Conference 7.286::digital

3167.0. "The Morale of the Story" by PIYUSH::RUPARELIA (All that's not given is lost) Tue Jun 14 1994 11:52

    (Entered without permission...author acknowledged at the end)
    
The Morale of the Story
-----------------------

Toss out the carrot and stick.  Positive morale is what motivates employees
and boosts the bottom line.

What is worth more than gold, doesn't weigh a thing, disappears when you
try to measure it, and is one of the biggest blind spots in American
industry today?  Motivation.  On most managers' bookshelves are tomes
filled with motivational theories and techniques geared to enhancing
employee productivity.

An even more accurate answer to the riddle, however, is not motivation but
morale.  Look across those same bookshelves for meaningful material on 
morale, though, and you will be surprised at how little you find.  You have
just put your finger on one of the most significant voids in the typical
managers' repertoire of skills.

A critical part of positive management lies in the way managers and 
administrators relate to the men and women who actually do the work of the
company.  While much has been written on different approaches to management,
two basic management styles reflect opposing philosophies of motivation.

"Management by accounting."  This management style is characterized by
administrators who are interested only in numbers.  If the numbers aren't
right, the remedy is to put more pressure on all employees until they are
right.  The narrow and naive philosophy here is that employee output is
generated primarily through direct pressure and fear of consequences if
productivity levels are not met.  The role of managers at every level is
to apply the pressure mandated from above with regard to its impact on
employees.

"Human relations management."  This management style focuses on meeting
the psychological needs of employees in the workplace as a means to
enhance productivity.  Certainly, performance expectations exist in every
organization, and along with these expectations are many direct and indirect
ways in which the organization communicates a caring attitude.  When basic
self esteem needs are met and individuals believe that management cares,
positive feelings about the organization, employee loyality, and productivity
all increase.

One of the difficulties in any discussion of morale is that it is an elusive
quality to define.  In a nutshell, though, morale is a feeling created within
each employee by the organization, generated by a sense of caring - or lack
of caring - and communicated within the work environment.

Positive morale is the awareness that every individual in the company is
important, the knowledge that hard work and sacrifices are recognized and
appreciated, the sense that "I am valued here," and the feeling of being
accepted as an integral part of what is going on.  When this ambience is
generated, the company is rewarded by higher productivity and a positive
bond to the organization that encourages good people to stay.

Unfortunately, though, positive morale is not the norm in most firms.  The
pervasive sense that nobody really cares, the feeling of being completely
unappreciated, and the perception of being used and abused run rampant in
American industry today.

It is quite common to hear managers complain about unmotivated employees.
Actually, there is no such thing as an unmotivated individual.  Those
particular employees are not motivated to do what is expected because their
attitudes toward the tasks set before them are negative.

What every manager must understand is that morale, whether positive or
negative, determines motivation, and in turn, motivational energy is
directed into acceptable or unacceptable channels within the work 
environment.  When morale is positive, it is worth more than anything that
money can buy.  When it is negative, the cost to the firm, albeit indirect,
is tremendous.


Understanding Morale
--------------------

Many erroneous beliefs prevail regarding positive morale and how to create
it.  Many of these fallacies form the basis for critical management
decisions, and managerial attitudes based on these misconceptions often
backfire.  Here are basic and more realistic principles that must form the
foundation of any attempt to enhance morale.

"The administration cannot fool employees."  It is amazing how often managers
attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of employees.  Such naive managers
and administrators have not come to terms with a simple reality: Behavior
tells the truth.  Whenever a difference appears between what is said by
management and an individual's own experience with that management, personal
experience is always more credible.  No matter what the memos say, if an
employee's experience is not consistent with what is said, then the 
credibility of the organization suffers and skepticism and cynicism set in.
In organizations with positive morale, a high degree of consistency exists
between what an organization says and what it does.

"Positive morale cannot be purchased."  Perhaps the most frequent management
mistake is to try to increase morale - and thereby motivation and
productivity - with material incentives.  Employees will accept all the
perks management is willing to provide, but once reasonable salary levels
are reached, more money or better fringe benefits have a negligible effect
on morale.  Furthermore, productivity does not increase over the long term.

"Managers at every level are responsible for morale."  A common misconception
holds that morale is primarily the responsibility of the top echelon of
administration.  While the basic management philosophy is set at the top,
morale is built or destroyed by the behavior of individual managers.  To a
large extent this is independent of upper management.  In organizations with
low morale, for example, employees attempt to transfer into departments with
high morale because of the morale-enhancing responses of a particular
manager.  In companies where there is generally good morale, pockets of low
morale are produced by the inappropriate and insensitive responses of
particular managers.

"Positive morale is based on trust."  In many organizations with low morale,
employees are conviced that the company is not working in their best
interests or does not really care about them.  When positive morale is 
present, employees at every level trust the organization because they know
from experience that it is sensitive to their needs.  Trust built through
the direct experience of employees is necessary for positive morale.

"Morale is surprisingly resistant to change."  Once basic trust in the 
organization's motives has been created, employees can be more tolerant of
setbacks or difficulties that the firm might experience.  On the other hand,
negative morale is also highly resistant to change.  Just as with a personal
relationship in which trust has been betrayed and must be earned back, it
takes time and persistence by the company and its officers to rebuild
necassary trust that has been lost by employees.  Without basic trust,
employees find it difficult to move beyond defensive postures in relation
to the company.  This defensiveness impedes creativity, innovation, and
decision-making, and ultimately affects productivity.

"Morale is highly contagious."  Positive or negative morale is created 
through intra-organizational communication of a company's attitudes toward 
employees as people.  Positive or negative, such information spreads like 
wildfire horizontally.  Employees talk to one another over coffee before 
work, at breaks, at social events, and on the telephone.  This employee-to-
employee communication consistently reinforces positive or negative 
perceptions of the organization, its management, and management's motives.  
In addition, every new employee is indoctrinated with such information about 
the company by other employees within days of coming to work.  Influencing 
worker-to-worker communication must be one of the primary goals of any 
organizational attempt to build positive morale.

"Positive morale creates a strong emotional bond to the organization."  To a
surprisingly degree, employees will remain in a company with positive morale
despite higher-paying offers because self-esteem needs are met and a strong,
caring attitude is communicated by the organization.  The net effect of this
positive emotional bond is the retention of key employees and a low attrition
rate.  Where morale is poor, departures to greener pastures are frequent,
and the best employees are usually first to leave.

"Positive morale requires basic employee security."  Either too much or too
little employment security negatively affects morale.  Too much security in
the form of tenure or a termination process that is long, tedious, and
bureaucratically complicated tends to erode morale because in such
organizaitons incompentency or laziness is often tolerated.  Highly unstable
firms or managers who terminate good employees for no valid reason also 
tend to decrease morale.  When this is the case, employees come to work
thinking, "Will I be next?"  If positive morale is to grow, it requires the
certainity, based on experience, that employees at every level who work hard
and meet their responsibilities will be assured of job security to the
fullest extent possible.

"Positive morale necessitates that compentency be valued."  Low morale 
thrives in organizations where advancement depends more on how long you've 
been there than on skill level, where it's who you know that really counts, 
or where office politics prevails.  As employees see this happening, 
competent and dedicated employees turn negative and cynical.  For positive 
morale to build, employees must know that they are valued for their 
compentence and that they will able to advance on the basis of their skills 
and energy.


Assessing Morale
----------------

To assess the level of employee morale in any given organization, you can
hire a consultant to conduct a formal study.  But while that option is
certainly a viable one, management might be overlooking on extremely
important point: Every manager must constantly assess employee needs and 
feelings about the organization as part of his or her supervisory duties.
Any manager who is reasonably sensitive to people and who is willing to 
spend a bit of time looking and listening can informally and accurately
assess morale at virtually no cost.  Here's how to go about it.

"Listen to the humor."  In any organization it's definitely not a good sign
to see little joking around and few smiles among employees.  Healthy humor
is a strong indicator of camaraderie and trust.  When morale is low, humor
sometimes disappears enterily or unhealthy humor - filled with anger,
hostility, and deep cynicism - becomes endemic.  As a sign of positive
morale, look for humor that is upbeat and reflects the ability to laugh
at the funny side of life, as well as the willingness of employees to share
this part of themselves.

"Tune into the grapevine."  All organizations have informal communication
networks, or gossip grapevines.  The information communicated alon these
grapevines is a good indicator of morale.  Where there is high morale,
people talk about the routine comings, goings, and doings or people they
know.  In those organizations with low morale, however, grapevine
information is characterized by a strong defensive quality.  It reflects
employees' needs to find out what the company is "up to now" and "what
they are going to do to us next" so that they can be prepared.  This
defensive need to know is born of deep distrust of the organization's 
motives.

"Be sensitive to complaints and griping."  A baseline level of griping 
exists in any organization, no matter how high the morale.  Most often, this
takes the form of routine moaning and groaning about coming to work on a
beautiful day and so on.  It typically isn't serious.  On the other hand,
in those organizations with sinking morale, the level of complaining rises
and the tone changes.  First, employees who are usually content and do not
complain begin to do so.  Soon, virtually everyone is grumbling about one
thing or another all the time.

"Examine the employee attrition rate."  Good people stay in organizations 
where morale is high because it feels good.  When morale is low, the 
attrition rate steadily increases.  Not only do the numbers of people 
leaving go up, but more often than not, those who go tend to be the bright, 
young up-and-comers that the organization desperately needs to remain viable.

"Take a close look at organizational responsive."  While reasonably good
communication from top to bottom is part of most organizations, the real
question is whether communication up the line is as effective.  Does
management listen to employees at every level in the hierarchy?  Are
legitimate complaints taken seriously?  Does the organization solicit ideas
from below?  In organizations with low morale, managers at every level are
more interested in preserving their positions and the status quo.  One
result is that organizational responsiveness diminishes.  In companies with
high morale, communication up the line is easy, and the organization responds
quickly and postively when legitimate issues arise.

"Notice the level of employee sickness."  Employees get sick from time to
time.  But low morale and high levels of employee stress go together.  
Chronic stress over long periods of time often manifests itself in various
forms of physical ailments and reduced resistance to minor illnesses.  As a
result, the number of sick days usually begins to go up in organizations
with low morale.  Another indicator is a sharp rise in the use of health
insurance by employees.  When positive morale builds, employee stress goes
down, and these health indicators decline and stabilize at reasonable levels.

"Get a feel for the number of mental health days taken."  Mental health days
are days taken by employees who are not physically ill, but who wake up in
the morning to find that they just cannot emotionally face the stress and
frustration of the office another day.  This kind of time off is difficult
to assess accurately because it is usually taken under the guise of
legitimate sick days.  A certain number of such days are always taken even
in organizations with high morale.  When morale is low, however, mental
health days will begin a steep rise, and an alert manager will accurately
interpret this trend as an indicator of employee distress.


Boosting Morale
---------------

Interestingly, the factors that help create positive morale in the workplace
are the same ones found in virtually every healthy family environment.  In
fact, individuals who work in organizations with high morale are frequently
heard making telling comments like, "We're just like one big family."  Such
a remark may be heard even about a company with thousands of employees.
The people insuch companies become intuitively aware of the special
organization-to-employee relationship that is reminiscent of a healthy
family setting, in an emotionally secure environment in which a sense of
caring and appreciation are communicated.

When such fulfilling conditions have been established, three other morale
building qualities are also produced within an individual.

"A sense of belonging to something good emerges."  Withing each person is a
need to belong to and be accepted by a group.  The fulfillment of this
important emotional need results in positive motivation and loyalty.

"A positive sense of self-esteem is validated."  Typically, individuals
have several major sources of self-esteem, one of which is performance in
the workplace.  In high-morale environments, appreciated is expressed in
positive and personally validating ways.

"The individual is free to grow."  Within this kind of healthy milieu,
people are free to mature and to grwo personally and professionally.  Trust,
security, and freedom permit a person to change and develop because energy
is not tied up in distracting matters.

The powerful effect of positive morale on productivity should never be
underestimated.  But it is, every day, to the detriment of an organization
and its work, not to mention those men and women who make up the
organization.

Healthy relationships within a company can be build by those savvy enough
to now how to go about it.  The result is an enhancement of morale that in
turn results in fewer people problems, a more upbeat attitude, and higher
productivity - a situation in which everyone wins.

-------

Dr. Bruce A Baldwin is a practicing psychologist and author who heads
Direction Dynamics in Wilmington, North Carolina, and specializes in
promoting quality of life in achieving men and women.  Dr. Baldwin has
written "It's All in Your Head: Lifestyle Management Strategies for Busy
People."
    

    SO WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT?YOUR NOT IMPLYING THERES A MOTIVATIONAL PR
    OBLEM IN DIGITAL ARE YOU?
    

    
    	Thank you. It was an excellent read. Best laugh I've had in at
    least two months. Time for a mental health day.
    
    		the Greyhawk

        I like it too, but as the topic's author noted (explicitly), the
        original author of the material has apparently not granted Digital
        permission to electronically republish the material.  At least, I
        did not see, in the material, any grant of permission.  
        
        I've asked the poster to clarify whether the material came from a
        copyrighted source, and if so, whether there was any permission to
        republish electronically.  If there wasn't, then leaving it here
        is both a violation of Digital's written personnel policies (most
        notably, the infamous section 6.54) and also puts Digital at risk
        of fiscal loss for unauthorized republication.
        
        Until I hear from the author, the material is hidden.  Since many
        of you seem to get upset when moderators don't clearly state what
        is happening, this note will remain, even after the topic note is
        either deleted or made visible again.
        
        Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
        
        Tom

    Tom - thanks for telling us why!  Sure wish I'd gotten to read it
    before it was hidden, though -- I could use a good laugh!!
    
    M.

        I've got a call in to the original author to request permission to
        leave it visible.  The poster tells me that he read it in a USAir
        magazine about a year ago, and typed it in.  So there's no issue
        on mail headers -- there aren't any.  I'm hoping the author will
        be flattered that Digital employees want to read it, and will not
        be hung up on copyright issues or fees for republication.  I found
        the original author by calling long distance information for the
        place listed in the article, and asking for the company name in
        the article.  I got his office answering machine, and left my name
        and phone.  That's the kind of work it take to GET PERMISSION.  It
        is not rocket science.  Of course, I don't yet HAVE permission to
        let the note stand -- but there is a reasonable chance it will be
        granted.
        
        Tom

You're not considering taking up moderatorship of the DAVEBARRY conference,
are you Tom?

:^)
-Jack

    Re: .7
    
    Dave Barry has given his explicit permission for his columns to appear
    in that notesfile.
    
    					Steve

    if app'l has been given, when will the article be reposted?

    I'm glad I happened to read it before it got hidden: it was an
    excellent article!  I hope it can reappear soon.  A lot of very valid
    points were made about morale and about trust in a business setting.
    
    /Charlotte

re: .7, Steve

Ah - Dave's granted his permission, but what about the publishers of the
papers which were used as the source material for input of the columns?
As purchasers of the syndicated rights, don't they have some say over
what can be reproduced elsewhere?

-Jack

    re: .11
    
    No, syndication rights are nonexclusive.  The author's permission is
    all that's needed.  
    
    --bonnie

    I, too, read before it was SET HIDDEN, but I also have it in my
    possession...  it's too bad that our inestimable Mods have to go
    through this ridiculous schtick to be able to allow posting good
    reading, good information, whatever...  I wouldn't want to wear a Mod's
    hat in these troubled times for all the tea in China.  Bless 'em all.
    

    
    In particular, there is a great correlation between the discussion of
    humor as an indicator of morale in the base note, and the observation
    elsewhere in this conference that BP seems to be the brunt of much
    humor of late.
    

        I have good news.  I succeeded in contacting the original author
        of the material posted in the topic note, Dr. Bruce A. Baldwin.
        He has graciously granted permission for the material to be used
        within Digital Equipment Corporation in NOT FOR PROFIT ways.  So
        it can be posted here, mailed from here to others who don't read
        the conference, etc., but can't be used, for instance, to deliver
        a course for customers on morale and management.
        
        Dr. Baldwin's office mentioned that he has written several books
        that expand on the material in the topic note, including a work in
        progress that specifically deals with the matter at hand.  Some of
        the ideas in the topic note are expanded upon in his book "It's
        All In Your Head".  I understand the book is privately published
        and not readily available in bookstores, but that it can be bought
        through his company, Direction Dynamics, 309 Honeycutt Drive, in
        Wilmington, NC 28412-7171, (910) 799-6544.  I don't know the price
        or what other books may be available.  This information is offered
        for the convenience of anyone who wishes the opportunity to obtain
        his books, and is not intended as a solicitation to do so.  I have
        no personal interest one way or the other.
        
        Thanks for your patience while this was resolved.  If you didn't
        see the topic note while it was hidden, you can read it now.
        
        Tom

    
    	Great job, Tom. Two gold stars immediately given. This is one great
    article; I wish we knew how to act upon this intelligently. But, oh
    well......
    
    		the Greyhawk
    

        Thanks, Greyhawk.  And thank the author and the poster..  
        
        Tom

>        I have good news.  I succeeded in contacting the original author
>        of the material posted in the topic note, Dr. Bruce A. Baldwin.
>        He has graciously granted permission for the material to be used
>        within Digital Equipment Corporation in NOT FOR PROFIT ways.  ...
        
we don't make profits anymore...

Whoever said that employee morale was positive due to the release of the
2100 server obviously doesn't use any of the techniques in .0.  All they
have to do at Digital is read this notes file!

I've not comletely given up on it like Wiskiewski, but I've been tempted.  If
you really want to be pursuaded to jump ship and get another job, just keep
reading...

    
    
    From abstract point of view it's easy to heal low morale. The
    only thing it needs is people showing respect for each other,
    especially managers to employees. So far so good. 
    Bad news is that showing true(coming from heart and not the intellect)
    respect for others totally depends on self-respect. So if an
    individual doesn't recognize his own worth he can't heartily
    recognize other peoples worth. People will recognize or at least
    feel this indivdual to be deceiving or simply not caring.
    
    So, how can you teach a whole company into self-respect?!
    
    helmut
    
    
    

I'm glad Tom went to all the trouble to get the base note cleared.

My only quarrel with the article would be that "human relations management" as
described (meeting the psychological/self-esteem needs of the workers) sounds a
bit too New Age-y and subject to some of the abuses on the side of trendiness
that we've seen in Digital GMA.  When management sets priorities clearly and
consistently, follows up on them, is open and proactive in communication, gets
to know its people by frequent contact (and treats them as people, not abstract
"resources", and adults at that), helps remove obstacles that the team comes up
against (whether poor performers in the group, lack of cooperation from other
groups, lack of necessary tools and systems, etc.), and generally recognizes
the value of what the team does both in meeting stated expectations and showing
initiative above and beyond them--all these are the things that promote the
natural tendency people have to build their own self-esteem and competency.

Unfortunately, what seems to be endemic in American business (at least) is
management that treats employees as a necessary liability, not as partners
and fellow adults, that keeps them in the dark either by design or just plain
neglect, and that focuses so much on trying to impress the managers at the next
level or two up by running errands unrelated to the team's work and spending
so much time on irrelevant organizational tweaking that, predictably, the
employees get unclear or arbitrarily shifting (as in "fad du jour") priorities,
feel their work is not valued, and generally develop a sense of powerlessness
about ever being able to improve their lot, despite being subjected to sporadic
"rah-rah" exercises on empowerment, human potential, quality or whatever.

- paul

.0 and especially .21 should be compulsory reading for our leader(s)

Moved_to_write

    	Which brings me back to my contentions all along in various notes
    files. The secret to our returning to both profitability and
    organizational dynamics that spur innovation is to flatten our
    management hierarchy. I like no more than three levels between RP and
    me.
    	
    		the Greyhawk

    You mean three levels of VP, right?  That's what we've got right now in
    IDC.  Keillor reports to Demmer, who reports to Strecker.  
    
    --bonnie

    
    Bonnie -
    
    	Thanks for making my point. I'm just a sales grunt in the field. I
    report (or at least, used to) to a Level one manager, and then it
    reported to a level two, who reports to level three, etc. and by the
    time we get to RP here is moi seven levels down carrying the margin
    dollars on my budget to pay for all these folks. Enough already. I can
    handle three. Any more is management overkill, which becomes management
    overview, which becomes management control, and the next thing you know
    you have an organizational vietnam (small caps intended).
    
    	Rest my case.  Your witness -
    
    		the Greyhawk

    Yeah, it's pretty bad.  I've read repeatedly in quality management
    articles that an efficient company has no more than 5 or at most six
    levels.  Some have as few as three.  
    
    I'm a tech writing grunt (contract, no less) -- I still haven't figured
    out how many management levels there are between us e and the VPs. 
    Supposedly we belong to "self-managed teams"; this appears to be a
    euphemism for "management's too busy pushing paper to actually *manage*
    anything."  Or perhaps it's a euphemism for, "If you can't get it
    yourself, you don't need it."  
    
    And with three Veeps sitting on the top of the pile, there doesn't seem
    to be much point to trying to figure out the rest -- even if you could
    push an idea through that much dead weight, you couldn't get it any
    further.  
    
    Another problem with too many management levels is that even when the
    people on the bottom are pushing for change and the people on the top
    are pushing for change, there's so much dead weight in the middle that
    everything just sort of gets absorbed and nothing changes.  
    
    Sigh.
    
    --bonnie

    re: .26
    
    Since I posted .26, I've been informed that there are approximately 3
    layers of management between me and the VPs.  
    
    3 levels of regular management and 3 of VPs strikes me as being just a
    leeetle top-heavy, no?
    
    --bonnie

    at Motorola, there was my manager, then the area comptroller, then the
    division vp, then the ceo.

    
    Now that we all agree. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get RP to
    just "bite the bullet" and do it. it being telling 25% of his
    management "team" adios - and don't let the door hit you in the butt on
    the way out?
    
    		the Greyhawk

    start with sending Ben & Jerry ice cream lids to him to pass
    out with the contest flyer....

    From .0
    
    >"Human relations management."  This management style focuses on meeting
    >the psychological needs of employees in the workplace as a means to
    >enhance productivity.  Certainly, performance expectations exist in every
    >organization, and along with these expectations are many direct and indirect
    >ways in which the organization communicates a caring attitude.  When basic
    >self esteem needs are met and individuals believe that management cares,
    >positive feelings about the organization, employee loyality, and
    >productivity all increase.
    
    I know we have "Human relations management" within Digital recently I
    heard we hired a new one somewheres in the org. When I read the mail
    announcing it, I said to myself "great! just what we need, more do
    nothing management". Here Digital is laying off all kinds of people,
    morale is lousy everywhere, and we hire more management. When will they
    get the hint? We dont need more managers! 
    
    Hmmm, lay off people, remaining workers must do extra work,
    productivity increases as a result, therefore, management must care?