When it comes to improving morale and building a better environment in a team setting like a fire department, there are a number of concerns that one must take into account. Various theories provide the backing needed to develop a multi-step approach that will allow for the resolution of this particular issue. With this in mind, the strategy is outlined below.
In designing the morale improvement program, one would first need to look to the work of Hawthorne, a famous sociologist who studied the impact of various elements on industrial performance. What Hawthorne found was that positive changes in environment led to more productivity mostly because workers felt as if someone in the organization cared about them and their advancement (Sedgwick & Greenwood, 2015). With this in mind, the first part of the program should be designed to show that the fire department cares about the development of all people there.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Improving Morale".
This means that there should first be a forum where every single person’s ideas and thoughts can be heard. This would allow the older, more establisher firefighters to let the leadership know why they feel the new changes are unfair. It would also allow the younger, less seasoned firefighters to show concern about going back to a system that is not based on merit. This would be a good first step because it would re-affirm to all firefighters that they are taken seriously by the department. Hawthorne would suggest that this might raise morale and also the performance of firefighters, too.
The next step in the plan takes into account McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. According to Theory X, employees are only motivated by external rewards like money, do not like their work, and thus need to be coerced to do a good job. McGregor noted that the assumptions about human nature behind Theory X are wrong. Instead, he proposed that people are generally apt to be creative, and they will seek responsibility so long as the conditions are right. On top of that, he noted, it is possible that people will enjoy work as much as play if an environment has been designed with this goal in mind. People need to be fulfilled at the highest levels (Lawter et al., 2015). With this in mind, a new program should be designed to re-affirm the links between the work that is being done at the fire department and the good it is bringing to the community. Theory Y works well in the context of the fire department because it is a public service job. Many people working there are doing so because they want to give something back. They are thus the sort of people who are more apt to fall into that Theory Y category that McGregor spoke of. This means that the most important thing the department can do is re-affirm the overall purpose of the department’s work at every possible turn.
The proper way to create this is to create a system where every single week the department will get together to celebrate the achievement of some member or members of the department. It will be illustrated the impact that they made on the community and its people through their work that month. This will include pictures of people who have been saved, statements given by citizens who appreciate the work, and the like. This can help to improve morale because it will speak to the actual esteem needs of people in the department. If the department is going to be handing down promotions based on something other than just seniority, then it needs new ways to motivate the senior-level firefighters who might have otherwise been in line for a promotion. Recognizing them for their work in terms of its impact on the community is a strategy that will very much speak to the needs that these firefighters have that go beyond just their status and their money. They want to feel like their work matters and that it is being valued, and because this is fire work, it should be easy to show the link between actual value and the work that is being done.
Contingency theory suggests that any program design must take into account the specific circumstances of the organization and its employees (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). In this case, there are up and comers who are trying to do a good job and grow in their careers. There are older employees who are also worried that all of their hard work is not going to be rewarded. More than that, they worry that they are getting a bum deal. They were promised something specific, and now the rug is being pulled from beneath them. This means that the last part of the plan has to take into account these unique constraints. It has to first consider the reality that fear is going to paralyze the older firefighters. They may be good enough to advance on merit, but not have that understanding. This means that the last part of the program has to provide specific management training and other tools through which all employees can try to enhance their skills. If all employees feel as if they are being given a fair shot to develop skills and show their skills, then they will have more confidence in the process. It is not fair to just use management training programs and other mentorship approaches for younger, up and coming firefighters. Older, more experienced firefighters need to receive some investment so they feel they have a legitimate chance at competing under these new arrangements.
