In line with law enforcement morale, officers’ motivation is a key aspects in achieving the goal of any police division. To explore this aspect, this essay will review Captain Strong’s case in a view to answer the arising case questions. Captain Edith Strong is an experienced commander in a Field Operations Division in the city of Rogerville.
Captain Strong’s Philosophical Approach
In a survey, the officers in the department complained of job dissatisfaction and low job morale. In addition, the public has complained about long response time and the turnover rate is high (More, Vito, & Walsh, 2012). The first step in designing an approach is to find out the cause of these departmental issues and employee problems. Through the feelings of the six patrol officers determined in the survey, the best approach to resolve the challenges could be a policy on task allocation and social time of the officers in the department (More, Vito, & Walsh, 2012).
Captain Strong should approve the aspect of overtime and also allow off-duty officers to join on duty patrol officers during the day or night. This will allow all officers to develop new friendship and will also promote response time that is long (More, Vito, & Walsh, 2012). Captain Cook should also allow officers to meet in social situations other than just the roll-call and joint response situations. She should work to make the department a better social entity that can solve officers’ issues. To avoid negativity in the department, Captain Strong should adopt a motivational strategy aimed at promoting a positive attitude in a group-oriented atmosphere (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012).
Motivational Strategies
The main action that Captain Edith strong should undertake is to evaluate strategies that would drive up the morale of the department. In the department, officers are dissatisfied with their jobs leading to high employee turnover (More, Vito, and Walsh (2012). The reason for these departmental challenges and dissatisfaction is low motivation. She should therefore work to bring up morale among the officers to appreciate their work.
Captain Strong should apply the option of choice to supervisors as a motivational strategy of allowing supervisors and officers to bond socially. This is because unmotivated officers are as a result of unmotivated supervisors (Whisenand & Ferguson, 2009). Captain Strong also needs to adopt a motivational strategy that merges the content theories and process theories of motivation since they supplement each other. The process theories will focus on the ‘how’ while the content theories will focus on the ‘what’ in regard to motivation. The theories that Captain Strong should adopt are the Equity theory and Theory Y (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012). This is because Theory Y is a content theory that is consistent with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012).
Application of the E.R.G. Theory
As proposed by the E.R.G theory, the Captain should promote existence, relatedness and growth among the officers. The E.R.G theory consolidates Maslow’s model of five categories of human needs into three categories that the Captain should apply to promote efficiency in the department. Existence aspect encompasses the basic needs of officers while relatedness aspect focuses on the need for officers to socialize and attain meaningful social relationships. In addition, the growth aspect reflects on personal fulfillment and the feeling of personal worth among the officers. If Captain Edith can adopt a motivational strategy that fulfills these needs, then the officers will feel more fulfilled and confident.
The main challenge with the application of the E.R.G. theory in regard to law enforcement is that there is no definite order of meeting these human needs by the captain. This means that lower-level needs might not be satisfied prior to higher-level needs. Without determining this order, it will be difficult for Captain Strong to solve the challenges in the department (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012). This is the main reason why E.R.G. theory is not an optimum strategy for Captain Strong to adopt.
Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment
In Captain Strong’s case, job enrichment would be applicable by simply adding social components of work to patrol officers in the department. Job enlargement will not be advisable since the officers are already overworked (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012). According to Whisenand and Ferguson (2009), task allocation to officers should be fair and manageable to enhance efficiency and motivation in the department.
Conclusion
The review of Captain Edith Strong’s case identifies important philosophical approaches and motivational strategies that should be adopted for successful law enforcement practice. The definition of E.R.G. and it’s applicability to the case of Captain Edith Strong shows why some strategies and theories may not be applicable in all situations. Lastly, in the case under review, job enrichment would be more appropriate compared to job enlargement to address officers’ needs and benefit the department in the long term. As described by Captain Strong’s case employees and officers can contribute highly to organizational inefficiency if they are not accorded the needed motivation and treatment.
References
More. H. W., Vito, G. F., & Walsh, W. F. (2012). Organizational behavior and management in law enforcement (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Whisenand, P. M., & Ferguson, R. F. (2009). Managing police organizations (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.