Critical Thinking Questions
1. Compare a middle-manager in a police agency compared to a corrections middle-manager.
There are many similarities between a police and correctional middle manager in terms of job duties, functions, and authority. According to Hess and Orthmann (2012), “The role of middle management is to turn the values, philosophies, principles, policies, and strategies into some form of action to achieve desired results” (p. 79). A middle- manager in a large municipal police department such as the Houston Police Department is the equivalent of a lieutenant. A police lieutenant is often the link that connects sergeants and police officers to senior ranking officials (Tucker, 2015). Police officers in every rank and file
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Formal and informal understanding of policies is exemplified in Rudes (2012) research, “Middle managers use morality as a guiding principle for their interpretation of the policy. They also organize their policy understanding around normative or principled frames with a focus on achieving buy-in or building support for their policy related position” (Rudes, 2012, p. 15). Middle managers are expected to be mindful to work and subordinate conflicts, and also attempt to resolve any emerging conflicts. Individuals who are in the rank and file of a middle-manager must understand the concept of planning, delegation, and …show more content…
16). The term chain of command is generally utilized in the military and law enforcement arena. Most police departments still utilize the traditional pyramid structure because it reflects and differentiates specialized functions, authority, and hierarchy. Studies from Peak et al., (2012) indicate that numerous police agencies experimented with other methods of structural leadership styles, and most of them prefer the traditional pyramidal configuration because it emphasizes “rapid leadership and division of labor” in catastrophic events (p. 28). Police departments in the United States are considered as bureaucracies because there is a heavy presence in the division of labor, hierarchal authority, use of contracts and agreements from labor unions, and specialized functions (Hess & Orthmann,
221). As Tansik and Elliot pointed out the relationship and individual’s ‘in a higher level in which the organizational chart includes their job descriptions and title of commanding position. Additionally, the figure also suggests that the chain of command organizational highlights that the sheriff’s office is embodying the military style rank structures of hierarchy. Unlike the chief of police in Tampa, Florida, who has to report to the city manager or the Mayer, Sheriff Gee, however, is in charge of the entire County, and at the same time overseeing both the sheriff’s office operations and the detention department. As he is an elected official he is the “chief law enforcement officer of the agency” (P. 243). On the other hand, the appointed chief deputy/undersheriff is José M. Docobo, is the single commanding officer with the blessing of the Sheriff’s and overseeing the entire operations. (P.
Once chief Robin Richardson was in command she made the decision to change the organizational structure within the police department. MPD chief Richardson made the decision the change the police department 's centralized organization structure to a more decentralized structure that relies on employees to communicate information to make decisions and recommend changes” ( Textbook, Chapter 10). MPD chief Richardson decisions to change the “organizational structure was to accommodate the dramatic shift in performance culture”( Textbook Chapter). MPD chief Richardson felt that the traditional functional organization structure under the vertical hierarchy has lost sight of MPD organization mission. Chief Richardson wanted to create an organizational structure that provides certain levels of autonomy, that allows employees to make decisions based on their individuals discretions. MPD chief Robin Richardson considered a “divisional organization a design structure that groups processes and jobs based on clearly defined market segments or geography”( Textbook Chapter 10). Chief Richardson considered “divisional organization structure that allows decision making to take place at the divisional level by managers, and differences of opinion would be resolved without depending on the chief. Chief Richardson felt that this design was leaning more toward what she visualized for the MPD: a centralized, horizontal organization” (Textbook chapter 10). According to the text, chief Robin Richardson “finally decision was to create a matrix organization, a design structure that facilitates horizontal integration and collaboration. A matrix model combines elements of both the functional and the divisional organizations, has dual lines of authority, and is designed to encourage the sharing of information. Robin felt that by using this model, the reporting line would shift
For the purpose of this paper, the Houston Police Department’s organizational structure will be used to illustrate the chain of command. The jail operations are designated to Strategic Operations as you can see from the diagram below, and it is overseen by the executive assistant chief, assistant chief and captain. The captain over jail operations is responsible for all three shifts at the city jail, and he assigns three lieutenants to supervise each shift (days, evenings, and nights). Within Houston’s jail facility, there are both classified officers and civilians performing various assignments and tasks. The immediate concern that was brought to attention pertains to a sexual misconduct allegation from a female inmate against a correctional
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department (WCSD) has a wide span of control. However in terms of the number of direct reporting employees, the sergeant in the jail division has the broadest span of control. Wide spans of control promote efficiency, productivity, and are cost effec...
According to the Case Management Society of America, case management is "a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation, care coordination, evaluation, and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual's and family's comprehensive health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality, cost effective outcomes" (Case Management Society of America [CMSA], 2010). As a method, case management has moved to the forefront of social work practice. The social work profession, along with other fields of study, recognizes the difficulty of locating and accessing comprehensive services to meet needs. Therefore, case managers work with these
Equally important, law enforcement’s management structure like the military has two clear element: the chain of command and the span of control. The span of control refers to the number of people assigned to a supervisor. The Police Department chain of command (low-high) is as follows: Officer, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, and Chief. Each employee has one person that they report to within the police chain of command.
This paper is an attempt to articulate the organizational change that is taking place within the Police Department and how the existing norms, culture, and organizational profile affect the desired change, as well as the resistance to change that might be affecting the change agent and the personnel affected by the change.
1.1 Explain the value of customer service as a competitive tool Customer service is valued as a competitive tool by many organisations. It gives you the ability to gain customer loyalty while meeting the customer’s expectations. Staff will have the skills and knowledge that will provide a competitive edge. Most organisations are known for the quality of their customer service. This means that they are known for good customer service or poor customer service.
All organizations, especially law enforcement agencies, require leadership. Maintaining a dependable leadership structure is key to the success of any organization. The philosophy of the modern style of police leadership involves a leader who is strong, competitive and unreceptive to change. Police leadership is based from an autocratic style which is founded on integrity and courage, embracing teamwork, involvement and shared leadership (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). This style of leadership works well in an emergency situation in which rapid decision making and strict control is needed. The negative aspect to this style of leadership is the inability of the organization to function with the absence of leadership.
Academic middle managers can also be described using non-positional definitions. According to Floyd & Wooldridge (2000), academic middle managers are people who perform a coordinating role where they mediate, negotiate and interpret connections between top management and the operational levels , and hence are the people who are directly involved in the planning
For any type of organization, communication between every department is crucial to achieve the goals it is pursuing. Effective and accurate information is essential for any organization in order to create a cultural bond among its members, operate efficiently, measure results, and develop a strong strategy. In addition, it is beneficial for an organization to develop and promote an effortless flow of communication between all its different levels. This paper will focus on the importance of the accuracy of communication between middle management and top management. It will also offer some alternatives on how promote and reinforce effective and ethical communication between middle level management and top level management.
It is necessary for different ranking levels to resolve issues. For example, the “Chief” of an organization does not always have time to answer all of the little questions or deal with every issue. When there is a chain of command, the lower level employees can utilize the chain of command to help resolve issues in a timely manner. Without this structure, employees would “flood” the “chief” with all of the issues, and the supervisors will be kept out of the loop of what’s going on. Nevertheless, I believe the paramilitary structure will work in policing for the reasons, information flows up the chain of command from the street officer to the police administration and orders and commands flow down the chain to the street officer. The chain of command and the paramilitary structure have been retained, regardless to the complexity of the police bureaucracy. Therefore, no matter how defined the hierarchy is or how flat the structure is, the goal was to be more consistent with community-oriented policing (Travis,
As Lopez and Ensari (2014) claim “… autocratic leadership style is more associated with the military, and seen as old-fashioned” (p. 20). As society continues to evolve, expand, and question the interactions law enforcement professionals have with their communities the old fashioned autocratic leadership style is no longer effective. Government agencies are now reevaluating the way in which they operate within changing societal standards, and leaders within these agencies must evolve and change to accommodate their followers, the agency changes, and the communities they
Corruption in law enforcement has been a nationwide problem for many years. Not only is corruption held in one level of law enforcement, but throughout the three levels including the state, local and federal. The formation of the first police departments were the model by the early english society. The early years of policing began to contribute various forms of misconduct from police officers. Soon thereafter, Sir Robert peel established early modern policing which influenced the colonial america policing to the english society. Yet, even after following the model of other countries of law enforcement, Colonial America corruption still continued. In the mid 1800's, corruption continued to widely affect society as a whole. It was until August Vollmer, who marked the contribution of professionalism to policing, that a notable difference began to diminish corruption. Misconduct occurs at all policing levels and continues to spread worldwide. The most common types of corruption are bribes, kickbacks, shakedowns, opportunistic theft, physical abuse, protection of illegal activities and physical abuse. These types of corruption are seen throughout all levels of law enforcement. Corruption is more prominent among higher ranking officers. Not only is misconduct found among those holding higher positions, but it is also seen in rookies who are just entering law enforcement. Corruption is induced not only from individual corrupt officers or chiefs, but occurs as a result of inadequate leadership structures and administrative policies. Eliminating reducing misconduct must be done by demonstrating integrity, better organization within the policies, stricter recruitment and training.
Public Managers have to participate in the policy making process. Previously, according to scholars, “policy process” was considered “decision making” (Wu, Ramesh, Howlett, & Fritzen, 2010). Under such pretense, public managers considered their role merely with policy implementation. However the recent theories that define public policy, have demarcated public policy as an activity that involves a broad range of activities ranging from defining problems, ensuring the defined problems to make it to agenda, developing alternative solutions of addressing these issues, implementing the results and evaluating the outcomes.