Organization and Administration

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CHAPTER 4

• Organization and Administration

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Organization

• Organizations and the Police
• What are Organizations?
• Entities of two or more people who cooperate to
  accomplish an objective
• Can be defined as arranging and utilizing
  resources of personnel and material in such a way
  as to attain specified objectives
• Done with careful evaluation

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Organization

• Organizations as Bureaucracies
• Share several traits
• People perform many different tasks toward a
  common goal
• Specialized tasks are placed in separate
  departments with a hierarchical structure and
  division of labor
• There is a clear chain of command
• Normally an abundance of written rules

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Organization

• Organizational Communication
• Definition and Characteristics
• Communication is one of the most important
  dynamics of an organization
• Studies have shown that communication is the
  primary problem in administration

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Organization

• Lack of communication is the primary complaint of
  employees
• Elements of the communication process
• Encoding
• To translate an experience to symbols
• Transmission
• The translation of the encoded symbols into some
  behavior that another can observe
• The actual articulation of the symbol into verbal
  or nonverbal observable behavior

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Organization

• Medium
• Includes any of the senses
• The choice of the medium is very important
• Reception
• Symbols are conveyed to the receivers brain for
  interpretation

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Organization

• Decoding
• The receiver develops some meaning for the
  symbols
• Translated into some concept or experience of the
  receiver
• Feedback
• The receiver provides some response back to the
  sender
• Indicates if the symbols were interpreted as
  intended

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Organization

• Communication within Police Organizations
• Five types of downward communication
• Job instruction
• Relating to the performance of a certain task
• Job rationale
• Relating a certain task to organizational tasks

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Organization

• Procedures and practice
• Relating to organizational policies, procedures,
  rules, and regulations
• Feedback
• Relating to how an individual performs an
  assigned task
• Indoctrination
• Designed to motivate the employee

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Organization

• Upward communication may encounter obstacles
• Physical distance between superior and
  subordinate impedes upward communication
• The complexity of the organization may cause
  delays in communication

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Organization

• Horizontal communication
• Thrives in an organization when formal channels
  are not open
• It is much easier and more natural to achieve
  than vertical communication
• Usually informal
• May provide emotional and social bonds that build
  morale and feelings of teamwork among employees

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Organization

• The Grapevine
• Fast
• Operates mostly at the place of work
• Supplements regular, formal communication
• Can be used by management to get a feeling for
  employees attitudes
• Can be used to spread information
• Can also carry lies and can be malicious

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Organization

• Written Communication
• Establishes a permanent record
• Preferred medium in dealing with citizens and
  groups outside the agency
• Provides protection against legal action
• Barriers to Effective Communication
• Poor listeners
• Time
• Too little or too much information
• Strained relationships

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Organization

• Police Agencies as Organizations
• Chain of Command
• Most police organizations are based on
  traditional, pyramidal, quasi-military
  organizational structure
• Rank hierarchy
• Designates authority and responsibility

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Organization

• Organizational Structure
• Every police agency has an organizational
  structure, regardless of the size of the police
  agency
• Operations or line-element personnel
• Engaged in active police functions in the field
• May be divided into two categories
• Primary
• The patrol function
• Secondary
• Investigative and youth functions

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Organization

• Support or nonline functions
• Two broad functions
• Staff or administrative services
• Involves personnel and recruitment, training,
  planning and research, public information
  services
• Auxiliary or technical services
• Includes crime lab services, communications,
  records and identification

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Organization

• The larger the agency, the greater the need for
  specialization and the more vertical the
  organizational chart will become
• Portland, Oregon organizational structure
• Designed to fulfill five functions
• Apportions the workload according to a logical
  plan
• Definite lines of authority and responsibility
• Specifies a unity of command
• Places responsibility and authority
• Coordinates efforts of members to work in harmony

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Organization

• Unity of Command and Span of Control
• Unity of command dictates that every officer
  should report to one and only one superior
• Span of control refers to the number of
  subordinates one individual can effectively
  supervise

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Organization

• Organizational Policies and Procedures
• The need for policies and procedures resulted
  from three developments
• Requirement for administrative due process in
  employee disciplinary matters
• The threat of civil litigation
• The trend toward accreditation of police agencies

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Organization

• Policies
• Quite general and serve as guides to thinking
  rather than action
• Reflect the purpose and philosophy of the
  organization
• Procedures
• More detailed than policies
• Provide the preferred methods for handling
  matters pertaining to patrol, investigations,
  booking, etc
• Rules and regulations
• Specific guidelines that leave or no latitude for
  individual discretion

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Organization

• Contemporary Police Chiefs and Sheriffs
• Police Chief
• Qualifications, Selection, and Tenure
• Qualifications vary by size and location of the
  department
• One study found that chiefs hired from outside
  the department were more highly educated than
  those hired from within

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Organization

• PERF survey found that chiefs in larger
  jurisdictions were more educated and more likely
  to have chosen from outside the agency
• Most chiefs spent less than five years in the
  position
• Job security ranges from full civil service
  protection to hiring and firing at the discretion
  of the mayor or city manager
• Growing trend toward a fixed term of office

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Organization

• Sheriff
• Contemporary nature and functions
• Largely a political office
• Functions commonly associated with the office
• Maintaining and operating the jail
• Serving civil processes
• Collecting certain taxes and conducting real
  estate sales for the county
• Performing routine order-maintenance duties
• Serving as the bailiff of the courts

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Organization

• Regional role differences
• In the East, the sheriffs office is quite small
  and very political
• In the South, the office continues to be a strong
  law enforcement figure
• In the Midwest, some offices are similar to the
  eastern model while others are similar to the
  southern model
• In the West, the office resembles the Midwest
  sheriffs and is the chief law enforcement officer
  in the county

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Organization

• The Chief Executive Officer A Model
• Applying the Mintzberg Model of CEOs
• The interpersonal role
• Figurehead role
• Ceremonial functions, like riding in parades and
  attending civic events
• Leadership function
• Motivate and coordinate workers
• Liaison role
• Interact with other organizations and coordinate
  work flow

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Organization

• The informational role
• Monitoring/inspecting and disseminating
  information and acting as a spokesperson
• Getting information to the members of the
  department
• The decision-maker role
• As entrepreneur, the CEO sells ideas to the
  governing board or the department
• As disturbance handler, the CEO may handle the
  minor to the major disturbances
• As resource allocator, the CEO must be aware of
  the budget
• As negotiator, the CEO may resolve differences
  and sit as a member of the negotiating team for
  labor relations

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Organization

• Middle Managers Captains and Lieutenants
• Some of the functions
• Inspecting assigned operations
• Reviewing and making recommendations on reports
• Helping to develop plans
• Preparing work schedules
• Enforcing all laws and orders

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Organization

• The First-Line Supervisor
• Sergeant
• Tasks
• Supervising subordinates
• Disseminating information to subordinates
• Ensuring that orders are followed
• Reviewing reports
• Interpreting policies and informing subordinates

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Organization

• Types of supervisors
• Traditional
• Law-enforcement oriented
• Expect subordinates to produce high levels of
  measurable activities
• Tend to place greater emphasis on punishment than
  rewards
• See their primary role as controlling subordinates

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Organization

• Innovative
• Most closely associated with community policing
• May be the opposite of the traditional supervisor
• Depend on developing relationships with
  subordinates
• Develop officers so they can solve problems and
  have good relations with citizens

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Organization

• Supportive
• Concerned with relationships
• Concerned with protecting officers from what they
  view as unfair management practices
• See themselves as one of the troops
• Fail to emphasis departmental goals and
  responsibilities

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Organization

• Active
• Active in the field
• Hardworking and competent
• May not give the subordinates the chance to
  develop
• May be the most effective form of supervision