Impact of Inadequate Management System on Employees Morale in the Telecom Industry in India

Company description

In October 2000 the Indian State ownership telecommunication company was incorporated. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is headquartered at New Delhi, which is the capital city of India ("Website of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited | National Portal of India", 2020). This organisation is a government-owned company and offers telecommunication and broadband services within India.

Research problem

Due to the financial crisis faced by BSNL, it is not able to pay wages and salaries to their employees in an evident manner and this is a problem that may impact their morale that will be explored in the proposed research. Around 1.76 lakh employees in BSNL did not receive salary for the month of February in 2019 ("BSNL fails to pay salaries for the first time; 1.76 lakh employees affected", 2020). Around 70000 employees have opted for VRS due to the ongoing crunch of cash in BSNL and salary issues ("Nearly 70,000 BSNL employees opted for VRS so far: Chairman - ET Telecom", 2020).

Rationale or purpose of the research

The rationale of conducting the current research is to gain knowledge over the impact of inadequate management in BSNL that is impacting the employees’ morale of the company. It is important because it will show how inadequate management of telecommunication companies can have negative consequences on the morale of employees.

Research scope

The scope of this research will be to concentrate on inadequate management within BSNL that may hamper the enthusiasm of the employees within the company. It will discuss how the financial problems in the company led to an impact on the employees of the firm and their morale in this process. However, there will be only specification on the inappropriate system in payment of salaries.

Literature review

Introduction

 In this section, there will be a review of literature conducted on the subject of research. In this way, the researcher will be able to gain knowledge over topics such as Employee morale, and reasons behind the flli9ng morale of employees in the telecommunication industry. The problems or inadequate management existing in BSNL that will and is affecting the employee morale in the organisation will also be discussed.

Concepts and theories of Employee Morale

Employee morale is said to be the synthesis of employee's enthusiasm within the workplace to operate in the operations of the firm (Adewale, Olalekan & Olawale, 2020). Now there are various models, and approaches that define employee morale within an organisational context which is also applicable to the telecommunication companies. Now there are mainly three models and approaches through which employee morale has been defined: Classical model or approach, Psychological approach and Social approach (Haase, 2017). According to Ferdous (2016), in the classical approach, morale is dependent on the background and conditions that are related to the living standards of the employee. It is also dependent on the employee effort within a group endeavour. In accordance with this theory and model of morale, there is high morale within the employee when there is an absence of conflicts, feeling of happiness, group cohesiveness and job satisfaction. The model also states that employees with good morale have high work performance and there are behavioural benefits that the employee receives from the workplace (Daniels, Gedikli, Watson, Semkina & Vaughn, 2017). Thus in this model, it can be seen that morale is an emotional aspect of the employee that affects their behaviour at the workplace and also has an effect on their workforce performance. As per A Bodla, Afza & Qaiser Danish, (2015), in Psychological approach 'morale' is a mental condition of the employee which leads them to further subordinate their personal objectives and align them to the company's strategic directions to operate in a significant manner. The theory states that good employee morale can be indicated by the employee enthusiasm to participate in operational activities of the company (Aidoo, 2018). In accordance with this approach of defining employee morale, it can be said that morale is a state of mind which affects the employees' emotions and willingness to operate in the operational activities of the business. Hence in accordance with this theory also morale affects the willingness of the employee work within a workplace. Now at last in accordance to the Social approach of defining employee morale, it can be termed as a tendency that exists within the employee to work with enthusiasm in order to achieve common organisational objectives. As per De Vito, Brown, Bannister, Cianci & Mujtaba (2018), in the social approach of defining employee morale, the term 'moral' should be defined in terms of individual group relationship as morale is an index which the employee perceives to know the extent of achieving self-satisfaction through operating in a cooperative manner. It should be mentioned that social theory has a bigger context definition of employee morale which includes others as well (Beckmann, Cornelissen & Kräkel, 2017). In this theory, morale is seen in the context of employees working within a group. An employee with high morale will tend to have a greater contribution and cooperation within team or group operations.

Reason behind the falling morale of employees in the industry

There are various factors in the telecommunication industry that tend to affect and impact the employee morale of the workforce working in the industry. As the telecommunication industry is a service providing industry there are various workforce requirements of companies within this industry to render service to the customers in the market (Horodnic, 2018). Hence identifying the factors that affect the employee morale in this industry becomes very important as the companies need to maintain high morale so that high productivity and standard of service is maintained within the industry. Factors that tend to affect employee morale in the telecommunication industry is as follows:

1. Financial factors; According to Dugguh & Dennis, (2014), it is seen that financial factors such as financial benefits, wealth and remunerations have a huge amount of impact over the employee morale in a telecommunication company. It is important to understand that financial and monetary benefits help the employees to achieve their daily needs and necessities and they are also able to achieve a good living standard which gives the following financial security in the society. The negative impact of financial factors will tend to affect the employee of the telecommunication company in a negative manner whereas a positive trend of financial factors will impact positively on the employee morale (Latham, 2016).  In this way, it can be said that financial factors such as remuneration of the employee's financial coverage and other monetary benefits present in the telecommunication industry impact the employee morale within the company.
2. Workplace environment: In the view of Paek, Schuckert, Kim & Lee (2015), the workplace environment is a huge factor that tends to affect employee morale within the telecommunication industry. It is important to understand that the workplace treatment of employees, health and safety prepositions and workplace behaviour of the management directly impacts the employee morale in the industry (Kangetta & Kirai, 2017). Now it is seen that service within the telecommunication industry runs every time as there are no breaks in the system hence there is a requirement for the firm to create a good work environment so that the workforce's morale is high to further increase the productivity of the firm. Thus it can be said that employee morale is directly impacted by the workplace environment which exists within the telecommunication company.
3. Social and personal factors: As per David, David & David (2014), Social and personal factors such as self-worth, social acceptance, friendship, workforce communication and coordination are some factors that tend to impact the employee morale in a direct and indirect manner. If the employees feel self-worth in the industry and have social acceptance in the industry then their morale will be high or vice versa. Social factors such as communication, workforce behaviour and inclusion are some factors that directly have an impact over the employee morale and these factors are to be managed by the company to make sure that the workforce morale is high (DeHart-Davis, Davis & Mohr, 2015).

Problems in BSNL impacting their employee morale

In accordance to Mukherjee, (2020), BSNL may shut down their operations in the near future as it is not able to pay off the wages and salaries of the employees as well as other operational expenses that are required to be paid in order to operate in the Indian Telecommunication Industry. This shows that the firm is in a cash crunch and is not able to pay off the salaries to its workers and employees. Now this will have a negative impact on the employees of the firm because as they are not getting financial coverage and remuneration for their operations in the firm the willingness to operate in the operations of the firm will decrease as well as their enthusiasm within the firm's operations will decrease as well. This will decrease the operational efficiency and growth of the firm and will certainly lead the firm into its demise. It should be mentioned that the firm is having a shortage of financial resources due to which it is unable to pay the salaries of its employees and the employee morale will be affected by the firm following in an evident manner. As per Economic, (2020), BSNL has incurred a loss of 14,000 Crore in the financial year 2018-19. Distressed BSNL has been incurring losses in the recent years and has been facing issues in clear staff salaries the company has stated that the firm has used its internal accrual to clear the ending wages although it is currently facing financial shortage to pay off wages to the workers of the firm. Now the firm has not been able to set up its 4G services in the age where other companies are moving forward to 5G spectrum. This shows that the firm has mismanaged its operations due to which it incurred loss and is now unable to pay its salary expense demoralizing the employees of the firm. It is important to understand that there was some revolt done by the employees Union in the BSNL as well as showing the outrage of the employees that are there in the organisation. As per Kurup, (2020) BSNL employee union called a hunger strike on 24 February 2020 in retaliation of non-payment of salaries that is due from recent months. This shows that the workplace environment of BSNL is not ideal at the moment and this will negatively impact the employee morale in the firm (Dash, & Mohanty, 2019).

Research questions

Based on the review of literature that has been conducted above there are some research questions that the researcher will further explore on within this research and they are as follows:

1. How are the employee's morale being affected due to non-payment of salaries within BSNL?
2. What is the mismanagement conducted by the management of BSNL causing this demoralization of employees in the firm?

Conclusion

Concluding in the light of above context it can be said that this literature review has clarified the researchers understanding over different models and theories related to employee morale and has also explained the factors that affect employee morale. It is seen that the financial crisis in BSNL is impacting the employee morale of the company. At the end of the review, two research questions will be drawn based on which the researcher will further explore the research topic.

Methodology

Data collection method

 In the current reach primary and secondary data collection method will be used and a mixed research approach will be followed. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected in order to effectively conduct the current research process. In order to collect primary data in qualitative research, the researcher will conduct interviews with HR managers of BSNL where in order to collect data from quantitative research processes the researcher will conduct surveys of BSNL employees. In this way, a realistic data collection method will be used by researchers in order to conduct the current research. Questionnaires will be created for both qualitative and quantitative data collection under the primary method but the questionnaire for interviews will be open-ended whereas the questionnaire for the survey will be closed-ended as the answers will be provided using the Likert scale. In this way, the researcher will be able to collect a good amount of data and information which will be relevant in nature. Now in the second method of data collection, the researcher will use the sources of books, newspaper articles, journals that are related to the research topic and are authentic in nature (Paradis, O'Brien, Nimmon, Bandiera & Martimianakis, 2016).

Sampling technique

In order to sample the data that has been collected by the researcher in the data collection process the researcher must use an appropriate data sampling method which will effectively sample the data in an unbiased manner so that an effective set of data is provided to draw a conclusive argument in the research process. In order to sample the current data, the researcher will use the Random sampling method which is an appropriate data sampling method for the current research type. Both primary and secondary methods will be used for collection of data n the research work Qualitative and quantitative of both the cases will be evaluated too. For this purpose, a random sampling method will become very important as it is a systematic process of sampling data that samples data in accordance with their relevance and accuracy to the subject research topic. In this way, the researcher will be able to effectively sample the data collected which can be further used evidently in the data analysis process (Etikan, Musa, & Alkassim, 2016).

Data samples

After sampling the data samples of 5 HR managers' interviews and 25 employees of BSNL survey will be created using which the research study will be conducted. It is important to understand that these samples will be set in accordance with their accuracy and relevance to the current study topic. In this way, accurate and relevant data samples can be created to effectively draw arguments and conclusive evidence that will help the researcher in answering the research question set. Data samples from the secondary source will be made in accordance with the authenticity and relevance to the current research topic. Books, journals and articles will be used that are of the contemporary period so that the source of information used is efficient and effective to draw data and information from in order to create a conclusive argument in the current research.

Place of conducting the research

In order to conduct the current research, the researcher will use the digital platform as in this way the researcher will be able to gather data from both primary and secondary methods efficiently. Hence the researcher will conduct the research on the digital platform in which the interview question will be sent to the managers and their reply will be recorded and sent by them. For survey questions and answers will be sent to the employee and the repose will be recorded in the digital survey tool. In this way, there will be effective conduction of research processes such as interviews and surveys that will be conducted in the current study. It should be mentioned that through the use of this medium of conducting the research process the research data will be collected in a fast and efficient manner that benefits the efficiency of the study.

Data analysis method

The data analysis method is a very important research process that must be conducted effectively by the researcher in order to properly analyse the data for drawing a proper conclusion for the study and to answer the research question that has been set. In the current research, the researcher will use thematic analysis in order to analyse primary qualitative data whereas statistical analysis will be used to analyse primary quantitative data. In this way, both of the data that has been collected in the current research will be effectively analysed to create evidence and argument that will help the researcher in answering the current research question (Schabenberger & Gotway, 2017). Using these analysis methods will help the research is conducting a descriptive analysis of the data which will give out in-depth knowledge and understanding over the research topic through which conclusion arguments and evidence for the current research can be made.  

Table 1: Time frame

(Source self-generated)

Research findings representation

The researcher in the current study will present the research results in a descriptive design in which proper description and elaboration of arguments related to the research topic will be presented. The researcher will make sure that arguments are properly supported by images, Charts and graphs to properly represent results of the research. The descriptive design of the research will suit the research findings representation as this will help the researcher to properly analyse every data and information in a detailed manner and to present detailed and in-depth research on the subject research topic.

Limitations of the study

Now there are some limitations in every research study and in this research study as the research is focused on the telecommunications industry of India and BSNL its scope is limited to a certain industry and company. Although this will help the researcher in providing detailed research over the subject research topic. The other limitation of the research is that of time as it is academic research there is a certain timeframe in which the following has to be completed hence the time that the researcher has in order to conduct the research is limited in nature.

Conclusion

In the context of the above Literature review, it can be said that Employee morale is an important factor to be considered within the telecommunications industry. It derives high performance and productivity within the telecommunications industry. Inadequate management of telecommunications companies such as BSNL will diminish the employee morale of the firm. The financial problems of BSNL have affected the employee morale of the workforce leading to revolt and uneasy workplace environment. The current research will address different types of problems that are there in the telecommunication industry of India focusing on BSNL. The potential users of the research will be students, business analysts and stakeholders of the Indian telecommunications industry to understand the impact of inadequate management on the employee morale within the operations of the firm.

References

A Bodla, M., Afza, T., & Qaiser Danish, R. (2015). Perceived organizational politics and employee morale: Mediating role of social exchange perceptions in Pakistani organizations. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 4(1), pp-66.

Adewale, B. A., Olalekan, A. J., & Olawale, A. M. (2020). PHYSICAL WORK ENVIRONMENT AND MODERN FARM PERFORMANCE: EMPLOYEES'PERSPECTIVES. Ilorin Journal of Human Resource Management, 4(1), 35-46

Aidoo, E. (2018). EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE MORALE ON PRODUCTIVITY IN THE GHANAIAN PUBLIC SECTOR. THE MEDIATING ROLE OF DELEGATION. Archives of Business Research, 6(8)

Beckmann, M., Cornelissen, T., & Kräkel, M. (2017). Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 133, 285-302.

Daniels, K., Gedikli, C., Watson, D., Semkina, A., & Vaughn, O. (2017). Job design, employment practices and well-being: A systematic review of intervention studies. Ergonomics, 60(9), 1177-1196

Dash, B., & Mohanty, P. K. (2019). The Effects of Work Environment, Self-evaluation at Workplace and Employee Morale on Employee Engagement. Srusti Management Review, 12(1), 33-39.

David, M. E., David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2014). MISSION STATEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE: A CONTENT ANALYSIS AND NEW DIRECTION. International Journal of Business, Marketing, & Decision Science, 7(1).

De Vito, L., Brown, A., Bannister, B., Cianci, M., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2018). Employee motivation based on the hierarchy of needs, expectancy and the two-factor theories applied with higher education employees. IJAMEE.

DeHart-Davis, L., Davis, R. S., & Mohr, Z. (2015). Green tape and job satisfaction: Can organizational rules make employees happy?. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(3), 849-876.

Dugguh, S. I., & Dennis, A. (2014). Job satisfaction theories: Traceability to employee performance in organizations. IOSR journal of business and management, 16(5), 11-18.

Economic, T. (2020). BSNL facing challenge in crediting month's salary on Aug 30: Source. Retrieved 25 May 2020, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/bsnl-facing-challenge-in-crediting-months-salary-on-aug-30-source/articleshow/70910053.cms?from=mdr.

Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American journal of theoretical and applied statistics, 5(1), 1-4.

Ferdous, J. (2016). Organization theories: from classical perspective. International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, 9(2), 1-6.

Haase, M. (2017). John Maurice Clark's Approach to Economic Responsibility: A Reconstruction Based on the Classical Model of Responsibility. Management Revue, 28(4), 461-486

Horodnic, I. A. (2018). Tax morale and institutional theory: a systematic review. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.

Kangetta, C. I. N. D. Y., & Kirai, M. (2017). Effects of mergers and acquisitions on employee morale in the Kenyan Insurance Sector. The Strategic Journal of Business and Change Management, 4(1), 4.

Kurup, R. (2020). BSNL employees’ union calls for hunger strike on February 24. Retrieved 25 May 2020, from https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/bsnl-employees-union-calls-for-hunger-strike-on-february-24/article30789485.ece

Latham, G. P. (2016). Work motivation: history, theory, research, and practice. Sage.

Mukherjee, A. (2020). BSNL may shut down: It has no money to pay employees, all you need to know about BSNL crisis. Retrieved 25 May 2020, from https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/features/story/bsnl-may-shut-down-it-has-no-money-to-pay-employees-all-you-need-to-know-about-bsnl-crisis-1556217-2019-06-26

Nearly 70,000 BSNL employees opted for VRS so far: Chairman - ET Telecom. (2020). Retrieved 26 May 2020, from https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/nearly-70000-bsnl-employees-opted-for-vrs-so-far-chairman/72007062

Paek, S., Schuckert, M., Kim, T. T., & Lee, G. (2015). Why is hospitality employees’ psychological capital important? The effects of psychological capital on work engagement and employee morale. International journal of hospitality management, 50, 9-26.

Paradis, E., O'Brien, B., Nimmon, L., Bandiera, G., & Martimianakis, M. A. T. (2016). Design: selection of data collection methods. Journal of graduate medical education, 8(2), 263.

Schabenberger, O., & Gotway, C. A. (2017). Statistical methods for spatial data analysis. CRC press.

Website of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited | National Portal of India. (2020). Retrieved 26 May 2020, from https://www.india.gov.in/official-website-bharat-sanchar-nigam-limited

 

Human Ethics Application

What information will be provided to participants prior to them giving consent and how will this be provided

The reason behind the research work will be given prior to asking for consent. it will be given with a notice paper and pamphlet consisting information

How will participants give consent?

The participant will give consent by signing a pre made NOC (No objection certificate)

How will confidentiality, anonymity and privacy of participants be assured?

Confidentiality, anonymity and privacy of participants be assured by appointing a security counselor to not all details and keep documents in his or her possession. Moreover all the info will be deleted after research work.

Identify any risks to participants and how these will be mitigated

No grave risk to participants.

Will people be selected as participants on the basis of their ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality and/or in other ways which will target specific collectives? If yes What procedures will be used to ensure that involvement in the research is culturally safe and non-offensive for the participants?

The participants will be random. However for interviews with managers, appointment will be taken with prior notice.

If your research includes M?ori participants, how will you ensure tikanga is recognised and adhered to?

No maori People

What actual or potential implications for M?ori will this research have?

NA

What advice have you had from M?ori stakeholders or advisors before developing this proposal? How will M?ori stakeholders have an on-going role in your research?

NA

For research with M?ori, how will respect for intellectual and/or cultural property be addressed?

NA

Do you have any other relationship with participants (e.g. tutor/student)? If so how will any power imbalances be addressed?

NO

Does your study involve deception or withholding of information from participants? If so, please state how this will be handled.

NO