Motivational theories can significantly enhance the criminal justice structure and profession. The application of these five motivational theories can optimize the delivery of services among the criminal justice professionals while advocating for employee productivity, effectiveness and efficiency in the field of law enforcement and criminal justice system:
The Need Theory of Abraham Maslow provides that there is certain hierarchy of needs; from lowest to highest, that need to be satisfied to keep an individual motivated. The lowest hierarchy of needs according to Maslow include the physiological and safety and security while the highest order of needs are belongingness, self esteem and self actualization. The lowest hierarchy is for the basic survival of the individual while the highest order involves the individual’s need to belong and towards self fulfillment (Stojkovic, Kalinich and Klofas, 2015). By using the theory, the key process towards motivating a law enforcer is to meet his survival needs such as providing a higher salary to help him sustain his basic needs for shelter and foods and to provide recognition and reward for his services in order to meet the individual needs for self esteem.
The Equity Theory is founded on the precept that an individual’s motivation is influenced by his perception of fairness (Miller, Vandome and McBrewster, 2010). This can be applied in the criminal justice system by implementing the reward model where fair treatment is given to the law enforcers with equitable treatment on their performance and recognition on their contribution to the law enforcement agency. This theory may also be applied not only in the reward or merit system of the law enforcement agency but also in terms of their compensation program to continuously meet the expectations of the employee towards the gains and merit they can derived based on their job performance.
The Theory Z provides that management shows the conscious choice of combining human relations to the traditional management approach (Stohr and Collins, 2014). It highlights the team approach in management as it impacts the motivation of employees towards the organization. This can be applied in the criminal justice administration where the managers can involve employees in the decision making process in order to motivate them to become more engaged in their job performance. By applying the Theory Z in criminal justice management, law enforcers are viewed as important partners of the organization towards the delivery of criminal justice system which further inspire and motivate them to become more productive in their service contribution within their agency.
The Expectancy Theory provides a rational approach to motivation where the principle applied is the outcome attained is based on the efforts produced. This theory is premised on the perception of reward where an individual strives to put an effort on something with his behavior being in pursuit towards a desired outcome (Cronkhite, 2013). This theory is applied in the criminal justice administration where the managers pursue the cognitive motivation of the law enforcers to perform better in order to gain a reward and/or recognition from their agency. Since individuals have preference in their behavior because they expect to gain something from its outcomes, a reward system is implemented within the law enforcement agency in order to motivate employees to observe productive behavior in the performance of their duties.
McClelland's Theory on Achievement-Power-Affiliation is also frequently used in the criminal justice system to motivate law enforcers. It is based on the premise that individuals observe high achievement values and they seek success through their own efforts (McClelland, 1987). It is often applied by providing the law enforcer responsibilities that are although challenging but are doable and not impossible to accomplish. The motivation is drawn out from the need of the individual to become self fulfilled in accomplishing things they know that are within their capabilities and skills. They are further motivated when they can produce good results and are given positive feedback for their efforts and accomplishments.
References
Cronkhite, C.L. (2013). Law Enforcement and Justice Administration: Strategies for the 21st Century. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
McClelland, D.C. (1987). Human Motivation. Australia: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.
Miller, F.P., Vandome, A.F. and McBrewster, J. (2010). Equity Theory. New York: VDM Publishing.
Stohr, M. and Collins, P.A. (2014). Criminal Justice Management. New York: Oxford University Press.
Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D. and Klofas, J. (2015). Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management. Connecticut: Cengage Learning.
