2.9-integrative review on the importance .pdf

7th International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences

“ASEAN 2015: Challenges and Opportunities” (Proceedings)

Faculty of Liberal Arts, Prince of Songkla University, June 5-6, 2015 267

Integrative Review on the Importance of Morale in

The Malaysian Army

1. Mohammad Daud, Major Dr, Faculty of Defence Studies and Management,National

Defence University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Camp, 57000 Kuala Lumpur,

[email protected]

2. Jessica Ong Hai Liaw, Dr, Faculty of Defence Studies and Management,National Defence

University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Camp, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, [email protected]

3. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains

Islam Malaysia, Nilai, 71800, Seremban, Malaysia, [email protected]

Abstract

Malaysian Army in Malaysia has undergone a drastic transformation in terms of

weapon modernisation and also human resource development. The Malaysian Army’s

strategy in facing the diverse spectrum of conflicts is to become a force with credibility,

versatility and balanced so that they will always be highly prepared to conduct any

operations effectively and efficiently. Comprehensive increase of intangible elements

such as morale value, motivation and commitments need to be developed at all

leadership levels and among the army members. This study fills this void by reviewing

literature from research that identifies the importance of morale among army

personnel and how far morale influences their motivation and commitment in

determining organisational excellence. Basically, the importance of morale in Malaysian

Army does not vary much in terms of individual or organisational spirit as

organisational excellence as a whole depends on the responsibilities of each leader and

employee in the Malaysian Army itself. Morale is an important factor considered an

intangible asset for capabilities in military.

Keywords: Morale, credibility, versatile, intangible, commitment, motivation

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




Introduction

In Malaysia, although the morale of army personnel often does get attention from

the management, however in depth studies on the morale level of army personnel are

still not getting enough attention from researchers. According to Abdul Halim (2004),

the importance of morale among Malaysian army personnel must be proved through a

mechanism in accordance with the employee and employer’s evolution where human

resource needs to be looked into similarly as of maintaining other war assets. Among

other factors that influence the morale (fighting spirit) and determinants of a mission’s

success are culture's importance, ethic, and performance shaped by the leader and

management (Morris, 2001). Meanwhile William (1999) associated work morale with

the effort of quality of work life. The work morale mentThe difference between 'morale'

and 'moral' needs to be differentiated to avoid arising confusion. Unethical behavior

means someone's bad behavior is distinguishable with the word 'low morale' which

means low fighting spirit. The meaning now has become more understandable and

clearer.

The significant of morale among army personnels in a country has gained special

attention especially in Malaysia. Morale is something that is intangible and abstract. It

needs to be explained and substantiated empirically through systematic and objective

observation to get a benchmark. Every weakness and strength needs to be evaluated in

order to find out the morale level of the Malaysian Army, so that a benchmark can be

formed when achieving required missions and objectives (Hashim, 1999).

The element and component of morale affect army personnel’s form of motivation and

the relationship with commitment and interest of organisation. Although the morale of

army personnel is often being discussed by the management of Malaysian Army,

assessment on morale among army personnel has not been clearly evidenced.

Therefore, efforts to search for one method need to be taken to examine the morale

level of Malaysian Army through a mechanism in accordance with ergonomics

technology and evolution of human resource. Army ergonomics had began since 1950

when manually controlled model was introduced. At the initial stage, ergonomics

focused more on equipment and technology improvement that will eventually lead to

organisation safety and profit for the organisation (Hendrick, 2000). However the

latest ergonomics definition focuses on cognitive ergonomics, human interaction with

the computer, organisation design, human physiology, job treatment as well as studies




in decision making field, organisational behaviour and individual perception (Brewer

and Hsiang, 2002). Hence, ergonomics of human resources should be valued similarly to

taking care of war assets that would also grow by venturing a form of work analysis

process (Abdul Halim, 2004).

In accordance with the Malaysian Army top management’s needs, a paradigm

shift is always performed to ensure that the Malaysian Army remains relevant with the

current needs. The reliance on past successes is only a small factor to be proud of,

however those achievements cannot be made as backups or measures to face future

challenges. The balance between man, machine and method with psychology elements

that are intangibles which emphasizes battle preparedness and capacity dimension as

well as the quality of work life underlined by the higher management of the Malaysian

Army have given inspiration to the researchers to make this study possible. This study

is staying abreast with the Malaysian Army’s evolution since its establishment until

today because technology keeps on developing over the years. For the purpose of this,

the morale dimension should first be refined. It aims to study its relationship with the

motivation and commitment among Malaysian army personnel because those factors

will shape the behaviours, competitiveness level, characters and the directions of the

army personnel before fulfilling the organisation’s vision. Results from the survey

conducted will give input to the Malaysian Army to make strategic plans parallel with

the focus and transformation of the Malaysian Army to achieve its mission and vision.

Besides, the results can be used also for the determination of morale assessment and

performance among the personnels.

In Malaysia, although the morale of army personnel often does get attention from

the management, however in depth studies on the morale level of army personnel are

still not getting enough attention from researchers. According to Abdul Halim (2004),

the importance of morale among Malaysian army personnel must be proved through a

mechanism in accordance with the employee and employer’s evolution where human

resource needs to be looked into similarly as of maintaining other war assets. Among

other factors that influence the morale (fighting spirit) and determinants of a mission’s

success are culture's importance, ethic, and performance shaped by the leader and

management (Morris, 2001). Meanwhile William (1999) associated work morale with

the effort of quality of work life. The work morale mentioned gives benefits and can be

used for various interests related to the efforts of building compatibility among




employees through formal and informal communications as well as discipline

formation.

Local researchers such as Musa (1987), Ab Aziz (2005) and Mohd Kenali (2007)

have identified the role of morale in an organisation and tasks involving one life’s needs

and satisfaction such as achievement, appreciation, salary, job guarantee and frustration

which can give high impact to organisational excellence. Other added values such as self

perfection, self-esteem, love, security, physiological needs such as food, clothes,

accommodation, water, oxygen and sex also influence personnel’s morale and

motivation level.

These findings are parallel with the findings of foreign researchers such as

Frederick (1991) and Morris (2001): USA, Williams (2002): New Zealand, Goyne

(2004): Australia, Gelooven (2005): Netherlands and Francois (2006): Belgian. They

concluded that the lack of morale and motivation among respondents has resulted work

performance to decline, and even tarnish the good name of the organisation

(misconducts) such as eschewing duties and lack of interest to continue serving.

Low morale of employees might lead them to become employees who are not

committed to work (Aminuddin, 1994). Just like the economic theory of supply and

demand, it can also be applied in industries that sell services. Excellent service quality

will get a high demand, whilst if the service quality is not impressive, it will not give any

benefits to the individual or organisation (Mohd Fazilah, 2008).

Nevertheless, morale excellence of an individual or the properties of fighting

spirit are those that cannot be clearly feel or they are intangible. In order to obtain a

balance of the four dimensions of fighting spirit, there is a need for to a statistical model

to measure the level of preparedness (a tangible factor).

If both data and dimension can be merged, it can be made into a useful statistical

model for the Malaysian Army (General Tan Sri Dato' Seri Panglima Hj Zulkifli bin Hj

Zainal Abidin, Chief of Malaysian Army - Exclusive interview on 21st September 2011).

Among the main problems as well as morale inferiority and motivation issues that are

affecting the Malaysian Army organisation are disciplinary cases such as Absence

without Leave (AWOL), drugs, crimes and self doubt. These situations give strong

reasons on the importance of morale care in Malaysian Army. Dissociative identity is

often being associated with armed forces because the wrong mould could give adverse

impact to the organisation's reputation. The skill of using firearms and the courage that




has been instilled have been used for the wrong purposes. The problems being

discussed are not only faced by the Malaysian Army, but also by armies in other

countries such as amuk cases and misconducts.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MORALE TERMINOLOGY IN THE ARMY

The word morale is more synonymously used in armed forces as seen in the views given

by a SPHR business magazine - A Fresh Look at Morale senior writer, who mentioned

that morale is derived from military term as in the following statement:

“..since morale is so intangible, let's nail down the meaning of it so that we're sure

to have the same starting point. First, morale has nothing to do with "morality." Morale is

one of your company's vital signs-it is a very unscientific and yet totally critical

measurement of group attitude and engagement. The concept of morale has military

roots; in that respect, it is a gauge of a unit's cohesion or its fighting spirit. It compares

well to taking the temperature of every single employee (including owners and managers)

at the exact same time. Like body temperature, you're looking for a reading within a

certain range that will indicate your company's organizational health”. (m.s 1).

Mohd Kenali (2007) defined morale in two aspects - which are morale of being

and morale of action. However the meaning of morale of being is how one places the

importance of his life, whether for himself, family, friends and organisation in a country.

Musa (1987) also shared the same views on his understanding on morale. The source of

term in the field of education for morale in Indonesia has the same meaning with ‘morel’

or ‘passion’ whereas it is ‘morel’ or ‘spirit’ in Malaysia and Brunei. In the field of

sociology, all three countries use the term ‘morale’ which carries the same meaning with

‘morel’. Detailed explanations are as seen in Table 1.

Table 1: The Terms of Morale in the Malay Literature

Source of term Indonesia Brunei Malaysia Field Morale Morel/Ghairah Morel/semangat Morel/semangat Education Morale Morel Morel Morel Sociology

Source: Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu - prpm.dbp.gov.my

Morel can also be defined as an internal strength of an individual to give the best

of something depending on the level of piety that basically driven by the feeling to be

like certain individuals to receive the best rewards from Allah the Creator. Through the

definition above, it can be concluded that the morale dimension should be taken into




consideration to achieve organisational excellence. With a high morale level, someone's

positive attitude will increase and become proactive whereas the desire and sacrifice of

an individual will decrease if his or her morale level is low. There is a difference

between the army and public morale approach where the value of morale from the

public perspective means seriousness of energy to complete a task until the end after

being offered salary and not by force and influenced by getting praises and not threaten

with punishment.

From the military perspective, having a high spiritual level could increase morale

to a higher level without restriction or better known as jihad. This belief does not

confine merely to the believers of Islam, various other religions also believe that good

acts will be rewarded with good earnings while bad behaviors will receive devastation

(Baharuddin and Sulaiman, 1997). This situation causes various assumptions being

made to accentuate morale importance in the military organisation such as in the

following words: ‘You can have all the materials in the world but without morale, they

are all largely ineffective’ (Gen. Marshall in Hashim, 1999). Hashim (1999) stressed that

the difference between the armed forces and the public occured due to the difference in

the nature of work where strict disciplines and rules act as the main core of

management pattern of Malaysian Army compared to the public sector. It can be

concluded that the researchers’ opinions on morale term is related more to military

issues that correlates with irregular fighting spirit.

The focus of this study is leaning more towards the morale dimension that

influences motivation and commitments. Therefore the researchers referred to studies

conducted by a few foreign researchers and among them are Morris (2001), USA and

Gelooven (2007), Netherlands. Morris (2001) in his research on United States army

divisions, found that the key components of morale to determine the success of a

mission and the organisation's objective are the importance of management being

assisted by cultural management, ethic and military value implementation as well as

Esprit D’Corp of personnel. When morale is always there, it can make the members to

constantly improve work performance and always be highly prepared.

Through a study by Morris, the increase and decrease of work performance is

also influenced by army personnel’s morale. Morris (2001) stated that, the value of

morale that is implemented as a management strategy to achieve an organisation’s

mission is a determinant dimension to performance (change to become better) and also




influences the preparedness level of organisation globally by maintaining features of

professionalism, committed, love, self-organisation, respect each other, appreciate each

other, patient and calm as well as considerate. With the values of military which

encompass loyalty, dedication, sincerity and honesty, they influence the morale of USA

army personnel. Their mission to make the army organisation as one One Army left an

impact in their management in achieving excellence. Culture and team spirit in making

their organisation a learning organisation with zero defect have improved the army

personnel’s work performance.

Based on earlier research, with the construction of questions and analysis that

were carried out through quantitative methods of SPSS and path analysis, the

researchers found a significant relationship between the morale component with

motivation and commitment among Malaysian army personnel. This shows that there is

a clear importance of morale influence on Malaysian army preparedness besides the

needs to enhance motivation and instillation of commitment among the personnel. The

metric alphabet that represents variable components in the test can be seen in the

following:

a. X represents morale b. X1 represents passion c. X2 represents perseverance d. X3 represents dedication e. X4 represents strength/spirit f. X5 represents spirituality g. Y represents motivation h. Z represents commitment

Moral of fighting spirit is known as esprit de corps which is unity, proud feeling,

proud with one’s group and team proven to exist in the relationship of Malaysian Army

personnel. Meanwhile a statement by Hashim (1999) who noted that high fighting spirit

which involves cooperative spirit that is strong among comrades such as joy, grief,

confidence, concern and increase and decrease of spirit while carrying out a task are

parts of the morale dimension proven to be correlated with the motivation and

commitment of Malaysian Army management.

The components of morale such as enthusiasm and persistence of a group of

people to develop and improve performance of an organisation consistently towards

achieving the objectives has clearly proven to be important in the Malaysian Army.




Other than that, morale defined as vigor or spirit of a group at times also is linked with

the Malaysian Army.

Discussion and Suggestions

Based on the definitions, literature reviews, theories and research findings, the

researchers have summarised briefly that morale dimension correlates and has

importance on the management of Malaysian Army as in the following:

a. Generally the morale situation of Malaysian armed forces depend heavily on

motivational drive to spur organisational mission and objectives into realisation.

The motivation by Malaysian Army such as being promoted and salary increment as

well as psychological motivation which aim to instill the feeling of belonging such as

determined attitudes and dedication have improved personnel’s commitment in

carrying out duties. Morale motivation is also instilled so that Malaysian Army

personnel’s will always remain loyal and continue to serve until retirement. This

study is also able to reveal whether or not management practice of Malaysian Army

gets positive or negative feedback among their personnel.

b. The role of morale can increase job satisfaction by ensuring that skills and expertise

are provided to Malaysian Army personnel. Job satisfaction includes academic level

and the capacity to understand an organisation’s mission and objectives. Problems

within the management also determines personnel’s job satisfaction. Unbalanced

and allocation of workload will likely cause drastic drop in Malaysian Army

personnel’s morale value and lead to the breaking of discipline and rules.

c. The existence of fighting spirit or spiritual form and commitment that is high among

Malaysian army personnel is actually aspired by every leader because this is the

quality that leads to honesty and sincerity values in implementing tasks.

Improvement in spiritual management affects work attitude and formation of self-

discipline. Instilling responsibilities also start from spiritual level through the

upbringing of human capital.

d. Fighting spirit and comrades are capable of increasing the morale of Malaysian Army

personnel especially on shared missions. Supportive attitude and friend’s guidance

become the catalyst to personnel’s morale level. The uncomfortable feeling when a

friend is doing something that is not right is a sign that the personnel’s morale is at a




high-level. This situation shows that the characters of belonging and unity have

rooted Malaysian army personnel. As mentioned by a poet from England, John

Donne: 'no man is an island', proves that the effectiveness of buddy system practiced

in the army since day one gives impact that an organisation could not reach

excellence by working individually.

e. Culture and regimental life that is harmony with the religion of Islam helps a lot in

the formation of self identity and fighting spirit of army personnel in a team. A part

of the regimental lifestyle substantially formed the army personnel’s discipline. This

situation creates a proud feeling among army pensioners. The habit and lifestyle of

the army are still being practiced although they have ended their service.

This feeling can probably be avoided if repetitive information on the privileges of

Malaysian Army personnel as in what they are getting is known clearly. For example,

food subsidy, free accommodation, security, free medical and various other privileges

for single or married personnel. This happens because of a more demanding

materialistic life and inequitable self-management. It is suggested that all military

personnel fully utilise the word 'morale' which referring to the fighting spirit during

battle or at the work place, along with the suggestion to increase scholary knowledge on

the importance of Malaysian Army for the importance of the nation. Emphasis should

be given in spiritual and motivational aspects when drafting for seminars and courses

that are to be organised. There is also suggestion to conduct further research on the

level of morale and motivation of Malaysian Army personnels who are on duty under

the United Nations (UN). This is despite the general impression that they have a high

morale level because of the luxurious salary given besides joining enough training

preparation, at the same time there are are the other factors that motivate them to join

UN.

The researchers suggest that further studies on morale are carried out to search

and complete answers of 100% dimensions and factors that influence motivation and

commitment. Other than that, the researchers plan to propose to Dewan Bahasa dan

Pustaka to make the word 'morale' as a genuine Malay word in Kamus Dewan and to be

made known to Malaysians in which the word carries meanings such as; spirit for battle,

fighting spirit and work dedicatedly. This word is not found in any dictionaries during

the duration of this study except in the Malay Literature used in the three mentioned

countries; Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei which carries the meaning of fighting spirit.




Conclusion

Malaysian Army personnel face the same situations such as less motivation, low

morale and not committed with given tasks as well as feeling less comfortable with the

pattern, treatment and objective of the management. Therefore, it is suggested that this

self performance cycle is being dealt well so that social problems such as drug abuse,

immoral acts, breach of trust, corruption, and self-doubt can be prevented at the early

stage. If they are not prevented, the situation occurred will cause long-term effect on the

morale of Malaysian Army and the organisation as a whole.

The continuation of this study will also gather earlier findings by examining in

details morale dimension of army personnel and seek resolution on how to increase

their morale level. The discovery and solution will help Malaysian Army to obtain

scientific information on morale dimension and factors that influence motivation and

commitment so that the morale value is always balanced and parallel with technology

enhancement and goals of every member and organisation. There is a need to identify

morale level and its relationship with personnel’s motivation and commitment so that

the human resource capacity to go for battle can be merged with Malaysian Army’s

material capacity.

In conclusion, the existence of morale value corresponds with the heroic act of

armies. With that in mind, this factor needs to be given encouragement often so that the

will to work is always strong. It is clear that motivation, job satisfaction, spiritual,

influence of colleague and enthusiasm as well as a regimental life are able to set aside

temporary negative thinking that always causes anxiety and uncertainty. The relevancy

of morale relationship in Malaysian Army does certainly exist and need to be valued

from time to time to increase all members’ spirit so that the role in maintaining

excellency is always there.

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2.9-integrative review on the importance .pdf

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