Equity Theory Of Motivation In The Criminal Justice System

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Equity Theory of Motivation
Equity theory suggests that people usually have their motivational levels influenced by their view of the fairness in the treatment in relation to other employees at workplace (Stan Stojkovic, 2012). In his opinion, motivation is tied to individual's perception of fairness in the justice system. The way a person views the treatment of other employees by the management and the organization in relation to how they are treated greatly affects the motivational level. In this theory of motivation, fairness and how the employees perceive it being distributed in the organization and the workplace. In other words, employees are usually sensitive to how they are treated by the management compared to their colleagues in the
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Employees in criminal justice organizations carryout duties and roles that are far beyond the limits of pay considerations. According to Stojkovic (2012), pay scale needs not to be the primary incentive used as a motivational device for police officers. Pay incentive is not mainly used in criminal justice organization as a means to motivating employees. Most criminal justice organization put importance on problem solving. Focusing on a high-degree of independence thatencouarages motivational spirit. Managers and administrators in criminal justice organizations should stress to their junior staff on the importance of problem-solving in their work to steer a high level of independence that initiates motivation. The advantage of work independence in criminal justice organization is that it allows greater individual expression and input on how tasks can be performed. The work of probation, parole agents and employees in a correctional institution also need to focus more on work independence as a source of motivation other than pay scale. Stajkovic suggest to manager and administrators in criminal justice institutions ways of expressing to the employees this consideration that act as valuable motives than the pay scale. According to Stojkovic and his colleagues, top management in criminal justice organization should express these considerations to the junior staff through job design efforts, training, employee evaluation and supervision approaches (Harry W. More, 2011). This approach will help in addressing alleged unfairness among the employees stemming from pay differences in criminal justice organizations (Stan Stojkovic,