Employee motivation can sometimes be a hard thing to measure because people respond to stimuli differently. Most theorists believe that employee motivation involves many factors, such as interpersonal relationships, organizational effects, and the work itself. These factors do not include other things that may be just as important, such as salary, benefits, and the working conditions. Even though there have been many materials published regarding employee motivation, not much of that material tells managers how to use work experience to motivate the employee and benefit the manager (White 1).
Even though there has been much research done on the topic of employee motivation, it is hard to come up with programs or methods to apply to test motivation that relates to everyone in that particular field. There is a lot to be expected of police officers therefore their level of motivation must be a little higher than the norm to achieve the desired effect. Personal motivation, self-pride, professional satisfaction, and individual expectations are some of the qualities that police work requires. According to some theories, the solution to enhancing employee motivation is "something that glorified employees at their daily work, while performing routine activities, would serve as a powerful internal motivational force that the department could capitalize upon for wide-spread, long term organizational benefit" (White).
The Pulaski, Tennessee Police Department came up with a good plan to test the reinforcement of employee motivation. They had a reserve officer videotape police officers and other department personnel doing their day-to-day activities. They videotaped any where from field work to office work and they included all of the different shifts. The video was also presented in a very positive, entertaining fashion. It introduced all of the officers and their job title before it would go into a particular segment.