The relationship between leadership and employee morale in higher education

Abstract

The University of South Africa (UNISA), like many other institutions of higher education, is facing newchallenges, including budget cuts, a new funding formula, changes in technology, mergers, new leadership,and a call for increased research productivity and graduation rate. All these challenges have contributed todampened staff morale and have led to some resistance and apprehension. The aim of the study reported inthis article was to explore the morale, commitment, satisfaction and perceptions of staff of UNISA’s College ofEconomic and Management Sciences (CEMS) and to explore the relationship between leadership and morale.A self-administrated web-based survey approach was used in a census to collect information among all 604CEMS staff members. A 42.1% response rate was obtained. The results revealed an overall satisfaction indexof 62 and that of CEMS leadership of 61. The study revealed that there is a relationship between leadershipand morale, and those leadership competencies such as communication, fostering trust and team building seta clear direction for the college impact on morale. It is recommended that morale surveys should beconducted to obtain the requisite information before developing strategies that relate to employee morale,retention and performance.