IMPACT OF STAFF MORALE ON PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOL
ORGANIZATIONS
Olanike S. Nicholas-Omoregbe
College of Human Development
Covenant University, Otta, Ogun-state, Nigeria.
sharonicks@yahoo.com
08032411218
Abstract
The relationship between the morale of staff (i.e. teachers’ morale) and
performance in school organizations was looked at in this study. The
research was carried out on a randomly selected sample of one
hundred and twenty (120) students and teaching staff from the three
colleges in Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. Remuneration and
Recognition were used to measure morale while teaching effectiveness
was used as a variable for performance. It was discovered that staff
morale has a significant effect on performance in school organizations.
Introduction
Morale is the emotional reaction of a person to his job. Diverse
elements of morale are: courage, enthusiasm, zeal, discipline, and
readiness to stand hardship (Otu, 1998). According to him, morale
also refers to the condition of a group where there are obvious and
set group goals that are felt to be central and incorporated with
personal goals.
Morale is a primary problem influencing the development and
success of a school. Bentley and Rempel (1980) describe morale as
the professional interest and zeal that an individual shows towards
the attainment of individual and group goals in a given job situation.
Low morale is correlated with frustration, trauma, hostility and
helplessness. While high morale is connected with fulfillment,
belongingness, success and personal and group value (Sinclair,
1992).
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Schools can be erected and as well be equipped with all required
facilities and gifted with properly qualified staff. Much older schools
can also be refurbished and made better by individuals,
organizations or government, nonetheless the educational system
may not thrive unless teachers who are the core of the organization
are well cared for in terms of recognition/appreciation, participation
in decision making process, timely payment of good pay and added
benefits, thriving school discipline, substantial work loads, etc.
It is a chief role for the school manager to influence the morale of his
subordinates. The key functions of the school head as a manager in
planning, organizing, supervising, communicating, coordinating,
motivating and controlling all have important association for school
morale. Looking at it from the teachers' outlook, the school head’s
management of those functions has a strong bearing on the level of
performance they obtain from teaching.
Boosting the Morale of Teachers
The effectiveness of school administration is measured by the extent
to which it adds to teaching and learning (Otu, 2006). A school head
makes his biggest contribution by providing and holding them on
them job, and by endowing them and their students with capable
and enough working tools and creating a conducive environment in
which they can work. A pleasant and emotional climate for staff and
students in school setting has the mysterious powers of boosting
staff morale and enhancing their self-investment in their work.
Colleagues should frequently be injected with zeal by school
managers by regarding their observations, recognizing their worth,
making policy matters plain to them and trusting their capabilities
and disabilities. Informal communications between the school head
and staff will eliminate element of fear, antagonism and suspicion
whilst at the same time enhancing good relationship.
Aside from been friendly and available to staff by school heads, they
must be flexible and willing to achieve the essential feasible and
practicable transformation in their administration. Fair sharing of
available fringe benefits to commendable and worthy staff would
facilitate the raising of personal prestige of personnel.
Making teachers feel that they can take responsibility to make
improvements in the teaching and learning situation in the school,
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Olanike S. & Omoregbe N., Impact of Staff Morale on Performance in School…….
motivates them to perform and feel satisfied (Ellis on Herzberg 1984).
Teachers, who feel cherished and allowed to take on innovative tasks,
have their morale increased to perform better.
Promotion to assume greater responsibility is also noted by Herzberg
as a motivating factor for teachers. Particularly, he cites that it is not
the pay raise of the promotion itself but the increased morale and
recognition achieved because of it (Ellis 1984).
Proper empowerment according to Blasé and Blasé (1994) can mean
uplifting teachers to a recognizable category within school
organizations of knowledgeable professionals.
In addition, there are a number of reward systems that can make it
probable for the school administrator to maintain high morale among
staff such as praises, assigning posts of responsibility,
recommending efficient and effective staff for promotion and
facilitating professional and academic development (Otu, 2006).
Sinclair, in his reviewed studies discovered that teacher satisfaction
is an important element influencing school morale, and that school
goals and individual teacher goals go hand in hand. He said that
management associated with high morale is likely to be participative
and supportive, and to happen when motivational and
communication forces are well-built, interaction is warm and
agreeable, decision making and goal setting are shared, control
processes are friendly, and achievement is emphasised and
acknowledged. The major management roles of the school head in
planning, organising, communicating, motivating and controlling,
therefore, all have important suggestions for school morale.
The Effects of Morale
When the morale of teachers is damaged, reduced teaching
effectiveness and low student performance are the probable
outcomes.
Morale is not concrete, it can not be isolated. Nevertheless, it is
possible to determine the quality of morale by careful
observation of the way people act. A positive relationship can
be found between low morale and a high rate of absenteeism,
and indolence in an organization. Taking excessive time
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away, from the work at hand, loitering, and constant internal
strife are signs of dissatisfaction with the job. Conversely,
promptness, enthusiasm, dependability and cooperation are
indications of high morale (Otu, 2006).
He also asserts that once a teacher is deprived of his salaries, fringe
benefits and kept outside the decision-making process in the school,
low performance and sometimes antagonism should be expected from
such a teacher.
Raising teacher morale can make teaching more pleasant for both
teachers and students resulting in an environment more conducive
to learning. (Lumsden 1986) says that when morale is high, schools
showed an improvement in student achievement
Presently, mobility of teaching personnel at all levels especially at the
pre tertiary level of the educational system to better paid jobs is a
clear signal of the rising discontent that infects the teaching
profession. Marginalization, poverty, disregard by the society are
responsible for the low morale of teachers at all levels of the
educational system especially the pre tertiary level (Otu, 2006).
High morale among teachers can have far reaching effects. Morale is
directly linked to learning and achievement.
On the other hand, low morale can also have negative effects within
school environment. With reverence to learning, when morale sinks,
the achievement level also drops. Low levels of morale can bring up
many other problems. Several job performance effects consist of
reduced quality of teaching, higher use of sick leave, and a negative
view of students (Sinclair 1992).
Black, (2004) asserts that low teacher morale is a problem worldwide
due to such factors as low salaries, excessive work overloads, lack of
involvement in decision making, and problems with school discipline.
Tackling Morale Problems
Diverse strategies for tackling morale problems are:
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Olanike S. & Omoregbe N., Impact of Staff Morale on Performance in School…….
Make room for professional and academic
advancement/development.
Communication: communication is a two way process, so
a school manager must also be a good listener in order to
raise the morale of his/her staff.
Appreciate good contributions. If staff members know
that the school head is aware of their offerings, it
encourages them to offer more and gives them a sense of
belonging.
Ascertain that teachers know what's expected of them:
school heads should assign specifically defined roles to
teachers and make them know how their contributions
would lead to the achievement of the goals of the school
organization.
Flexibility. When a school head allow teachers to manage
their jobs and lives personally without becoming too rigid
about issues, it could be able to assist in increasing
morale.
Look for opportunities for informal/social
interactions: such as attending weddings of the
employees, etc. Informal interactions have the capacity to
destroy fear.
Allow the teachers to air their views and ideas: The
school head must support teachers to become involved in
school affairs and allow them to present their insights on
assignments.
Methods
Sample
Respondents in this study were selected from population of the
students and teaching staff from the three colleges in Covenant
University, Ota, Ogun state. They are; College of Human
Development, College of Business and Social Sciences and College of
Science and Technology. This suggested the need for the use of
sample of students and teaching staff. The samples were picked from
the three Colleges which emerged from a stratified random sampling
technique. Sixty students as well as sixty (60) teaching staff were
used. A total number of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents
formed the sample for this study.
Design
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Survey research was used for this study. Hence, the researcher
designed questionnaires and distributed to the various target publics
and their responses were analyzed.
Instrument
Data collected through the use of questionnaires were two types i.e.
teachers’ and students’ questionnaires. They sought information on
remuneration, recognition, communication, teaching effectiveness,
etc.
Results
Responses were analyzed using chi-square statistics generated
through graphpad software.
Result
Hypothesis 1: There is no significant relationship between
remuneration and performance.
Table 1:
Summary table of chi square test showing the relationship between
remuneration and performance.
Analyze a 2x2 contingency table
Agree Disagree Total
Teachers 44 16 60
Students 20 40 60
Total 64 56 120
Chi-square without Yates correction
Chi squared equals 19.286 with 1 degree of freedom.
The two-tailed P value is less than 0.0001
The association between rows (groups) and columns (outcomes)
is considered to be extremely statistically significant.
The analysis and explanation above implies that there is a significant
relationship between remuneration and the performance of teachers.
Therefore the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant
relationship between remuneration and performance is hereby
rejected.
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Olanike S. & Omoregbe N., Impact of Staff Morale on Performance in School…….
Hypothesis 2: There is no significant relationship between
recognition and performance.
Table 2: Summary table of chi square showing the relationship
between recognition and performance.
Analyze a 2x2 contingency table
Agree Disagree Total
Teachers 40 20 60
Students 24 36 60
Total 64 56 120
Chi-square without Yates correction
Chi squared equals 8.571 with 1 degree of freedom.
The two-tailed P value equals 0.0034
The association between rows (groups) and columns
(outcomes)
is considered to be very statistically significant.
The analysis and explanation above implies that there is a significant
relationship between recognition and performance. Therefore, null
hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship
between recognition and performance is hereby rejected.
Discussion
Social researchers such as Sinclair, Herzberg, etc., have recognized
the importance of staff morale on teachers’ performance.
Sinclair in reference to Mclaughlin etal 1986 agrees that the
circumstance that surrounds the work of teachers is often set up in
such a way as to deny teachers a sense of efficacy, success and sense
of worth. They found that teacher frustration and discontent were
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usually connected to deficiencies such as: Lack of teacher’s
involvement in decisions that directly affected their vocation;
administrative decisions that weakens teacher’s professional opinion
and capability; lack of deliberation about new or alternative
practices; and Lack of appreciation for accomplishments. Frontline
Education, 2002 (Teacher Attrition) also agrees that what causes
teacher attrition are low staff morale, segregation, lack of respect and
too little support of managers.
More often than not, pay is a factor that can demoralize and create
low morale virtually all professions (First & Best in Ed.). But, many
surveys done on teacher morale showed a pattern of other factors
other than pay that can influence teachers, morale even though pay
is also a factor such factors are discipline, class size, imposition by
government on curriculum, targets, lack of involvement, and budgets
that can destabilize the teachers (Sinclair) .
Otu (2006) asserts that once a teacher is deprived of his salaries,
fringe benefits and kept outside the decision-making process in the
school, low performance and sometimes antagonism should be
expected from such the teacher.
Raising teacher morale can make teaching more pleasant for teachers
and learning more pleasant for students.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The staff in school background needs high morale for effective
performance of their responsibilities. This is why the urge to be in
the right place must be supported and shaped in the staff by the
government and administrators given that except the human factor is
minded and noticed to be major as the productive organism in school
organizations, the organization may not succeed because the morale
of teachers has the capacity to affect the health of the school
organization in terms of teaching, learning and achievement.
Even more than any other profession, teaching touches the lives of
virtually every stakeholder in the system viz: students, parents,
guardians, or even the administrators or planners themselves.
The school manager may not be fully able to boost the morale of staff,
since the provision of material benefits such as remuneration,
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advancement, and fringe benefits may not be entirely within their
control, yet they can do all that is within their jurisdiction such as
encouraging/appreciating them, recommending them for promotion,
assigning challenging roles to them, etc.
The condition of teachers and the entire teaching profession should
be enhanced by consciously endorsing policies by the government to
free all level of teachers so as to make teaching as gratifying as any
other job within the public sector and so that capable staff can be
pulled to teaching and also be kept on the job.
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