A Factor Analysis of Human Needs and Industrial Morale1

Abstract

Summary When an interested management asks “How can employee morale be measured satisfactorily”, …“How is morale in my organization”, …“How can morale be improved”?…, the personnel man is faced with a choice of definitions of morale, a choice of methods of measuring it, and a choice of recommendations on how it can be improved. A search of the published writings shows that there is yet no one best answer to these questions. The present article reports another attempt to answer them. At the beginning of the study it was proposed that high morale be defined as the feeling of well being that an individual experiences when his needs are being filled to his satisfaction. In order to measure how well the employee needs were being filled, a confidential questionnaire was administered to groups of clerical workers at a government installation. In addition, the production records and ratings of these groups were collected. It was found that there were three separate needs that were being filled with varying degrees of satisfaction and that each of these played a different role with respect to production and to morale. The definition of morale as proposed was tentatively supported. Further studies are being made to improve the measurement of need‐satisfaction and to relate these measures to turnover rate and to programs designed to improve morale, both in clerical and mechanical work.

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