Unmotivated Law Enforcement Officer Motivation Analysis

An unmotivated law enforcement officer is the product of an organization who has failed to design a job that satisfies his/her intrinsic and extrinsic needs and has been unsuccessful at creating a supportive work environment. Law enforcement officers are passionate representatives of the criminal justice system. Their commitment and devotion to their profession are sustained by fundamental intrinsic motives and principles, such as their belief in upholding the law and protecting those in harm’s way. But they are also human, which means that they are also in part motivated by extrinsic rewards. A lack of either, intrinsic or extrinsic rewards, can negatively impact their motivation and performance and hinder organizational goals. For example,

However, scholars have indicated that a motivating environment, the satisfaction of employee needs, leadership conduct, and organization development are all essential components in the successful motivation of employees. A motivating work environment is an atmosphere which officers perceive to be a “culture of respect, recognition, trust, and autonomy” (Singh, 2016, p.197). This type of environment engenders employee loyalty, solidarity, and participation by taking into account employee needs and intrinsic values. Similarly, leadership conduct also plays a key role in the motivation of employees. A leader’s effectiveness depends on his or her qualities, character, and style of leadership. Leadership’s role in motivating employees is to guide, teach, and inspire workers through the process of achieving of organizational goals. Nica & Potocovaru (2017), identifies several styles of leadership, including but not limited to, Bureaucratic, transactional, and

This type of leader is well organized and reports up the chain of command. The bureaucratic leadership is focused on the performance and not on the employees. On the other hand, a transactional leader is more concerned with order and structure. This form of leadership depends on self-driven employees, is focused on achieving organizational goals via close monitoring of personnel, and utilizes a system of rewards and penalties to motivate employees. Unlike the transactional leaders’ piloting of employees, transformational leaders, inspire rather than direct workers and prioritize the group’s forward or onward movement towards goals achievement (Nica & Potocovaru, 2017). Nevertheless, no style of leadership is successful in every situation. However, research clearly indicates that leadership does influence, inspire, and motivate employee conduct and creates “positive, organizational commitment” and engenders enhanced job performance (Naile, & Selesho, 2014,