Police and Criminal Justice Motivation

Motivation

The assertion makes little sense that "criminal justice employees are unmotivated," for a number of reasons. The first is that there are thousands of different organizations and millions of people working in criminal justice. It would be near impossible to discern any particular trends about their motivation levels, and those trends would not hold outside of a given position or organization. The reality is that motivation is a fairly complex issue. Everybody has some sort of motivation for going to work, even if that motivation is to maintain their security with respect to food and housing. But most people have other motivations as well. Understanding what motivation in the workplace actually is, and how it can be used to explain or enhance performance, begins with avoiding such careless and blanket statements.

There are a number of ways to improve the motivation of criminal justice workers. The text highlights a number of different ways to conceptualize motivation, such as Maslow's hierarchy, the two factor theory and other such theories. The essence is that people are motivated at a certain basic level to do their jobs because they enjoy the security of a paycheck. But there are usually higher-level motivations that people have. Maslow argues in favor of social needs, but also in favor of more personal needs such as self-actualization. All workers can be motivated by these things -- feeling that they are a part of a team, part of something bigger than themselves, or by the idea that they are doing good in the world.

For managers, these can be difficult to tap into but it begins at the level of organizational culture, and what sort of culture the organization wishes to promote. By creating a positive culture where people want to work for each other, and for the betterment of their communites, and by defining what these ideas mean, it is possible for managers in criminal justice organization to improve the morale and the motivation in their organizations.

Furthermore, people are motivated by things like recognition. In some cases, that recognition comes with pay and promotion, but in other cases it is just a matter of people noticing that you are doing good work. So managers can improve motivation be creating rewards for people. If the rewards are created in a manner that is systematic, such that people know that if they exhibit certain behaviors they can expect a reward, that will help an organization deliver specific behaviors..

This is why leadership is so important. Leaders define the culture of the organization, but they also have the power to create the rewards systems that the organization uses. As such, leadership plays both a tangible and intangible role in motivation, by defining excellence, and setting up the systems to tap into the different things that motivate people as a way of encouraging workers to pursue this excellence.

2. There are many ways to improve motivation among police departments. Kasper (2010) notes that it is important to identify the best people early, so that they can be put into pathways that lead to success. This means having plans for top people to ensure that they are highly motivated, but the opportunity for good assisgnments and by promotions as well. It is important to have a strategy that links training, assessment and performance. This is true for all workers, not just the ones who are going to the fast track with special assisgnments. It is important for a police department to maintain high levels of motivation even among workers who are not considered candidates for promotion. This means that everybody needs to have a training program, some sort of career pathway that is appropriate to their abilities, and then regular assessements of their progress. Not everybody can receive special assignements, for example, but everybody should have a plan that gives them something to work towards (Zettlemoyer et al., 2010).

Morevoer, motivation is something that can be fostered in terms of creating the right culture that promotes teamwork, and the idea that everybody in the department is working towards a common goal. That goal should be expressed in a vision that relates to the public, and quality of life, something where there are opportunities to make steadyimprovements. It will also be important to create little victories along the way, celebrating the little successes that contribute to bigger success. This is a common motivational technique to remind people when they are on the right path. When senior leaders within an organization put forth a vision, get people to buy into that vision, and then offer support to their people, this goes a long way to creating a higher level of motivation.