The Effect of Security Procedures on Employee Morale

Purpose The objective of the study is to critically analyze the main issues on the scrutiny of personal belongings and the effect of it on the employee morale and to understand the due impact so as to find out a simplified work atmosphere in order to increase taskforce retention. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted with 260 employees working in the Oil fields of Sohar industrial port, Oman. The employees were selected on a simple random sampling basis and were contacted through a well-defined questionnaire which was made available online for this purpose.  The sample included both the managers and the workers from the task force. Findings Our empirical results reveal that the employees understand the logic behind the measures, are not reluctant and hence no negative impact on the employee’s morale. However, the study demonstrates that there is a strong association between the privacy of the employees, their trust, tolerance and the morale of the employees. The main factors which might impede the security procedures are the trust and the privacy. Practical Implications The study reveals that the security practices may violate the individual privacy and leads to ethical conflict and thus the employees may become untrusted and tend to leave the organization due to daily physical inspection which is not a very good sign. Social Implications There is a need to educate all the employees on the logic behind such inspection measures and seek the opinion on the ways to improve such measures. A national campaign can be initiated. Originality/value Very few studies have examined the effect of security procedures on the employee morale in the oil fields of Oman and it is a first-hand study of its kind.