Sandi Bowman
December 30, 2006, 12:12 PM
Your points are well-taken but there is far more to low employee morale than just an authoritarian mode.
One very important, often overlooked, factor is conflicting instructions. When one level of input doesn't know what the other levels of input are, and their instructions conflict, the employee gets so frustrated they just stop trying if their initial efforts to resolve the problem fail.
Another cause is lack of control over their own work space, job, or some related aspect. If an employee is having to work at odds with what would make their job less stressful (for example, moving something closer to their natural reach when it will not interfere with anything else), they become resentful of the added pain and stress and soon you have subtle sabotage and low employee morale.
Low employee morale is not a one-track, quickly-fixed thing. The source can be a lot of different things from lack of adequate places to put their lunches or hang their coats, to lack of privacy of their paychecks and other records (you'd be amazed how often this crops up despite privacy regulations).
Good, TWO-WAY communication and a spirit of co-operation on both sides are the cures for low employee morale issues.
Sandi Bowman
One very important, often overlooked, factor is conflicting instructions. When one level of input doesn't know what the other levels of input are, and their instructions conflict, the employee gets so frustrated they just stop trying if their initial efforts to resolve the problem fail.
Another cause is lack of control over their own work space, job, or some related aspect. If an employee is having to work at odds with what would make their job less stressful (for example, moving something closer to their natural reach when it will not interfere with anything else), they become resentful of the added pain and stress and soon you have subtle sabotage and low employee morale.
Low employee morale is not a one-track, quickly-fixed thing. The source can be a lot of different things from lack of adequate places to put their lunches or hang their coats, to lack of privacy of their paychecks and other records (you'd be amazed how often this crops up despite privacy regulations).
Good, TWO-WAY communication and a spirit of co-operation on both sides are the cures for low employee morale issues.
Sandi Bowman
