Morale

**By Li Lai**
 * Evolution of Morale and Its Importance in Group Dynamics**

I believe most people are familiar with the word “morale.” They may often hear it from a military, a sports team or workplace. But how much do they really know about this word? They may know it affects one person a lot but they may not know it influences a group, believe it or not, in a larger degree. They may think it looks like “moral”, and these two words have totally different meanings; however, they may not know there is certain relationship between these two words, and just one letter makes all the difference. The meaning of “morale” changed over time and it is very important in group dynamics.

According to origin of morale in Merriam Webster, the word “morale” was originated in France in 1752. At the time, the word “morale” was used as a noun of “moral” which relates to principles of right and wrong in behavior. So the meaning of morale, according to Oxford English Dictionary, was “the morals or morality of a person or group of people; moral principles or conduct (“Morale” [Def. 1], 2013).” The word then moved out into many other languages like English and translated very well.

In 1813, according to Oxford English Dictionary, the meaning of the word changed to “the mental or emotional state (with regard to confidence, hope, enthusiasm, etc.) of a person or group engaged in some activity; degree of contentment with one's lot or situation (“Morale” [Def. 2], 2013).” Merriam Webster gives similar definition, “the mental and emotional condition (as of enthusiasm, confidence, or loyalty) of an individual or group with regard to the function or tasks at hand (“Morale” [Def. 2], 2013).” “It must be allowed that they are industrious at least, but the morale of the old soldiers is shaken very much” (“Morale” [Def. 2], 2013) is an example of the usage of the word from Oxford English Dictionary. Morale is the psychological state of an individual or a group and contagious which means the state of one individual could influence the whole status and performance of the group.

With respect to the frequent usage of “morale”, the word was used in military first until now. “Morale” is the confidence and the belief of success in a military organization. According to one of four major Chinese classical novels “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, in China, people often believe the army that loses morale during a war could fail in the end. So the leader in an army usually uses various methods to raise the morale of the army before the war or in everyday practices. For example, there were drummers who took charge of beating drums before the war and yelling some slogans.

The advent of the new usage of the word may be attributed to the increasing number of wars in the 18th, 19th and 20th century such as several major wars including The American Revolutionary War, World War 1 and World War 2 that, in some way, changed the role of women. “Women, seen both as a guarantee of and as a potential threat to conventional morality and the social order, were recognized to be the key to keeping up morale.” The original job of women was for daily routines that were regarded as the judgment of their morality; however, incessant wars required women to contribute to the war effort or to raise morale in the war. So keeping up morale gradually became, to some extent, major part of their job and, of course, the judgment of their morality. That is why “morale” comes from “moral”.

Afterwards, during the industrialization of the globe, as increasing corporations and companies were built, the usage of the word began to apply in a company. In a company, people usually refer to the activity of work and the passion of the work as morale. It is not uncommon that the leader of a company comes up with various ideas to raise the morale of the staff to spur them up and put all their effort to work. According to “Organizing Genius”, for example, Steven Jobs promised his staff that they did not make just great things but insanely great things to encourage his staff. That is why Jobs’ team could always remain passionate about their work.

I suppose the synonyms of morale are spirit or confidence, but there are always some subtle distinctions between “morale” and its synonyms. The word “spirit” emphasizes on the state of mind, but “morale” emphasizes more on the atmosphere that an individual or a group emits. The meaning of “confidence” is less broad since “morale” involves a lot more emotions including “confidence”.

As a group word, “morale” influences group work greatly and plays an important role in group dynamics.

Storming phase is the toughest and the most crucial phase in the formation of positive morale. During this phase, members in a group find themselves in conflicts. If the group can come up with methods to solve the problems and orientate all members to the same direction and task, it will be beneficial to raise the morale of the group.

Morale is, like morality, contagious in a group. If an individual loses morale and becomes inactive in a group, he will impact others who will also lose activity. For example, in a basketball game, if one member of the team feels disappointed with the game, others will rapidly feel the same emotion and get disappointed. When most people get disappointed, the group will prompt the remaining members to accept the emotion no matter what they think and whether there is still possibility to win the game. Since their emotion or opinion is different from that of most people, they tend to submit to most people and not to be the minor. Eventually, the entire team is going to be disappointed. In a similar way, if one member in this team is very confident and makes up mind to win the game, the whole team will be influenced and keep dedicated. Employees in a company also tend to experience this cognitive dissonance if one of the staff works extremely hard or passively so that the morale of the entire team is likely to be influenced a lot.

In a nutshell, the meaning of the group word “morale” changed from morality to a spirit in the past. Nowadays, “Morale” is used in military, corporation and sports team mainly because of some historical reasons like the change of the role of women and the advent of the industrial period. Also, morale is such an indispensable ingredient in group dynamics that without it a group can hardly succeed. References //1. Morale [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from //[|//http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/122088#eid36036254//]

//2. Morale [Def. 2]. (n.d.). In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from //[|//http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/122088#eid36036254//]

//3. Morale [Def. 2]. (n.d.). In Merriam Webster. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from //[|//http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morale//]

//4. Luo, G. (1959). // //Romance of the three kingdoms. // //C.E.Tuttle. //

//5. Grayzel, S. R. (1997). The International History Review: Mothers, Marraines, and Prostitutes: Morale and Morality in First World War France. Routledge. //

//6. Bennis, W. G., & Biederman, P. W. (1997). Organizing genius: The secrets of creative collaboration //. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.