Motivation and Control: The Police Supervisors Dilemma - Essay Example

In the criminal justice system, I believe that control serves a very important function since it can be used to protect lives and prevent dangerous situations from getting out of hand. Moreover, the importance of control cannot be undermined in monitoring behavior. However, control could be used excessively since there is power attached to it being a police official ; unfortunately , this would result to job dissatisfaction later. In a study made by Jurik & Winn (1987), it was cited that intrinsic factors like degree of autonomy and amount of authority among others are critical to turnover.

The challenge then is how much control should be used in order to create a motivating work environment? The balance between control and motivation can be achieved by applying the needs theory of Maslow and some findings on research mentioned in the text. The study made by Cordner (1978)is an eye-opener since it found out that generally, the lower-level needs of police officers among other public service employees are met by the organization (govern-ment ). Therefore, if this is the case, the emphasis on managing police rank-and-file should not be towards control but more on creating work environments that will stimulate the employee.

Although a certain amount of control is prerequisite in leading any group or organization, control is not the panacea to all managerial dilemma. However, most managers do not see control in this perspective; thus, they end up getting a bigger hammer for a bigger problem. The suggestion I have then is to improve on small things that better the working conditions of the employee. Since the employee acts in a controlled environment, the best way is to make that environment more comfortable. If the routine tasks of the rank-of-file is not stimulating, then add some activities or programs in the workplace that may change the landscape a little bit. For