing which I described in the article titled "I Flopped Badly At The National Finals(How NOT To Prepare For/Deliver An Important Presentation". But the effort was still rewarding for me as I later got to use my ideas in that paper to contribute to my department:About 9 months later, my boss - Greg(Production Manager) invited all mangers in the department to send in their submissions/ideas for moving the department forward towards achieving its vision as a key unit of the brewery/company. I wasted no time in sending him a 10 page paper (on 21st August 2000) articulating my thoughts/drawing extensively from the paper I had earlier written.

The 10 page paper was titled "Summary Highlights Of A Proposal On The Implementation Of Benin Brewery's Production's Vision for Year 2000 and Beyond". So, even though I did not go far this time in the competition with my management paper, I found useful outlet for my ideas in a way that could add value to the entire team. I mention this to drive home the point that you need to form the habit of ALWAYS building on any ideas you have.(In my case I wrote and entered a paper advocating ideas I felt could be applied to improve workplace performances in MY organisation). By so doing, you will find yourself perfectly positioned in future to exploit unexpected opportunities that WILL crop up, to "sell" those ideas to others, and make a BIG difference/impact on others around you.

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Going by the above, it is my firm belief that employers/decision makers can - if they want to - consciously begin to systematically disabuse the minds of employees by checking periodically how the latter "feel" about their jobs/working conditions and then TAKING ACTION to make improvements where possible. To be fair there are many companies which can boast of considerably high morale amongst their workforces because they already operate in this manner. However, as people managers we know that a few employees in such companies (who might hold positions that enable them influence a large number of others) might still answer the questions posed in a. and b. above in the negative.

More generally, the truth is that some employees' utterances and attitudes on the job would suggest that questions c. d. and e. depict issues that are relevant to their current situations - therefore needing management's prompt attention and/or action if work force morale is to the kept at an optimal level.

In my Conclusion and Summary, I opined based on results of the study's survey that:

"an organisation employing a management approach that actively recognises the knowledge and experience of its employees as well as openly acknowledges their significant contributions to the business is likely to succeed and enjoy competitive advantage over its rivals. This is because such a company would get the full commitment and loyalty of its workforce who would have no difficulty aligning their personal goals with those of the company. Further, employees would thrive better in the environment where they are not being "controlled" and "directed" by management while doing their jobs...Whatever scheme we introduce should be self--sustaining and not take from the company more than it can give back."

Conduct Simple In-House Attitudinal/Opinion Surveys To Keep Tabs On How Your Employees Feel

It is based on all that I have said above that I now suggest that any organisational decision maker who desires to KEEP workers/employees/team members constantly enthusiastic about their jobs, make out time to periodically administer a simple "Employee Morale Gauge or Barometer" Quiz to them - individually.

You can adopt the questionnaire that I developed, or generate for your purposes one that is suitable. This quiz would be periodically administered to YOUR employees/team members. The answers obtained to EACH question will be used to gauge your success in changing the attitude of your people for the better. In other words, your over riding purpose - as employer/organisational decision maker - will ALWAYS be to work towards doing things that would make employees change ANY negative opinions about issues raised in each question, so that they begin to respond positively to EACH one... EVERYTIME. The challenge for you will therefore be to get to a period or point when/where ALL the questionnaires returned to you will contain responses that indicate your employees/team members are TRULY happy and satisfied with their jobs - and by implication with the company's management!

Note that from my experience in 2004, working with one particular business owner(a sole proprietor) to administer this questionnaire to his employees, the individuals concerned requested that they be allowed to leave their names OFF their completed questionnaires. We agreed. This eliminated any fears of reprisal, with the result that much more honest and qualitative responses were obtained from them. In a certain case, some "hidden grudges" long held by a particular individual against the company's management were unearthed!

Sample Employee Workplace Morale Gauge Quiz Template

Below I reproduce the contents of my ten item quiz. You may find need to modify it to suit your purposes. In which case, you may find it useful to download and customise the Excel based template I use.

Question 1. Is it okay for an employee to make mistakes on the job?

a). Sometimes, so long as s/he works hard to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
b). Never.
c). Sometimes, but only concerning areas s/he is recognised not to have significant experience.
d). Others

Ideal Choice = Up to the respondent(Coment by Tayo: My ideal response would be "a").

Question 2. Do you believe you have a say in how you should do your job?

a). Yes.
b). No.
c). Not Sure.
d). Don't Know.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 3. Which do you prefer of the following options in your workplace?

a). You are told everything to do at each stage of your work by your boss
b). You are allowed enough freedom to do most aspects of your work by yourself but can consult your superior when you so desire.
c). Somewhere between a. and b.

Ideal Choice = Up to the respondent

Question 4. Which of the following best represents the situation at your workplace currently?

a). You are allowed enough freedom to do most aspects of your work by yourself but can consult your superior when you so desire.
b). You are told everything to do at each stage of your work by your boss
c). Somewhere between a. and b.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 5. If you had a choice, would you stay behind office hours to finish a job even when you know your boss will not be upset if you do not?

a). Yes.
b). No.
c). Not Sure.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 6. How do you feel when you are preparing to come to work in the morning?

a). Enthusiastic and rearing to continue from where you stopped the day before.
b). Indifferent
c). Slightly nervous and wondering what is going to go wrong today. Choice = 0
d). Unenthusiastic about the impending duties to be done.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 7. What would be your reaction if you heard someone say he believes the company you work for provides necessary support for its employees to give their best on the job?

a). Strongly Agree.
b). Agree.
c). Undecided.
d). Disagree.
e). Strongly disagree.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 8. Do you feel your company shows respect for its employees in the way issues concerning them are handled?

a). Yes.
b). No.
c). Not Sure.
d).
e).

Ideal Choice = a

Question 9. If you had a very bright idea you knew would lift your company to greater heights, would you be willing to bring it to the knowledge of management?

a). Yes.
b). No.
c). Not Sure.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 10. Upon carrying out a job that results in significant benefits to your department, how would you prefer to get feedback on your efforts?

a). By hearing that your boss announced the achievement at a meeting without specifically mentioning your name?
b). By getting a personal commendation letter from a management representative or verbal commendation from your boss?
c). By seeing your name placed on some notice boards acknowledging your contribution. Choice = 0
d). By receiving a form of reward e.g. cash or gift.
e). You would not need any form of acknowledgement.

Ideal Choice = Up to respondent

Administering The Employee Workplace Morale Gauge Quiz

You can use my customisable Employee Workplace Morale Survey Quiz Template(click here to download Microsoft Excel version - approx 23.5KB) to measure how your employees, reports or team members feel about working with you/your organisation. It can be quite insightful to see responses to the questions.

NOTE that the quiz has NO CORRECT ANSWERS. The score you get will only indicate how much agreement there is between the respondent's choices, and those I have specified as "best-fit" or "ideal" indications of "good/positive employee morale".

You will get the most value from using this quiz by studying the individual responses made by your staff/team members to each question.

Scoring Options: If you wish, you can assign points from 5 (for the choice of answer option "a" to 1(for the choice of answer option "e".

There are three questions in the above quiz for which it may be difficult to assign scores since the answer options that can be chosen would reflect the respondent's personal preference. They are question Nos. 1, 3 and 10.

Based on the foregoing, total maximum scoring for a completed questionnaire would be 35 out of 35 maximum possible points. You should HOPE that each of your recovered questionnaires will give at least 75%(i.e. at least 26 out of 35 points). That "target" is just a suggestion though, as it is my opinion that EVERY singe non-ideal answer you get to EVERY single question should prompt you to take decisive action to ensure it does NOT re-appear in the next survey you conduct.

Here's wishing you good luck as you work towards building a better motivated work force for your organisation.