Motivation and Morale – Relationship and Differences

Morale can be defined as the total satisfaction derived by an individual from his job, his work-group, his superior, the organization he works for and the environment. It generally relates to the feeling of individual’s comfort, happiness and satisfaction.

According to Davis, “Morale is a mental condition of groups and individuals which determines their attitude.”

In short, morale is a fusion of employees’ attitudes, behaviours, manifestation of views and opinions - all taken together in their work scenarios, exhibiting the employees’ feelings towards work, working terms and relation with their employers. Morale includes employees’ attitudes on and specific reaction to their job.

There are two states of morale:

High morale - High morale implies determination at work- an essential in achievement of management objectives. High morale results in:

• A keen teamwork on part of the employees.
• Organizational Commitment and a sense of belongingness in the employees mind.
• Immediate conflict identification and resolution.
• Healthy and safe work environment.
• Effective communication in the organization.
• Increase in productivity.
• Greater motivation.

Low morale - Low morale has following features:

• Greater grievances and conflicts in organization.
• High rate of employee absenteeism and turnover.
• Dissatisfaction with the superiors and employers.
• Poor working conditions.
• Employees frustration.
• Decrease in productivity.
• Lack of motivation.

Though motivation and morale are closely related concepts, they are different in following ways:

1. While motivation is an internal-psychological drive of an individual which urges him to behave in a specific manner, morale is more of a group scenario.

2. Higher motivation often leads to higher morale of employees, but high morale does not essentially result in greatly motivated employees as to have a positive attitude towards all factors of work situation may not essentially force the employees to work more efficiently.

3. While motivation is an individual concept, morale is a group concept. Thus, motivation takes into consideration the individual differences among the employees, and morale of the employees can be increased by taking those factors into consideration which influence group scenario or total work settings.

4. Motivation acquires primary concern in every organization, while morale is a secondary phenomenon because high motivation essentially leads to higher productivity while high morale may not necessarily lead to higher productivity.

5. Things tied to morale are usually things that are just part of the work environment, and things tied to motivation are tied to the performance of the individual.