Worker morale and productivity across six industries

Effective Management and Leadership Practices Introduction
This will be a qualitative design study that focuses on exploring the relationship between worker morale and productivity in six different industries to see if there is any universal theme that reveals the extent to which workplace morale is a function of the workplace rather than other of factors, such as home lives, personal lives, etc. The specific problem this study looks to address is that managers do not know if morale is something they can control or influence or if it is beyond their control (Rukshani & Senthilnathan, 2015; Shaban, Al-Zubi, Ali & Alqotaish, 2017). Thus, this study asks to what extent do the interpersonal relationships in the workplace influence morale. It subsequently inquires into how to influence morale in the workplace, whether morale is related to productivity, and whether or not managers can truly influence morale in the workplace or if morale to at least some extent is influenced by external factors beyond the control of the manager. Design The qualitative design for this study is appropriate because it is exploratory in nature. It is not attempting to test a hypothesis or to define a relationship between variables, which are reasons quantitative studies are commonly performed (Creswell, 2013). Instead, it aims to explore concepts surrounding the idea of morale in the workplace and its relation to productivity. Qualitative studies typically rely upon taking an in-depth and up-close look at a small sample of participants so as to get fuller and more detailed perspectives from them that may help to illuminate or shed light upon certain aspects of the problem.
Maslow’s (1943) theory of human motivation and the idea of the hierarchy of needs will be used to provide one aspect of the theoretical framework for this study. Another theoretical approach will be the theory of positive psychology, which focuses on the idea that people can use inner strength and virtue to have a more meaningful and richer life experience. Positive psychology can emphasize anything from developing spiritual life in order to maintain a higher vision or state of mind to focusing on positive emotions and controlling or regulating one’s mood in a more consistent and healthy manner so that emotion does not run one’s life (Dolphin, Steinhardt & Cance, 2015). By using these two theoretical approaches, the study will be able to interpret the findings in the light of two of the most recognized and instrumental psychological theories of the past few decades. Method The method to be used for this study is the focus group method—so this will be a qualitative focus group study. Case study methodology and phenomenological methodology also presented themselves as possible approaches but after comparing the three, it was determined that focus group would provide the kind of insight into a variety of different management experiences that this study was looking to explore. Because the aim is see if there is a common experience among managers of different backgrounds, case study would not be appropriate, since that method only looks at one or two particular experiences. Likewise, the phenomenological approach would not work because it too only tends to look at the experiences of one or two participants in deep detail. Focus group allows a collective group to come together, talk together and share ideas in a rich and meaningful way so that interactions can take place and ideas can be explored together, which often helps the researcher to see more deeply into how experience and communication shape perspectives (Creswell, 2013).
The focus group method will be conducted by using the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to identify participants from six different industries and to ask them to participate in an online focus group for the purpose of gaining insight into how they view the relationship between morale, productivity, managerial intervention and external factors. The various industries that will be selected may include: 1) the financial industry, 2) the educational industry, 3) the health care industry, 4) the manufacturing industry, 5) the retail industry, and 6) the restaurant industry. Participants will be selected by searching for users on the social media platforms and identifying suitable candidates by their profiles. Managers will be contacted through social media and asked to participate in a focus group online. Between 6 and 10 participants will be selected.
The data will be interpreted by recording the videoconference focus group and then transcribing the discussion that follows over the course of the interview process. The interview questions will be asked and the group will be given the opportunity to respond and then follow-up on the responses of others. The transcripts will be analyzed using grounded theory. Data will be coded using open coding, and eidetic reduction and imaginative variation will be used to filter out the noise and identify the themes that emerge from the transcript, as recommended by Katsirikou and Lin (2017). Data Collection Instruments The data collection instrument will be the semi-structured interview via videoconference, so that the entire interview is recorded and can be transcribed for analysis. This collection instrument makes the most sense because the participants are expected to be dispersed across a wide geographical region and the best way to obtain their data altogether would be through videoconferencing (Flynn, Albrecht & Scott, 2018).
Some of the interview questions that will be asked will be: In your experience, how important is morale to productivity? Are employees able to separate themselves from what is going in their own lives when they come to work and apply themselves in a way that is focused, productive and in line with company expectations? Is it a case by case, person by person situation, where some employees can do that and others cannot? If so, why is that? What are the distinguishing factors or qualities that workers who can apply themselves possess that workers who are distracted by external issues do not possess? Is it a factor of degree or a problem of stability? For instance, is an employee going through a divorce or struggling with a domestic situation always going to be harder to motivate or maintain morale at work than an employee whose home life is highly satisfactory and without problems? How have you as a manager focused on morale? How much of that method is the result of training, the result of personal experience of seeing what works and what does not, and the result of simply trying new ideas? Based upon what others in this group have said, would any of you change your minds or like to add anything to what you stated earlier? In your view do interpersonal relationships influence morale? Do you feel it is important or even possible to identify the needs of your workers so as to satisfy them with the aim being to assist them in reaching a level of self-actualization? Once the data is collected from the focus group, after of course gaining their informed consent, the data will be safeguarded and protected with confidentiality and privacy being observed. No participants’ names or identifying features will be reported in the study and data will be preserved in a digitally encrypted lockbox so that third parties do not obtain access to it.
To maintain validity and verifiability of the study, the exact process by which data is collected and analyzed will be described in the study and the researcher will request the participants’ permission to engage in member checking so as to verify that the interpretation of the data is in line with what the participants actually meant to say or suggest. Member checking is a useful way of validating data when it is interpreted by cross-checking that interpretation with the participant (Creswell, 2013). Conclusion This study will be a qualitative focus group study in order to explore what managers with experience in six different industries feel or believe is the relationship between moral, productivity, managerial influence, and external factors. The aim of the study is to close the gap identified by Rukshani & Senthilnathan (2015) and Shaban et al. (2017) regarding whether or not it is beyond a manager’s control to influence workers’ morale or if it is even important in their eyes to do so. Data will be collected using videoconferencing and interpreted using grounded theory and the theory of human motivation by Maslow and positive psychology theory.

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