Page 120 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

100 Building a High Morale Workplace

Pygmalion and Morale
“What managers believe about themselves subtly influences
what they believe about their subordinates, what they
expect of them, and how they treat them. If they have confidence in
their ability to develop and stimulate them to high levels of perform-
ance, they will expect much of them and will treat them with confi-
dence that their expectations will be met. But if they have doubts
about their ability to stimulate them, they will expect less of them and
will treat them with less confidence.”—J. Sterling Livingston, author of
“Pygmalion in Management” (Harvard Business Review, July-August
1969). Not bad advice for any manager faced with challenging times
and impossible demands. Save this quote and review it regularly.

Develop Your Tactics for Addressing Morale

Challenges

The six Manager’s Morale Challenges presented in this chapter
were selected because they represent some of the most com-

mon and challenging scenarios for managers and their struggle
to maintain a high level of employee morale.
As a manager, you should use your experience, your unique
abilities, and your knowledge of your employees, the culture of

your workplace, and the structure of your organization to go
beyond the general recommendations offered here. By studying
and practicing various ways of addressing a challenge, you will
be prepared to better handle performance issues and, more
important, not let them destroy the morale you’ve worked so

hard to promote.

Manager’s Checklist for Chapter 6

❏ There are two prevailing cultures among business leaders.
One believes that employees are motivated only extrinsi-
cally and the other believes that an organization can

achieve greatness only when its people are motivated
intrinsically.

❏ One gauge that managers use to measure the importance
of a rumor is to simply ignore the rumors that they know