Types of Motivation
Emphasis on personnel motives and values.
An effective motivation plan must take into consideration the motives and values of employees. Criminal workers have motives and values that stress public service as well as personal interests; they want to ne in profession that is both appreciated and remunerated fairly and appropriately.
Often criminal justice administrators are indifferent to or unaware of just how important the motives and values of employees are. Those in leadership positions must offer a set of motives and values as guidance for subordinates. By having an articulated mission statement, for example the important motives and values of the organization become known, and employees are able to see how they fit into larger picture of the organization.
Use of incentitives and rewards.
Employees need incentitives to meet expectations and appropriate rewards for jobs well done. A major challenge for criminal justice administrators is the creation of formal and informal approaches to recognize and reward employees. The types of rewards can be varied. Monetary rewards are often difficult to provide, but other types of rewards, such as informal praise when a job is handled well and employee recognition programs can be given.
Reinforcement.
Administrators must develop feedback mechanism so that workers understand that their performance is appropriate on assigned tasks. More often than not, the immediate supervisor provides little or no feedback to subordinates. This creates much anxiety and uncertainty among employees, causing their motivation to wane.
Specific and clear goals.
All theories of motivation highlight the importance of goals or expected outcomes to the motivation process. This is probably the most difficult and problematical area in motivating criminal justice employees. As public agencies, criminal justice organizations are expected to address multiple, and sometimes conflicting, goals; consequently, specifying goals and prioritizing them can be very difficult. This difficulty, more than any other, poses problems for administrators. Goal clarity and goal consensus may not be possible in criminal justice organizations and, as a consequence, developing effective motivation plans will be difficult.
Sufficient personal and material resources.
The organization must have a sufficient number of resources, both human and financial, to create a proper motivating environment for employees. Examples of such resources include support and training programs for employees, outlets for employees that allow socialization and the development of informal groups, and material support, such as adequate supplies and equipment, for tasks to be accomplished and goal attained.
Managers that take these ideas can make criminal justice organizations more aware of the motivation needs of employees. Positive motivation is the single most important element for job satisfaction and department success which then equates into community approval and support. By establishing and implementing changes to import motivation then attitudes will shift and the productive transformation will be apparent.
References
- Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management By Stan Stojkovic, David B. Kalinich, John Klofas http://lawenforcementtoday. com/2011/10/31/motivational-policing/
