Extrinsic Motivation: Corcoran State Prison

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is directly driven by external factors, as opposed to the internal drivers of intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation drives me to do things for tangible rewards such as money or pressures, rather than for the fun of it. In a workplace this motivation would be the most used because most people work for money. I am employed at the Corcoran State Prison and this is an extrinsic motivation because I get paid to watch and protect inmates and control any possible hostile situations. One way where my occupation wouldn’t apply as an extrinsic motivation, but as an external regulation, is if I was forced to put myself in harm’s way for another co-worker in potential danger or inmate in potential danger
In my situation, I must protect others to get paid. I must get to work on time and do my job correctly in order to keep making money and to keep my job. For example, many times we do cell extractions because of an inmate being disruptive or he might have a weapon. So we go in and remove him. Also, with even simpler tasks like making sure cells are locked or that everything is fine on the yard. It is part of the job and is something I do to get paid. However, there are many situations where my job becomes a greater risk to my well-being than others. Problems that I’m forced to do, that I don’t get paid extra for, and isn’t in my job
This poses threat to the employees of the prisons and also the families of these people. This problem disrupts the work force tremendously. If things aren’t changed, then the state prisons will continue to lose money because of the deaths of employees and will lose productivity. However, I don’t believe this problem can be fixed. State prisons give inmates a lot of privileges that are not deserved for what they have done. If these state prisons remain to let these inmates have privileges than, external regulation becomes a greater risk. Creating new theoretical motivations that will help the work place and its employees is crucial and will have positive effects on both personal satisfaction and on productivity. In the Corcoran State Prison, the inmate population is overfilled creating an even greater hazard to the employees. When a prison is overpopulated inmates get put I the gym. They tier bunks and leave hundreds of them to live there. This prison has five buildings where they store inmates and five yards. If more building and yards were created, this would reduce the risk on employees and create more jobs. Also, the prison gives incentives to people with good behavior, but if the Corcoran State Prison condensed the number of inmates allowed to work, it would help the danger risk of employees. The more employees that work, the more that have access to unsafe tools and kitchen knives.