Obstacles, Barries and Pitfalls that Influenece Staff Morale - Essay Example

Running Head: Obstacles, Barriers and Pitfalls that Influence Staff Morale Obstacles, Barriers and Pitfalls that Influence Staff Morale: A Research Paper Your Name goes hereProfessional SpecializationName of your professorDateObstacles, Barriers and Pitfalls that Influence Staff Morale1. IntroductionMorale is the cumulative effect of organizational culture, a state where people are willing to contribute a little more than the call of duty in order to make the organization or group more productive, successful and deliverable.

Bowles and Cary (2009, p.2) have defined it as, “A state of individual psychological well-being based upon a sense of confidence and usefulness and purpose.” If this is not the case in a group or organization, it will need to look out for some obstacles, barriers and pitfalls that are influencing the staff morale in a way or other. There is no easy way-out morale problems and management will have to work hard to know exactly is hurting the staff morale. There are hundreds of factors that may influence staff morale some of these are discussed in this report. (a) ObstaclesHuman beings aspire to work freely and creatively whereas organizations have to enforce some checks on experiencing too many things.

If you are trying to regulate too many things it may damage the morale and will result in lack of willful participation and innovation. Obstacles may be administrative, behavioral, financial, managerial etc. the basic issue is to isolate them in morale diagnosis. Managers are required to find out the problem areas, so that remedial policies can be formulated to remove obstacles. The best practice is to involve employee in the process, Bruce (2009, p.76) states, “If you involve employees in the development of their own performance standards, they will be more likely to openly discuss with you any obstacles they perceive as getting in the way of their success.”(b) BarriersBarriers are psychological and physical; these may be incorporated into environment intentionally and unintentionally by the managers.

Barriers are very influential in employee’s morale and hard to remove because most of the time they are not revealed by the employees. Barriers to learning and free expression are most common in corporate cultures.Managers are required to create a openness in dialogues, discussion and in meetings. Instead on isolating individuals and groups another way is to dig out barriers in generic terms. Discussions, trainings, informal gatherings and recreational activities can play important role in eliminating barriers.(c) PitfallsSometimes, organizations are exposed to unpredictable difficulties and problems which may range from financial to time pressing workloads.

In such conditions, keeping the morale high is the primary responsibility of the managers. Incentives and morale encouragement can be effective in such cases. Keep the staff onboard on issues confronting the organization and appreciate their suggestions and feedback. Organization with appropriate managerial strengths can overcome the pitfalls and their effects on the employee morale through collaborative measures and techniques.ReferencesBruce, A. (2003).Building a high morale workplace. USA: McGraw-Hill.

Bowles, D & Cary L. C. (2009). Employee morale: driving performance in challenging times. Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.