NCJ Number
84263
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 51 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1982) Pages: 10-17
Date Published
1982
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A 1981 survey of 553 police supervisors shows the most frequent and serious problem employee to be one who only does enough to get by, but this problem and its causes can be countered by skillful personnel management.
Abstract
The Clay-Yates study profiles the problem police employee as a male assigned to patrol or investigation who has some college education and is 25-39 years-old. The poor performance of the marginal employee can result from unfulfilled job expectations. Recruits come to police work with expectations of promotion, pay increases, and enlarging job responsibilities, and frustration occurs and enthusiasm for the job diminishes when not all of these expectations are met. As motivation and job satisfaction diminish, performance suffers. Coupled with the frustrated expectations inherent in job realities are the individual officer's own physical and mental developments. Persons entering police service are generally highly motivated, eager to be trained, and adaptive to change. Older officers tend to lose motivation as initial expectations of job fulfillment are not met, and the desire for stability overpowers a commitment to change that may improve job performance. The key to jarring the marginal employee from his/her habit of poor performance is for the manager to find ways to energize such employees. This is most likely to occur by establishing personal relationships with the employees through which the manager's commitment to excellence, employee improvement, and the meeting of employee needs are communicated. The police manager should give personal and frank attention to the performance of the marginal performer. Only then can an understanding be reached about when the work is properly done. Sixteen footnotes are listed.