The Effect of Motivation, Communication and Leadership Style on Personnel Performance And Its Impact on the Performance of the Human Resources Bureau of the Aceh Regional Police

1. Introduction

Organizational performance is a key indicator in assessing an organization's level of success in achieving its stated goals, objectives, vision, and mission. Performance not only reflects the final results achieved but also reflects the process of implementing activities, programs, and policies systematically implemented by the organization. (Mahsun, 2020) states that performance is a reflection of the level of achievement of the results of implementing an activity or policy in order to realize the organization's strategic goals. Thus, organizational performance can be understood as a benchmark for the organization's effectiveness and efficiency in managing its resources to achieve its planned goals.

In order to enhance their performance, each and every organization has to come up with a viable and sustainable strategy. The strategy should possess the ability to create competitive advantages, especially by ensuring the management of internal resources which are hard for other organizations to copy. One of the resources of this kind is knowledge and quality of human resources. Knowledge and skills held by the employees within the organization form an internal strength which plays an important part in enhancing the competitiveness and performance of the organization.

One of the public sector organizations that strategically influences the lives of the state and the nation is the Indonesian National Police (Polri). The Polri is a state organization whose functions are those of guaranteeing public safety and maintaining public order as well as enforcing laws in accordance with the Law No. 2 of 2002 on the Indonesian National Police. Being a state organization subordinated to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Polri has an obligation to fulfill its function in a professional and responsible manner considering the needs of the community.

Recently, there have been very complicated dynamics in the performance of the Indonesian National Police. According to a survey conducted by Kompas Research & Development in December 2023, the level of satisfaction of the public with the performance of the National Police was 87.8%. Most of those surveyed were satisfied with the services and activities of the National Police in ensuring the safety and orderliness of the citizens. However, another survey by the Indonesian Political Indicators Survey Institute in 2024 indicated that the public had 75.3% confidence in the performance of the National Police which was lower than other institutions like the Indonesian National Armed Forces and Attorney General's Office. Even more, according to a survey by the Indonesian Public Opinion Discussion and Study Group, public confidence in the National Police was only 66.3%, the lowest among all law enforcement agencies.

From a regional perspective, the Polda Aceh is a very strategic institution as a law enforcement agency in the region which has the status of special autonomy according to the Aceh Governance Law. As a law enforcement institution, the Aceh Police should maintain security stability, enforce laws, and provide service to the community following the local wisdom of the Acehnese people. Based on the performance data, there are several positive achievements from the Aceh Police, including the decline of crime rates in general, increase in solving cases, the success in disclosing narcotics cases, and solving the crimes related to corruption. Moreover, the Aceh Police got a Public Satisfaction Index (IKM) score of 89.18% and was ranked second in the Accountability of Government Agency Performance (AKIP) in the medium ceiling category in 2023.

While all of these performance successes may be regarded positively from both an administrative standpoint and in terms of formal indicators, there remain issues within the organization that need to be addressed, specifically human resource management. The Aceh Regional Police Human Resources (HR) Bureau is in a pivotal position when it comes to making sure that the organization will have competent, well-prepared, and high-caliber personnel. Given the high expectations for performance, the complex nature of the job itself, and the fact that they must be accountable to the public, there may be latent dangers posed by factors such as work fatigue and inconsistent performance on the part of the personnel themselves.

Based on the findings from the pre-survey on the performance of the Aceh Regional Police (Polda Aceh), it can be concluded that the performance of the organization is good based on the average value of 3.61. However, there are some factors with low values especially in terms of the level of public trust in the performance of the Aceh Regional Police. This means that while the performance internally may be said to be quite optimal, the performance externally from the public perception is not entirely synchronized. The same applies to the pre-survey results on personnel performance which have the average value of 3.52 that is also in the good category, but teamwork is still a weakness that needs improvement.

Beside performance, other important factors affecting the effectiveness of personnel work are motivation, communication, and leadership style. According to (Mangkunegara, 2021) and (Wibowo, 2017), individual and organizational performance is significantly affected by internal situations, consisting of work motivation and organizational situation. The pre-survey found that work motivation of the personnel was in the good category, having an average value of 3.68, but there were some aspects that still needed to be improved, like recognition and work challenges. The organizational communication was in the good category too, with an average score of 3.71, although some barriers had been detected, including easy access to information. On the other hand, the leadership style was categorized quite well, having an average score of 3.62, but some perceptions about the clarity of vision and mission were relatively low.

Most of the literature that focuses on the issue of police organizational performance addresses these variables separately. For instance, (Husin et al., 2024) studied the effect of leadership style on police organizational performance, (Fauzyah & Sirait, 2023) focused on the significance of motivation in the organizational setting, while (Supriyadi et al., 2023) studied organizational communication independently from the impact it has on organizational performance. Thus, there is an obvious research gap in the area.

From the discussion above, it is clear that this study is crucially necessary to undertake since the internal factors affecting organizational performance have to be looked into comprehensively. The research aims at making theoretical contribution to the development of science of human resource management in the public sector, while at the same time, making a practical contribution to the formulation of strategies aimed at improving the performance of police organizations sustainably and efficiently.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Organizational Performance

Performance in organizational context can be defined as the degree of success attained by the organization in accomplishing its set goals, objectives, vision, and mission with the help of effective and efficient resource utilization. Apart from viewing performance as achievements that can be measured in terms of financial outcomes or activity output, it is also considered to involve efficiency of process, effectiveness, flexibility of the organization to changes in the environment, and satisfaction of stakeholders. Hence, performance plays a very important role in determining the ability of an organization to perform its operations effectively and efficiently (Zhao et al., 2020); (Tuan, 2020); (Wibowo, 2017).

There are numerous variables affecting the performance of organizations, including motivation, communication, leadership style, and performance of the personnel. The motivation factor represents an intrinsic motivational force that affects how committed the person is to accomplishing work goals and tasks (Robbins & Judge, 2023). Good communication helps with the coordination of efforts, understanding of instructions, and harmony among the working parts, thus avoiding mistakes (Luthans & Doh, 2020). Furthermore, good leadership style, especially when the leader offers vision, serves as a role model and helps with members' development, has been proven to affect positively on organizational commitment and performance (Bass & Riggio, 2019). These four variables represent a cohesive system that affects the level of organizational performance, specifically in the public sector, such as the police force.

It is important to measure the performance indicators that relate to the nature of the activities performed by the organization. As far as the police are concerned, these indicators can be such as the speed of performing operational actions, accomplishment of the mission, compliance with SOP, the readiness of personnel, and the degree of public trust (Kapolri, 2021). There are also other performance indicators such as law enforcement success, public satisfaction, frequency of disciplinary violations, and the effectiveness of public services (Febriani & Ramli, 2023).

2.2. Employee Performance

One of the main factors which contributes to the success of the organization in accomplishing its objectives is employee performance. The notion of employee performance is defined as the outcomes of the activities performed by the individual in line with the assigned role of the individual, both in terms of quality and quantity. According to (Mangkunegara, 2021), “employee performance is the outcome of activities of an individual in line with the assigned standards and responsibilities”. In addition, (Rivai & Sagala, 2014) state that “performance is the outcome of activities in line with specific objectives, standards, or criteria within a particular period of time”.

Performance of the employees is impacted by several organizational factors, such as motivation, communication, and leadership styles. The first one can be viewed as the key motivating factor that makes people want to perform well and results-driven (Robbins & Judge, 2023). Communication helps exchange information accurately, hence making cooperation possible and reducing mistakes in task implementation (Luthans & Doh, 2020). Also, appropriate leadership, especially directing, modeling, and supportive style of leadership, has been found to boost employee commitment and improve performance (Bass & Riggio, 2019). All these factors have a lot in common and provide an environment that is favorable for better performance of individuals.

Indicators of employee performance should be in line with the nature of the job as well as organizational needs. The performance indicators for employees in a police organization will comprise their physical and psychological fitness, following the Standard Operating Procedure, professionalism when performing their duties, making decisions, and working in a team (Kapolri, 2021). This is further supported by Indonesian National Police Regulation No. 2/2018 which includes leadership, service-mindedness, communication skills, emotional stability, integrity, commitment, initiative, discipline, and cooperation. Additionally, according to (Sulistiyani et al., 2017), performance of the employees can also be measured based on the amount of work done, quality of work done, reliability, and initiative. Thus, through such indicators, the performance of employees can be evaluated properly and comprehensively.

2.3 Motivation

Motivation refers to a psychological concept that helps stimulate, direct and sustain individual behavior towards attaining certain objectives. At the organizational level, motivation is a vital component which ensures that the employees perform optimally and focus on performance. According to (Robbins & Judge, 2023), motivation is a process that influences the level of effort that an individual exerts towards attaining certain organizational goals. Motivation may emanate internally from personal factors such as needs and values or externally from factors such as rewards and work environment. It is, therefore, vital for organizations to recognize and manage employee motivation in order to enhance their productivity and performance.

A number of theories have been put forward by different scholars in their attempts to understand the theory of work motivation, and among these theories, we can cite (Maslow, 1997) of Needs Theory, McGregor's Theories X and Y, and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory. Maslow believes that human needs are ranked in a hierarchical manner starting from physiological needs through self-actualization. Lower level needs should be fulfilled first before one can be motivated by higher level needs to act. On the other hand, McGregor through theories X and Y talks about two approaches to understanding the nature of people at the workplace, in which theory Y assumes that employees are responsible and self-motivated. Finally, Herzberg differentiates between factors of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and this means that work motivation can be improved by improving intrinsic factors.

The measurement of work motivation is necessary to use some specific criteria related to organizational characteristics and jobs. In this research, the criteria of motivation were chosen on the basis of (Mangkunegara, 2021), where they include responsibility, work performance, career development opportunities, performance recognition, and challenging work. The indicators are believed to have the potential to fully represent internal and external motivation of employees. Responsibility denotes personal involvement into a task, work performance stands for results orientation, career development opportunities show the focus on career growth, performance recognition is the need of appreciation and challenging work is the desire to learn and develop professional skills.

2.4. Communication

Communication refers to the act of transmitting information or meanings from one individual to another with the aim of reaching mutual understanding. According to (Wibowo, 2017), the purpose of communication in organizations is to ensure integration between management and employees where everyone understands different issues that concern their work. Likewise, (Mangkunegara, 2021) views communication as the process of delivering ideas or information that could be interpreted by the receiver based on its intended purpose. Therefore, communication does not involve just message transmission, but also includes the activities of comprehension and interpretation for effective action in the organization.

In the organizational context, however, the nature of communication becomes more complicated since it requires interaction among different organizational ranks with different interests and regulations. Organizational communication, in general, is formal in nature and is called business communication or internal communication. This type of communication serves the purpose of achieving coordination, decision-making, and organizational objectives. Communication within an organization may be in the form of verbal communication or nonverbal communication. The verbal mode of communication uses symbols that have common meanings and include speech and writing, whereas nonverbal mode includes gestures, facial expressions, intonation, and attitude. Even though the former dominates the latter in formal working conditions, knowledge of the latter is important.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of communication in an organization, it is essential to identify clear and quantifiable criteria for measuring communication effectiveness. (Wibowo, 2017) identified certain criteria for measuring communication. These include information accessibility, communication intensity, communication effectiveness, level of message comprehension, and attitude change. Information accessibility is associated with the effective flow of communication, whereas communication intensity is associated with the frequency and continuity of communication between individuals. Communication effectiveness is linked with the clarity and precision of message delivery, thus affecting the level of message comprehension of the receiver. Another important criterion for measuring the effectiveness of communication is attitude change, which means that the message not only influences the receiver but also changes his/her attitudes.

2.5. Leadership Style

Leadership style is a pattern of behavior and the way a leader influences, directs, and controls his or her subordinates to achieve organizational goals. (Tjiptono, 2020) states that leadership style is the way a leader interacts with his or her subordinates, while (Edison et al., 2016) defines it as the way a leader acts and influences organizational members to achieve specific goals. (Robbins & Judge, 2023) add that leadership is the ability to influence a group to move toward achieving a predetermined vision or goal. Thus, leadership style reflects a leader's basic abilities and techniques in influencing the attitudes, behavior, and performance of subordinates effectively and efficiently.

Differences in leadership styles arise because each leader has a distinct character, approach, and way of interacting with others in leading an organization. The leadership style adopted will determine the quality of the relationship between leaders and subordinates, which is reflected in the extent to which the leader is able to foster, direct, and motivate their subordinates in carrying out their duties. Organizations require strong and appropriate leadership to create optimal work effectiveness, improve employee performance, and encourage the sustainable achievement of organizational goals.

To measure leadership style, (Edison et al., 2016) proposed several indicators, namely the leader's ability to have and communicate a clear strategy, demonstrate concern for members and the work environment, and stimulate members to improve their knowledge and competence. Furthermore, leadership style is also reflected in the leader's ability to maintain team cohesion and respect differences of opinion and beliefs within the organization. These indicators describe the extent to which a leader is able to create a conducive, harmonious work environment that is oriented towards achieving shared goals.

3. Research methods

The population in this study was all 127 police personnel assigned to the Human Resources Bureau of the Aceh Regional Police (Polda). Given the relatively limited population, this study employed a saturated sampling technique (total sampling), which utilizes the entire population as a sample. Therefore, the sample size for this study was 127 respondents.

Data analysis was conducted on the data collected through the research instrument to examine the relationships between variables in accordance with the formulated research model. The analytical method used was SEM AMOS. SEM was chosen because it can simultaneously examine causal relationships, both direct and indirect, between latent variables, and evaluate the overall goodness of fit of the research model. Using AMOS, this study tested the measurement model and structural model, resulting in comprehensive analysis results in line with the research objectives.

4. Result

The testing of the research hypothesis is as shown in Table 1 below.

4.1.1. Direct Effect

Results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) reveal that motivation, communication, and leadership style significantly and positively affect personnel performance. Motivation is known to be effective in enhancing the performance of personnel since it involves encouraging personnel from within, making them disciplined, responsible, and result-oriented. Communication is also key in enhancing enthusiasm and efficiency in work because it can help understand the task and minimize mistakes in performing the task. Therefore, motivation and communication are the two main supportive factors for personnel performance.

Moreover, the style of leadership is the most dominant factor affecting personnel performance as opposed to other factors. Leaders who offer clear guidance, set examples and support personnel through motivation will encourage optimal performance from personnel. A good style of leadership not only affects the work behavior of individuals but also affects the positive attitude that personnel have towards the tasks allocated to them.

In addition to this, the findings from the tests indicate that motivation and communication are also having a positive effect on the performance of organizations. The collective motivation of the people helps in reaching the goals of the organization, enhances efficiency, and provides better services. On the other hand, the system of communication helps in developing a conducive working environment, coordination between the units, and loyalty of the employees towards the organization.

Unlike other variables, leadership style does not affect the performance of the organization directly, but indirectly via improved performance of the personnel. This is because the performance of the organization largely depends on the performance of the personnel. The performance of personnel has been found to positively and significantly affect the performance of the organization; this means that the more effectively the personnel perform their job roles, the greater the success of the organization.

4.1.2.Indirect Effect

The results of the test for mediation effects show that personnel performance mediates the effect of motivation on organizational performance. As per the Sobel test calculation, the calculated value is 2.421 with a significance value of 0.015 (α < 0.05). This implies that the personnel performance significantly acts as a mediating variable. It means that not only does motivation affect organizational performance directly, but it also affects it indirectly by increasing the personnel performance. Since the effect of motivation on organizational performance is still significant even when it is mediated by the personnel performance, the mediation effect that exists is partial (partial mediating).

Furthermore, the research results also prove that personnel performance mediates the influence of communication on organizational performance. The Sobel test results show a value of 2.483 with a significance of 0.012 (α < 0.05), which indicates a significant mediation effect. This finding indicates that effective communication can improve organizational performance through improving personnel performance. Although communication has a direct effect on organizational performance, the role of personnel performance as a mediator indicates that good communication will first improve individual performance before having a broader impact on organizational performance. Therefore, the mediation that occurs in this relationship is partial, where the influence of communication on organizational performance is not fully explained by personnel performance.

Unlike the two previous variables, the test results indicate that personnel performance fully mediates the influence of leadership style on organizational performance. The Sobel test results yielded a value of 2.812 with a significance level of 0.004 (α < 0.05), which confirms the significant role of personnel performance as a mediating variable. In this case, leadership style does not directly influence organizational performance, but has an indirect impact through improved personnel performance. This full mediation indicates that the effectiveness of a new leadership style will be reflected in organizational performance if it is able to improve the performance of individual personnel first.

In conclusion, the outcomes from the mediation analysis indicate that personnel performance is the critical mediator that determines the impacts of motivation, communication, and leadership style on organizational performance. It has been demonstrated that motivation and communication have both direct and indirect influences on organizational performance, whereas leadership style has indirect influence via personnel performance. The findings highlight the significance of personnel performance management as an effective approach to enhance organizational performance.

4.2. Discussion

From the findings of the research, it can be seen that motivation has a very great impact on the performance of personnel. The major motivating element which affects the level of enthusiasm, dedication, and hard work among the personnel is motivation. Personnel who are well motivated are very disciplined, productive, and responsible in meeting the goals of the organization. Motivation can also create a conducive working atmosphere, encourage teamwork and promote a proactive attitude. Thus, proper motivation management is very important in improving the performance of the personnel.

In addition to motivation, communication has been found to be a determinant of personnel performance. Efficient communication helps convey messages such as direction and organizational objectives. Personnel are able to accomplish their tasks successfully because of efficient communication within the organization. Proper communication between the superior and subordinate will facilitate good understanding and minimize chances of misunderstanding when undertaking tasks. Poor communication may lead to poor motivation and poor performance of personnel.

According to the findings, leadership style affects the performance of the personnel. A leadership style that is directive and motivational to the personnel creates an atmosphere for improvement of performance. Transformational and democratic leaders ensure that a conducive working environment is created, instill a sense of responsibility among the personnel, and ensure their commitment to their work. Leadership styles that neglect the personnel's needs affect the performance negatively.

It also becomes evident from this study that motivation has an important role to play in organizational performance. High motivation of employees collectively helps in increasing productivity, quality of work, and achieving organizational objectives. Highly motivated employees become more engaged and loyal towards the organization, which results in better organizational effectiveness and efficiency. However, lack of motivation may result in low performance and reduced organizational competitiveness.

It should be noted that research also shows the importance of communication in relation to the performance of organizations. Communication is the tool through which an organization achieves coordination, cooperation, and good decision-making. It allows for the creation of productive exchanges of ideas and criticism. On the other hand, bad communication can result in conflicts, ambiguous roles, and low morale.

Unlike other variables, the leader's style does not have a considerable effect on organizational performance. It means that in organizations with highly developed work systems and procedures, organizational performance depends more on practical considerations than on the work style. Nevertheless, the leader's style remains important in an indirect way, especially when it affects employee attitude, motivation, and performance. In other words, the leader's influence on organizational performance is more indirect.

In addition to this, the study clearly shows that personnel performance greatly affects organizational performance. Optimal performance of individuals is the key factor which leads to the optimal performance of the organization. Those individuals who perform well will certainly help to produce better results, increase productivity, and create a good environment in the organization. On the contrary, poor personnel performance can obstruct the attainment of organizational goals and lower the level of performance.

In general, the outcomes from the mediation analysis demonstrate that personnel performance serves as an intermediate variable linking motivation, communication, and leadership style to organizational performance. Both motivation and communication are confirmed to have direct and indirect impacts on organizational performance through personnel performance (partial mediation); at the same time, the impact of leadership style on organizational performance is entirely mediated by personnel performance (full mediation). It proves the fact that achieving organizational performance relies greatly on the ability of an organization to increase motivation, enhance communication, and adopt a leadership style capable of promoting the best personnel performance.

5. Conclusion and suggestion

5.1 Conclusion

Conclusion based on the research results shows that the performance conditions such as Organizational Performance, Personnel Performance, Motivation, Communication, and Leadership Style within the Aceh Regional Police Human Resources Bureau fall into the good category. In other words, the organization has a system of work, human resources, and managerial patterns that ensure successful task completion and accomplishment of organizational goals.

The results of the inter-variable relationship test indicate that motivation, communication, and leadership style have a direct influence on personnel performance. Furthermore, motivation and communication also have a direct influence on organizational performance, while leadership style does not. These findings indicate that improving organizational performance is not always directly determined by leadership style, but rather is more influenced by factors that drive and direct the performance of individual personnel in carrying out their duties.

Furthermore, the research results prove that Personnel Performance has a significant effect on Organizational Performance and acts as a mediating variable. Personnel Performance partially mediates the influence of Motivation and Communication on Organizational Performance, and fully mediates the influence of Leadership Style on Organizational Performance. Thus, it can be concluded that improving organizational performance at the Aceh Regional Police Human Resources Bureau is highly dependent on efforts to improve personnel performance through strengthening motivation, effective communication, and the implementation of leadership styles that can encourage optimal individual performance.

5.2 Suggestion

1. The Motivation factor achieved the lowest average score of 4.00, which is seen in the measurement of challenging work and skill development. In this sense, this means that even though the motivation level among the personnel is relatively high, there is still some room for improvement on this aspect by giving more interesting challenges in terms of work. Consequently, the recommended course of action to be done by the Aceh Provincial Police is to provide challenging tasks, competency development through training and further studies, and task rotation.

2. For the Communication variable, it obtained the lowest mean of 3.89, which is indicated by the adequacy of communication between the leaders and employees to guarantee a smooth work process. This suggests that vertical communication should be further improved. Thus, it is recommended that the leadership of Aceh Provincial Police enhance two-way communication via frequent coordination forums and briefings as well as by making full use of internal communication media.

3. The Leadership Style variable scored the lowest of all, 4.19, and was located in the indicator of the leader’s concern regarding the well-being of its members. Although being in good condition, this indicator still needs improvement. Hence, it is recommended for the leadership of the Regional Police of Aceh to enhance even further their humanistic leadership style by caring about the well-being of their personnel from psychological, social, and work-related point of view to foster the harmonious relations between the leader and his/her members.

4. Personnel Performance has the lowest mean value of 3.74, which is in the area of making quick decisions during emergencies. This means that personnel must be trained more in the field of decision-making during emergencies. Thus, the Aceh Regional Police is recommended to intensify their simulation exercises, drills, and mental preparation for them to become more adept in making quick and accurate decisions during emergencies.

5. Organizational Performance indicator had the lowest mean value of 3.99 which was in the public trust aspect on the performance of the Aceh Regional Police in ensuring the security. The above result means that even though there is an assumption of good organizational performance, the public trust should be enhanced. It therefore suggests that the Aceh Regional Police should enhance the transparency of performance, humane services to the public, and communication of the public among others.