AU kursuskatalog arkiv

5249: Employee Morale: Theory, Evidence and Measurement ( efterår 2010 - 10 ECTS )

Rammer for udbud

• Uddannelsessprog: dansk
• Niveau:  Master's level course, elective project based  
• Semester/kvarter:  SEMESTER FOR WHICH THE COURSE DESCRIPTION APPLIES: Fall 2010
• Timer per uge: NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK: 4 hours per week for the first half semester (24 in all). Thereafter work with a project report that is handed in at a later specified date.  
• Deltagerbegrænsning: A maximum of 30 students can attend the course.  
• Undervisningssted: Århus
• Hovedområde: Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultet
• Udbud ID: 28089

Formål

 After participation in this course, students should be able to:

• Explain and compare different scientific schools and concepts associated with the definition and description of employee morale.
• Analyze and evaluate the classic evidence of consequences and antecedents of employee morale.
• Identify theoretical and methodological challenges in studying the antecedents and consequences of employee morale and reflect on where there is a need for further research.
• Argue for the relevance of measuring employee morale and relate measuring employee morale to total quality management and business excellence models. 
• Explain and apply methods to investigate employee morale, the antecedents and/or consequences of employee morale.
• In the project report: Identify and apply the course curriculum as well as new literature and evidence in relation to a research question.

Indhold

The course is about employee morale (Danish word: "Arbejdsglæde") and will primarily draw on topics in organizational behavior.

In business schools and in management consultancies, it is often heard that academic studies and practical experience since the 70s consistently have shown that companies with a high degree of employee morale have more productive employees than companies with lower employee morale. In addition, employee morale should be a major source of life happiness, the best cure for stress and can drastically reduce absenteeism and staff turnover. Finally, the most important antecedents of employee morale should be workload, changes in the organization and the immediate manager.

At the same time, organizational practitioners find it hard to create employee morale and enjoy its benefits. Why? Is it merely a question of a knowing-doing gap between research and current practice or the effects of not so clever managers?

This course will lay out different scientific schools and concepts associated with the definition and description of employee morale and describe as well as evaluate the classic evidence of antecedents and consequences of employee morale. In addition, the current best practice for analyzing employee morale in management consultancies today will be shown.

Central research questions and topics are:

1. What is employee morale?
• Cognition, affection, appraisals and attitudes
• Job satisfaction and organizational commitment
• Theoretical approaches to the creation and result of attitudes

2. Why is employee morale important and for whom?
• Types of behaviors associated with Employee Morale
• Consequences of employee morale - myth and evidence
• Theoretical and methodological challenges
• Organizational perspectives as explanation for focus on employee morale

3. How is employee morale created?
• Types of variables and mechanisms associated with the creation of employee morale
• Theoretical and methodological challenges
• The need for further evidence

4. Why is employee morale measured and how?
• Total Quality Management
• Business Excellence Models
• Factor Analysis
• Structural Equation Modeling and the PLS algorithm

Faglige forudsætninger

 REQUIRED COURSES: 3235: Organizational Behavior and 4201: Organizational Change and Development or 4545: Human Resource Management.

Underviser

 LECTURER: Flemming Witt

Undervisnings- og arbejdsform

TEACHING METHOD:

A combination of lectures, student presentations and discussions. This is an advanced class and active participation is expected and required.

TEACHING LANGUAGE: Danish

Litteratur

LITERATURE:

Total curriculum: Approx. 485 pages + not required readings.

Books (extracts)
Scott, R.W. (2006); Davis, G: "Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural and Open Systems Perspectives"; Prentice-Hall; International Ed edition (3 Nov 2006) (Ch 1-5) (123 pages)

Articles :
Weiss, H.M;Cropanzano, R: "Affective Events Theory", in Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 18 (1996), pp. 1-74 (75 pages)

Locke, E.A: "The Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction", in M. Dunette "Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology" (1976), pp.1297-1350 (53 pages)

Brief, A.P: "Attitudes In and Around Organizations", chapters 2 & 4 (1998) (67 pages)

Iaffaldano, M.T; Muchinsky, P.M: "Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis" Psychological Bulletin 97 (1985), pp. 251-73 (22 pages)

Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J: "A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment", Human Resource Management Review (1991) (22 pages)

Meyer, J.P: "Organizational Commitment", International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 12 (1997), pp.175-228 (47 pages)

Meyer, J.P; Stanley, D.J; Herscovitch, L; Topolnytsky, L: "Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: A Meta-analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences", Journal of Vocational Behavior (2002), pp. 20-52 (32 pages)

Dahlgaard, J.J.; Kristensen, K; Kkanji, G.K: "Philosophy, principles and concepts of TQM", in "Fundamentals of Total Quality Management" (1998), pp 19-46 (26 pages)

Sørensen, H. D. & Hansen P. B: "Måling af medarbejdertilfredshed og loyalitet - baggrund, metode og proces " ,Børsens Ledelseshåndbøger (2001) , pp1-20 (20 pages)

Hair; Anderson; Tatham; Black: "Multivariate Data Analysis" (1998); Prentice-Hall (Chapter 3: 87-135) (Not required reading)

Hair; Anderson; Tatham; Black: " Multivariate Data Analysis" (1998); Prentice-Hall (Chapter 11: 575-645) (Not required reading)

Bedømmelse

To register for exam, one of two compulsory assignments must be passed.
1) (5 ECTS) Participate in presentation and discussion of readings. There will be an individual oral exam of 20 minutes' duration based on the course curriculum.
2) (10 ECTS) Participate in presentation and discussion of readings. Hand in project report in groups or single (10 pages per person, font 12, double spacing and including references, footnotes and appendices). There will be an individual oral exam of 20 minutes' duration based on the course curriculum and the written project report.

Examination aids: None, except the project report for those students undertaking the 10 ECTS exam.