Police Force Case Study

Introduction

Hong Kong public sector reform in 1989 greatly influence the management style in Police Force system. The authoritarian hierarchy management style which is used since the Police Force had been established, is challenged by the New Public Management and civil society. Therefore, different means, including vision and mission statement, are used to coordinate with this global trend of reform.

In the following discussion, I will analyze challenges to accountability which is brought by New Public Management to Police Force and how Vision and mission statement manage these challenges with a result of change in organizational culture and shift in accountability, from bureaucratic accountability to professional and public accountability.

This relationship born with the command structure of organization to ensure discipline and efficiency. Little flexibility is allowed under rigid rules and instructions as those disobeying orders will subject to disciplinary board.

Legal accountability is based on relationship between policeman and the one outside the police force who imposes legal sanctions or assert formal contractual obligations. Law and judicial review are important elements in this accountability as they constrains the power of policeman and also shape the people’s expectations. The law control policeman to perform an “act” legally and judicial review ensure the performed “act” is legally correct and justice. Professional accountability is giving trust and power to employee with expertise or special skills to get the organizational activities or job done. As every inspector and police constable need to undergo 27 to 36 weeks of training in order to pass an examination before officially appointment, their professional knowledge and technic are all well-qualified to be a professional policeman. Therefore, professional accountability is inherent in police

(Wong,2012) Their management style was compliance-oriented and rely on command structure much to achieve their organization’s goal, protecting the expatriate business community and securing the society safety.

NRM reform of public sector which introduced the “serving the community” principle to the police force in 1992 marked the transformation to service-orientated stage. Changing brought challenges, Vision and mission statement is the mean for some public sector, like Police Force and social welfare department in Hong Kong, to coordinate the New Public Management and manage challenge brought by it.

Although this statement which establish a common vision and professional values is a long term strategy used among sectors, their context is different according to their organization culture. In the following discussion, I will focus on two challenge faced by Police Force, public pressure for better services and limitation of command system, which is brought by NPM.

Challenge 1: Public pressure for redefining professional