Background Information
The type of leadership style applied by the management has a significant impact on the employee job morale and retention rates in an organization (Osabiya, 2015). The techniques of leadership are crucial to the success of an organization because they determine the working environment and individual’s commitment towards meeting both professional and organizational objectives (Osabiya, 2015). According to Shaban, Al-Zubi, Ali, and Alqotaish (2017), poor leadership leads to feelings of reduced self-worth, decreased organizational commitment, job dissatisfaction, lack of workers desire to be productive by employees, and increases resistance to change which eventually affects overall performance and profitability. Low employee morale and motivation adversely impact productivity and competitiveness (Shaban et al., 2017). Employees are the greatest resources for the organizations' success; thus, many strategies formulated by management aims at empowering the workers to be more productive. In fact, motivated workers tend to be more productive and creative; hence, theories of motivation are used to increase productivity and competitiveness as well (Shaban et al., 2017). Wynen, Dooren, Mattjis, and Deschamps (2018) argued that achieving sustained high levels of performance is normally the ultimate objective of every organization. Therefore, management is imperatively required to give attention to the methods used in motivating employees to continuously realize excellent performance.
Definition of Terms
Employee morale. The concept is defined as a psychological state of an individual as expressed in self-confidence, enthusiasm and loyalty to an organization (Hillary & Balu, 2018). Many organizations endeavour to boost their workers’ morale through various techniques of motivation to realize the intended outcome for the firm. However, other firms have frustrated employees efforts and enthusiasm in different ways (Hillary & Balu, 2018). Some leaders micromanage their staffs leading to low morale that further affects their loyalty and respect for authority.
Micromanagement. Entails the negative style of management where the manager exercises excessive control and attention to details to the assignments of subordinates with the aim of taking full control of the entire process (Li & Khalid, 2015). The manager closely observes and controls everything an employee does in an organization. Micromanagement requires the manager to closely supervise the minor details of employees which mostly creates an un-conducive working environment (Li & Khalid, 2015).
Problem Statement
There are high tendencies of micromanagement in the current workplace environments which affects operations, productivity, and further increases staff turnover rates. Accordingly, more than 75% of workers have reported experiencing incidences of micromanagement in the workplace (Barnes, 2015). A study conducted by Google on its managers revealed that those who showed trust in their employees by delegating their duties and avoiding micromanagement realized the best results (Ziv, 2018). According to Knight (2015), building trust with employees can help managers avoid micromanagement. Trust intensifies communication between employees and managers, hence reducing work-related conflicts (Knight, 2015). Micromanagement leads to low morale by triggering emotional stress to workers, low self-esteem due to verbal abuse from the manager, lack of recognition, negative feedback and fatigue due to overworking (Barnes, 2015). When employee loyalty to an organization decreases, the turnover rate will start to increase (Okpara, 2017). Therefore, managers are expected to embrace appropriate techniques that can avoid micromanagement in order to enhance employee morale in the workplace.
The rationale for the Study
The main objective of every company is to become an industry leader which depends on the strategies employed to ensure employees efficiently execute their roles. Accordingly, low morale hinders organizational success since it is associated with decreased employee performance. In fact, leaders who micromanage their staff that causes low morale affects their loyalty and respect for authority. Consequently, workers lack the enthusiasm to work which affects operations and productivity of the company and further increases staff turnover rates. Therefore, this study is essential because it will identify the impact of low morale as a result of micromanagement.
Micromanagement is one of the major causes for the diminished employee morale because employees want to be offered autonomy to exercise their skills and knowledge professionally without such closer scrutiny and commands from their bosses (Rajkumar, Venkataraman, & Gaythir, 2016). An empowered employee is a happy one and thus assuring the organization of efficiency in production (Rajkumar et al., 2016). Since the practice denies employees autonomy in decision making, most of them feel they are not valued in the organization which saps their trust in their managers. Low productivity and loss of competitiveness are one ultimate impact of low motivation and commitment among the employees (Osabiya, 2015). Most companies experience undesired issues among its workforce including absenteeism, sabotage, and resistance which affects their capability to effectively realize key objectives (Osabiya, 2015). Nevertheless, management focuses on a wide range of factors as a way of boosting employee morale and commitment. Some of the parameters include but not limited to providing job security, developing fair compensation policy, reducing outsourcing practices, and increasing employee engagement in the decision making (Osabiya, 2015). In spite of adopting these strategies, firms still face challenges such as loss of talents, low productivity, and lack of competitiveness. For this reason, the study intends to focus on the impact of micromanagement on employee performance because of its impact on morale (Bello et al., 2014). In fact, there are insufficient studies about the effect of micromanagement on organizational performance and measures that should be adopted by firms to address the problem. Today, companies that use motivation to enhance employee performance are considered world-class and compete globally due to the ability to sustain competitiveness. Instead of micromanaging workers, the study will provide insights into which management can boost employee motivation and morale (Hillary & Balu, 2018). Specifically, the existing literature states that employee motivation influences individuals to willingly use their ability in a constructive way to effectively execute their roles (Poornima, 2017). A motivated employee’s work attitude enhances employee commitment to high performance and productivity (Poornima, 2017).
Additionally, employees cherish autonomy to effectively execute their duties and responsibilities. In some occasions, companies have develops employee relation program which serves as a strategy providing a fair and consistent to all workers in order to influence them to remain committed to ensuring designated duties are effectively implemented (Hillary & Balu, 2018). Alongside management approaches, employee morale depends on multiple factors such as the provision of incentives, communication system, and the overall working environment (Osabiya, 2015). In spite of multiple factors affecting employee morale and commitment in the organization, the ensuing research will focus on the impact of micromanagement on employee performance. Through the study, low morale among the employees that is caused by micromanagement will be effectively solved which shall ultimately lead to improved productivity, job satisfaction, low labour turnover, and growth in the overall performance.
Research aim, Objectives and Questions
Research aim. The study aims to examine the impact of low morale caused by micromanagement on employee performance. Some leader’s accords extreme attention to small details which leads to heightened control over the employees. In most cases, micromanagement results in frequent conflicts between immediate managers and workers; hence, contributing to low performance.
Research objectives. The ensuing research will be grounded on the following objectives:
- To determine the impact of micromanagement on employee performance.
- To evaluate how micromanagement contributes to low employee morale.
- To evaluate the implications of micromanagement on respect for authority.
Research questions.
i. How does micromanagement result in low morale?
ii. What are the implications of micromanagement on respect for authority?
iii. What is the effect of low morale on employee loyalty?
iv. How does the low morale caused by micromanagement impact employee turnover?
v. What is the effect of low morale caused by micromanagement on the human resource recruitment process?
vi. How does the low morale caused by micromanagement affect the quality of customer service?
vii. How does the low morale caused by micromanagement impact the frequency of occurrence of employee-manager conflict?
Research hypotheses.
a. Micromanagement causes a significant drop in the morale of the employees.
b. The low morale caused by micromanagement distorts the respect for authority in an organization.
c. Low morale also lowers employee loyalty to the management and the organization.
d. The low morale caused by micromanagement causes high employee turnover as employees seek other opportunities.
e. The low morale caused by micromanagement causes a high reliance on external recruitment drives as employees are discouraged to take up promotions.