Strategies to Increase Employees’ Morale

Walden University Walden University

ScholarWorks ScholarWorks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collection

2021

Strategies to Increase Employees’ Morale Strategies to Increase Employees’ Morale

Shannon Gary Coffey

Walden University

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations

Part of the Business Commons

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an

authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Walden University

College of Management and Technology

This is to certify that the doctoral study by

Shannon Coffey

has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects,

and that any and all revisions required by

the review committee have been made.

Review Committee

Dr. Mohamad Hammoud, Committee Chairperson, Doctor of Business Administration

Faculty

Dr. Lisa Cave, Committee Member, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty

Dr. Alexandre Lazo, University Reviewer, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty

Chief Academic Officer and Provost

Sue Subocz, Ph.D.

Walden University

2021

Abstract

Strategies to Increase Employees’ Morale

Shannon G. Coffey

MS, King University, 2014

BS, King University, 2013

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Business Administration

Walden University

December 2021

Abstract

Leaders who lack effective strategies to increase employee morale face an organizational

decrease in productivity, sustainability, and profitability, increasing absenteeism and

turnover and costing businesses millions of dollars. Grounded in Burns’s

transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was

to explore strategies used by successful organizational leaders to increase employee

morale to improve productivity and profitability in their organization. Data were

collected through semistructured interviews and a review of company documents.

Participants comprised five leaders of a company located in Knoxville, Tennessee, who

successfully used strategies to increase employee morale resulting in increased

productivity and profitability. Three themes emerged through Yin’s five-step data

analysis process: effective communication, employee engagement, and employee reward.

A key recommendation for business leaders is to encourage open communication through

emails, face-to-face meetings, phone calls, and yearly performance reviews. The

implications for positive social change include the potential to increase employees’

morale and improve organizations’ productivity and profitability, leading to a decrease in

unemployment and crime and enabling the organization employees to contribute time,

skills, and money to the local community.

Strategies to Increase Employees’ Morale

Shannon G. Coffey

MS, King University, 2014

BS, King University, 2013

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Business Administration

Walden University

December 2021

Dedication

I dedicate this doctoral study to my father and mother, Gary and Betty Coffey and

my two kids Kaden and Kambria Coffey. I love you, and thank you so much for putting

up with my long hours of studying and time away from family. I also dedicate this

doctoral study to my heavenly father for helping me to endure sleepless nights and to

keep motivated through my academic career to finish what I started.

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge and thank all my family, friends, co-workers, students, as

well as all other professors for their generous and unwavering love and support. I have

been fortunate to have Drs. Dorle, Harris, Hammoud, Chandler, Diala, Moore, Cusaac,

Cave, Lazo, Davis, and Blando help me through my academic career. I acknowledge

these professors in guiding me to success in my endeavor. To my chair, Dr. Mohamad S.

Hammoud, thank you for all your patience and guidance during this life-changing

journey. I truly appreciate it. To my second chair Dr. Cave, and my URR, Dr. Lazo,

thank you for your knowledge and encouragement.

Table of Contents

List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... iv

Section 1: Foundation of the Study ......................................................................................1

Background of the Problem ...........................................................................................1

Problem Statement .........................................................................................................2

Purpose Statement ..........................................................................................................2

Nature of the Study ........................................................................................................3

Research Question .........................................................................................................4

Interview Questions .......................................................................................................4

Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................5

Operational Definitions ..................................................................................................6

Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations ................................................................7

Assumptions ............................................................................................................ 7

Limitations .............................................................................................................. 8

Delimitations ........................................................................................................... 8

Significance of the Study ...............................................................................................9

A Review of the Professional and Academic Literature ................................................9

Transformational Leadership Theory ................................................................... 11

Other Leadership Theories .................................................................................... 16

Factors and Issues Affecting Workplace Performance ......................................... 18

Job Satisfaction ..................................................................................................... 22

Turnover ................................................................................................................ 24

Workplace Conflict ............................................................................................... 25

Ethical Leadership Theory .................................................................................... 29

Team Player .......................................................................................................... 30

Emotional intelligence .......................................................................................... 32

Leadership Behavior ............................................................................................. 33

Absenteeism .......................................................................................................... 38

Epistemic Virtues .................................................................................................. 42

Leadership Learning and Acting ........................................................................... 45

Compensation ....................................................................................................... 48

Transition .....................................................................................................................51

Section 2: The Project ........................................................................................................53

Purpose Statement ........................................................................................................53

Role of the Researcher .................................................................................................53

Participants ...................................................................................................................56

Research Method and Design ......................................................................................58

Research Method .................................................................................................. 58

Research Design.................................................................................................... 60

Population and Sampling .............................................................................................62

Ethical Research...........................................................................................................64

Data Collection Instruments ........................................................................................65

Data Collection Technique ..........................................................................................66

Data Organization Technique ......................................................................................68

iii

Data Analysis ...............................................................................................................69

Reliability and Validity ................................................................................................71

Reliability .............................................................................................................. 71

Validity ................................................................................................................. 72

Transition and Summary ..............................................................................................74

Section 3: Application to Professional Practice and Implications for Change ..................76

Presentation of the Findings.........................................................................................76

Applications to Professional Practice ..........................................................................83

Implication for Social Change .....................................................................................85

Recommendations for Action ......................................................................................85

Recommendations for Further Research ......................................................................87

Reflections ...................................................................................................................88

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................89

References ..........................................................................................................................90

Appendix: Interview Protocol ..........................................................................................149

List of Tables

Table 1. Subthemes of Effective Communication ............................................................ 78

Table 2. Subthemes of Employee Engagement ................................................................ 79

Table 3. Subthemes of Employee Rewards ...................................................................... 82

Section 1: Foundation of the Study

Low morale in the workplace is the leading cause of an organizational decrease in

productivity, sustainability, and profitability (Street & Lacey, 2018). Low morale costs

companies in the United States billions in productivity, absenteeism, and employee

satisfaction and health (Kocakulah et al., 2016). Low morale within an organization can

destroy workplace structures and could have adverse effects on the company (Patterson-

Silver Wolf et al., 2013). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore

strategies used by successful organizational leaders to increase employee morale.

Background of the Problem

Employees are the most valuable asset in an organization (Henderson, 2020;

Stanko et al., 2014). Employee morale is a major factor for the organization and a

contributing factor to consumers’ satisfaction. In the United States, employees’ low

morale is costing the economy $350 billion in lost productivity each year (Loosemore &

Bridgeman, 2017). For productivity to increase in the workplace, a business leader needs

to identify ways to improve employee morale that would positively affect productivity

(Brun & Cooper, 2009). Business leaders have the responsibility of ensuring employees'

satisfaction in the workplace to increase morale (Saridakis et al., 2013).

Employee satisfaction is not easy to monitor because satisfaction is about how an

employee feels at work and the psychological forces that act on an individual. An

organization can be more efficient if employee satisfaction is high (Korzynski, 2013).

The first step in resolving problems related to employee satisfaction is to recognize these

problems (Kocakulah et al., 2016). Leaders need to be able to identify employee

satisfaction associated with emotions, staffing, verbal abuse, fairness, and violence

(Patterson-Silver Wolf et al., 2013).

Redundant workload, leaders’ lack of appreciation, and employees’ lack of

advancement are significant stressors that contribute to employee job turnover,

absenteeism, low job satisfaction, low motivation, and low morale from an unsupportive

organization (Jasperse et al., 2013). In an organization, many factors can interrupt

production, and a leader needs to know how to influence the employee to support a

healthier work environment and reduce stressors that contribute to low morale. Effective

leadership has been a contributing factor to the success of many companies. The

development of leadership is through learning and applying skills, knowledge, and

attitude toward leading employees in the workplace (Walesh, 2012).

Problem Statement

Employees’ low morale decreases productivity, increases absenteeism and costs,

and changes employees’ attitudes toward the workplace (Street & Lacey, 2018). Low

morale costs the United States $350 billion each year (Loosemore & Bridgeman, 2017).

The general business problem is that employees’ low morale affects the productivity,

sustainability, and profitability of their organizations. The specific business problem is

that some organizational leaders lack strategies to increase employee morale to improve

productivity and profitability in their organizations.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies used by

successful organizational leaders to increase employee morale to improve productivity in

their organizations. The target population consisted of five managers, at a company in

Knoxville, Tennessee, who successfully used strategies to increase employee morale

resulting in increased productivity and profitability. The research findings could help

increase employees’ morale at other companies, which could reduce the turnover rate.

The implications for positive social change include the potential to reduce crime in the

community by enabling employees to maintain their salaries by reducing employee

turnover rates. According to Braun (2019), having a good income can deter people from

committing crimes.

Nature of the Study

In this study, I used a qualitative method to gather and analyze rich data from

research participants who used their real-world experiences from within the workplace to

answer the interview questions. Using a qualitative method enables researchers to build

knowledge and experience from participants’ real-world experiences and gain a high

degree of perspicacity (Toye et al., 2016). By contrast, researchers use a quantitative

method to predict and control phenomena based on statistical analysis to give numerical

expressions of the correlation or dissimilarity among variables (Park & Park, 2016).

However, because my objective was not to correlate or compare variables, the

quantitative method would not have supported the basis for this study. Employing the

mixed method requires integrating a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods

in a single research study (Halcomb & Hickman, 2015; Maxwell, 2019). The mixed

method approach was not appropriate for my research because my focus was on

exploring rich data from research participants, and not on quantifying them.

I used a single case study for my research to explore strategies managers use to

increase employees’ morale to improve productivity and profitability in an organization.

Researchers use a case study for exploring phenomena within an organization (Raeburn

et al., 2015). Before selecting a single case study as the research design for this study, I

considered and rejected three alternative qualitative designs: narrative,

phenomenological, and ethnographic. In a narrative design, researchers focus on

participants’ lived and told stories (Jones, 2016). Because narrative design relies on

storytelling from the participants to gather data, this design was not acceptable for this

study. Phenomenological researchers collect data from research participants based on the

meanings of lived experiences (Chang et al., 2016). I rejected a phenomenological design

because I wanted to focus my study on the meanings of lived experiences of participants

regarding a particular phenomenon. The ethnographic design is a verification process in

which the researcher gathers data by actively engaging with people and their culture

(Baskerville & Myers, 2015); I rejected the ethnographic design because the scope of my

research did not include people and culture.

Research Question

What strategies do organizational leaders use to increase employee morale to

improve productivity and profitability?

Interview Questions

1. What are your experiences with developing strategies to boost employee

morale?

2. What strategies did you use to increase employee morale to improve

productivity?

3. What strategies did you use to increase employee morale to improve

profitability?

4. What were the challenges you faced in maintaining and increasing employee

morale?

5. How did you address the challenges you faced in maintaining and increasing

employee morale?

6. What other information would you like to share regarding strategies to

increase employee morale?

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework I used for this study was the transformational

leadership theory, developed by Burns (1978) and later extended by Bass (1985).

Transformational leaders motivate their subordinates to excel beyond their means and to

strive for a higher goal in the organization (Eisenbeib & Boerner, 2013). The

transformational leadership theory brings teamwork, motivation, trust, engagement,

growth, and development to employees in the organization (Rawat, 2015). The

fundamental concept of this theory is for leaders to influence followers’ imagination,

performance, intellectual stimulation, motivation, and satisfaction in the workplace

(Rawat, 2015).

According to Price and Weiss (2013), transformational leadership provides a

potential framework for understanding the relationships between managers and

supervisors and employees. Therefore, transformational leadership provided a potential

lens for understanding the results of my empirical inquiry. The key constructs of the

transformational leadership framework applied to the leadership style provided a basis for

understanding effective strategies to increase morale, which could improve productivity

and profitability and lead to a reduction in employee turnover.

Operational Definitions

Employee job satisfaction: Employee job satisfaction is a temperamental state that

could encourage service quality and customer fulfillment by facilitating employee

emotional behavior (Hur et al., 2015).

Employee morale: Employee morale is an emotional state that affects work

engagement, motivation, job implication, job satisfaction, and organizational

commitment (Paek et al., 2015).

Heavy workload: Heavy workload is a large amount of work assigned to a

particular employee that influences stress, burnout, longer working hours, high turnover,

decrease satisfaction, low morale, and organizational failure (Humphries et al., 2014).

High morale: High morale is a work approach affiliated with workplace stability,

a clear understanding of work directives, and supportive leaders (Patterson-Silver Wolf et

al., 2013).

Job morale: Job morale is how employees perceive their work climate regarding

belonging and motivation toward accomplishing workplace goals (Minor et al., 2014).

Leaders’ lack of appreciation: Leaders lack appreciation when they do not

encourage employees and employees are not receptive to new ideas, promotions, rewards,

and recognitions from their leaders (Hogan & Coote, 2014).

Low morale: Low morale is a work approach affiliated with workplace verbal

abuse, insufficient personnel in the organization, workplace violence, and staff feeling

that they have no voice in the organization (Patterson-Silver Wolf et al., 2013).

Mindful leader: A mindful leader is a leader with the ability to observe all process

interactions internal and external in the workplace (Furtner et al., 2018).

Mobbing: Mobbing is a form of hostile behavior from a group of employees in the

workplace aimed at a single person (Qureshi et al., 2015).

Physical workplace: Physical workplace is the spatial arrangement and indoor

environment that has significant impact on employee effectiveness, behavior, and

performance outcome in the work area (Kim, 2014).

Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations

By acknowledging assumptions, limitations, and delimitations in this study, I

provided awareness to the reader and establish boundaries for the research. The accuracy

of a research study depends on assumptions and limitations reporting (Lange & Dodds,

2017). In many ways, researchers are limited in conducting scholarly research by these

factors due to different conditions and situations that may affect the outcome. Discussing

the limitations and delimitations should give a clear indication of the overall

trustworthiness to the reader (Elo et al., 2014).

Assumptions

In research, the assumption is the mindset likely to be accurate, based on the

researcher reasoning of known facts (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). Four assumptions guided

this research. First, I assumed that leaders participating in this study were willing to

communicate their experiences. As expected, leaders participating in this study were

willing to communicate their experiences. Second, I assumed that those leaders would

have real-world experience and be able to voice their expertise toward strategies to

increase employee morale by providing an honest response. Participants had real-world

experiences and voiced their expertise toward strategies to increase employee morale.

Third, I assumed that the five leaders in this study were suitable for exploring strategies

to increase morale in an organization and that they wanted to take part in this study.

Indeed, the five leaders in this study were suitable for exploring strategies to increase

morale in an organization and they wanted to take part in this study. Fourth, I assumed

the data collected could identify ways to improve employee morale, which positively

affected an organization. Through the data collected, I was able to identify strategies to

improve employee morale.

Limitations

Limitations reflect the weaknesses of the study (Dahlgaard et al., 2013) that are

factors outside of the researcher control (Kirkwood & Price, 2013). The first limitation of

this study was that managers must be able to answer the six interview questions (see

Appendix), by in-person interview honestly. The second limitation was that the sample

size consisted of five managers who participated in the in-person interview. Wilhelmy et

al. (2016) explained that generalizability could be limited due to the size of a sample in a

qualitative approach. The third limitation was that I was doing a qualitative case study,

which was limited to qualitative data compared to other methods.

Delimitations

Delimitations set the boundaries and extent of the study (Bouzon et al., 2014).

There were three delimitations in this study. First, the sample size was small and

consisted of only five managers. Second, the scope of the study only includes an

organization in Knoxville Tennessee. Third, the primary design was to interview

managers to gather data and to focus merely on morale, and I could have gained data

through other means.

Significance of the Study

Minor et al. (2014) found that higher morale contributes to higher income growth

and productivity in the workplace. This study could be of value to businesses because the

findings may include strategies that managers use to increase employee morale to

improve productivity and profitability. Van der Vyver et al. (2013) concluded that leaders

using caring strategies increase morale, which affects employees’ quality of working life

and job satisfaction. Business leaders may review their business processes and practices

to include such strategies, in their training courses, share such strategies with managers

and leaders, or create processes for introducing these strategies in their organization. The

implications for positive social change include the potential to improve employees’

morale, which may improve organizations’ productivity and profitability, leading to a

decrease in unemployment and crime and enabling the organization and its employees to

contribute time, skills, and money to the local community.

A Review of the Professional and Academic Literature

The objective of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies that

managers use to increase employee morale to improve productivity and profitability. The

purpose of the literature review was to provide a new assessment of research currently

published by prior researchers and to provide readers with a summary of new concepts

(Govindan et al., 2015). I conducted a literature review of relevant concepts in the

workplace that served as a background to support my research question. My peer-

reviewed search began by searching articles, books, and dissertations by entering

keywords in the following databases: Walden University Library, Google Scholar,

ProQuest, EBSCOhost, Expanded Academic ASAP, Academic Search Complete, and

ScienceDirect Business. Conducting word searches and phrases through these various

databases resulted in hundreds of peer-reviewed scholarly articles, books, and

dissertations, enabling me to analyze my research problem further. The literature I

reviewed consisted of assessing 379 peer-reviewed sources, 77% of which were

published between 2017 and 2021 and 95% of which were peer-reviewed material. I

entered the following keywords into these databases: morale, job satisfaction, employee

motivation, individualized consideration, high morale, low morale, increase morale,

workplace performance, leadership, transformational leadership theory, team building,

turnover, workplace measurement, workplace climate, healthy work environment,

leadership style, team player, inspirational motivation, leadership theories, workplace

conflict, conflict resolution, ethical leadership, emotional intelligence, leadership,

mindfulness, leadership learning, leader emotion, complexity leadership theory, and

morale boost.

I reviewed the professional and academic literature to consider how leaders’

initiatives mitigate the adverse effects of low morale and productivity in an organization.

Peer-reviewed scholarly sources were essential to the comprehension of low morale and

productivity in the work area to have a more precise depiction of the concepts. I

organized the literature review into subsections for the following subjects: (a)

transformational leadership theory, (b) other leadership theories, (c) factors and issues

affecting workplace performance, (d) job satisfaction, (e) turnover, (f) workplace conflict,

(g) ethical leadership theory, (h) team player, (i) emotional intelligence, (j) leadership

behavior, (k) absenteeism, (l) epistemic virtues, (m) leadership learning and acting, and

(n) compensation.

Transformational Leadership Theory

Transformational leadership is the process in which one individual has the control

to influence a group of employees to achieve efficiency, increase productivity, and create

solutions in the workplace (Siangchokyoo et al., 2020). Transformational leadership

behaviors in the workplace have a significant and continuous impact on individuals

(Muchiri et al., 2019). The success of transformational leadership is well documented in

prior studies to have an impact on workplace commitment, performance, job satisfaction,

morale, and other areas that help facilitate the overall increase in productivity (Yin et al.,

2019). The role of every leader is to be able to improve motivation, morale, and

productivity within their workplaces. Positive workplace leadership has been documented

to influence employee workplace satisfaction, which reduces turnover (Glaso et al.,

2018). Transformational leadership theory is the process to improve and transform

leaders to become excellent managers in their place of work (Wang et al., 2017).

Transformational leaders stimulate motivation, morale, and productivity. Lei et al. (2020)

identified existing research and showed that transformational leadership improves the

leader’s behavior through individual consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational

motivation, and idealized influence. All facets of transformational leadership foster a

better workplace by giving a meaning for followers, which contributes to oneself and the

responses of others. According to Parent and Lovelace (2018), managers with a positive

organizational culture can create a work environment where employees could grow and

operate at their full potential. According to Robertson and Barling (2017),

transformational leadership corresponds with an increase in morale, motivation, and

productivity in an organization by targeting employee outcomes. Encouraging

transformational leadership behaviors increases subordinates’ morale, which improves

sustainability in the organization.

In theory, transformational leadership covers a broad range of workplace

strategies to increase productivity and morale. Leaders who make efforts to adopt a

transformational leadership model use (a) individual consideration, (b) intellectual

stimulation, (c) inspirational motivation, and (d) idealized influence. Leaders who

incorporate these four behaviors in the workplace empower followers to increase

productivity and morale (Joo & Jo, 2017). An et al. (2018) suggested that leaders take

initial and annual training that explicitly encourages leaders to incorporate

transformational leadership theory into managerial behavior, which improves

organizations’ success. Researchers have proven transformational leadership has positive

impacts on team success, including an increase in morale, productivity, job satisfaction,

and quality (Alozie, 2020; Yue et al., 2019).

Individual Consideration

Leaders with individual consideration behavior spend time with followers and

give opportunities to grow by coaching and mentoring, which can stimulate individual

achievement in their followers to help them reach their full potential (Cai et al., 2016).

Pasamar et al. (2019) found that encouraging personnel support stimulates learning,

coaching, teaching, and mentoring. Leaders with individual consideration behavior,

stimulate followers by expressing high-performance expectations, which target the

employee rather than the workplace (Dong et al., 2016). Through individual

consideration, leaders show respect for employees’ development, which in turn increases

morale, motivation, and productivity in the workplace. Eberly et al. (2017) found that

stimulating and considering employees affect the intention to leave the workplace.

Providing empathy, a supportive climate, and training and learning opportunities creates

a healthy workplace for the employees, which should signal positive behaviors

throughout the workplace (Niessen et al., 2017).

Intellectual Stimulation

Leaders with intellectual stimulation behaviors encourage creativity and

innovation by challenging organization teams through critical thinking and solving

problems, which increases productivity and morale (Allen et al., 2017). Berraies and

Abidine (2019) found that when leaders stimulate individual thinking in innovative ways,

they inspire motivation that positively influences productivity and morale in the

organization. Encouraging intellectual behavior influences employees’ thought process,

inspires the individual to challenge different methods, and drives employees to find

creative ways in dealing with novel situations, which in turn creates a positive attitude

toward their job (Ding et al., 2017). Employees with a positive attitude create the

happiest and most productive workplace (Hogreve et al., 2017). Leaders with intellectual

stimulation persuade subordinates to be creative, use logic, apply intelligence, and

encourage employees to see different perspectives in the way to accomplish any task

(Pasha et al., 2017). Leaders who provide quality time, coaching, counseling, mentoring,

and opportunities for employee growth would influence productivity and increase the

chances of positive change in the workplace (Bouwmans et al., 2017). Ali et al. (2019)

and Alos-Simo et al. (2016) added that transformational leaders motivate employees to

generate and share knowledge, inspire followers’ intellects, open communication,

influence values, and stimulate the workplace implementation of adaptive culture, which

increased motivation and morale in the workplace.

Inspirational Motivation

Leaders with inspirational motivation stimulate followers by acting as a role

models (Tsevairidou et al., 2019). Leaders who display enthusiasm and optimism toward

subordinates’ performance, goals, values, and vision stimulate employees, which

increases productivity and morale (Gilbert et al., 2017). Mullen et al. (2017) found that

leader behavior contributes significantly to occupational safety in the workplace, and

safety stimulates employees’ work ethics. Novak et al. (2017) argued that workplace

safety starts with a commitment from leaders to ensure employee safety is part of

everyday activities. Leaders who develop a safe work environment stimulate employees’

engagement, good health positive emotions, and enhancement (Horwitz & Horwitz,

2017). Employee engagement creates a positive social relationship with their coworkers,

which in turn creates an increase in organizational productivity and morale (Jha et al.,

2019).

Delegach et al. (2017) asserted that leaders motivate their coworkers to gain

commitment from their followers, which increases productivity and morale in the

workplace. Francis and Keegan (2020) and Merrilees et al. (2017) found that a leader’s

engagement stimulates employees’ motivation, which results in gaining commitment.

When employees feel the workplace is beneficial, they have a strong commitment to the

organization and their leaders, and achieve workplace sustainability (Abid et al., 2019).

Organizational commitment and effective teams in the workplace are crucial for

employee attachments and organization success (Wombacher & Felfe, 2017). Erkutlu and

Chafra (2019) and Francis and Keegan (2020) found that organizational commitment and

employee teams should interact with open communication, which would enhance positive

effects on individual performance in the workplace. Researchers have proven that an

employee who is effectively committed to the workplace is less likely to leave and is

more productive (Tarkang Mary & Ozturen, 2019).

Idealized Influence

Leaders with idealized influence behavior ingrain pride, faith, and respect in their

subordinates, which stimulates excitement, importance, awareness, and commitment (Zhu

& Bao, 2017). Leaders should influence followers that they are associated with to create a

sense of belonging and caring to the organization. Employee commitment is essential in

achieving organizational success and the ability for leaders to lead their employees

(Marchalina & Ahmad, 2017). Leaders’ values, beliefs, and ethical positions have a

significant effect on employees' work performance (Babalola et al., 2018). Leaders’

strategies that influence employees would increase commitment, morale, and productivity

in the workplace (Bush et al., 2019; Zhu & Bao, 2017). Leaders who share organization

vision, encourage positive attitudes, and express concerns that influence positive

employee behavior would increase productivity (Jauhari et al., 2017). Leaders who give

employees rewards and recognition and the ability to think and solve problems would

influence employees to perform beyond expectations (Carbonell & Rodriguez-Escudero,

2016; Crome et al., 2019; Milner & Furnham, 2017). Koo et al. (2019) and Mayes et al.

(2017) asserted that giving rewards is a tool to communicate to employees their value

contributing to success in the workplace, which would increase productivity and morale,

but overtime employees become accustomed to their awards, and the tool would be less

useful. When leaders apply a high-quality work relationship with their employees, they

see an increase in commitment, morale, and productivity (Ragins et al., 2017).

Other Leadership Theories

Kumar and Khiljee (2016) identified a successful leader from six theories: (a)

great man theory, (b) trait theory, (c) behavioral theory, (d) contingency theory, (e)

transactional leadership, and (f) transformational leadership. According to Kumar and

Khiljee, the leader relationship in each of these six theories is an essential part of

research. The modern history of how to lead goes back as far as the 1840s “great man”

theory that leaders are naturally born to be leaders, and not made to be leaders (Chatterjee

et al., 2017). In the early 20th century, trait theory evolved from the great man theory

(Styron & Styron, 2017). Trait theory is when leaders have inherited observable patterns

of behavior such as physical, personality, feelings, and social skills that are unteachable,

and the individual is already suitable to be a leader (Kumar & Khiljee, 2016; Morris et

al., 2017). Leadership theory changed between the late 1940s and early 1950s to the

behavioral theory that states that a leader is not born to be a leader, but taught to become

a leader (Kumar & Khiljee, 2016). Kumar and Khiljee asserted that behavioral leaders

have traits such as a strong personality, confidence, honesty, respect, engagement, and

communicative to lead successfully.

In the 1960s, the contingency theory was developed; much like the trait theory,

the leader relied on the sense of human traits that relates to the situation in the workplace

to improve productivity (Williams et al., 2017). In the late 1960s, the situational theory

was developed to attempt to match a leadership style based on the variables in the

workplace (Zigarmi & Roberts, 2017). Transactional leadership theory evolved around

the late 1900s based on the transaction between the leader and the followers, and for

transactional leadership theory to be effective, the leaders establish a reinforcing

environment at which the organizational goals are in sync with rewards (Martinez-

Corcoles & Stephanou, 2017; Shafagatova & Van Looy, 2020). Transformational

leadership theory was developed in the 1970s as a leadership approach to influencing the

need for change and inspiring positive changes in the workplace with their employees to

create a stable relationship within the organization, which relates to trust, vision, and

passion for inspiring others (Koohang & Hatch, 2017). Leader perception would affect

how followers would respond to their leader in the workplace. Because I wanted to view

my findings from the interactional perspective in the workplace, I chose the

transformational leadership theory as the conceptual framework for this study. By

researching leaders’ interaction with followers, I developed strategies to increase morale

and productivity in the workplace.

Factors and Issues Affecting Workplace Performance

Workplace performance has positive and negative variables that would influence

the outcome of success (Saeidi et al., 2015). Negative variables that would contribute to a

decrease in employee morale and productivity would be from bullying, gossip, stress,

sexual harassment, workplace wellness, financial, motivation, and leadership. O’Connell

and O’Sullivan (2014) asserted that workplace productivity and morale deteriorate when

these negative variables originate in the workplace, and Zhou et al. (2017) argued that

negative variables could lead to a high turnover rate in the organization. Tiesman et al.

(2015) added that negative variables contribute to suicides at an estimated $45 billion US

dollars in workers' loss and medical costs each year. According to Arcy et al. (2014) and

Wright (2014), stress is the leading cause of employee absence, low morale, increased

turnover, low productivity, increase cost, violence, low self-esteem, depression,

substance abuse, and burnout. The positive variables that contribute to an increase in

success are open communication, a clear understanding of the company mission, careful

hiring, work-life flexibility, competitive pay and benefits, and just having a fun time

during work (Eller et al., 2014; Haar et al., 2014; Plester & Hutchison, 2016; Terera &

Ngirande, 2014). Leaders could use workplace financial performance as a survey

instrument to measure success (Edgeman et al., 2015). Lee and Drever (2014) found that

an employee survey is useful to gauge positive and negative variables in the workplace

leading to organizational success.

Work-related actions play an essential role in the morale and financial success of

a company (Bran & Udrea, 2016). For example, Qureshi et al. (2015) indicated that

mobbing, a form of hostile behavior from a group of employees in the workplace aimed

at a single person, could manifest in moral harassment, bullying, workplace violence,

rumors, verbal aggression, and humiliation, which lead to a decrease in workplace

performance. Hostile behavior causes occupational stress and results in negative

employee behavior in the organization. Qureshi et al. found that mobbing is a significant

problem that created a decrease in morale and productivity in the workplace.

A physical workplace has a significant impact on the success of an organization

(Kim, 2014). Kim (2014) defined the physical workplace as the spatial arrangement and

indoor environment that would have a considerable impact on employee effectiveness,

behavior, and performance outcome in the work area. Workplace variables such as

lighting, temperature, chairs, the design of the workplace, employee-friendly, and

supporting technologies have a powerful impact on employee behavior, other than

management (Kim, 2014). Kim emphasized that depending on the employee level of

discomfort with theses variables would increase or decrease employees’ motivation,

morale, and productivity. The physical workplace is a tool to use as advantage to increase

morale, motivation, and productivity. According to Kim, employees or equipment would

not guarantee success by themselves but could be integrated together to have a balance

that could create success. Designing a physical workplace for the employees could

accelerate the speed of success for an organization.

Lanaj and Hollenbeck (2014) stated team building is essential for organizations’

performance, and without efficiently managing, the teams would have a reduction in

morale and productivity. Tazzini et al. (2013) defined the team as a group of people with

the same goals to achieve success. Asrar-ul-Haq and Kuchinke (2016) claimed that

leadership styles could profoundly influence team performance and the absence of

different leadership styles would lead to reduced morale in the workplace. Team building

starts at the top and requires leaders to have an understanding of the workplace to build a

team environment by understanding how to lead a team (Smith, 2017). Team building is a

crucial, challenging, complex activity, and is a thinking organism used for increasing

workplace performance in an organization (Gaynor, 2015).

Team building is a way of engaging employees to work together to meet the same

goals at a place of work. Team building is an essential ingredient in building trust, and

increasing motivation and morale (Serrat, 2017). Team building requires leaders having

attention to relationship building and leading of each employee (Serrat, 2017). High

quality coaching and mentoring would encourage individual competencies in an

organization for team building and increasing workplace performance. Team building

focuses on improving social relations, resolving interpersonal problems, and clarifying

different roles that would affect the team functioning in the workplace (Aga et al., 2016).

Team building gives a promising advantage for increasing team processes and plays a

significant role in transformational leadership and success.

Transformational leadership is a tool to increase workplace performance by

increasing positive variables to influence the outcome of success from employees.

Transformational leadership is a style used by leaders to encourage individuals of the

need for change by inspiring motivation, growth, morale, values, and principles of

conduct (Tse & Chiu, 2014). Transformational leadership behavior of leaders contributes

to organizational success through the coaching and mentoring process by enhancing the

team process, which provides an increase in workplace performance (Aga et al., 2016).

The transformational leader typically leads followers to a higher standard of achievement

by enabling them to achieve personal growth, and the ability to solve problems in new

ways (Effelsberg et al., 2014). To lead followers, leaders need to have the capacity to

learn and mentor the followers so that they would also gain leadership skills and

accountability in the workplace. Through transformational learning, leaders would

develop diversity in multiple roles and responsibilities throughout the organization to

teach subordinates (Drago-Severson & Blum-Destefano, 2014). According to Dean

(2016), learning is essential for increasing workplace performance because education

supports new skills and knowledge to fulfill the responsibility for optimizing human and

organizational growth. By using perceptual and objective financial performance

measurement, leaders could make decisions that have a positive impact on organizational

performance (Saunila et al., 2014). Workplace performance measurement (WPM) is a

quantifiable system that organizations use to control organizational behavior to exceed

the target performance (Koufteros et al., 2014). According to Spekle and Verbeeten

(2014), production-measuring systems affect organizational performance by measurable

pre-set performance targets, which would guide operations toward the workplace goals.

Leaders of the workplace using the WPM tool would outperform other organizations that

fail to use a WPM tool to increase productivity. The most successful measurement is

from productivity, which gives organization performance, followed by profitability

outcomes, capital market value, quality, and human resource performance (Zhang et al.,

2014). It is also necessary to measure or monitor job satisfaction because employees’

attitudes directly relate to the success of the organization by how employees perform

their job (Judge et al., 2017).

Job Satisfaction

Hur et al. (2015) defined employee job satisfaction as a temperamental state that

could encourage service quality and customer fulfillment by facilitating employee

emotional behavior. Job satisfaction is critical to productivity and morale in any

workplace. In fact, leader behaviors can have a role in improving job satisfaction and

morale. A satisfied employee would positively contribute to the success and growth of

the workplace, while the unsatisfied employee would contribute negatively to the

workplace (Amarneh & Muthuveloo, 2020; Samson & Babu, 2017). Occupational stress

contributes to the employees’ burn out, job satisfaction, and physical well-being as well

as mental health (Khamisa et al., 2015). To understand the impact on morale in an

organization, researchers also have to study the impact on morale and productivity from

job satisfaction. Iwu and Holzemer (2014) explained job satisfaction as expressed

feelings that can be from emotional rewards, accomplishments, prestige, and positive

morale in the organization. Employees reported having an increase in morale from (a)

confidence, (b) sense of emotional reward, (c) accomplishments, and (d) prestige in the

workplace. Subordinates also reported that having peer support and a trusting relationship

with their leaders build a healthier work environment (Iwu & Holzemer, 2014).

Researchers have shown that the work climate has a significant impact on employee

satisfaction in the organization when everyone can work together as a team (Palvalin,

2017).

Minor et al. (2014) defined job morale as how employees perceive their work

climate regarding belonging and motivation toward accomplishing workplace goals.

Good morale is outstanding for building a healthy work environment, and leaders attend

to pay no attention or little thought into increasing morale in the workplace. Minor et al.

extended that other researchers advocated that morale is the key to the organizations’

well-being and associated with workplace stress. Minor et al. emphasized that there are

six aspects of morale among employees in the workplace. The six aspects of morale

among employees would include the feelings of attitudes toward leadership, status,

appraisal accomplishments and failures, future outlook, belonging to the workplace, and

sacrificing in different work situations. Mahmood et al. (2019) and Minor et al. stated

that prior studies described employee morale as relations with leaders, attitude toward

supervisors, material rewards for meeting goals, relationship with coworkers, and

intrinsic job satisfaction. A positive workplace plays a significant role in building a

healthier work environment (Geue, 2018). Minor et al. reported that there is a link

between having a closer relationship with fellow workers and employee morale, which

would result in creating a healthy work climate. Minor et al. indicated that organization

leaders play a significant role in increasing morale and building a healthier work

environment. When leaders of the workplace respect their subordinates, worker leader

relationships improve, which would increase morale in the workplace, but subordinates

would still have to accept and follow directives given by leaders of the organization.

Derby-Davis (2014) confirmed that appreciation in the workplace also builds job

satisfaction in the organization in which creates a healthier workplace.

Minor et al. (2014) indicated that job morale is the basis to which subordinates

feel good about their job in which they have a sense of comfort in affinity and are

motivated to accomplish organizational goals. Employees that are satisfied with their job

feel a sense of comfort would be motivated to expand to achieve the organizations'

directives. Minor et al. confirmed that employee cooperation creates a positive

atmosphere and aids in a more productive workplace, which would enhance morale and

productivity, and would create a healthier work environment. The employees that are

supportive and pleasant to work with would provide quality work, positive atmosphere,

and a healthier work environment.

Turnover

Shi et al. (2017) reported that employee turnover is costing organizations millions

of dollars annually in: (a) sales, (b) reassigning, and (c) replacing staff. Turnover is a

universal problem; therefore, business leaders are looking for ways to convince

employees to remain in the organization (Luo et al., 2017). According to Kim and

Fernandez (2017) reducing turnover has been an ongoing goal for many organizations,

and Hom et al. (2017) added that employee turnover had brought attention to many

scholars because researchers want to find out why employees leave. Javed et al. (2014)

found that employees who do not enjoy their place at work would leave for another job,

and preventing turnover is essential to organizational success. Basterretxea and Storey

(2018) confirmed that to avoid turnover and to increase job satisfaction employees need

to work together as a team. Wombacher and Felfe (2017) added employees that are

emotionally attached to other employees within the organization would not have the

desire to leave. A flexible work schedule could reduce employee turnover, which would

result in higher levels of productivity and morale in an organization (Lexa & Fessell,

2017), and Javed et al. (2014) added that companies prosper when keeping high morale

among employees, and satisfied employees are likely to stay with the company.

Patterson-Silver Wolf et al. (2013) defined high morale as a work approach affiliated

with workplace stability, a clear understanding of work directives, and supportive leaders

in the workplace. Leadership style plays an essential role in employee satisfaction in the

workplace and turnover. Havold and Havold (2019) asserted that good leadership

behaviors contribute to stimulating motivation to increase in the workplace, improving

morale in the organization, increasing productivity, and promoting teamwork with fellow

employees. Therefore, management should try to identify which leadership style can

stimulate motivation, morale, and productivity to increase employee workplace

satisfaction. Dhiman et al. (2019) and Stater and Stater (2018) and Zineldin (2017) found

that negative leadership behaviors contribute to an unhealthy workplace leading to an

increase in turnover, low morale and productivity, and a decrease in motivation.

Workplace Conflict

Almeida et al. (2017); Jimmieson et al. (2017); and Ralph et al. (2017) defined

conflict as an encounter between an individual with a different agreement, opinion,

values, and intentions which affect the other in a negative aspect. Conflict in the

workplace is inevitable due to different opinions, but how leaders resolve conflict

contributed to a negative or positive workplace (Yuksel et al., 2017). Coleman et al.

(2014) found that conflict resolution theory is a tool for solving a dispute by the selection

of interventions. Therefore, understanding how to manage conflict would prevent

destructive behaviors in the workplace. Destructive behaviors create a negative impact on

teams, and unresolved conflict can lead to retaliation (Fraher, 2017; Jimmieson et al.,

2017). Jimmieson et al. found that interpersonal conflict in the workplace is a social

stressor, which leads to the employee being unhealthy, and overtime could strengthen

into extreme forms of conflict if not resolved. Two types of interpersonal conflict are

task-oriented and relationship-oriented, which pertain to differences in the workplace

(Jimmieson et al., 2017). Task-oriented conflict is the contrast to performing the work,

and relationship-oriented conflict is a discrepancy from the relationship between the

individuals (Jimmieson et al., 2017). Van Niekerk et al. (2017) added that a healthy and

effective conflict exists in teams that are functioning effectively and Kalambo and Parikh

(2017) informed that healthy conflict could stimulate innovation and productivity

whereas an unhealthy conflict causes a loss in trust and productivity.

Understanding and appreciating various opinions that result in conflict were

crucial in the resolution. According to Gao et al. (2017), conflict resolution is essential in

maintaining a friendship in the workplace, which keeps destructive behaviors from

escalating. The conventional approach in the workplace is to access the situation for the

detrimental strife that would be destructive and disruptive, and address the ones causing

the conflict and refer the case to an investigation or mediation (Shahzad et al., 2020).

Hershcovis et al. (2018) found that by leaders ignoring conflict would result in emotional

exhaustion, target-enacted incivility, and lowering the ability to forgive. Confronting the

argument would bring out the positive outcome and psychological forgiveness, which

result in a healthy workplace (Hershcovis et al., 2018). Communication is crucial to

discuss the impact on the workplace with the individuals that are in conflict and agree to

a resolution (Overall & McNulty, 2017). Once the individuals start to communicate, the

leader can reveal the nature of the conflict and establish a position to resolve. Leaders

should list facts, assumptions, beliefs, agreements, opinions, values, and intentions to

analyze for a resolution. Leaders should also take a break to think about the decision and

convene back to reach an agreement with the individuals. Further analysis is required to

agree with the individuals about what needs to be done to come to a conflict resolution

(Legault et al., 2017).

A tool to resolve conflict is the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode that gives leaders

an understanding of typical behavior in conflict situations based on two dimensions

assertiveness and cooperativeness (Brock et al., 2017; Rao, 2017). Rao (2017) extended

that the two dimensions of behavior define five different types of conflict-handling

modes, competing, accommodating, avoiding, compromising, and collaborating.

Competing is the process in which the party is competing aggressively to win using any

technique even at others' expense because they want to win no matter the circumstance.

Accommodating is when the party sacrifices their needs for the other to be satisfied.

According to Kazansky and Andrassy (2019), avoiding the conflict occurs when a leader

postpones the decision on the dispute to obtain more facts about the dispute; in such a

case, no side wins the conflict. A compromising conflict is a process where both parties

can give up something to resolve the dispute, which satisfies both parties. Collaborating

takes longer due to jointly working together to find a solution to the conflict, and once

coming to an agreement builds friendships with both parties (Rao, 2017). In resolving

conflict leaders need to (a) not look for blame, (b) insist on honesty, (c) have open

communication, (d) practice active listening, and (e) build trust (Hood et al., 2015; Meyer

et al., 2017).

Creasy and Carnes (2017) found that destructive conflict decreases morale and

productivity in the workplace, and therefore there needs to a preventive measure. Kiburz

et al. (2017) found that leaders who offer preventive conflict awareness training to

employees reduce conflict in the workplace. To create a healthier work environment,

Lohr et al. (2017) found that conflict management programs are successful in reducing

conflict and improving productivity and morale in an organization. Conflict management

programs give the leader the ability to handle employee disputes and learn how to be

efficient in managing conflict in an organization. The leader of the workplace would act

as a mediator, counselor, and arbitrator during the conflict to resolve the situation and

increase productivity (Diebig et al., 2016). Anthony-Mcmann et al. (2016), Barreiro and

Treglown (2020), and Choi (2019) found that leaders’ engagement with employees is

essential for positive work-related outcomes such as job satisfaction, which decreases

conflict and increases productivity. Irving (2019), Woodrow and Guest (2016) added that

leaders with emotional intelligence and open communication could identify the conflict

of others and can manage the conflict before it escalates into a more significant problem.

Khalili (2017) defined emotional intelligence as the ability to identify emotions and to

use the information to make a wise decision. A leader with emotional intelligence can

improve organizational behavior (Khalili, 2017). Leaders with emotional intelligence

have an understanding of individuals’ feelings, emotions, and can create a positive

working environment that would increase productivity and morale.

Ethical Leadership Theory

Zoghbi-Manrique-De-Lara and Viera-Armas (2017) found that when ethical

leaders discuss rules and values and lead by example regarding ethics, they motivate the

employees. Ethical leaders with a positive attitude influence followers’ attitudes and

behaviors (Walumbwa et al., 2017). Positive implications build commitment, job

satisfaction, morale, trust, and task performance, which increase productivity in the

workplace (Davis, 2020; Muhammed & Soumyaja, 2019). Walumbwa et al. (2017) found

that organizations that promote ethical leadership in the workplace increase employees’

ability to deal with conflict situations and decrease misbehavior. Babalola et al. (2019)

extended that moral reflectiveness would encourage ethical behavior in leaders to fulfill

their leadership roles and responsibilities. An ethical leader would have to behave in a

way to actively listen, commit, and discuss unethical behaviors, and become a role model

to the employees.

Moral reflective learning is the process in which ethical leaders would learn how

to listen actively, commit, discuss unethical behavior, and become a role model to the

employees. Through moral reflective training, leaders would have an understanding of

ethical concepts, theories, and rational decision-making to become successful leaders.

Through moral reflection learning, a leader would recognize challenges and develop

social skills that would shape moral behavior to be successful in the workplace (Hedberg,

2017). Mo and Shi (2015) included that ethical leadership principles are crucial in the

workplace for influencing moral attitude and behavior, which places stress on the leader

to be a role model for the employees. Ethical principles include respect for others, service

to others, justice for others, and honesty toward others (Erkutlu & Chafra, 2017; Li et al.,

2015). Developing leadership skills is a continuous process of learning and growing

which requires actions from the organization followed by training, mentoring, coaching,

and role-playing (Fluckiger et al., 2017).

Team Player

When I think of a team player, I think of a football team. To be a successful team

takes all players working together and with one individual not being part of the team, the

team could be unsuccessful. The coach is the leader who builds the team to be successful.

A team works the same way in the workplace with employees; they all have to work

together to be successful, and the leader is the coach. The leader builds morale and

productivity in the workplace. Mach and Lvina (2017) found that without a trusting

leader, the team would fail. All team members have to trust the leader and not just the

majority to have a winning team. Mach and Lvina included two types of trust, (a) in the

leader and (b) among team players. The development of a robust team relationship would

increase morale and productivity in the workplace.

In a workplace, individuals who cause negativity are non-team players, and those

who are team players want to succeed and have a positive outlook. Krumm et al. (2016)

found that there are two types of team players, virtual and traditional. According to Do

and Nuth (2019) and Schulze and Krumm (2017) and Vega-Zamora et al. (2019), a

virtual team consists of individuals, regardless of their location, collaborating through

communication and information technology to accomplish a common goal. Virtual team

would interact by completing a common goal that the leader establishes. The interaction

between high instrumental employees drives motivation, which increases productivity

and morale in the workplace (John et al., 2019; Schulze & Krumm, 2017). Challenges

from having virtual teams would include distance, communication, collaborating,

establishing norms, and seeing the player face-to-face. Benefield et al. (2016) found that

traditional workgroups working within proximity and having interactions with each other

would be more productive. Benefield et al. extended that virtual teams are becoming

more common due to online software that improves team face-to-face interaction and

these interactions increases productivity and morale worldwide. According to Schulze

and Krumm, virtual team players need to be motivated to learn new skills and to handle

the challenges from technology use, increase in workload, cultural differences, and

geographic location.

According to Lacerenza et al. (2018), leaders who are unavailable to be with their

teams due to workloads would influence non-team building in the organization. Leaders

must be available to foster team improvement, provide tools necessary for individuals to

solve their problems, which would build team motivation (Lacerenza et al., 2018).

Employees must come first, and leaders need to be available when called upon by their

team. If employees do not have support or guidance from their leader, they would not

know what to do to meet their goals in the workplace, and motivation would decrease in

the workplace (Janes, 2018). Trust within teams increases morale, and conflict decreases

morale in organizations. Leaders need to be involved with teams and to dedicate

themselves to improving trust to build workplace relations. Hughes et al. (2018) found

that workplace relations build morale, which increases performance in individuals and

teams. Ozyilmaz et al. (2018) concluded in their study that when employee trust is high

within an organization, job satisfaction increases, and when trust is low organization

turnover increases, and employee performance decreases. It is a fact that employee trust

in the workplace is required to increase morale. Leaders need to have emotional

intelligence, so they can be aware of the team needs and have an open-door policy to stay

in touch. Lee and Chelladurai (2017) found that leaders’ emotions in the workplace have

a significant impact on the attitudes and behaviors of employees.

Emotional intelligence

Leadership development plays a crucial role in increasing morale within an

organization. To have an effective leadership program, human resource managers need to

understand personality traits, which contribute to the understanding of emotional

intelligence in the workplace (Miao et al., 2018). Miao et al. (2018) found that leaders

can influence employees by being trained in emotional intelligence and can increase

morale in the workplace which leads to an increase in job performance, job satisfaction,

organizational commitment, and lower turnover intentions. An engaged leader who

assesses the emotions and the psychological states of their subordinates can influence

employees’ motivation, morale, and performance in the workplace (Hidayah Ibrahim et

al., 2019; Prati & Karriker, 2018). According to Lumpkin and Achen (2018), an

emotionally intelligent leader has self-awareness, empathy, self-regulation, motivation,

empathy, and social skill to help followers break old workplace habits. Inceoglu et al.

(2018) found that leadership behavior influences employees’ well-being in the workplace

furthermore increases job satisfaction, work engagement, morale, and decreases stress

and burnout.

A perfect leader is the one who can handle their temper in any situation, has

employee trust, is a good team listener, has an open-door policy, has the ability to inspire,

and can make educated decisions (Martin, 2018). Leaders with emotional intelligence

have self-awareness and understand how their emotions can affect the people around

them. Leaders who can control their emotions and actions can control employees’ morale

in the workplace (Langner et al., 2018). Leaders who discipline their emotions and

contain them would be able to control the team morale.

Leadership Behavior

Organizations leaders employ many techniques to increase morale and overall

productivity within the organization. One technique is leaders being mindful of their

subordinates’ behaviors by paying attention to the present situation in the workplace and

reacting based on their emotions. According to Lange et al. (2018), being mindful has

many benefits, including employee well-being and performance in the workplace. The

other important aspect of increasing employee well-being and performance in a

workplace is transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a useful practice

for inspiring vision, fostering morale, and encouraging teamwork throughout the

organization to perform above expectations (Lange et al., 2018). According to Lange et

al., mindful leaders are leaders who are more effective and have revealed positive

outcomes from subordinates in the workplace. Being aware of thoughts, emotions,

actions, and being attentive in the work area enables the leader to respond to the needs of

the employees, which promotes empathic (Lange et al., 2018). According to Lippincott

(2018), a mindful leader manages team emotions within the organization to influence

behaviors and to improve workplace performance. Organization leaders have a special

gift to regulate employees’ behavior to improve morale within the workplace. Yao and

Huang (2018) found that leadership behavior is a process in leading personnel with

certain methods and actions to achieve goals set by the workplace. Mindful leaders can

encourage personnel to be confident, reinforce professional behavior, influence job

satisfaction, increase morale, and guide the team to achieve workplace objectives (Yao &

Huang, 2018). The demanding leader who is not mindful and treats employees with high-

pressure orders would lose loyalty, interaction, and not achieve workplace goals. Yao and

Huang found that leadership is a two-way interaction between subordinates and leaders.

An organization should provide training for leaders to be mindful of promoting a high

level of success of the employees. An organization can have a very competitive climate

to be successful, providing that the mindfulness training is available to employees.

According to Kersemaekers et al. (2018), mindfulness training improves morale, well-

being, and production output. A high level of success would benefit from organization

leaders being mindful of actions that increase the success of their employees. A trained

mindful leader who interacts with subordinates would reap the rewards from this

leadership technique. According to Schuh et al. (2019), mindfulness leaders can

effectively harness a high level of employee morale in any workplace.

Leaders become mindful by organizations investing in developing individuals to

recognize the emotions of subordinates and to make changes accordingly to improve

morale within the workplace. Mindfulness training, if offered, would improve health,

morale, performance, productivity, and team climate. According to Pinck and Sonnentag

(2017), leaders and subordinates mindfulness contributes to an increase in morale, well-

being, productivity, and job satisfaction. Training leaders to pay attention to the current

situation and developing a mindful attitude leads to better leader-employee relations (Reb

et al., 2018). Reb et al. (2018) found that leader stress would pass to employees, which in

turn influences employee negative behavior. If the employee stresses the leader, in turn,

the leader would stress the employee. The employee needs to be mindful of the current

situation and develop a mindful attitude of their actions. Leaders and subordinates that

can control their emotion are less likely to have a negative attitude in the workplace.

According to Reb, negative attitudes in the workplace contribute to an unproductive

working relationship among coworkers, in turn, decrease morale, well-being, and job

satisfaction. Training would open the employee or leader to observe, reflect, and respond

in a manner to increase morale in the workplace. The mindless employees are the ones

who do not pay attention or have any awareness of the consequences of current reactions.

A mindful employee makes sense of events and actions that would have a positive impact

on the organization (Donaldson-Feilder et al., 2018). Stress affects morale in the

organization (Vaclavik et al., 2018). Mindfulness interventions reduce stress, which

improves morale, empathy, well-being, productivity and less emotional exhaustion

(Vaclavik et al., 2018).

Vaclavik et al. (2018) found that a four-week training program in mindfulness

intervention is more effective than an eight-week program. After the four-week training

session, employees had a feeling of being not exhausted and had a higher level of control

and satisfaction in the work area (Vaclavik et al., 2018). The class training included

specific questions that pertain to stress in the workplace and mindfulness intervention.

According to Vaclavik et al., the training provides mindfulness interventions that have an

impact on a stressful environment and in turn, increases morale. Rose et al. (2017) found

that mindfulness-based stress reduction training enables employees to develop automatic

acceptance into mindfulness interventions. Students learn how to use mindfulness to

respond to emotions in the workplace from others’ insight into unpleasant experiences in

the workplace. Rose et al. identified that mindfulness-based stress reduction could

improve psychological health, coping with work, mindfulness, which would facilitate

positive change in the workplace. According to Molek-Winiarska and Zolnierczyk-Zreda

(2018), mindfulness-based stress reduction training is an effective intervention to

improve morale, well-being, employee health, and productivity in the workplace. Mindful

learners become metacognitive about thinking before acting. Duan and Ho, (2018) added

that applying mindful learning techniques would enhance a wide range of interventions

that would facilitate employees’ well-being in the workplace. Jin et al. (2018) found

mindful leaders learn from the past workplace crisis and find ways to prepare by being

mindful of patterns, changes, norms, and trends that would contribute to a workplace

dilemma. Jin et al. added that leaders who are mindful of past event or experiences would

be confident in the ability to lead, which would promote morale in the workplace due to

having a mindset to resolving current situations.

The employees that are not mindful attend to operate without cognition, empathy,

and behaviors, and mindful employees have a focus on moment-to-moment experiences

(Lawrie et al., 2018). According to Antonacopoulou and Bento, (2018), a mindful leader

who recognizes the past work experiences and is engaged mindfully with lived

experiences can learn to lead in ways to make a difference in the workplace. Leaders

being mindful of the past and present are being mindful of learning for leadership

development. Antonacopoulou and Bento expressed that leaders need to be able to deal

with change, complexity, context, and connectedness in the workplace to be good leaders.

Leaders who have the willingness to learn would continue to grow to their full leadership

potential. Leadership skills are essential in the workplace for directing teams, individuals,

and corporations towards a better outcome for tomorrow. According to Gobble (2018),

mindless leaders are always on autopilot, distracted, and cannot focus and be aware of

their surroundings. Marques (2017) found meditation achieves mindfulness; mindless

actions result in adverse effects in the workplace. According to Marques, having mindful

thinking is from having mental focus. Leaders who have mental focus would listen, think,

then react with constructive words to improve morale in the workplace, and according to

Coe (2017), negative words are hurtful to an individual. According to Marques, leaders

take things for granted until they learn from their experiences and become mindful.

Marques found that meditation techniques sharpen the mind that would enable employees

to be mindful in the workplace. Leaders should increase morale by being mindful in the

workplace by first listening, thinking, and responding in a way to have a positive effect

(Marques, 2017).

Buchanan et al. (2018) concluded that sexual and racial harassment contributes to

negative psychological well-being inside and outside of the workplace. According to

Buchanan et al., half of the adult women encountered sexual harassment in the

workplace, and this would have an adverse effect on the organizations’ well-being.

Leaders who are mindful of the situation and share mindfulness techniques with their

employees would increase well-being and morale in the workplace (Gervais & Eagan,

2017). Sexual harassment in the workplace can happen to men or women, is a violation

of human rights, and causes job tension and work-to-family conflict (Dean, 2018).

Positive social change from employees being mindful may improve employee morale and

well-being in the workplace. Other workplace benefits from the employee being mindful

would include less absenteeism and an increase in productivity and profitability.

Absenteeism

According to Martin and Matiaske (2017), stress-causing events such as hostile

behavior would proliferate absenteeism, and stressful working conditions increase the

likelihood to escalate harmful behavior in the workplace. Leaders who are already

mindful of employee stress-causing behaviors can teach employees to be cognizant of

others, and the working relationship would prevail (Martin & Matiaske, 2017).

Martin and Matiaske found that the best way for employees to avoid stress is to stay away

from work. According to Martin and Matiaske, high levels of stress can trigger latent

aggressive feelings, which in turn, increase the employee’s desire to do evil toward

coworkers. Martin and Matiaske added stress triggers could be from workplace heat,

noise, workloads, and poor working conditions in the facility. These decisions to do evil

would create an atmosphere of stress and tension that would decrease employees’ morale

and well-being as well as organizational profitability.

Martin and Matiaske (2017) found that workplace stress could have emotional

and physical consequences that never end for an employee. According to M.B. Nielsen et

al. (2017), dramatic stress influences the probability of anxiety, sadness, and other types

of mental health problems. Stress takes on many forms of behavior, and an interactive

situation could develop between employees to develop conflict in the workplace. The

leader who is mindful of the situation takes control and gives emotional relief from the

conflict that could result in employee interaction (Martin & Matiaske, 2017). High stress

in the workplace contributes to the probability of harmful behavior in the workplace.

According to Martin and Matiaske, social stressors increase absence in the workplace and

directly affect employee morale and well-being. Workplace stressors is a contributor to a

decrease in productivity, profitability, morale, and the well-being of employees’ (Shuck

et al., 2017).

Workplace absenteeism leads to low employee morale and well-being, and

socially harmful behavior in the work environment affects performance (Martin &

Matiaske, 2017). To decrease stress in the work environment, a leader should be mindful

of socially harmful behavior and remove the cause of hostile behavior (Martin &

Matiaske, 2017). Mindful interventions are an effective way to reduce stress and increase

morale and well-being in the workplace. Workplace stress is a common occurrence in

males and females and could have a negative impact on the organization. The cost of

workplace stress continues to increase due to individuals experiencing bullying, sexual

harassment, and limited promotional opportunities and jobs which contribute to a variety

of mental disorders. Older individuals with psychological and physical disorders from

stress contribute more to absenteeism, which would negatively affect their morale,

productivity, and employee satisfaction in the workplace.

Gilstrap and Bernier (2017) found that individuals cope with stress while working

in a stressful environment. These individuals cope with workplace stress by prioritizing,

seeking help from other coworkers, keeping perspective, and being active. According to

Gilstrap and Bernier, 60% of adult workers claim that their jobs have a considerably

stressful environment, and organizations continue to lose an estimated $200 to $300

billion from stress-causing illnesses. Employees using coping strategies can fight back

from the adverse effects of stress and return to the state of not being stressed (Gilstrap &

Bernier, 2017). Gilstrap and Bernier added that by identifying problems, planning, and

altering stressors by taking breaks physically and mentally disengaging from work, an

individual could cope with stress, which would positively affect employee morale, social

well-being, satisfaction, and productivity in the workplace.

Gilstrap and Bernier (2017) concluded that individuals should manage their

workplace stress and have programs in place to cope with stress in the workplace.

Organizations are providing employees with outlets, programs, and professional help to

mentally, physically, and emotionally cope with stress in the work environment (Gilstrap

& Bernier, 2017). Kersh (2018) found coping with stress to be beneficial to personal

health and without coping would have psychological impacts. Taking on more than one

job in the workplace can lead to job stress, strain, and typical burnout in the workplace if

the individual does not act quickly on coping with stress (Kersh, 2018). Employees

experience burnout from ongoing or repetitive stress and not coping with the issues

(Mansour & Tremblay, 2018). According to Olsen et al. (2018), organizations that offer

flexible work schedules for their employees contribute to employees’ well-being and less

stress. Well-being and less stress correlate to the employees’ having less burnout and

turnover in the workplace.

Work-family conflict continues to increase due to an increase in single parents,

and both husband and wife are working (Kuo et al., 2018). Kuo et al. (2018) found that

fathers are now more involved in raising their children since wives are also working that

puts more stress on husbands and wives and increases work-family conflict. Mansour and

Tremblay (2018) found that family conflict contributes to an increase in job stress,

burnout, and intentions to leave the workplace. Intention to leave a job is a reaction from

an employee being burnt-out from not being able to cope with stress in the workplace

(Chiang & Liu, 2017). According to Wang and Peng (2017), family and work conflict,

contribute to job dissatisfaction, depression, and burnout and have negative effects on

employee well-being. Family conflict adds to the stress in the workplace and increases

harmful outcomes; organizations need to have the social responsibility to fulfill employee

professional and family roles (Mansour & Tremblay, 2018).

Kangas et al. (2017) found that unethical workplace leads to employees feeling

exhausted and burnt-out, which contributes to their absence. Kangas et al. concluded that

a workplace with a strong ethical culture has less absence and creates a better ground to

increase employee morale, well-being, and productivity. An ethical culture in the

workplace comes from having a leader with a strong ethical background (Walumbwa et

al., 2017). According to Hewlin et al. (2017), a leader has to have the integrity to lead the

workplace or organization. According to Moutousi and May (2018), an unethical leader

would have an unethical workplace, which would increase turnover. Unethical behavior

in the workplace can decrease productivity, satisfaction, and employee morale (Moutousi

& May, 2018). According to Thiel et al. (2018), ethical leaders in the workplace can

create a high-quality relationship with their employees by setting expectations for

appropriate conduct for the subordinates. Subordinates then react from feeling an

obligation to the desired behaviors. Thiel et al. found an ethical leader to be very

beneficial to the workplace to increase morale and productivity. Ethical leaders are moral

persons who influence employees’ ethical behavior in the workplace (Thiel et al., 2018).

Epistemic Virtues

According to Javed et al. (2018), ethical leaders can have a positive influence on

subordinates’ behavior in the workplace. An ethical leader has a moral identity and leads

by example, by doing the right thing base on the organizational policies. According to

Engelbrecht et al. (2017), an ethical leader leads with openness to input from employees,

making fair decisions based on company policies, and is an overall role model for the

organization. Javed et al. added that organizations that have ethical leaders could increase

employees’ morale, creativity, cooperation, information sharing, and openness within the

workplace. Ethical leaders have epistemic virtues that can process ethical situations based

on being open-minded and having knowledge. Javed et al. found that being open-minded,

able to think carefully, creative, and capable of making wise decisions are the supporting

structure for having epistemic virtues. Open-minded leaders attend to listen carefully to

what others have to say, think carefully, and entertain the thought. Open-minded

employees are interested in new ideas, views, knowledge of others, taking a risk, and

creativity (Javed et al., 2018). Failure makes ethical leaders stronger, and openness to

employees’ builds trust and creativity. The openness to experiences is the moderating

effect, which increases the relationship between an employee and the leader. Employees

not having confidence in the leader would be reluctant to come forward with new ideas

and would not communicate with the leader (Javed et al., 2018). Employees, who do not

correspond to the leader would decrease the morale and growth in the organization. If

trust exists with the employees, subordinates would be willing to communicate their new

ideas without fear of repercussions (Javed et al., 2018). According to Walsh et al. (2018),

ethical leadership behaviors foster how employees react at work. Leaders who mistreat

employees do not receive any new ideas and would be a target for losing the respect of

others (Walsh et al., 2018). Walsh et al. found empirical evidence that workplace

incivility would harm morale, job satisfaction, motivation, commitment, and productivity

in the workplace. Coworkers and even other leaders could encourage criticism of leaders,

which would lead to employees being guarded and distant with leaders. A general rule is

to keep criticism to oneself, especially if the criticism offends the other individual.

According to Chen and Ayoun (2019), unacceptable criticism has adverse effects on

employees, and receiving negative criticism would be retaliation in the workplace. An

ethical leader tends to influence followers’ outcomes through ethical decisions by being

mindful of knowing how to respond to unethical and ethical behaviors in the workplace

(Walsh et al., 2018).

According to Walsh et al. (2018), all organizations have workplace norms that

foster respect for leader behavior and curb unethical behavior in the workplace.

Workplace norms guide appropriate conduct by having mutual respect, listening first

before answering, being prepared for daily meetings and continuing to strive for

improving, and achieving organizational goals as a team (Walsh et al., 2018). According

to Hershcovis et al. (2017), respectful treatment sends a message to employees that

everyone is part of the workplace team. An unethical employee sends a message to the

employees that they do not belong. Hershcovis et al. found that incivility in the

workplace is comparable to the effect of an abusive leader and bullying, which has an

adverse impact on employee morale and productivity. Leaders who mistreat their

employee have a more significant impact then coworkers abusing each other in the

workplace (Hershcovis et al., 2017). According to Walsh et al., an ethical leader listens to

employees, makes fair decisions, discusses ethics and values with employees, and

reduces incivility. Organizations should seek to reduce employee mistreatment by leaders

acquiring ethical leadership behavior, which would increase morale and productivity in

the workplace. The leaders could obtain from training how respectful norms are

developed and how certain activities disrupt respectful norms from forming in the

workplace. Leaders could obtain from training how certain norms could disrupt morale in

the workplace. According to Marchiondo et al. (2018), learning facets are essential to

increasing employees’ performance, productivity, improvement, and morale.

Leadership Learning and Acting

The leadership training would give opportunities for leaders to learn the skills

necessary to manage employees in a way to build trust, motivation, and morale. The

training should consist of students learning the skills to influence others, communicate,

make decisions, think, understand others, and can apply this knowledge to increase

morale in the workplace. According to Peck (2018), organizations have identified work

ethics, problem solving, communication, teamwork, and leadership as very important for

employers to build success in the workplace. Engaging leaders in a leadership program

would give leaders competence in managing a workforce. An effective leadership

program would inspire employees and encourage innovation, which would affect

organization teams and performance outcomes (Karam et al., 2018). Sousa and Rocha

(2019) found that game-based learning is crucial in building the leadership skills

necessary to increase productivity and morale in the workplace. Games-based learning is

a design based on virtual world experiences that leaders may encounter while playing

the game. The game allows leaders to fail and develop the skills necessary to become

effective leaders. By failing in the game, nothing is lost versus failing in the real-world

environment could have repercussions. According to Karam et al. (2018), leaders having

effective behavior in the workplace are connective to positive employee outcomes.

Therefore, the leader-employee behavior is one of the essential parts to control the

organization outcomes in productivity. According to Sousa and Rocha (2019), an

effective leader’s behavior provides skills, motivation, support, and feedback so

employees can be successful in the workplace. An effective leader gives positive

feedback for reinforcing behavior and defines the new employee behavior to increase

performance in the organization (Sousa & Rocha, 2019). Positive interaction between

the leader and the employee would have a crucial impact on the workforce.

Winton et al. (2018) found that the complexity leadership theory applied to

leadership programs would provide the framework for strengthening leaders’

understanding the competence in the workplace. Complexity leadership theory

encourages leaders to learn and adapt to employees’ behaviors (Winton et al., 2018).

Leadership behavior is of great importance to drive high levels of success in the

workplace. According to Horvat and Filipovic (2017), complexity leadership theory

would improve workplace performance by leaders being able to make specific outcomes

possible. These outcomes would be from leaders behaving in a way to increase

subordinates’ productivity and morale. According to Moin (2018), the perception of

leaders’ actions would have a positive or negative influence on subordinates. Positive

perception increases commitment, morale, productivity, trust, and negative perception

would do the opposite. Emotions drive success and are part of the leadership role to

influence followers to increase morale and productivity. According to Moin, the

understanding of the implication of emotion would be a great benefit for an organization

to obtain for leaders to promote emotional efforts that would be helpful for increasing

morale and productivity of subordinates. The leaders’ positive or negative feelings

towards the employees would increase or decrease workplace morale. The three ways of

expressing emotions are surface acting, deep acting, and genuine emotions with the

purpose of controlling subordinates’ behaviors (Moin, 2018). The first thing is to

understand the emotions of the followers, and from understanding the followers’

emotion, the leader would know how to behave in a way to promote positive emotional

behavior in followers.

Deep acting is the process in which the leader watches the subordinate emotions

with the objective of changing emotional response (Moin, 2018). According to Lavy and

Eshet (2018), a leader using a deep acting process would change followers’ behavior to

improve morale, moods, motivation, and productivity. Surface acting is the leader

modifying their emotions to the point to disguise their actual emotions by tone of their

voice, facial expression, and motion (Moin, 2018). According to Moin (2018), surface

acting is more unfavorable with the employees’ outcomes. The third emotion, genuine

emotion is when leaders combine surface and deep acting and could be beneficial in

influencing followers’ behaviors (Moin, 2018). These emotional strategies are beneficial

for influencing subordinates’ productivity and morale in the workplace. Leaders who are

fair and can influence subordinate behavior would benefit positively. Karam et al. (2018)

found that effective leaders have the ability to influence positive employee outcomes. For

one to be a leader, it is an everyday learning experience in the workplace, and it all

depends on the individual being proactive in learning.

Karam et al. (2018) found that social exchange relationship theory is the ability

for the leader to have a high degree of interactions and task interdependence with the

employees. Karam et al. added that the managerial role theory identifies leaders’

decision-making as the number one requirement to being an active leader in the

workplace. Karam et al. added that relational leader theory requires a leader to be

supporting, recognizing, developing, and empowering the employees. The relational

leader can listen, seek input, and have an interaction with individuals or groups that

would be beneficial to the company. The change in relationship theory, leaders, have the

vision to encourage change, creativity, and to seek alternative solutions in the workplace

to complete the offset facing the organization (Karam et al., 2018). In the relationship

theory, leaders who practice change could stimulate and encourage employees to take a

risk in the workplace. Change could have an impact on organizations if the leader

behaves in a way to have a positive effect on the employees.

Compensation

Employees work hard for their employer to get compensation for accomplishing

set goals, and compensation affects employee behavior in the organization. According to

Lazear (2018), workers alter their behavior if they get paid by hour rather than receive a

onetime lump sum payment for completing a task. Employees going from an hourly rate

to a onetime lump sum pay out, increase productivity and motivation (Lazear, 2018).

Employees attend to complete a job faster knowing that they would be getting a onetime

lump sum pay out rather than an hourly rate. The employee’s efficiency increases by a

fixed rate due to completing the job faster, whereas the hourly rate is less efficient for

completing the task because employees would take their time in completing the task to

get more compensation. The quick payout for completion of the job increases motivation,

morale, and teamwork due to employees working harder to complete the task at hand

(Lazear, 2018). Compensation influences employees’ effort and incentives affect the

behavior that positively influences employees’ well-being and morale. According to

Lazear, business leaders who use a pay structure determine compensation by mapping out

employees’ path to growth based on education and job roles. According to K. Nielsen et

al. (2017), employees that experience high levels of well-being are happy workers, and

happy workers increase morale and perform well to increase productivity in the

workplace. Compensation and the structure in the workplace environment are crucial to

increasing employee well-being, motivation, and morale.

A supportive leader brings happiness or well-being into the organization.

According to Joo and Lee (2017), subordinates are highly productive, engaged, love their

career, and feel a sense of happiness when they had a supportive leader. Work behavior is

crucial for influencing motivation, well-being, and morale in the workplace. An

inefficient and badly-behaved unsupportive leader would bring negativity to the

workplace. According to Moore et al. (2019), leaders’ behavior could influence unethical

behavior in the subordinates that they lead. A supportive leader can affect organizational

outcomes, morale, retention, and positively impact subordinates in the workplace

(Gordon et al., 2019). According to Fan et al. (2019), and Maccagnan et al. (2018) a

supportive leader reinforces family and personal life and being supportive promotes

employees’ well-being in the workplace. Employees and organizations benefit from

supportive leadership in the workplace. When a leader is supportive of their subordinates,

employees have more control over their families, stress, and have an acceptable time to

spend with their families. A leader can contribute to an employee’s stress by not being

supportive in letting the employee off in time of need.

Training is the key to an increase in employee perceptions by teaching leaders’

behaviors for balancing work and life, leading to a positive work environment (Place &

Vardeman-Winter, 2018). Some leaders who never had families may not understand the

balance without having the specific training. Incorporating training on employees’

behavior would increase productivity, well-being, and morale in the workplace.

Leadership behavior workshops would identify topics for the intervention of negative

behavior in the workplace. The sustainability of leadership behavior skills would depend

on the organization continuing to provide supportive leadership behavior training for the

leaders. It is crucial for leaders or the ones that have the opportunity to lead, to have the

skills to engage with the employees in a supportive manner. According to Wu and Parker

(2017), supportive leadership influences subordinates to behave in a positive way.

Organizations that are supportive of employees’ needs are central to increasing morale

and retaining trained employees. Interpersonal skills are fundamental to increase morale

in the workplace. According to Speed et al. (2017), supportive leadership behavior

programs are imperative for future leaders for organizations to transform into a

supportive workplace.

Montani et al. (2017) found that leaders having strong production ownership,

commitment, and supportive leadership stimulate innovative behaviors from employees.

Leaders providing subordinates with resources and encouraging them to voice their

opinions facilitated innovation, motivation, and morale within a work environment

(Johansen & Sowa, 2019; Montani et al., 2017). When leaders provide little support, the

employee may be proactive in meeting workplace objectives. Leader engagement is

crucial to follow employee workplace behavior to increase productivity and morale.

Leaders who work hard themselves toward being supportive in the work area would

increase subordinates’ productivity (Kurniawaty et al., 2019; Lazear, 2018). Leaders

being flexible with employees’ schedules and involving them would build a supportive

leadership culture that would increase well-being, productivity, and morale.

Leaders play a valuable role in managing subordinates, and depending on the

leaders’ actions would increase morale and productivity in the workplace. Leaders need

to encourage, motivate, award, and be an example for their subordinates to follow in the

workplace. Employees like to have compensation for reaching milestones or even for

doing an excellent job throughout the year. When employers are unsupported in

compensating employees, the employee was less productive in the workplace. A leader

needs to be supportive, mindful, and have a positive attitude to be able to increase morale

and productivity in the workplace.

Transition

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies used by

successful organizational leaders to increase employee morale to improve productivity in

their organizations. The review of the professional and academic literature provided

information regarding strategies, business organization leaders can use to increase

employee morale, which would improve employee well-being, satisfaction, motivation,

teams, and mindfulness, to improve productivity. In the literature review, I introduced

being mindful, coaching, mentoring, team building, individual control, behaviors, tools,

and theories that would affect morale, and methods for leaders to be effective in

increasing morale in the workplace. Employee morale and productivity were the focus of

the literature review. In Section 2, I cover the qualitative methodology used in this

research and includes population and sampling, ethical research, data collection

instruments and technique, data analysis, and reliability and validity. In Section 3, I

present the findings of this study, with implications for applications to professional social

change in the workplace, and recommendations for future research.

Section 2: The Project

Leaders from organizations lack behavior strategies to increase employee morale

to improve productivity (Laureani & Antony, 2017). Additionally, employees’ low

morale decreases productivity, well-being, and increases absenteeism and costs toward

the organization (Noor & Ampornstira, 2019; Street & Lacey, 2018). In this research, I

explored strategies to increase morale and improve productivity. In Section 2, I include

the purpose statement, the role of the researcher, participants, research method, research

design, population and sampling, ethical research, data collection instruments, data

collection technique, data organization techniques, data analysis, reliability and validity,

and transition and summary.