As a civil servant, and one who firmly believes in nation-building and improving the quality of life of others, I must admit that it is disheartening to see the lack of morale and emotional support for those who give so selflessly of themselves towards the development of the Jamaican society. It baffles me that as a country, we constantly perpetuate low levels of emotional intelligence, substandard leadership, and an inability to adequately institute systems and processes to alleviate the stresses of at least some of the poor working conditions under which frontline civil servants operate. In any organisation, inter alia, leadership, support and motivation are critical factors that impact an employee’s dispositions, levels of productivity, quality of service and relationship with others.
Teaching as a profession in Jamaica is historically pursued on the premise that it is easily accessible, affordable, serves as a stable source of income, and a stepping stone for many individuals. Certainly, this perception has tainted the profession and has impacted, to some extent, teacher motivation, accountability and performance. The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is another field that is perceived to be easily accessible and provides the same opportunities as teaching, as previously mentioned.
As things and times change, accessibility to social media facilitates extensive criticisms of civil servants, teachers and police officers, to be more specific. In recent times, we have seen the numerous viral videos in which civilians appear to be mistreated by police officers and educators have been extensively scrutinised for their behaviour. We have seen, too, where police officers and teachers have become victims of physical and verbal abuse. Two scenarios that I would like to cite include Marsha Lee Crawford, a teacher at Pembroke Hall High School, and the 2017 viral video of a female police officer who expressed high levels of frustration as a result of being mistreated by her supervisor. At this point, let me indicate that it is certainly not my intention to cast judgement on any of the aforementioned scenarios, but rather to explore three factors that impact how civil servants may perceive themselves, how they operate, and their commitment levels to improving Jamaica.
In a 2014 study, Graham Donaldson (Teaching Scotland’s Future) highlighted recommendations made by the 2010 Teaching Scotland’s Future report. Two of the five major areas for improvement identified in the report are:
- Leadership is based on fundamental values and habits of mind which may be acquired and fostered from entry into the teaching profession; and
- Teaching should be recognised as both complex and challenging, requiring the highest standards of professional competence and commitment.
Though the report speaks specifically to the teaching profession, many should be able to see the applicability to other professions that involve civil servants.
Understanding leadership
Leadership is, indeed, a well-researched and explored area as many have sought to dissect and understand this seemingly complex concept. It is always fascinating to read about and observe how leadership is enacted. In her recently published book, Being, Learning and Doing: How Leaders Create Capabilities, Dr Taneisha Ingleton adeptly explores leadership from three dimensions. Fundamental to Ingleton’s concept of leadership is people. She proffers that “leadership cannot exist without people. The people define it, honour it or abhor it. The people give it longevity and success. The people make it flourish… or stagnate”. Imperatively too, Ingleton suggests that we must truly understand self if we are to effectively lead others. This understanding of self speaks to our personal core values, how and what we have learned from how we have been treated by leaders, and finally, how we lead ourselves and others when we are entrusted with leadership positions.
My experiences working with various leaders, and my own leadership roles, have indeed afforded me the opportunity to recognise that we oftentimes struggle with the leadership of self, which ultimately determines how we lead others. Another local expert in leadership, Professor Disraeli Hutton, classifies effective leadership into three categories: personal-character qualities, work-performance qualities, and relationship-maintenance qualities. The level and quality of an employee’s output is highly dependent on the quality of leadership experienced from others and leadership of self. Thus, research studies, and my experiences, coupled with interactions with educators and police officers, have proven the imperativeness of effective leadership of civil servants as they work towards a transformed Jamaican society.
Organisational commitment
Researchers in the discipline of organisational commitment are likely to explore employee motivation. Resultantly, this body of literature establishes that there is a correlation between motivation and job performance. In 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) published the Teacher Support and Motivation Framework for Africa. This document covers several areas, including factors that affect the motivation levels of teachers, which could also be attributed to other civil servants. Some of the factors posited are: the declining status of the profession; low salaries and compensations; poor working environment and living conditions and little opportunities for autonomy, self-actualisation and empowerment.
This concept of organisational commitment takes into consideration the level of support employees receive, as well as their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I certainly agree that, as civil servants, we must first be intrinsically motivated to conduct our jobs, but we must collectively acknowledge that the aforementioned factors do play an integral role in our abilities, willingness and the extent to which we are able to contribute to an improved Jamaica. It is crucial for sustained support systems to be implemented to assist civil servants to cope with and overcome overwhelmingly stressful work-related situations. After all, I stand in concert with Sinan Yalcin’s declaration in 2016, when he expressed that employees who embody higher levels of organisational commitment also perform at high levels.
As we collectively work towards attaining all four strategic goals of Vision 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, let us work assiduously to effectively lead, support and motivate those who activate and operationalise systems and processes. Effective leadership of self and others, has been proven to heighten levels of productivity. Similarly, employee support systems and motivation result in high levels of organisational commitment.
As civil servants, the challenges may appear infinite and society may become ungrateful, but let us always remember that we are the sine qua non in making Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, do business and raise families.
Ricardo N.W. Clarke is a civil servant.
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