Introduction

Health centers have a particular place due to their prominence and duties in the field of prevention, care, and treatment [1]. Imam Ali Hospital in Sarablah is mentioned as the only hospital and one of the pillars of the health department in the city and its task is to provide good health services to the citizens. On the other hand, given that this city is on the main route of Karbala road and a large number of compatriots travel every year from this route to visit the holy shrines and inevitably need to provide health services by this center in most cases;, the existence of appropriate personal and psychological competencies and abilities, including mental health and service spirit among hospital staff is of high importance [2].  This is due to the efficiency and effectiveness of the services provided in this center being closely related to the mentioned features among human resources employed in it. Therefore, if this hospital provides services based on its core competencies and the mental and psychological capabilities of its staff; certainly, it will be able to provide the profound services in the field of health and treatment to its clients [3].

The service morale and organizational commitment is a permanent process through which the organizational employees believe in its goals and values and strive to achieve them. Lack of organizational commitment leads to a decline in working quantity and quality, lack of loyalty of employees to the organization, illegal and unethical activities against the organization, and reduced organizational effectiveness. Hence, organizations should seek to find a way to enhance organizational commitment, and thus reduce the voluntary leaving of the organization by its members to improve productivity and performance [4].

Indeed, after conducting research, we can expect that the staff managers of Sarablah Hospital, based on the results, will be further promoted in terms of individual responsibility, and consequently the service spirit between managers and hospital staff will increase. Respect for the client should be performed with a higher level and the high mental health of the employees should lead to the clients’ satisfaction. Given that the researcher is serving as the human resources manager of Imam Ali Hospital in Sarablah, so it can be expected that by conducting this research leads to better understanding of the mental and psychological features of hospital staff and based on the findings, with proper planning, it can take more effective steps to improve the employment status of hospital personnel, and consequently, it can provide the basis for providing desirable and optimal services to clients and patients.

Research Background

Mirzamani (2009) proposed an article entitled: “Expressing Practical Strategies for the Realization of the Service Movement” which, in line with the Supreme Leader’s order, which is expressed in the term “service movement”, is a solution which includes all servants and decision makers in society. Following the order of the Supreme Leader, he has chosen the Green Front and to serve the people in various fields. In order to fulfill this profound guideline of the Supreme Leader regarding the service to the people movement, it is a practical way to institutionalize this movement. Based on the mentioned goals in this article, it has been attempted to express several solutions that aid to get this important point by reminding the service components.

Khorshid (2014) proposed an article entitled: “The Study of Service Behaviors of National Bank’s Managers Based on a Service Leadership Model (Case Study: National Bank’s Managers in Kerman)”. This study intends to examine the service leadership behaviors of managers in terms of a service leadership model in the organizational position of the National Bank as a symbol of financial and credit organizations. The statistical population of the study includes the staff of Kerman’s National Bank and 455 managers, deputies and employees were selected as the statistical sample. The most profound findings of this study indicated that managers’ wisdom has a direct and positive effect on the emotional tendency to self-sacrifice and persuasion, and persuasive representation, and further indirectly on emotional healing and administrative management and organizational support of managers. No relevant foreign research was found according to the studies on the service morale variable. After re-reading the above theoretical foundations, the central concepts of this research were extracted and determined. The systematic relationship between research variables (i.e. the employee’s mental health, human resource agility, individual responsibility, and service morale) is combined in a comprehensive and integrated perspective with the basic concept of examination in the form of a conceptual model. Therefore, the theoretical framework of the research can be regarded as impacted by these parameters. It should be noted that service morale variable acts as a mediating variable, i.e. on the one hand, as an independent variable has affected the variables of human resource agility and individual responsibility and on the other hand, as a dependent variable for the independent variable of mental health. The set of these variables and their hypothetical relationship constitute the structure of the theoretical framework of this research. This research tries to examine this theoretical framework in practice and determine the effect of each of the variables on the dependent variables of the research.

Theoretical Foundations of Research

The Concept of Service Morale

Greenleaf has made the creation of a service society its ultimate goal. It is a kind of society in which all people can enjoy the benefits. According to him, the only way to achieve this community is to have a service force in all organizations presented in the community [5]. Furthermore, this is exactly what service personnel do by respecting the dignity of individuals, building mutual trust, and influencing their followers [6].

The Root of Service Morale

Human is a social being, and in general, his talent flourishes. Therefore, in human culture, these issues has always been concerned and in various interpretations, human society has been called to this direction, and thinkers and reformers, by expression and pen, make people sympathize, empathize, and invited to serve and listed it as one of the components of society. The divine religions, which are based on natural and real values, have taken care of this and have played a key role in creating and strengthening this spirit, and the prophets who bring the divine message have been at the head of human servants.

Motivations in Service

Service is a desired affair, but what enhances its value or diminishes its value. Motives are the service based on which they are formed. Some are motivated by altruism and humanism. It is believed that service does not know borders, borders, race, beliefs, faith, etc., but wherever a person can be found who can be served, he/or she should go to him. The owners of this thinking take the principle of service as a criterion, but it has nothing to do with what belongs to it. Of course, this way of thinking is praiseworthy in its own right, but it is not perfect [7].

The motivation of some people in serving is a kind of trade, that is, they take a step. In this viewpoint, service is not valuable because there is no public motivation and no sense of altruism [8].

Service Culture

Humans are social beings who are like links in a chain with their fellow human beings. The life and permanence of these rings depend on the connections, dependencies, and interactions they have with each other. This is why in human culture, human societies have always been invited to empathize and serve the same in various interpretations, and prophets are regarded to be at the forefront of serving the other. In Islam, the most valuable people are introduced as the most useful of them [9].

The Holy Prophet says: “A Muslim is nothing, but serving the Muslim brothers and taking care of solving their issues” [10].

In some narrations, service is one of the main specifications of believers; for instance, Imam Sadegh says: “Believers serve each other; since they benefit each other” [10].

Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Department of Religious Democratic Public Affairs, has repeatedly stated: “It is better if you call me a servant than a leader; I am your servant and your country”.

Or the historical sentence of Shahid Beheshti, we are service lovers, not thirsty for power, refers to the significance of service and service among officials. To what extent the state agencies are attempting to spread the service culture, and what effect this issue can have on improving their level of social responsibility and accountability, is something that, with all the interpretations, should be acknowledged so far in terms of research as it should be. It's worthy; it has not been noticed by managers, agents and organizational researchers [11].

Spirituality of Workplace and Service

Although much research has been conducted in the past few years on the development of conceptual models and tools to measure service in organizations, this field still suffers from a lack of knowledge and applied research on the conditions and areas which facilitate the activities of service employees. Many empirical evidences further reveal a positive relationship between workplace spirituality with intra-organizational trust, organizational commitment and loyalty, job satisfaction, and reducing employees’ willingness to leave and increasing their eagerness to participate, etc. and it is believed that spirituality has two main roles. It has on the lives of individuals: first that the individual life elevates them beyond worldly values and second, the belief in spirituality includes values​beyond the economic benefits in the lives of individuals [12].

Thinkers’ Viewpoints about Service Morale

Greenleaf

According to Greenleaf, organizations do not serve communities as they should and perhaps should. Greenleaf has made the creation of a service-oriented community its ultimate goal, as a society in which all people can enjoy the benefits of such a society. According to his point of view, the only way to achieve this community is to have service employees in all organizations that are present in the community. This is what ministerial leaders do by respecting the dignity of individuals, building mutual trust, and influencing their followers [11].

Peter Senge

He gained fame by providing learning organization. He believed that dynamic learning organizations are created with the aid of service manpower and argued that this form of service, unlike hierarchical leadership, is collective and participatory. Since only with support, insight, and friendship can the dangers of learning opportunities be met [13].

Data Analysis

Descriptive and Demographic Findings

Table 1. Frequency distribution of respondents based on gender, educational status, and age

Based on findings presented in Table 2, 54.8% of the respondents with a frequency of 63 are females and 45.2% of them with a frequency of 52 are male. 2.6% of the studied groups with a frequency of 3 subjects in terms of education at the diploma, associate degree 12.2% with a frequency of 14 ones, bachelor degree 80% with a frequency of 92 ones and 5.2 percent with a frequency of 6 ones at the master degree and above had a higher academic education. 26.1% with a frequency of 30 people in the age group of 20- 25 years old, 27% with a frequency of 31 ones in the age group of 26-30 years old, 33.9% with frequency of 39 ones in the age group of 31-35 years old, 11.3% with a frequency of 13 ones in the age group of 36-40 years old and 1.7% with a frequency of 2 ones in the age group of 40 years and over. It was also found that the average age of the subjects was 35.3 years old.

Table 2. Frequency distribution of respondents based on work experience status

As indicated in Table 2, the findings indicated that 55.7% of the groups under the study with a frequency of 64 people less than 5 years, 34.8% between 5 to 10 years with a frequency of 40 ones, 9.6% with a frequency of 11 ones in the group by 11 to 15 years of work experience. Furthermore, it was evident that their average work experience was 8.7 years. On the other side, it was found that about 90% of the subjects had less than 10 years of work experience.

Table 3. Frequency distribution of respondents based on response to mental health variable

Based on the findings presented in Table 3, it was specified that the level of mental health was 17.4% with a frequency of 20 subjects in the medium level and the mental health level was 82.6% with a frequency of 95 people in the high level. Moreover, the results indicated that the mental health level of none of respondents was low.

Table 4. Frequency distribution of respondent based on response to the variable items of service morale

As displayed in Table 4, it was found that the variable level of service morale among 2.6% with a frequency of 3 subjects at a low level, 72.2% with a frequency of 83 people at a medium level, 23.5% with a frequency of 27 subjects at a high level and 1.7% with a frequency of 2 people at a very high level based on changing status of the service morale. This presented evidence indicates that service morale level was 74.8% of subjects at the average level and less (86 ones).

Inferential Findings

Structural Equation Modeling Method

Figure 1. The performed model after eliminating item 52 related to the mental health variable

Reassert Hypothesis: Mental health as a direct effect on service morale

Table 5. Pearson correlational Test between staffs’ service morale and mental health

The correlation coefficient between service morale and employees’ mental health is equal to 0.548 as well as the significance level of the test is as 0.000 at the error level of less than 1%, which means there is a direct relationship between employees’ mental health and service morale. As depicted in Figure 1, the significant coefficient of the path between the variables of mental health and service morale is 3.4543 (according to the rule, a five percent error in the rejection area of ​​null hypothesis for out-of-range values ​​of 1.96 to -1.96 each model parameter) is approximated to be higher than 1.96; hence, it can be mentioned that the researcher’s hypothesis is confirmed with 95% confidence, and concerning the positive path coefficient (0.458), mental health has a positive effect on service morale, and indicates that mental health is 48% demonstrating service morale from variable changes.

Conclusion

Each research is conducted to obtain the goals, the results of which reveal its goals extent. This study was performed to investigate the extent and effect of employees’ mental health on service morale in Imam Ali Hospital in Sarableh, Ilam Province. The results showed that there is a direct and significant relationship between employees’ mental health and service morale. It can be stated that mental health has a positive effect on service morale and mental health explains 48% of the variable changes in service morale.

Based on the results, it is suggested that to increase the mental health and service morale of employees, the essential planning should be carried for medical and educational interventions. Paying attention to the following can also be useful in this regard;

• Avoid using coercive methods in the workplace,
• Identify the potential talents of supervised employees, and then provide the necessary conditions for the growth and flourishing of these talents
• Determine the real causes of underemployment, absenteeism, impatience, and lack of interest in workplace, negligence, and carelessness of employees by the manager as well as avoid unwanted and prejudicial judgments,
• Clarify the realities of workplace for personnel and eliminate those organizational criteria and factors as non-ethic, based on humanity and organizational culture. Thus, managers should try not to make the workplace stressful for employees, and staffs should feel job security, and perform their duties with joy, vigor, enthusiasm, and motivation, away from any violence and unnecessary conflict,

One of the main motivations for personnel to take responsibility is their desire to receive rewards from the employer. It is recommended to never forget this important principle and reward them for doing a good deed. The impact of this action can have on a personal life and career can sometimes be so great that it amazes the manager.

Citation M. Mahigir*, The Impact of Mental Health of Sarableh Hospital’s Employees on Service Morale. Int. J. Adv. Stu. Hum. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11 (3):211-218.

       https://doi.org/10.22034/IJASHSS.2022.345679.1101

Copyright © 2022 by SPC (Sami Publishing Company) + is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License(CC BY)  license  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.