CASE STUDY PUSHING PAPERS CAN BE FUN

A large city government was putting on a number of seminars for managers of the various departments throughout the city. At one of these sessions, the topic discussed was motivation how we can get public servants motivated to do a good job. The plight of the city captain became the central focus of the discussion:

Ive got a real problem with my officers. They come on the force as young, inexperienced rookies, and we send them out on the street, either in cars or on the beat. They seem to like the contact they have with the public, the action involved in crime prevention, and the apprehension of criminals. They also like helping people out at fires, accidents, and other emergencies.

The problem occurs when they get back to the station. They hate to do the paperwork, and because they dislike it, the job is frequently put off or done adequately. This lack of attention hurts us later on when we get to court. We need clear, factual reports. They must be highly detailed and unambiguous. As soon as one part of a report is shown to be inadequate or incorrect, the rest of the report is suspect. Poor reporting probably causes us to lose more cases than any other factor.

I just dont know how to motivate them to do a better job. Were in a budget crunch and I have absolutely no financial rewards at my disposal. In fact, we probably have to lay some people off in the near future. Its hard for me to make the job interesting and challenging because it isnt its boring, routine paperwork, and there isnt much you can do about it.

Finally, I cant say to them that their promotions will hinge on the excellence of their paperwork. First of all, they know its not true. If their performance is adequate, most are more likely to get promoted just by staying in the force a certain number of years than for some specific outstanding act. Second, they were trained to do the job they do out in the streets, not to fill out forms. All through their career it is the arrests and interventions that get noticed.

Some people have suggested a number of things, like using conviction records as a performance criterion. However, we know thats not fair too many other things are involved. Bad paperwork increases the chance that you lose in court, but good paperwork doesnt necessarily mean youll win. We tried setting up team competitions based upon the excellence of the reports, but the officers caught on to that pretty quickly. No one was getting any type of reward for winning the competition, and they figured why should they bust a gut when there was no payoff.

I just dont know what to do.

Question 1:

What else can the Captain do to resolve the issues with his staff, and how can he implement the necessary changes? (20 marks)