Organizational Behavior and Management in Law Enforcement – Captain Edith Strong Case Study

Organizational Behavior and Management in Law Enforcement

Captain Edith Strong is a veteran who has worked with the law enforcement for more than 18 years. She is the commander of the Field Operations Division in the City of Rogerville. Her subordinates face several problems relating to organizational behavior that she must solve before they escalate.

Philosophical Approach

For the employees in an organization to feel highly motivated, they should be treated fairly and appreciated. In light of the above factors, Capt. Strong should ensure that she employs an approach that not only focuses on the goals of the department but also the focuses in ensuring that the officers attain their personal and professional development. Capt. Strong should use synergistic supervision to successfully undertake this task. This is the most effect strategy since it would facilitate cooperation between Capt. Strong, supervisors, and other officers. Their sum collaboration would produce greater results than if Capt. Strong, supervisors, and the officers worked independently. This strategy would enable Capt. Strong to determine some of the issues facing the officers. He would collaborate with the supervisors and officers in developing strategies that would help in tackling the problem. Use of this method would show that Capt. Strong is highly dedicated towards improving the skills and knowledge of the officers, which is critical in their personal growth and professional development.

Motivational Strategies

Capt. Strong should use Herzberg’s theory of motivation. According to the theory, all jobs are characterized by two themes. These include ‘maintenance’ or ‘hygiene’ factors and ‘motivational’ factors. Employees have high regard for hygiene factors. Therefore, if the factors are not fulfilled, the performance of the employees would reduce significantly. Some hygiene factors include job security, wages, company policy, and interpersonal relationships. Motivational factors refer to factors that have a significant impact on the personal growth of an individual within an organization. They include the opportunity for promotion, recognition, and responsibility. They give employees a sense of achievement, which helps in improving their productivity.

As such, according to the Herzberg theory of motivation, Capt. Strong should rearrange the work strategies of the department to improve the motivation of employees of the department. From the information provided in the case, it is clear that employees complain about the working conditions. This may lead to poor productivity. In some instances, poor working conditions may result in strikes. Capt. Strong’s use of the Herzberg theory of management would enable her to expand skills of the officers. It would also help in improving job enrichment and job enlargement of the officers.

E.R.G. Theory

E.R.G. theory was created by Clayton Alderfer. It relates to the interaction between existence, relatedness, and growth as defined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. As such, E.R.G. is based on three core principles. They include the need-escalation principle, satisfaction-progression principle, and frustration-regression principle. According to the theory, the behavior of an employee is simultaneously influenced by more than one level of need. It does not have a hierarchical progression of needs as outlined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It assumes that lower level needs should not be satisfied with higher level needs to be satisfied. It is vital for employers to acknowledge the fact that employees have different types of needs that should be satisfied simultaneously. According to the E.R.G. theory, people may be motivated any time. This makes it difficult to determine what actually motivated them. As such, despite the fact that the E.R.G. theory may be applicable to the case in question, it would not be effective. This is because it would be difficult to determine the exact motivation factors (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012).

Job Enlargement or Job Enrichment

Capt. Strong should develop innovative strategies to motivate employees in the police department since the department has become more sophisticated. She may use job enlargement and job enrichment. Job enlargement strives to determine the variety of roles that employees may incorporate in their daily activities. It also challenges employees to fulfill their duties effectively. It is related to job rotation, which involves making employees perform various related tasks. Job enrichment refers challenges employees to find the purpose of their work. Job enrichment is not applicable in the case in question. This is due to the fact that most police departments have rigid job structures. However, it is highly effective in other types of organizations where it has been used to improve employee motivation (More, Vito & Walsh, 2012). Therefore, Capt. Strong should use job enrichment to motivate employees of the department as it is the most applicable option. Capt. Strong should focus on fulfilling the higher-level needs of employees. These include responsibility, recognition, and personal growth. This would necessitate her to reform the roles and responsibilities of officers in the department. Reforming the roles would enable officers perform different roles, which would enable them know the functions of other departments. This would help in diversification of the officers. Capt. Strong should also improve the work environment to improve the satisfaction of criminal justice managers.

Conclusion

All organizations strive to ensure that their employees are highly motivated. Employee motivation leads to high productivity. Various factors influence employee motivation. For managers to motivate their employees, they must know the factors that motivate them.

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