Police supervision is not ordinary management because it involves directing, working with police officers. In all cases, law enforcement agencies and police administrations are managed by hierarchical leadership. Effective police supervision involves focusing on issues on communications, motivation, problem-solving, criminal incidents, and human resources, among others. Police supervision entails motivating one’s subjects, understanding their basic needs drive, and applying either Theory X or Theory Y to ensure that officers give their best at work.
Motivation is a major tool that is used in police supervision to enable police officers deal with a wide variety of personalities within police service; motivation enables leaders and police supervisors to boost the morale of their subjects and enable them to maintain a high standard in serving the people (Cronin et al., 2017). Motivation is the element that proves that police supervision and leadership go beyond ranks and positions. In the case of the Seaview police department, Sergeant Lou Maynard motivates his subjects in a number of ways. Having a harmonious relationship with his subordinates and colleagues is the primary motivating factor in the police department. It enables a leader him to understand their needs in order to push him towards motivating them. Additionally, Sergeant Maynard leads by example and thus works towards educating his subordinates to emulate his professionalism and dedication towards work. Communication is yet another motivational issue that has been clearly illustrated in the case. According to Gillet et al. (2013), effective internal communication is a basic element that boosts the motivation of police officers. A clear channel of communication exists at the Seaview police department. The fact that the Deputy Chief of Administration, Jane Stowski seeks to address an issue of complaints on junior officers yet only communicates through the Sergeant is enough proof that the police department has a clear communication channel that is a factor that motivates both the sergeant and his subordinates. Another element of motivation in the case of Seaview police department is recognition. In the context of police supervision, recognizing the good work done by other officers, especially one’s junior officers is a good motivator. The Deputy Chief of Administration, while addressing Sergeant Maynard, effectively recognizes his good work and applauds him to motivate him According to the Deputy Chief of Administration, Sergeant Maynard run his night shift smoothly and deserves an applause.
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Understanding basic needs drive for one’s subordinates is key in ensuring that one offers effective leadership. The two officers who are the subjects of the case, Bill “Mac” MaCallister, and Delbert Timons, have different basic need drives that motivate their actions and thoughts. Bill MaCallister has separated from his wife at time when he is approaching retirement. According to Sergeant Maynard, Mac had been talking about having vacations with his wife and spending time with his family upon retirement. Nonetheless, the separation has compromised his vacation plans, causing depression that could be the possible reason for his laxity at work. In this case, Mac is driven by love needs, also described in Abraham Maslow’s human motivation theory. This need defines people’s connection with other people and motivates their subsequent connection ( Hopper, 2019 ). Loosing love and relationship can be a cause of depression. In the case of Mac, separation from his wife is the cause of his poor performance and lack of motivation. It would be easy to motivate Mac by helping him go through depression. For example, this can be done by convincing him that life has to continue and that the police department is also his family and he can share some light moments while at the workplace to avoid being dull and depressed. On the other hand, Timons is motivated by the need to fight crime rather than serve the people. This kind of drive is referred to as a self-actualization need. People seek self-actualization after they have solved all their basic needs. Motivating Timons can effectively be done by shifting the officer’s interests from fighting crime to serving society. Subsequently, they will have different drives that are somewhat lenient to the people and such that are more focused on serving the people rather than fighting crime.
My strategy for managing the cases of Mac and Timons is inclined towards changing their motivation drives in order to have them improve at the workplace. According to McGregor’s Theory X, people tend to dislike work and are irresponsible (Mungi, 2020). Therefore, managing them is best done by giving them constant supervision, control, and issuing of threats to have them work (Mungi, 2020). My strategy for dealing with the two officers is somehow related to McGregor’s Theory X. For the case of officer Mac, it would be a good idea to motivate him by getting him to accept that he has another family at the work that can substitute the separated wife. Additionally, he could also be motivated through incentives. The latter thought is directly related to Theory X. McGregor believed that since managers perceive their employees to hate work and thus lacking the passion for working under them, incentives become an ideal tool for motivating the officers and getting them to work. Officer Timons’ over-aggressiveness at work has not enabled him to offer service to society. It can be argued that he dislikes his work and got to be pushed to do it right. Guiding Timons on what to do has not quite worked for Sergeant Maynard. Perhaps, motivating him to switch his interests away from fighting crime, reduce aggressiveness to the people and serve them with dignity may not make him change. In this case, an ideal strategy available to deal with him would be threatening him to change his work style. This is quite in line with McGregor's Theory X, which advocates for incentives, threats, and punishments as motivators of employees.
Indeed, Level of education can be a barrier to effective police supervision and within the set standards and rules by police officers. This may include defying set rules and trying to replace them modes learned and those perceived to be the best and which may be against the culture of the police department. Apart from that, a low level of formal education for a supervisor may reduce their authority over an officer with a higher academic qualification. In such cases, McGregor's Theory X would work best in handling such officers. Since their high level of formal education makes them perceive their leader as less effective, punishing them for wrongdoings and failing to meet the required standards is an ideal way of getting them to believe in the power held by their supervisor. Moreover, issuing threats also suits such instances.
In summary, leadership in a police department setup is somewhat similar to general human resource management. Police supervision is accomplished by incorporating motivation of junior police officers, understanding their basic need drives, and applying incentives and punishments. Motivation is a crucial element used by police supervisors in working with and through their colleagues and junior officers. Police departments are characterized by hierarchical management, and thus the flow of effective communication flow is primary to effective management. The case of Sergeant Maynard and his two junior officers who have failed to work to the required standards would best be solved through motivation and using threats and incentives.
References
Cronin, S., McDevitt, J., & Cordner, G. (2017). Police supervision: Perspectives of subordinates. Policing: an international journal of police strategies & management .
Gillet, N., Huart, I., Colombat, P., & Fouquereau, E. (2013). Perceived organizational support, motivation, and engagement among police officers. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice , 44 (1), 46.
Hopper, E. (2019). Maslow's hierarchy of needs explained. Viitattu , 12 .
Mungi, A. (2020). Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y.
