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Establishing and Maintaining Employee Morale
ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING EMPLOYEE MORALE Dr. Aaron Quinn Sartain Dr. Aaron Quinn Sartain is Dean of the School of Business Administration of Southern Methodist University. Dean Sartain has spoken to management, professional, and civic groups throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and has served as management consultant for many industrial and business organizations. Dr. Sartain is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is a labor arbitrator, and coauthor of two books, Human Behavior in Industry, and Psychology : Understanding Human Behavior.
A problem of concern to every person in a position of leadership in our country is how to influence others to strive for the objectives of the group. This is true of the hospital administrator, the chief nurse, the owner or manager of a business, the president of a service club, and countless others. Even forcing people to work effectively is a means of influencing them, but the manager of today soon learns that there are limits beyond which forcing cannot be pushed. In the last analysis, voluntary cooperation is important in virtually all groups and is vital and essential in many. OVERCONCERN WITH METHODS In general since World War I and in particular since World War 11, we have been concerned with techniques and methods of effective supervision and leadership. We have apparently felt that here is a set of techniques which, if skillfully applied, will achieve for us the goals we wish. These methods are often referred to as “practical
72
psychology” and more recently as “human relations,” and are thought to have wide applicability from one situation to another. These are disturbing observations, however, when one attempts to maintain this position. One difficulty is deciding for sure what are the most important of these “principles.” Frequently they are either so general as to be virtually meaningless or so hland and innocuous as to be of no real help in difficult situations. Another is that if they are recognized as techniques by subordinates, as they so frequently are, they run the risk of being labeled as manipulative and then they fail to work. The truth of the matter is that we have over-emphasized methods. In the last analysis one’s success as a manager depends not on what he does, but on the kind of person he is taken to be. Two individuals can use the same methods with the same kinds of groups wherein one will succeed beautifully and the other will fail. Individuals can also use very different methods and yet succeed equally well. (Consider, for example, the “hard-nosed” and the “considerate” football coach.) Basically, then, it is not what the leader does; it is the sort of person his subordinates judge and feel him to be. It becomes pretty clear that in many if not most cases this comes down to what sort of a person he really is. INSIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE LEADER If we are to be concerned primarily with what the leader is rather than what he does,
AORN Journal
one important aspect is his insightfulness and understanding. He has learned, for one thing, that his methods as such are much less consequential than the impression, image or feeling created by the methods.
THE 1964 MODEL OF AMERICAN Another insight of great importance is the vast change that has occurred in and to people in this country in the last 50 years. This is hardly the place to attempt to detail them. Suffice it to mention standards of living, rights of individuals, population, occupation, and many other aspects of change. What is not so clear is the effect of these on the typical American. Let me assert, however, that he has changed in at least three ways. First, he is smart. It is difficult to “pull the wool over his eyes” and he may well know as much about what is going on in the world as his boss does. Second, he is sensitive. He believes that he has rights arid that no one has the right to violate them. These rights include the right to vote (for women and minority groups, too), to organize and bargain collectively, to be treated without unfair discrimination, and to appeal adverse decisions. Third, he is suspicious, and most especially so of anyone who tries to manipulate him through the use of tricks.
of himself-to another person. The need to be needed is certainly not our only need and it is probably not our most important, but it does have great influence on our behavior.
THE NATURE OF MORALE Morale is a term that causes management theorists great difficulty, all the more so because so many of them emphasize the individual approach and the worker’s strivings for self-interest. Morale is difficult if not impossible to understand if one makes these assumptions, for it is the identification on the part of group members with group objectives, rather than individual objectives. If I am a typical member of a high-morale group, my basic question ceases to be “What is there in it for me?” and becomes “What is there in it for us, and how can I make my greatest contribution to achieving with my fellows our over-riding, vastly significant group goals?” Again we are not saying that individual appeals are useless or secondary. What we are saying is that identification with the goals of a group - a church, a profession, a business, a hospital, or an athletic team - may produce devotion, effort, and accomplishment that the promise of individual rewards would never bring forth.
ATTITUDES AND VALUES OF THE NEED TO BE NEEDED Particularly in the work situation we have tended to believe that a person is interested only in himself and his own gain. We assume at times that only individual appeals are effective and these only when they clearly show him “what there is in it for him.” This, of course, is an erroneous position. We do want to get for ourselves, but we also want to feel that we are making a contribution. It is tragic to believe that one does not really “count,” that his efforts are without significance or that he is only a means to an end - and not of value in and
Sept-Oct 1964
LEADER It is important that the leader be insightful and perceptive. If anything, it is more important that he be possessed of certain basic attitudes and values. Let us look at some of these. EMOTIONAL MATURITY Quite clearly, the leader needs self-confidence, for without that nothing else is likely to count for much. Growing out of self-confidence is confidence in others. People seldom produce o r perform outstandingly in an atmosphere of disapproval.
73
Likewise there is high expectation as to performance. To a degree greater than is usually realized, what the leader expects really and truly and deep down inside, usually has a significant and may have a tremendous influence on what he gets. This expectation as to performance easily goes over into a demand for high performance, but it must be remembered that pounding the table, raising one’s voice, and “issuing orders” is typically one of the poorer ways of demanding. Finally, there is humility - of certain kind and to a certain degree. What I am referring to here is not the Casper Milquetoast sort of humility, but the kind that enables the leader to realize that he is only a man among men, subject to all the temptations and limitations of human beings. People usually work comfortably for such a supervisor, for that is the kind of people they know themselves to be. But deliver them from the perfect (and hence emotionally immature) supervisor!
TOLERANCE FOR UNCERTAINTY AND AMBIGUITY Closely related to tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity is the ability to take forthright, affirmative action where it is called for without lying awake nights or worrying for days about the correctness of one’s decisions. Furthermore, the manager must realize that he typically makes decisions on the basis of incomplete evidence and in the face of uncertainty. (Indeed if this were not the case, no real decision would be called for.) The ability to live comfortably with decisions made on the basis of less than all the facts and with a large element of doubt as to outcome is a mark of the effective leader. Finally, there is the fact that most important decisions are not made between blacks and whites but between shades of grey. One seldom has an important choice between the clearly right and clearly wrong, or the ob-
74
viously efficient and the obviously inefficient. Rather, our choices are between goods, with none completely good, or between evils, with none despicably evil but with a choice still necessary. Needless to say, the ordinary, inexperienced person is not in the position to make these choices comfortably. DEDICATION TO ETHICAL VALUES There is a tendency these days, as perhaps there always is, to believe that ethical and moral matters are of no great concern to the manager. After all, his job is to get the job done, and considerations of ethics should seldom arise, nor should they be of major interest. Here, however, in my judgment the manager may make a serious or even fatal error. To an extent that may be basically unfair, he is supposed to demonstrate a real appreciation of the duties and obligations of his job and of his responsibilities to the group and the enterprise. Above all, if his subordinates ever get the idea that he is putting his own personal welfare above these job demands, and especially if he is esteemed to be using them for his own personal gain and without regard to their welfare, he has a handicap that is difficult indeed to overcome. The 1 9 a model of American demands that his boss be devoted to values bigger than self-interest and sets a standard for him higher than that required of his associates and of himself. In this case the manager is somewhat in the position of the preacher. If he is judged to be seriously deficient at this point, no set of techniques or methods will really help, no matter how cleverly or even cunningly applied. All in all, it must be stressed that effective leadership in the ’60’s in the United States is by no means a simple matter. On the contrary, it requires the leader’s best judgment, as well as his maturity and devotion! The importance of these attributes is likely to increase rather than diminish in the years ahead.
AORN Journal
A problem of concern to every person in a position of leadership in our country is how to influence others to strive for the objectives of the group. This is true of the hospital administrator, the chief nurse, the owner or manager of a business, the president of a service club, and countless others. Even forcing people to work effectively is a means of influencing them, but the manager of today soon learns that there are limits beyond which forcing cannot be pushed. In the last analysis, voluntary cooperation is important in virtually all groups and is vital and essential in many. OVERCONCERN WITH METHODS In general since World War I and in particular since World War 11, we have been concerned with techniques and methods of effective supervision and leadership. We have apparently felt that here is a set of techniques which, if skillfully applied, will achieve for us the goals we wish. These methods are often referred to as “practical
72
psychology” and more recently as “human relations,” and are thought to have wide applicability from one situation to another. These are disturbing observations, however, when one attempts to maintain this position. One difficulty is deciding for sure what are the most important of these “principles.” Frequently they are either so general as to be virtually meaningless or so hland and innocuous as to be of no real help in difficult situations. Another is that if they are recognized as techniques by subordinates, as they so frequently are, they run the risk of being labeled as manipulative and then they fail to work. The truth of the matter is that we have over-emphasized methods. In the last analysis one’s success as a manager depends not on what he does, but on the kind of person he is taken to be. Two individuals can use the same methods with the same kinds of groups wherein one will succeed beautifully and the other will fail. Individuals can also use very different methods and yet succeed equally well. (Consider, for example, the “hard-nosed” and the “considerate” football coach.) Basically, then, it is not what the leader does; it is the sort of person his subordinates judge and feel him to be. It becomes pretty clear that in many if not most cases this comes down to what sort of a person he really is. INSIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE LEADER If we are to be concerned primarily with what the leader is rather than what he does,
AORN Journal
one important aspect is his insightfulness and understanding. He has learned, for one thing, that his methods as such are much less consequential than the impression, image or feeling created by the methods.
THE 1964 MODEL OF AMERICAN Another insight of great importance is the vast change that has occurred in and to people in this country in the last 50 years. This is hardly the place to attempt to detail them. Suffice it to mention standards of living, rights of individuals, population, occupation, and many other aspects of change. What is not so clear is the effect of these on the typical American. Let me assert, however, that he has changed in at least three ways. First, he is smart. It is difficult to “pull the wool over his eyes” and he may well know as much about what is going on in the world as his boss does. Second, he is sensitive. He believes that he has rights arid that no one has the right to violate them. These rights include the right to vote (for women and minority groups, too), to organize and bargain collectively, to be treated without unfair discrimination, and to appeal adverse decisions. Third, he is suspicious, and most especially so of anyone who tries to manipulate him through the use of tricks.
of himself-to another person. The need to be needed is certainly not our only need and it is probably not our most important, but it does have great influence on our behavior.
THE NATURE OF MORALE Morale is a term that causes management theorists great difficulty, all the more so because so many of them emphasize the individual approach and the worker’s strivings for self-interest. Morale is difficult if not impossible to understand if one makes these assumptions, for it is the identification on the part of group members with group objectives, rather than individual objectives. If I am a typical member of a high-morale group, my basic question ceases to be “What is there in it for me?” and becomes “What is there in it for us, and how can I make my greatest contribution to achieving with my fellows our over-riding, vastly significant group goals?” Again we are not saying that individual appeals are useless or secondary. What we are saying is that identification with the goals of a group - a church, a profession, a business, a hospital, or an athletic team - may produce devotion, effort, and accomplishment that the promise of individual rewards would never bring forth.
ATTITUDES AND VALUES OF THE NEED TO BE NEEDED Particularly in the work situation we have tended to believe that a person is interested only in himself and his own gain. We assume at times that only individual appeals are effective and these only when they clearly show him “what there is in it for him.” This, of course, is an erroneous position. We do want to get for ourselves, but we also want to feel that we are making a contribution. It is tragic to believe that one does not really “count,” that his efforts are without significance or that he is only a means to an end - and not of value in and
Sept-Oct 1964
LEADER It is important that the leader be insightful and perceptive. If anything, it is more important that he be possessed of certain basic attitudes and values. Let us look at some of these. EMOTIONAL MATURITY Quite clearly, the leader needs self-confidence, for without that nothing else is likely to count for much. Growing out of self-confidence is confidence in others. People seldom produce o r perform outstandingly in an atmosphere of disapproval.
73
Likewise there is high expectation as to performance. To a degree greater than is usually realized, what the leader expects really and truly and deep down inside, usually has a significant and may have a tremendous influence on what he gets. This expectation as to performance easily goes over into a demand for high performance, but it must be remembered that pounding the table, raising one’s voice, and “issuing orders” is typically one of the poorer ways of demanding. Finally, there is humility - of certain kind and to a certain degree. What I am referring to here is not the Casper Milquetoast sort of humility, but the kind that enables the leader to realize that he is only a man among men, subject to all the temptations and limitations of human beings. People usually work comfortably for such a supervisor, for that is the kind of people they know themselves to be. But deliver them from the perfect (and hence emotionally immature) supervisor!
TOLERANCE FOR UNCERTAINTY AND AMBIGUITY Closely related to tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity is the ability to take forthright, affirmative action where it is called for without lying awake nights or worrying for days about the correctness of one’s decisions. Furthermore, the manager must realize that he typically makes decisions on the basis of incomplete evidence and in the face of uncertainty. (Indeed if this were not the case, no real decision would be called for.) The ability to live comfortably with decisions made on the basis of less than all the facts and with a large element of doubt as to outcome is a mark of the effective leader. Finally, there is the fact that most important decisions are not made between blacks and whites but between shades of grey. One seldom has an important choice between the clearly right and clearly wrong, or the ob-
74
viously efficient and the obviously inefficient. Rather, our choices are between goods, with none completely good, or between evils, with none despicably evil but with a choice still necessary. Needless to say, the ordinary, inexperienced person is not in the position to make these choices comfortably. DEDICATION TO ETHICAL VALUES There is a tendency these days, as perhaps there always is, to believe that ethical and moral matters are of no great concern to the manager. After all, his job is to get the job done, and considerations of ethics should seldom arise, nor should they be of major interest. Here, however, in my judgment the manager may make a serious or even fatal error. To an extent that may be basically unfair, he is supposed to demonstrate a real appreciation of the duties and obligations of his job and of his responsibilities to the group and the enterprise. Above all, if his subordinates ever get the idea that he is putting his own personal welfare above these job demands, and especially if he is esteemed to be using them for his own personal gain and without regard to their welfare, he has a handicap that is difficult indeed to overcome. The 1 9 a model of American demands that his boss be devoted to values bigger than self-interest and sets a standard for him higher than that required of his associates and of himself. In this case the manager is somewhat in the position of the preacher. If he is judged to be seriously deficient at this point, no set of techniques or methods will really help, no matter how cleverly or even cunningly applied. All in all, it must be stressed that effective leadership in the ’60’s in the United States is by no means a simple matter. On the contrary, it requires the leader’s best judgment, as well as his maturity and devotion! The importance of these attributes is likely to increase rather than diminish in the years ahead.
AORN Journal