I agree, if they do not come along they wont work together effectively - however when the team fit is in the range unsure-good I wouldn't call that a conflict.
my 2ct are that the level needed to keep or raise morale/motivation is too high
Problem with this morale issue is that it should surely settle itself if they've been together for several seasons already.
Right now, there doesn't seem to be any point in worrying about getting the morale balance right between people when its hard enough to sign decent staff as it is.
Only when the pool is full of great staff should we worry about making their personalities match and being choosy about them.
Is there really any gain at the moment to matching staff up versus getting two grumpy but superb ones over two happy but unsure ones?
Yes, Morale issue is caused by their fit with team so it has a direct impact on head designers as they reflect their morale when it comes max research level thus ability to provide a Superb level product for your team. So a Good designer that fits the team well and maintains his morale will be better for the team long term due to the morale issues/drops.
This is why the morale bugs/issues are so largely needed to fixed as it effects the abilities of your staff to do their jobs correctly.
@Philip: I agree if they are losing morale due to unsure or higher team fit then there is an issue since If I feel I am unsure that I fit a job then I am willing to try to fit that job until I decide I can no longer fit that job so it should either change to be a positive or negitive fit at some point.
If it is okay or better then it should continue to improve over time as I get more comfortable with the team and the other employees that I work with but this can also change both directions depending issues or situation at the work place.
So I am guessing that we have an issue here as well since it shouldn't cause negitive impact if in the positive range as stated.
I think this aspect needs to remain stillborn for a while yet - excessively complex and fudges the teams too much in current state. Only in a full reset could it truly work.
Also, implementing this will just cause teams to cherry pick certain characteristics; leaving other staff on the bench never to be signed.
In which case, why bother having characteristics like that to begin with? We'd go full circle, and not really achieve anything different to just picking normal skillsets.
There is sufficient evidence to show that morale / motivation is still a persistent issue; and that once it drops, it doesn't appear to rise.
This is a one way ticket and does need looking at.
I believe Frank addressed it before via some sort of reset. Perhaps all staff need a manual season based reset; and apply factors such as promotion and relegation against a starting good / v.good level.
Frank didnt do just a reset, he also changed the algorithm a bit (if my memory is correct, could be wrong). I think there is less of a drop now than it was before, but its still there, and we can do nothing about it, you are right!
But some memory also tells me, that Frank somewhere stated that he wont change the way it works in the main game, because it is going to change in the beta (and thus in the future game). Again, this could be wrong, but I think thats kinda what he said
yeah - he pretty much admitted it was broken so will be fixed when the new changes take place - so maybe in 5 seasons time...? we just have to suck it up and try our best to get good team fit