The moral-psychological climate (IPC) is a reflection of the real relationship between members of any team. The level of favorable climate in the group determines the quality of the organization, dictates the success or decline of production (the educational process). The normalization of relations in the team and the regulation of the optimal working atmosphere belong to the field of social psychology.
The concept of moral and psychological climate
It is proved that more than 20 cases of a decrease in performance indicators at work out of 100 are attributable to unfavorable moral and psychological factors that have a negative impact on the employee during his labor activity. It is also known that depression, bad mood or depression of team members entail a 50% decrease in productivity. If we consider the collective as a society of people connected by the same tasks and goals, then the anxiety of such statistics and its impact on the work of the organization as a whole will become clear.
The formation of the moral and psychological climate takes place at the level of small organizational forms of the collective — microgroups belonging to the smallest structural unit of the organization (team, department, committee). It is in these social groups, which include a small number of participants, that a certain psychological atmosphere develops, which subsequently affects the situation inside the entire closed structure of the organization.
The great importance of the state of the moral and psychological climate of the working apparatus is due to the fact that it characterizes the position of the organization as a whole: the speed of productivity, the quality of the products (services) produced, etc. And since almost every person is assigned to one or another sphere of labor and is responsible for certain the functions of their enterprise, the importance of the IPC seems to be tantamount to observing both public and personal interests.
IPC levels
In the course of studying the moral and psychological climate of a certain organizational structure, 2 levels of this social factor were revealed:
The static level of relationships within the team is constant, sustainable. Once formed principles and workflows are supported by all members of the team, the difficulties that arise are dealt with and overcome together. Periodically, team members make adjustments to the moral and psychological climate within the labor mechanism, which is welcomed by the core staff as a necessary measure to maintain a favorable environment.
The dynamic level of relationships in the group is considered unstable, fluctuating, and is directly dependent on the mood of all members of the group, their current mental and physical condition, priorities and needs. In contrast to the indicators of the previous level of the moral and psychological climate, in organizations built according to the dynamic type, personnel and other changes occur much more often and are perceived by people quite sharply.
In the future, the development of the state of the collective in a negative dynamic scenario may lead to its complete transformation or collapse.
IPC assessment
The state of the moral and psychological climate in the group is always determined by polar values that do not have sublevels of transition from positive to negative. The situation in the team can never be said to be “normal”, since such a definition does not correspond to the emotional assessment of the current situation, always expressed in one of two extreme states: “good” or “bad”.
A person, whether he wants it or not, on a subconscious level evaluates every phenomenon that takes place in his public life, and these indicators are quite categorical. It is impossible to achieve a high assessment of work and a healthy moral and psychological climate in the enterprise in general, if the individual assessment of this structure by individual members of the team is stably low.
The founder of social psychology, Boris Parygin, argued that the individual psychological perception of certain factors of social life by the members of the team did not yet fully compose the IPC. Only the concurring opinion of the majority of the group members (community) is a powerful mechanism that repeatedly strengthens the intrastructural mood. At the same time, the already formed moral and psychological climate in the organization affects every member of the team, increasing or decreasing its working activity, contributing to a positive attitude or blocking it.
Favorable moral and psychological climate
At the current level of demand for many goods and services, the tasks assigned to production and intermediary firms are increasing and becoming more complicated every year. This increases the psychological burden on all participants in the creation and promotion of products, however, the actual result of such a load can fluctuate within diametrically opposite values.
Subject to reasonable stimulation of work activities and the current system of incentives, we can talk about creating a favorable moral and psychological climate in the organization, which is well guessed in a number of the following signs:
- Intolerance of team members to individual cases of negligence and irresponsibility at work.
- People are constantly ready to improve the quality of their work.
- Heads of production and downstream management are always open to new proposals.
- There are no hostile relations between the members of the collective.
- People are clearly aware of their responsibility for the work that they are doing.
- The number of absenteeism, sick leave and spontaneous layoffs of workers is low.
A favorable moral and psychological climate in the organization is achieved only through the cohesion of the enterprise participants - people understand their dependence on each other and try primarily to work for quality. In such groups, creativity and innovative qualities are highly appreciated and welcomed, helping to find a way out of difficult situations and improve working conditions with little funding.
Corporate culture concept
Today, corporate culture is understood as a healthy moral and psychological climate at the enterprise, formed in conditions of respect for the organization’s leaders to the junior leadership and field workers. Corporate culture policy includes two necessary components:
- philosophy - corporate values, rules, including those of a moral and ethical nature, unconditionally accepted by all members of the organization and strictly observed;
- mission - a provision on the mission and objectives of the enterprise, a concentrate of plans for future achievements and goals.
By default, a healthy moral and psychological climate assumes that the junior employees of the enterprise receive not orders from senior management, but recommendations, the implementation of which rests with the performers themselves. As a result of the introduction of such self-organization, the responsibility of local workers reaches a high level, and the need for additional supervisory employees of the administration becomes minimal.
Acceptance of corporate philosophy and implementation of its ideas
To achieve a favorable moral and psychological climate in the team, it is important that the corporate philosophy is understandable and unconditionally accepted by all participants in the production process. If this condition is met, then the company has a good reputation, supported by joint efforts and equally valuable to all employees of the company.
It is interesting that during the formation of a healthy moral and psychological climate at the enterprise, the main share of concern for the well-being of the common cause is taken over by younger employees or workers. It is they who, first of all, show consciousness in the upbringing of a new labor subject in the team, control his outings to work, the quality of his products. Often, if a new employee does not seek to meet the already established high standards of the enterprise, the colleagues themselves raise the question of his removal from the team.
Another necessary condition for observing the principles of corporate culture is not to elevate the achievement of a healthy moral and psychological climate to the rank of the mission of the enterprise. A positive atmosphere within the organization cannot be an end in itself, but acts only as a result of a continuous improvement in the quality of working conditions of employees and competent setting of tasks.
Creating a favorable climate in the team
Both positive and negative moral and psychological climate are generated under the influence of the following factors:
- The nature of industrial and economic relations in the midst of the formation of a work collective.
- Organization of labor at the enterprise, compliance with legal and other working conditions.
- Individual attitude to their official duties of members of the enterprise administration.
- Type of manual.
- The level of conformity of formal and informal group structures.
- Specific features of the group: by gender or age, psychological compliance, social status, etc.
Corporate culture managers concluded that the larger the luggage of knowledge of the people who make up the group, that is, the higher the level of development of its members, the more likely it is to form a moral and psychological climate in the team with a “+” sign. However, with a more careful approach to the selection of new employees, when selecting them on the basis of common interests, aspirations, ways of solving problems, you can achieve almost the same result with an average or even low level of development of the majority of team members. True, in this case there is a danger that in this group not workers, but personal interests of workers will prevail, which already serves as a low probability of achieving a high level of development of the enterprise as a whole.
Before the moral and psychological climate is finally formed, the young enterprise must go through two stages:
- Stage I is characterized by an increased formality of relations in the group - team members only recognize each other, communicate among themselves strictly on working topics, and try not to stand out.
- Stage II is already indicated by the formation of interest groups or other unifying factors at the enterprise, the leaders and the “followers” are clearly distinguished in the team, the leader is clearly outlined. The current situation of some members of the organization may already cause controversy and disagreement. The future structure of relations between management and employees is clearly emerging.
Depending on the orientation (positive or negative), which the II stage of development of intra-collective relations takes, the characteristics of the moral and psychological climate in the group are formed. With a positive development, employees of the organization feel proud of belonging to the group and try to do their job as best as possible. The development of the team in a negative scenario leads to the growth of conflicts, the constant search for someone else's wrongness and, as a result, the paralysis of the work process.
Leadership as a method of hidden management
In fact, the head of the moral and psychological climate management of any organization is the leader of the group, nominated from the ranks of non-leading members of the working collective. In contrast to the direct leader appointed by the formal order, the leader in the group can be anyone with the necessary character traits, abilities and experience to solve specific problems facing the team.
The current leader has unconditional authority in this society, due to which people voluntarily obey him and consciously assume the role of followers. The leadership qualities of one and the same person, relevant in one society, may turn out to be unclaimed in another (other values, differences in gender, demographics, age, etc.).
In corporate culture, there are 5 examples of leadership types:
- Organizer. Confident optimist who perceives the group’s problems as personal and resolves them successfully and quickly. In communication, he is distinguished by the gift of persuasion, knows how to encourage and mildly, tactfully blame for mistakes. Located in the center of all events.
- Creator. It captivates people with innovative ideas, unexpected (but successfully acting) proposals. Ready to take risks, skillfully sets tasks in the group. A leader of this type never manifests himself as a commander and behaves more like an adviser.
- Fighter. Decisive, may show signs of aggression, impatience. Often too straightforward. Often the need for this leader disappears immediately after solving some critical or especially protracted problems.
- Diplomat. She is in the know about everything and has a lot of hidden levers of influence on the “right” people. He does not seek to open all his possibilities, but lives up to his expectations.
- Comforter. The distinguishing quality of this leader is goodwill. He comforts the afflicted, finds the right words to resolve conflicts. A representative of this type may not solve serious problems, but in his presence it becomes easier for people to endure difficulties.
The existence of a full-fledged team without a leader is impossible, therefore, many managers try to ease the task of personnel management by allocating a special manager for these purposes. In practice, such actions are ineffective, since control and distribution functions are of primary importance for a formally appointed person, and for a leader, a comfortable psychological situation in the team.
Guidelines Affecting IPC
The moral and psychological climate at the enterprise to a large extent depends on the management style carried out by management. Only 3 types of managerial style have been identified that have a strong influence on the IPC:
- Authoritarian (dictatorial). Establishment by the head of strict control over the performance by employees of their duties, the introduction of a system of fines and reprimands. No one is interested in the opinion of employees and the difficulties that arise in their work.
- Collective. The leader is open to two-way communication and does not make important decisions without submitting a controversial issue to general discussion. Control over the performance of the work and the result obtained is carried out mainly by the employees themselves with minimal interference from higher authorities.
- Liberal anarchist. Otherwise, this management style can be called “who is what”, the employees do not adhere to any protocols when doing their work, they do only what they consider necessary, without fear of punishment. At the same time, the team constantly feels the inferiority of management and a breakdown.
Of these types of management, the preferred is the collective type of intra-group relations, which is moderately democratic and adequate to the current situation in the economy.
"Improvement" of the situation
To improve the moral and psychological climate in the team, management needs to adhere to several golden rules of management:
- to carry out the selection of personnel from the point of view of psychological compliance of the candidate with the expected position;
- with the right frequency to carry out advanced training for all employees;
- regularly organize semi-official events that contribute to improving mutual understanding between team members;
- clearly set goals and prevent serious deviations from production plans;
- to allow and welcome the manifestations of creative potential among employees, in every possible way to encourage individuality and an innovative approach to work activities.
The leader must understand that the "improvement" of the atmosphere within the organization is a complex phased work that does not bring instant results. All members of the directorate and middle managers (masters, managers, administrators) will also have to make efforts to improve the IPC in small corporate structures by introducing direct communication with people on the ground in their practice.
A healthy psychological environment arises only in a team where they realize the value and uniqueness of each employee. Correction of existing communication deficiencies between management members and junior staff is carried out in such a way that the former do not suppress the latter by their authority.