Part IV Control Processes in Police Management

© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Part IVControl Processes inPolice Management

Chapter 15Change


Learning Objectives

1. Understand the goals of organizational change.2. List the steps used to assess the need for change.3. Understand the process of designing and implementing change.4. Discuss the modern method of “organizational development.”5. Understand the potential risks of reform, including types of

resistance and steps for overcoming them.6. Outline the various approaches to change, including types of

resistance and steps for overcoming them.7. Understand specific types of change occurring in police

organizations at the present time.


Essential Elements for Successful Police Change• The chief must have an abiding and energetic commitment to

the values of the change.• The chief must be the institutional leader in the change by

motivating and even manipulating the personnel.• The chief must defend the change once it is achieved.• Change is not likely to happen unless there is public support

for it.


Why Change Occurs

• The police department has been deemed deficient.• Police-community relations have suffered because of

misconduct, scandal, or other wrongdoing. • Morale in the department is suffering.


Goals of Police Organizational Change

• Promotion of participatory management models– Change to attract and retain high-quality personnel– Expansion maximizes individual officer’s potential

• Resolving and preventing problems• Adapting and planning

– Agencies are not static; they don’t exist in a vacuum– Must anticipate future problems and special conditions


Assessing the Need for Change• External Consultants

– Paid to identify problems and recommend solutions– View the organization objectively, but can be self-serving– Should be utilized only as the last resort

• Internal Resources– Personnel must have participatory roles in the self-study– They must have autonomy of action, decision, and choice– The group culture must be built around a cause to which it can be

committed– A meaningful future must be offered as the outcome– The organization must allow a natural leader to emerge


Designing and Implementing Organizational Change• Identifying a performance gap• Recognition of a need for change• Creating a proper climate for change• Diagnosing the problem• Identifying alternative change strategies• Selecting the change strategy• Determining and operationalizing the implementation strategy• Evaluating and modifying the change strategy


Identifying a Performance Gap

• A performance gap is the difference between the expected behavior and the actual behavior.

• A performance gap exists:– whenever the police are not performing at the level the

community or the organization wants or needs them to perform– whenever the police are not performing the functions that the

community or the organization wants or needs them to perform– when an agency has a high incidence of excessive use of force


Recognition of a Need for Change

• The most important consideration is to make a change only when it will measurably improve the agency.

• The larger the performance gap and the more important the area of performance is to the agency or the community, the greater the need for change.

• The smart administrator is open to addressing the performance gap and is personally involved in fixing it.


Creating a Proper Climate for Change• The proper climate for change exists when the

organization:– makes change a part of its routine business– encourages participation by suggesting and implementing change

• Four factors:– Perceived need for change– Perceived openness of the organization to change– Potential for change within the organization– Perceived possibility of participation by the police officer in implementing

change


Diagnosing the Problem

• Proper diagnosis in a department depends on:– A thorough knowledge of organizational behavior and theory– A thorough understanding of the history and current status of the

department– Adequate questioning to find the source of the problem

• The best diagnosis comes when the administrator also asks police officers what they consider to be the problem and what they want the organization to be.


Selecting the Change Strategy

• Factors to consider include: – Availability of resources (personnel and equipment)– Reaction of personnel and community to the potential change– Potential outcome of the change strategy– Amount of effort needed to implement the change in comparison

to the possible outcome


Determining and Operationalizing the Implementation Strategy• The one indispensable ingredient to planned change is

assertive commitment on the part of the police chief– Change must move from the top down– The chief’s charisma is of special significance

• The implementation strategy and the implementation itself must be designed and accomplished while minimizing the risks to the organization.


Organizational Development• Deals with the whole organization or divisions within organizations• Uses behavioral science research to improve leadership, motivation, and

other factors• Is adaptive and flexible• Focuses on productivity and quality of life within the organization• Technostructural strategy focuses on organizational structure, workflow, task

accomplishment, and performance• Human processual approach focuses on needs of employees and is

directed toward improving communication and other group processes


The Organizational Development Process1. Diagnosis

– Gathering data

2. Intervention– Process consultation– Team building– Third-party intervention– Technostructural activities

3. Evaluation– Ensures that changes are producing desired results


Risks Associated with Change

• Broad factors:– The environment– Organizational characteristics– Human cognition

• In other words:– External forces (political pressure)– Internal problems (lack of communication)– Human decisions (reluctance to pursue reforms enthusiastically)


Resistance to Change

• Tokenism– When people who appear to be contributing to a program

actually only make a small (token) contribution• Massive resistance

– Organizational participants who pour all their energies into resisting change


Minimizing Resistance• Unfreezing

– Identifying the source of resistance• Changing

– The administrator’s efforts to have subordinates learn the newly required behaviors• Refreezing

– Reinforcing new behaviors• Education and communication• Participation and involvement• Facilitation and support• Negotiation and agreement• Manipulation and cooptation• Explicit and implicit coercion• Force-field analysis


Approaches to Change

• Individual change• Organizational structure and systems change• Organizational climate and interpersonal style change


Individual Change

• Utilizes education, training, socialization, and attitude change as intervention techniques


Organizational Structure and Systems Change

• Modifying actual organizational practices, procedures, and policies that affect what people do at work

• Intended outcome is the creation of conditions that elicit and reward behavior that facilitates organizational goal achievement


Organizational Climate and Interpersonal Style Change• Aimed at increasing members’ awareness of social

determinants of their behavior• Helping people learn new ways of relating to and reacting to

each other within the organizational context• Creation of systemwide climate change characterized by:

– High personal trust– Openness– Reduction of the dysfunctional consequences of excessive social

conflict and competitiveness


Police Organizational Change

• Participative management• Flattening the organization• Community policing• Civilianization• Police-community collaboration• Interdepartmental cooperation• Homeland security


Participative Management

• The police serve, learn from, and are accountable to the community

• Together, they are co-producers of crime prevention• Think-tank approach• Neighborhood police team


Flattening the Organization• Vertical differentiation

– The distance from the bottom to the top of the organization– Those in favor of organizational flattening favor reductions through:

• Developing more informal managerial channels• Reducing the levels of command

• Administrative density– Refers to the size of the administrative component of the organization– Those in favor of organizational flattening desire reductions in the

administrative component


Community Policing

• Philosophical• Strategic• Programmatic• Proactive


Civilianization

• Utilizing civilians instead of sworn police officers in positions not specifically requiring the authority of a sworn officer

• Allows police to concentrate on highly skilled police tasks• Civilians perform routine and communications tasks


Police-Community Collaboration

• Citizen advisory committees to police agencies• Police representation on existing community and

government agencies• Neighborhood watch groups• Community action groups


Future Trends and Challenges

• The future of policing in America will be affected by several factors:– Continuing shifts in the nation’s demographics– Police will have to tailor their search for qualified applicants– Police will have to offer attractive wage and benefits packages– Diversity in the ranks will have to be encouraged– Technology is rapidly changing the face of crime– High-tech crime poses new challenges

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Part IV Control Processes in Police Management

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