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Police Officer Morale

Jisel Munoz

South Texas College

ORLG 4342: Organizational Change

Amadita Zamora

August 14, 2022

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Abstract

Over the years, there has been a gradual decline of morale in policeman across the United States

of America. While there is are a variety of views on how to define morale, morale can be viewed

as a combination of feelings and attitudes that can describe commitment and job satisfaction in

an organization. A decline in morale can have many contributing factors such as prejudices,

leadership, or operations. There are damaging consequences that low morale has amongst police

officers that impact the life of the individual and the workplace. Morale in a police department is

essential to allow operations to run smoothly. When operations are functioning to the maximum

capacity, morale and job satisfaction increase which leads to a decrease in turnover rates.

Keywords: law enforcement, morale, satisfaction, turnover

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Police Officer Morale

According to the authors Callender, et al., (2020), police officers all across the United

States are leaving their departments. The particular reason for this circumstance is due to poor

management and leadership skills in the police administration. Maintaining high morale may be

presented as a difficult challenge in a negative environment that typically rises in surroundings

that have a low morale establishment. H1- If police administration were impartial, then police

officers would be less overworked and less stressed, improving job satisfaction and morale. In

order to improve police officer morale, a change within the organization needs to occur. By

default, this classifies itself as organizational change. This requires leaders to utilize authority to

drive the change to move forward, as good morale is vital to police workers.

When there is low morale in the workstation of a police officer station, officers tend to be

unsatisfied with their professions. Thus, it makes agents consider the possibility of leaving their

occupation. It is important to understand that officers may be passionate about their chosen

career path which may be a weighing factors that keeps self-motivation running, while working

in unfavorable conditions. Nevertheless, self-motivation needs to derive from a healthy stable

place for the successful achievement of self-satisfaction from their work. Police officer career

pathways are one of the highest stress-rated careers, ranking at number six in the top twenty-five

most stressful jobs (Williams, 2022). This actively demonstrates that if officers do not receive

the support they need by their department, officers will experience a low sense of morale and

satisfaction. In order for the establishment to thrive, officers need to be able to rely on

administration, superiors, colleagues, and essentially the whole department to conclude with their

roles and responsibilities.

Literature Review
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Officers may often have a low level of job satisfaction that correlates with low morale in

the department. There are many evident reasons for this particular act that draws in that low

morale in the workplace. The root causes tend to come within the workplace through higher

ranked positions. To further elaborate on what has been stated, when there is no support coming

in from administration, problems start to arise. Bad management can either make or break any

organization. In this input, poor management causes for morale to be low, which ends up

triggering potential conflicts.

Department Contribution

Department administration reports a significant impact on the levels of morale in their

officers. To enhance the level of morale in the officers, administration must provide support to

their subordinates. Julseth et al., (2011), state that police administration who have the abilities to

reduce stress and improve productivity within the workstation, raise the morale and increase job

satisfaction. This ultimately also is a leading contribution towards reducing turnover rates. When

the police department reduces the turnover rate, it signifies that police officer morale has

improved. To review the supporting details in the article, police officer morale and satisfaction

can be improved through the ways of police administration. The power that administration holds

weighs in on the aspects that control the level of job satisfaction. This further provides an

overview of the perception of morale in the workplace.

Police officers pick up the perception of morale in the department based on the

organizational hierarchy structure (Julseth et al., 2011). If the higher ranked individuals whom

the officers report back lack motivation and are hard to work with, it potentially leads to short

staffing. This increases the overload of work towards the officer. In accordance with Julseth et

al., (2011), learning how to effectively manage shift work is essential to support subordinates.
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This is for the reason that they tend deprive an officer and interfere with their duties. This

demonstrates that superiors need to control the amount of stress induced situations that are

encountered by officers. In doing so, officers will have a sense of reliability and commitment

that puts them on track to enhance their morale and most importantly their perception of morale.

Suicide

The research gives examples on ways that the department can support their officers to

experience working in a healthy environment. Earlier, it was established that police officer

occupation were stressful jobs. Unfortunately, some consequence of the action is suicide. By the

departments indulging in the aid that the officers need, they control some aspects that contribute

to the decrease of stress levels. In the article authored by Barron (2010), there is some context

that helps aid in the understanding of psychological, personal, and occupational reasons that give

some explanation as to why police officers commit suicide.

In order to prevent the worst from occurring, Barron (2010), identifies some of the

leading causes for suicide in relation with the occupation is due to, “shift work, lack of

communication, and the lack of support from administration…” (para. 11). To tie the information

that was discovered, highlighting the importance of department support goes in reference to

reducing the high possibility of police officers committing suicide. It is later known in the article

that the best strategies that can help prevent future police officers from committing suicide and to

remove negative thoughts out of their headspace is by police community approaches and clinical

care assistance (Barron, 2010).

Stress

To reduce the number of committed suicides done by police law enforcement officers,

there should be a clear mechanism established. This would help to cope with the stress that
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comes with the profession. Ortega et al., (2007), conducted research that was based on

correlations within police officers. It was identified that the higher levels of occupational stress

correlated with low organizational commitment and poor job satisfaction (Ortega et al., 2007).

Personality characteristics were a contributing factor in the analyzation of the conducted

research. It impacted work-related stress in police officers, their coping strategies, and burn out

tensions (Ortega et al., 2007). The overall conclusion of the study was that the coping strategies

were based on the level of police officer job satisfaction as well as the commitment to the

establishment. The results of this particular article support the idea that if police officers

enhanced their job satisfaction and commitment, it will lead to positive outcomes that will

improve employee morale.

Job Satisfaction

The level of morale that officers perceive, derive from various levels including

commitment, motivation, and job satisfaction. To further elaborate on this particular topic, when

there is support from the department, stress levels decrease. When stress levels decrease for a

police officer, there is a change in perspective. The article derives information from a survey to

seek an understanding of factors such as motivation, morale, and job satisfaction that relate to the

length that officers last in the job and the actual reasons for leaving (Callender et al., 2020). The

findings found, mentioned that morale was one of the most significant aspect associated with the

length of service. There was also major evidence that concluded that the main reason for wanting

to leave, was feeling unsatisfied on the way they were being managed (Callender et al., 2020).

The article further elucidates the fact that improving morale and job satisfaction is essential in

order to reduce turnover rates. This is for the reason that as morale aided in the longevity of

service and job satisfaction was potentially signified by the outcome of management.
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To further elaborate on the importance that job satisfaction has on morale, Julseth, et al.,

(2011) conducted an organizational development study that emphasized job satisfaction in a

small police department in Pennsylvania. In the study it is examined that there is a correlation

between the overall job satisfaction and stress levels (Julseth et al., 2011). The following

statement derived from the perception of the officer’s morale in the department. To support the

analysis of this article to the connection of the hypothesis, to decrease turnover rates and improve

moral and job satisfaction to the officers, administration must support the officers by being able

to identify and solve internal conflicts (Julseth et al., 2011).

Findings

For further review, the articles have articulated to have a correlation towards the

statement that is trying to be proved. In order to retain police officers, they must have a high

level of job satisfaction and morale. For an agent to achieve the two most important factors,

which are morale and satisfaction, they need contribution from the department in terms of

physical and psychological health. When support is shown by the department through improved

management, officers do not feel alone battling with daily responsibilities.

Police officers endure higher levels of stress than average. This concludes that higher

ranked officers, such as sergeants and lieutenants, need to have control over the operational

tasks. There are many ways to take control such ensuring the availability of the staff to avoid

giving work overload that can cause burnout. This further goes to ensure that schedules to are

adjusted in fair shifts. There may be more work available to do in an office during the day than

the night shifts which can lead to increased levels of stress. Promoting and rewarding officers for

attending therapy sessions that are provided by the department may help aid in reducing stress.

Not to mentioned this is an incredible helping mechanism to get passed traumatic events that
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happen during working hours or related factors that may include an officer’s personal life. The

following examples stated above are some contributing factors that police administration can

conduct in order to enhance police officer morale in the department.

Conclusion and Future Research

To sum up everything that has been stated so far, if police officer morale is increased by

having support from their department, officers will have a higher level of morale that enhances

job satisfaction. It essentially reduces turnover rate as law enforcement officers will take pride

and commitment to their profession in a healthy environment as proposed when there is an

increase in morale. In accordance with all of the articles that were analyzed in this research, there

is researched information to back up the proposed statement of enhancing police officer’s

morale. For future research, identifying police departments with high morale and correlating

them with turnover rates is ideal. This entails if there is a lower turnover rate there is a high

possibility that officers project high morale in their workplace since they are satisfied.

With respect to the hypothesis mentioned above, being backed up by the department has

a positive effect on morale in police officers. This further elucidates the fact that there is an

obvious direct correlation between the two variables. If police officers have the support they

need by their department, their morale will increase. The officers of the peace will have reduced

levels of stress, stronger senses of commitment, and an overall satisfaction of their employment.

Police administration and supervisors have to lead the way to operate as efficiently and effective

as possible. When management interferes with the abilities of an officer to do their job correctly,

there are low levels of morale as a consequence. This not only leaves the officers the possibility

of quitting, but it also affects recruitment for the future. Nobody will want to work in an

operation where there is little to no opportunity to thrive in their chosen career path.
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References

Barron, S. (2010). Police officer suicide within the New South Wales Police Force from 1999 to

2008. Police Practice & Research, 11(4), 371–382. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1080/15614263.2010.496568

Callender, M., Cahalin, K., Cole, S. J., Hubbard, L., & Britton, I. (2020). Understanding the

motivations, morale, and retention of special constables: Findings from a national

survey. Policing: A Journal of Policy & Practice, 14(3), 670–685. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1093/police/pay058

Julseth, J., Ruiz, J., & Hummer, D. (2011). Municipal police officer job satisfaction in

Pennsylvania: A study of organizational development in small police

departments. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 13(3), 243–254.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1350/ijps.2011.13.3.228

Ortega, A., Brenner, S.-O., & Leather, P. (2007). Occupational stress, coping and personality in

the police: An SEM study. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 9(1),

36–50. https://doi-org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1350/ijps.2007.9.1.36

Williams, G. (2022). 25 most stressful jobs in the U.S. in 2022 - US News & World Report. The

25 Most Stressful Jobs. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from

https://money.usnews.com/careers/company-culture/slideshows/the-most-stressful-jobs

Wuestewald, T., & Steinheider, B. (2012). Police managerial perceptions of organizational

democracy: A matter of style and substance. Police Practice & Research, 13(1), 44–58.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1080/15614263.2011.589568