M.Comm. / The South African Police Services (SAPS) undertake to provide security and safety for the South African public. This study seeks to find out the causes of motivation and demotivation within the SAPS, in order to contribute towards improving services rendered to the public. The researcher worked in the SAPS and observed lower ranked police officers as being demotivated - leading to an interest in, and an exploration of, the causes of this demotivation. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of rewards as motivation for members of the SAPS in the Polokwane Police Station in the Limpopo province. This study was conducted in the SAPS with the population of police officers at lower ranks (constable to inspector) in order to survey what effectively motivates them. The variables surveyed were monetary-based rewards (promotion, pay progression and incentives), and non-monetary rewards that include internal systems and human resources practices. There were 115 respondents from a pool of 288 police officers. Human resources managers can use rewards to motivate employees to be more productive and rewards are generally viewed as an important motivational tool for any organisation. According to two noted experts in this field, Fred Luthans and Robert Kreitner, whether employees maintain high productivity depends on how they perceive the consequences of their efforts. If they believe high productivity will be rewarded, they will be more likely to work to achieve it. For this reason, organisations should place considerable emphasis on rewards that employees perceive as desirable (Sherman & Colander, 1992). The objective of the study is to determine how successfully the rewards on offer motivate police officers at lower ranks in the Limpopo Province to perform their functions effectively. Although this is mainly a quantitative study, two types of research methods were used, namely qualitative and quantitative. A qualitative pilot study was conducted in order to refine the main questionnaire that is quantitative. The research findings illustrate that the rewards are not having the intended impact as police officers are dissatisfied with the monetary-based rewards and ambivalent towards the internal systems and human resources practices. There were statistically significant differences between the various biographical characteristics in the sample. The measuring instrument yielded an overall Chronbach Alpha coefficient of 0. 79 thus yielding internal consistency in the measuring instrument. The study was limited to police officers of the Limpopo Province at lower ranks and the results should not be generalised. It would be interesting to do a broader study that included more senior ranking officers. Since police officers form the frontline of the criminal justice system, improving their work through motivation has crucial implications. A motivated police officer will perform his or her work with vigour and passion and the significance of motivating employees' growth cannot be over-emphasised.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8798 |
| Date | 09 July 2012 |
| Creators | Makokga, Tlakale Salmidah |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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