Morale

Morale

Morale is an emotional attitude and in simple words means wanting to do what you have to do.  Performing a job reluctantly is termed as low morale.  Good morale will instill enthusiasm and zest to carry out an allotted task and performance of duties.  It is not a constant attitude and will vary with the conditions, both physical and psy that aid mil morale and help to add zest to the performance of duty. 

Morale is the intangible spirit of anybody of men, a mixture of emotion and reason, for which every man will work and be prepared to give his last half ounce of effort ,in its service.

                                                                                                                        -FM SLIM

Factors affecting Morale

2.         There are certain basic and contributory factors which affect morale. These are as discussed below:-

(a)       Leadership.              Because of his unique and dominant posn, the leader of a unit can make or break its morale. That is because he has power and the resp that goes with power.  Men can remain hungry and can still have high morale, if they know that their leader shares these difficulties with them and is constantly working for them. They can face death at his comd if they are sure that death is necessary for victory, if they know that he is competent and willing to lead the way into danger.A capricious, selfish ldr, who commands w/o serving, who treats his men as machines for accolades can never build good morale.  So the ldr should think most about his men and their needs, identifying himself with them.

(b)       Discipline and Punishment. A state of mind that promotes on individuals or group of people to do their duty willingly & ensure prompt & intelligent obedience of orders as also the initiation of appropriate action in the correct sprit in the absence of orders.

(c)        Espirt-de-corps. Esprit-de-corps is the individuals pride in the sense of belonging to a unit. It is based upon his loyalty to, pride in & enthusiasm for his unit. He will take on any responsibilities & willingly do all in his power to enhance the unit's good name. It gives each individual a burning desire to fight & win in spite of heavy odds.  It fosters a team where each member response full confidence in his comrades & leadership. It is the sprit of the unit more imp than the individual. It is the unit's character, its personality and its unity.

(d)       Comradeship. In any unit, however, good is the leadership and the discipline, morale will be hard and unsympathetic unless it is tempered by the warmth of comradeship. So the feeling of comradeship should be fostered from the lowest sub-unit and formation. Comradeship is synonymous to team spirit and of spirit – de corps.

(e)       Self-respect.            It is the quality which is within the individual. It is the sense of right and wrongs his conscience. It will prevent him from letting down his comrades in the time of danger and give his a sense of shame. A man with self respect, therefore, will never let down his comrades.

(f)        Devotion to cause/duty.

            (i)         Good administration.

            (ii)        Regimental tradition

            (iii)       Success in battle.

            (iv)       Training.

(g)       Faith in leaders at all levels.

(h)       Training.

(i)         Proper education of men.

Control of Morale

12.       If the ldr understands and appre all the factors affecting morale discussed above, he is in a posn to cont morale and build it in his unit.

13.       The ldr needs, however, to be also able to assess morale.  He needs to know the indicators of good morale and to give spl attn to them.  He should find out, at first hand if possible, what his men need, to build their morale.  The men should be able to talk to their ldrs, to tell them what is in their mind.

14.       The ldr must ensure that his men get what they need, or if that is not possible, then get an explanation for why they must stay w/o it.

15.       A good ldr has no difficulty in discerning the indicators of good morale.  They incl low rates of desertions and AWL, malingerers, cases of VD and civ arrests, of careless loss of eqpt or damage to it, of slackness in carrying our orders and requests for tfr.

16.       In war, they are still other indicators of morale, If the No of stragglers, the freq abandonment of eqpt or of wasteful use of amn, sup, of insubordination, desertion, self-inflicted injuries and so on, begin to appear with any  regularity, then a seriously poor state of morale is indicated. Morale is vital in every mil unit.