Case Study Sergeant Lou Maynard

Unit 2 Assignment

CJ 345

Case Study: Describe the details of an Action Plan

At the Seaview Police Department, Sergeant Lou Maynard has two officers that need some redirection and motivation to get back on track. The first is, Bill ‘Mac’ McCallister, who is a year away from pension eligibility and his recent appearance, behavior, and professionalism has taken a turn for the worse. The second is, Delbert Timmons, who has just come in the service but seems to have a tough guy attitude and an aggressive attitude all around that is affecting his representation of the department. An action plan to motivate each officer is needed for them to get back on track and set a good example for other officers at the department.

Per Miller, More, and Braswell, (2017) “An individual’s motivation to act depends on two factors: the strength of the need and believing a certain action will lead to need satisfaction.” Meaning the action plan for each of the officer’s must include a motivation for each officer for the whole organization to do well and for the result to have a lasting effect.

For officer McCallister the action plan would need to be examined as to why he is calling in sick more often, does he feel depressed with the separation from his wife? The motivational issues I see in this area is getting him to find his desire to put the effort into doing his job and having pride in himself again. He feels like all his work is for nothing since his wife left, the plans they had for retirement are no more, and this makes it difficult to keep the drive going. He is meeting his physiological needs, for the most part, but his security needs are being challenged on a personal level with the change in his relationship status. That stability has been jeopardized, and now he is giving out in other areas, like his appearance, sloppy reporting, and the chip on his shoulder. His social needs are not being met from his supervisor and that is evident in his “excessive use of sick days and his inadequate productivity” (Miller, More, Braswell, 2017). Promoting more social interaction can help officer McCallister be motivated by his peers to want to do better police work and to take better care of himself. This brings us to esteem needs, which in this case can refer to his confidence in how he performs his job. This would be asserted in making it known to the other officers that officer McCallister is a veteran and his opinion is valued, this way he is made to feel important at the department and he can work on keeping that status among the other officers, thus making his work productivity more positive and professional. While meeting this need, it will help with the self-actualization need of feeling like his input is needed, and all his skills he has learned over the years can be put to good use and be passed on to younger officers. I would give officer McCallister the task of showing the newer recruit how things are done and make him in charge of training him to be a good example of what the department represents.

For officer Delbert Timmons, the motivational issues would be to find out where he plans to be in the department in the future, and see what areas he can achieve those goals in to give him a focus so we can work on his team player skills instead of his solo act. “Motivation is a mental process that produces an attitude resulting in an action leading to a result” (Miller, More, Braswell, 2017). His thoughts need to be on what he can do for the department instead of his unrealistic version of policing like “Dirty Harry”. A program that he can put his smarts to use and help the community alongside officer McCallister would be a good fit. His psysiological needs seem to be met, and the only need that arises in the security needs would be insecurity in my opinion. Officer Timmons’ aggressions show me that he feels he has something to prove and that he may be insecure in the way his work impacts the department. My goal would be to show him how this directly effects the department by putting him in a direct role in a community program with officer McCallister showing him the ropes. Placing him in a role where he feels ‘appreciated, and that his efforts are valued’ will initiate officer Timmons to want to get his behavior under control and keep him on task (Reiner, Peay, Newburn, 2012). His social needs aren’t getting met either, since he feels like he must prove himself and has a tough guy attitude, he isn’t falling in line with his peers by fitting in. He obviously needs guidance in where to put his energy and how to apply it. His history of fender benders and his speeding problems show he has a problem with following the rules. To meet his esteem needs, he would be tasked with more prominent roles in the community program such as group leader or instructor, and work under the supervision of officer McCallister. Giving the officer a prominent role and showing him his importance within the community can give the officer a sense of purpose (Burke, 2010). “Supervisors should do everything possible to make work meaningful” per Miller, More, and Braswell (2017).

My management style is not completely in alignment with Theory-X, although I do believe that people need a goal to be chasing towards to feel like they are accomplishing something meaningful and purposeful, I don’t think that their personal feelings or needs should be ignored if you want to see them thrive in the workplace. I think my management style is more in line with Theory-Y and that is why I am implementing the action plan of placing both officers in a community based program to get them both re-focused and to motivate them to commit to the departments objectives. Instead of punishments and discipline for actions that I fell can be redirected, I choose to find them something that can get them newly excited about being an officer and the responsibility that comes with that title.

The level of my education would have to be the minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, if I am not aware of the concepts that go with my position and the strategies to use to get them back on track, then there is no reason for me to be in the supervisory position. I believe this level of education would provide me with the tools necessary to guide my subordinates. I think that each officer should have the education level of an Associates at minimum to understand their roles as officers, and they would need to have the ability to continue their education in order to progress up the ranks in the department.

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