¶ … Learning, Motivation, Performance of Employees of Public Safety Organizations
The motivation is defined as the intrinsic phenomenon affected four factors: temperament, situation, tool, and goal. Typically, people are motivated to achieve their goals, instincts and necessities, thus, the concept motivation assists people to complete a task, gain a goal as well as achieving a certain degree of success from their job. Thus, the concept motivation explains why some people behaves in a certain way and the reasons for their behaviors. In essence, motivated people are oriented, and energetic in characteristics, which influence their behaviors. From the educational point-of-view, motivation is the polyhedral structure associated with academic achievement and learning, however, employees' motivation is low in the public sector compared with the private organizations. The public safety organizations are the government agencies that include law enforcement agencies, EMS (Emergency Medical Services), rescue squads, and fire departments. The Department of Safety in the United States provides broad services that include fire suppression, fire prevention and EMS that provides medical and health services for people in the United States. Based on the nature of the services rendered by the personnel of the public safety organizations, motivating the personnel is very critical to enhancing their productivity.
The objective of this study is to discuss the strategy to motivate the personnel of the law enforcement personnel or personnel of the public safety organizations to enhance their performances. The study also investigates the problems related to motivation, learning and performances. By using the theoretical frameworks interventions, the paper provides the solutions to the problems.
Historical Overview of the Issue or Problem with Motivation, Learning, and Performance
The concept motivation is traced to the ancient Greeks' philosophy of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. Aristotle believed in the hierarchy of spiritual however, Plato believed in the emotional concept and dietary relevant to the concept of motivation. Plato argued that the concepts such as physical comfort, growth, sensory experience, and pleasures were the basis of the irrational motivation forces. The ancient Greeks presumed that pleasures, body, and desires that influence the will and spirits serve as "the first theoretical justification of the motivation." (Stanford University, 2016 p 2). After the Renaissance in the modern era, Descartes distinguished between the active and inactive aspect of motivation. For example, the human body requires both mechanical and physical natures of nutrition to satisfy the physiological and psychological needs. However, the physiological analysis is critical in understanding the concept of motivation. For example, the intellectual, mental and moral nature of a man has their purposefulness that will influence his level of motivation. Moreover, the concept of evolutionary theory that focuses on learning is committed to believing that motivation influences human behaviors. When hunger occurs, human behavior changes that instigate finding the eating food to rectify the imbalance caused by deficits and tissues needs. (Blanchard, & Thacker, 2013).
Despite the contribution of the theory of motivation in understanding the human needs, there is still a problem associated with the application of the motivation theory based on the challenges that the management faces when choosing the appropriate theory of motivation for the employee training and performances. Fortenbery, (2015) argues that motivating employees in the law enforcement agencies can be challenging. When employees are not effectively motivated, the issue can affect the employees' productivity. For example, a negative attitude towards works by the law enforcement agents can emanate a feeling of negative attitude towards enforcing laws because of lack of internal motivation.
"The profession of law enforcement is no different from others that require ambitious and productive employees to serve effectively, but some aspects of motivation are unique to the professional police officer." (Fortenbery, 2015 p 1).
Pakdel, (2013) classifies different types of motivations that include psychological motivation, social motivation, and education motivation. The psychology motivation is the type of motivation to satisfy human biological requirements such as thirst, hunger, and other biological needs. In the occupational environment, employees require basic requirements such as proper food and safety, when employees are busy satisfying their basic requirements, they have lesser time addressing the more important needs, thus, they are less innovative, which will make them unable to complete their tasks. According to the Maslow, (1954) theory of motivation, people are motivated because of their hierarchy of needs such as food, shelter and water. After satisfying these basic necessities, people look for security, safety, and a sense of belonging. In the work environment, individuals quest for recognition, and praise for a job well done. In the public safety organization, praise can be an effective tool to motivate law enforcement agents.
Solution(s) to Problem-solving? Appropriate Interventions and Theoretical Frameworks
Giran, Amin, & Halim, A. (2014) identify training as one of the effective tools of motivation. The authors argue that employees have been able to demonstrate a positive attitude to work after training, thus, training motivation is an effective tool to enhance a training transfer.
"Training is a learning process that involves the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules, or changing attitudes and behaviors to enhance the performance of employees." (Khan, 2012 p 85).
The Kirkpatrick theory, a method to achieve the training transfer can be used as a tool to implement a training evaluation. The theory identifies learning, reaction, behavior and results to achieve the training transfer. An effectiveness of training can also be used to measure the training transfer. Teddlie & Yu, (2007) argues that the training motivation can assist employees in the law enforcement agent to grab as much knowledge as possible. For example, employees should be motivated to develop their skills and move up on the job ladder. Moreover, training assists employee to perform their work in an efficient way. A training motivates employees to acquire skills, ability and knowledge to perform their job better.
Despite the importance training for the employee performances, Ford (2009) argues that the law enforcement agent still needs to be highly motivated towards training. It is essential to realize that problem may occur if employees lack motivation towards training. Ford (2009) further points out that a low training motivation can yield a low training transfer, which will make an organization facing challenges to reach their goals and objectives. Siti, Fardaniah, & Shamsuddin, (2011) recommend that a pre-training motivation is an effective strategy to build the momentum of trainees towards the training sessions. The pre-training motivation makes the trainees focus on the training until knowledge has been impacted. Thus, employee's involvement in the training program is very critical in achieving knowledge building and collaborative learning. An effective training motivation is one of the strategies to enhance the effectiveness of training. Moreover, the training motivation affects the training outcome and performances. Khan, (2012) contributes to the argument by pointing out that the level of the training effectiveness improves with an increase in the training motivation.
Motivation and Self-efficacy related to Effectiveness of Training
Improvement of employee self-efficacy is another strategy that the public safety organization can employ to improve the employees' performances. The next section discusses the relationship between the training motivation and self-efficacy. Zumrah, (2013) define the concept self-efficacy as individuals' believe in their capabilities to execute and organize action to manage a situation. Evidence has revealed that a self-efficacy has a strong relationship between motivation and learning. Self-efficacy has a positive impact on training motivation because if a trainee has a strong determination to acquire skill and knowledge, the training program will be successful. Thus, the public safety organizations are required to enhance employees' self-efficacy to enhance the training motivation. The extrinsic rewards such as pay raise longevity, and educational pay can serve as the effective method to motivate employees towards self-efficacy. However, evidence has revealed that public sector pays their employees lower salaries than the private organizations.
Self-efficacy relates to the Effectiveness of Training.
Schunk, (1995) points out that self-efficacy can influence employees' performances. Typically, self-efficacy refers to the people's judgment on their capabilities to execute and organize a course of action to attain typical performances. Putting differently, self-efficacy involves belief of an individual to accomplish a task. A self-efficacy tool can be used to predict the outcomes of performances, and cognitive learning. The…
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