The Effect of Organizational Goal Ambiguity on Employee Morale in Public Service Organizations in Terms of Organizational Mission and Individual Characteristics

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Prof., Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Prof., Department of Management and Planning, Management and Technology Expansion Studies Center, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

3 MSc., Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Objective:Given the effect of employee morale on organizational productivity and the low productivity of the public sector, it is critical to examine this variable and to discover its effective factors. Organizational goal ambiguity affects employee morale andthis is blatantly noticeable in the public sector. This study is aimed at investigating the category of public service organizations in which morale is affected by goal ambiguity and determine the type of employees influenced by it.
Methods: Data were collected using the standard questionnaires of PFS Employee Morale and Rainey's Organizational Goal Ambiguity. The study population consisted of 79 public service organizations of Yazd, from which 380 employees were selected through stratified sampling. Cross-loadings and the correlation between observable and latent variables were used to test the construct validity. SPSS and Smart PLS were utilized for data analysis
Results: Organizational goal ambiguity decreased the morale in employees with a diploma degree, but increased it in female employees, employees with higher education, those with work experience less than 5 and more than 15 years, and those aged under 30 and over 40; however, it did not affect other groups. Moreover, this variable increased employee morale in bank and insurance job categories, but had no significant effect on other organizational groups.
Conclusion: The results of this study emphasize that the use of organizational goal ambiguity increases the morale of the employees, provided they pay attention to individual characteristics and organizational mission.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Agarwal, R. D. (2007). Organization and Management. (28th ed). New Delhi: mac Graw-Hill.
Ahmad Zahi Torshab, A. (2016). Innovative work behavior in public organizations, the role of organizational goal ambiguity and Worker Morale (the case: Iranian’s ministery of industries, mines and trade). Thesis for the Degree of Master of Science in Public Administration. Tarbiat Modares University. )in Persian(
Allison, G. T. (1980). Private and public management: are they fundamentally alike in all unimportant particulars. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Aminbidokhti, A., Maleki, F. (2014). On the effect of triz training on the entrepreneurship spirit enhancement. Quarterly Journal of New Approach in Educational Administration, 5(1), 153-174. (in Persian)
Baier, V. E., March, J. G., & Saetern, H. (1986). Implementation and ambiguity. Scandinavian Journal of Management Studies, 2(3–4), 197–212.
Baseri, A. (2010). The role of development happiness and joy in enhancing the epic morale. Journal of Military Psychology, 1(2), 61-71. (in Persian)
Bass, B. M., Bruce J., Avolio, D. I. J., Yair, B. (2003). Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2), 207–218.
Bright, L. (2008). Does public service motivation really make a difference on the job satisfication and tunover intentions of public employees? American review of public administration, 38(2), 149-166.
Buchanan, B. (1974). Govemment managers, business executives, and organizational commitment. Public Administration Review, 34(4), 339-347.
Buys, N., Wagner, S., Randall, C., Yu, I., Geisen, T., Harder, H., Howe, C. (2016). Australian Employee Perspectives on Disability Management in relation to job satisfaction, physical and mental health, workplace morale and reduced sickness absence. International Journal of Disability Management, 11(2), 1-8.
Chun, Y. H., Rainey, H. G. (2005a). Goal ambiguity in U.S. federal agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15(1), 1–30.
Chun, Y. H., Rainey, H. G. (2005b). Goal ambiguity and organizational performance in U.S. federal agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15(4), 529-557.
Connell, J. (2001). Influence of firm size on organizational culture and employee morale. Journal of Management Research, 1(4), 220.
Davis. K. (1977). Human relations at work. (N. Rahimi, & M. Totonchian, trans. Tehran: Training center of public Management. (Original work published 1918). (in Persian)
DeHart-Davis, L. Davis, R. S.; Mohr, Z. (2014). Green tape and job satisfaction: can organizational rules make employees happy? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(3), 849-876.
Dessler, G. (1994). Management fundamentals (D. Madani, Trans). Tehran: Ghoomes. (Original work published 1978). (in Persian(
Downs, A. (1967). Inside bureaucracy. Boston, MA: Little Brown.
Eskandari, M., Mohsenloo, H. (2014). Stress mediate the relationship between job satisfaction and morale of the armed service commanders and training managers. Journal of Military Psychology, 5(19), 63-80. (in Persian)
Ghazanfari, A., Abedi, L. (2012). Construction, Validation and Standardization of Military Morale Questionnaire. Journal of Military Psychology, 3(10), 45-58. (in Persian)
Guion, R. M. (1958). Some definitions of morale. Personnel Psychology, 2, 59-61.
Habashizadeh, A., Vanaki, Z., Navipour, H. (2007). The effect of coaching role playing by clinical supervisors on staff nurses' morale. Iran Journal of Nursing, 19 (48), 37-46. 
)in Persian)
Hasiri, A. (2009). The effect of organizational trust and managerial competency. Thesis for the degree of Master of Science in public administration. Tarbiat Modares Universit. 
(in Persian)
Heinrich, C. J. (1999). Do government bureaucrats make effective use of performance management information? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 9(3), 93-363.
Hooshmandan Moghaddam Fard, Z., Rezvanfar, A. (2015). Effective factors on entrepreneurship mentality of agricultural high school's students in zanjan province. Journal of Agricultural Extension and Education Research, 8(3), 11-26. 
(in Persian)
Hosseini Hashemzade, D. (2010). The Study of Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction among Employees of Bank of Industry & Mine. Journal of public administration, 2(5), 1-20.
(in Persian)
Imanikhah, F. (2017). Organizational goal ambiguity and psm in the public. Sector of Iran: Is there a correlation between them? Thesis for the degree of Master of Science in Public Administration. Tarbiat Modares University. (in Persian)
Jung, C. S. (2013). Organizational goal ambiguity and job satisfaction in the public sector. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(4), 955-981.
Jung, C.S. (2011). Organizational goal ambiguity and performance: Conceptualization, measurement, and relationships. International Public Management Journal, 14(2), 193–217.
Kavousy, E., Ahmadi, F. (2010). Globalization, training and development of human resources (adaptive comparison of 62 countries of world). Strategic Studies of Public Policy, 1(1), 79-108. (in Persian)
Kolaei Darabi, R., Taghvaeeyazdi, M. (2019). Study of the effect of educational and research dimensions on sustainable development of universities in order to present a model (Case Study of Mazandaran Islamic Azad Universities). Journal management system, 7(14), 146-171. (in Persian)
Labuc, S. (1996). Psychological stress and combat efficiency, A Review of the Literature, U.K: Combridge Press.
Latham, G. P., Locke, E. A. (1991). Self-regulation through goal setting. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50(2), 212-247.
Lee, J. W., Rainey, H. G., Chun, Y. H. (2010). Goal ambiguity, work complexity, and work routineness in federal agencies. The American Review of Public Administration, 40(3), 284-308.
Lee, T. W., Locke, E. A., Latham, G. P. (1989).Goal setting theory and job performance. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology, 291-326.US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lindblom, C. E. (1959). The science of “muddling through”. Public Administration Review, 19(2), 79–88.
Linz, S. J., Good, L. K., Huddleston, P. (2006). Worker morale in Russia: an exploratory study. Journal of managerial psychology, 21(5), 415-437.
Locke, E. A., Latham, G. P. (2013). New developments in goal setting and task Performance. London: Routledge.
Matland, R. E. (1995). Synthesizing the implementation literature: The ambiguity-conflict model of policy implementation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 5(2), 145–174.
Michaeli Manee, F. (2010). Comparison of responsibility, cooperative attitudes, general health, life satisfaction and academic achievement of students at boarding and day schools. Journal of Educational Innovations, 9(34), 61-88.
Moynihan, D. P. (2008). The dynamics of performance management: Constructing information and reform. Washington: Georgetown Univ.
Nadler, D., Hackman, J. R., Lawler, E. E. (1979). Managing organizational behavior. Boston: Little Brown.
Nareemaanee, M., Arjomand, J. (2008). Organizational climate and teachers' morale in public and private schools. New Thoughts on Education, 3(3&4), 81-93. (in Persian)
Noordegraaf, M., Abma, T. (2003). Management by measurement? Public management practices amidst ambiguity. Public Administration, 81(4), 853-871.
Pandey, S. K., Rainey, H. G. (2006). Public managers' perceptions of organizational goal ambiguity: Analyzing alternative models. International Public Management Journal, 9(2), 85-112.
Perrow, Ch. (1961). The analysis of goals in complex organizations. American Sociological Review, 26(6), 854–866.
Rainey, H. G. (1983). Public Agencies and Private Firms: Incentive Structures, Goals, and Individual Roles. Administration and Society, 15(2), 207–242.
Rainey, H. G., Jung, C. S. (2010). Extending goal ambiguity research in government: From organizational goal ambiguity to programme goal ambiguity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rainey, H. G., Jung, C. S. (2014). A conceptual framework for analysis of goal ambiguity in public organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(1), 71-79.
Rawat, S. R. (2015). Impact of Transformational Leadership over Employee Morale and Motivation. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(S6), 25-34.
Ryan, R. M., Deci, L. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. Perspectives on Motivation, 38(237), 237-288.
Sadeghian Gharaghie, S., Shokri, S., Shakeri, Z., Pourmojarab, G. (2016). Investigating the Impact of HRMP on Job Satisfaction (A Case in University of Tehran). Journal of public administration, 8(1), 167-180. (in Persian)
Salancik, G. R., Pfeffer J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23(2), 224-253.
Scott, R. W. (2003). Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems, 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Shafiei Sarvestani, M., Jahani, J., Mousavi Pour, S. R. (2018). The Relationship between Learning Styles and Research Morale in High School Students. Studies in Learning & Instruction, 10(1), 230-244.
Stanger, R. (1958). Industrial morale (a symposium): Motivational aspects of industrial morale. Personnel Psychology, 2(1), 64-70.
Stazyk, E. C., Goerdel, H. T. (2011). The Benefits of Bureaucracy: Public Managers’ Perceptions of Political Support, Goal Ambiguity, and Organizational Effectiveness. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21(4), 645–672.
Stazyk, E. C., Pandey, S. K., Wright B. E. (2011). Understanding Affective Organizational Commitment: The Importance of Institutional Context. American Review of Public Administration, 41(6), 603–624.
Suksaranruedee, S., Sucaromana, U. (2013). Working morale on hospitality employees in Thailand. Asian Social Science, 9(10), 88-92.
Vasantham, S. T. (2014). Employee morale and employee retention, Ipasj International Journal of Management, 2(11), 1-2.
Walker, R. M., Boyne, G. A., Brewer, G. A. (2010). Public management and performance: Research directions. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Wildavsky, A. (1979). Speaking truth to power. Boston: Little Brown.
Wilson, J. Q. (1980). The politics of regulation. New York: Basic Books.
Wright, B., Davis, B. S. (2003). Job satisfaction in the public sector: The role of the work environment. The American Review of Public Administration, 33(1), 70-90.
Yukl, G. (2008). How leaders influence organizational effectiveness. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(6), 708–722.
Zamani, B. (2007). A comparative study of training scientific spirit and scientism in the Britain’s science textbooks with Iranian science textbooks. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 26(3), 43-63. (in Persian)
Zamani, B., Esfijani, A. (2006). A comparison of graphics utilization for teaching physics concepts in Iranian, American and British primary textbooks aimed at promoting a discovery spirit among the students. Journal of Education and Psychology, 13(2), 95-118. (in Persian)
Zare Khafri, Sh., Hassani, M. (2014). Investigating the Impact of Organizational Identification on Job Satisfaction and Turnover, Given the Mediation Role of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (Case Study: Region 2 of Tehran Municipality). Journal of public administration, 6(1), 109-130. (in Persian)
Journal of Public Administration
Volume 12, Issue 1
2020
Pages 24-44

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics