Implementing Strategic Change Process within New South Wales Police - Coursework Example

Implementing strategic change process within NSW Police Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Insert Date Here (Day, Month, Year) Work process in any organisation is dependent on conditions of its environment engaging in the activities, which conform to its environment and goals of its managerial staff. Until now there has been tendency in the police literature to look at any activity of the organisation and its results on basis of the individual action and particular internal factors. Very little of the police literature has been able to focus on the environmental concern of the organisation. The external environment creating a direct influence on the working of police force is generally ignored. But no organisation boasts of working in a vacuum. Both internal as well as external strategies influence the functioning of any organisation and any strategic change, if we look at the broader framework, depends on these two factors. In this context, it is no surprise to see many changes taking place in the functioning of the police force making them more compatible, and transparent. Moreover in contrast to the traditionally held view, police is now seen as the informative or ‘knowledge workers’ making extensive use of knowledge at every level of problem-solving and risk reduction. They bestow knowledge to others as well as generate knowledge for the good of others. (Murray, 2000) Several concepts have been analyzed and have been thought of to make the police force as a conceptualized unit in itself. It is quite true that till today internal issues are very important but various police organisations in Australia and elsewhere have recognized the fact that to operate in an effective manner, it is very important to interact with the external environment and to manage and carry on with the networks and relationships more successfully. Making internal adjustments only would never guarantee survival of the organisation, only requirement for the police leadership according to Rhodes is a ‘distinctive managerial style based on facilitation, accommodation and bargaining’. (Flemming and Hall, 166) Any strategic change requires coordination and adjustments in the internal as well as external factors. It is all about recognizing and bringing in changes in the dynamic nature of the environment, identifying important players and interacting with them in the most successful way with an aim to increase compatibility and control of the leader over the organisation and its resources. Along with it, strategic change also should acknowledge the diverse way with which governing body within the police organisation acts. After all it is all about policing and policing naturally means command and control but with creating the right balance within the organisation and reducing the impact of any negative external influence. Also identifying the same in the organisation’s resource base are the key points on the basis of which new design and implementation of the strategic change will be framed in the organisational setup of the New South Wales Police Force. The NSW Police Force is no doubt very old, and one of the largest police organisations of Australia serving seven million people only in the area of New South Wales. Operation of the organisation is carried all over from land, sea and air and also provides community servicing to 500 police stations covering all the ethnic communities speaking more than 30 languages. Above all, it also involves its services into “traffic control, communications, intelligence analysis and anti-terrorist negotiations.” (New South Wales Police Force (A), Online) Its structure has been determined under the section 33 (1) of the police Act 1990, and got into effect from 4 February 2008. (Campbell, Online) As NSW is considered to be one of the largest units, it has biggest responsibility for maintaining law and order situation, particularly in and around sensitive areas. The core structure of the organisation has been set in the way that every person employed in each hierarchal level pursues basic organisational core values and ethics while successfully implementing polices and procedures laid down under the legislative rules and procedures. NSW Police Force operates according to the Code of Practice for Crime (Custody, Rights, Investigation, Management and Evidence). (New South Wales Police Force (B), Online) This Code of Practice reinforces officials to follow ethical framework while dealing with suspects enabling them to perform action with great zeal, determination, honesty and integrity while pursuing investigative policies and also maintain rule of law, give importance to the rights and freedom to individuals, improve the quality of life and try to exercise authority with responsibility. The code of ethics is implied to maintain cordial relationship with the citizens and for ensuring their services and duty towards them, but for its successful implementation, each police personnel should abide by the values necessary within the organisation structure. These values are Excellence, Trust, Honour, Impartiality, Commitment, Accountability and Leadership qualities. (New South Wales Police Force (C), 3) Australian police organisations were formed and consolidated in and around middle of 1850, gaining political and administrative functioning. As the time passed, police was formed into bureaucratic organisation with the authoritative power of single police commissioner. In the decades that followed, police commissioner worked under the political influence and by the passing of the time as the police unions were formed, the commissioner’s autonomous power was reduced. Before 1980, the whole of police force was organized on an authoritarian basis through the policy of strict rules and regulations and new management techniques were incorporated from the private sector. Now the reforms in the administrative set up in the police force became a continuous activity. There was also continuous change in the external environment and many mechanisms were put into place and there was continuous monitoring of satisfaction level of community towards the police force. Slowly police force broadened their depth of functioning and acknowledged changed environment under the watchful eye of media. As commented by MacDonald such a kind of scrutiny enables any comment of decision by any police officer or leader to become a public debate, as he remarked, ‘Today, policing is everybody’s business’ (Flemming and Hall, 168) and shape of the police functioning is designed accordingly. Since long time as observed by Fleming and Lafferty, “Both senior police management and police unions, which hold almost 100 per cent membership among rank-and-file officers, have a long tradition of opposition to any organisational change or external intervention.” (Fleming and Lafferty, 3) But change is the need of the hour and by looking at the surface of the conditions prevalent, before designing any structural change there is a need to identify the issues, and then formulate a strategy. Corruption- Issue of police corruption in the New South Wales department itself has been lingering the police department since a very long time and is still hot topic of debate. During this period it was seen that there had been many incremental and substantial reforms to bring in improvement in the recruitment process and education of the police. Recently appointed Royal Commission in the NSW Police Service under the Honourable Justice Wood resulted in the far-reaching institutional changes. Most important was the set up of the Police Integrity Commission (PIC), which was responsible for investigation process and prevention of the police misconduct. Bodies responsible for investigation of the police misconduct are NSW Police, Ombudsman and PIC. (Ralston, Charleston & Ehsan, 1) According to the latest policy, NSW Police is set to get secret raid powers on the basis of Commonwealth’s anti-terror legislation with an aim to crack organized crime and deal with terrorism but the NSW Council of Civil Liberties has criticized on the basis it will lead to police state. It has been argued that this proposal will lead to increased corruption, which had already been experienced by NSW police. (Stockman, Online) To defray the negative aspect of this proposal of augmenting corruption, there is a need for strategic change to be implemented and following steps should be taken in this regard: Enforcing ethics and integrity in the structure of the Police Force It is quite true that the culture of the police force is the most nebulous one and the issue of police culture is also a very complex in nature. However there is also no denying the fact with finding of the Royal Commission, the process of reforming of the police culture has already taken shape but as stated by the Commissioner for NSW Police, Ken Moroney, “It’s little harsh to say that there has been no change in the culture because I believe that there has been and in a most demonstrable way.” (Ralston, Charleston & Ehsan, 6) There is a need to impart training on the basis of the leadership and supervision and a ‘golden thread’ of ethics’ to be followed during the education and training to the police officers. (Ralston, Charleston & Ehsan, 6) Value Based Management In the management of the organisation, NSW should adopt value-based management, which is of a greatest value in the organisation structure. It is an approach police in every hierarchy level must adopt. (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 171) Its working atmosphere must reflect on the values which organisation stands for and cherishes. These values serve as a guidepost for the decision-making services of the managers as well as actions taken so far and besides others give shape to the employment behavior. Shared values also help in building up the team spirit of the organisation. It is also seen that when staff and police personnel adopt the shared values, they form much personal commitment at the deepest level and can feel obliged taking responsibility of their actions. These shared values also infuse among persons to deal with more complicated cases with ease. As said by Vince Lombardi, “The challenge for every organisation is to build a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another because the question is usually not how well each person works, but how well they work together.” (Scipione, Online) In all functioning of the police department, this concept is especially true because the culture and the work of the police force is such that they have to be dependent on the maximum number of police personnel in solving many critical issues. Hereby it also very necessary for the leader or manager to identify various issues being faced by the police personnel in their particular areas of operations and help them in resolving these issues, keep records of the same and recognize and reward their efforts. Empowerment as a key to proper management In the police force, empowerment is truly a key to the proper management of the police force implying the fact that empowering police officers in each of the hierarchical level would impart practical shape to the shared values in the overall organisational culture. (Denhardt, Online) In this environment, there are also chances for bringing free decision making a reality, whereby the police officers posted at the middle or frontline post must be encouraged to make decisions on their own and absolutely free. At this time when police has been assigned with the task of imparting proactive and community oriented approaches towards various forms of crimes, empowerment may be most advantageous proposition. It implies shared leadership, which is known by several names like participatory management, employee empowerment, involvement of job, decision-making process, dispersed leadership or industrial democracy. Even the practices that come with the total quality management and quality circles come under the category of shared leadership. This concept involves power sharing whereby work is shared among the officials who are in-fact at the unequal hierarchical levels. Shared Leadership and Police Why the strategy is enforced towards the shared leadership, because the autocratic and military orientation of the police force. Even today this approach exists in the police hierarchical level implying the fact that while involvement of the employees in the managerial decision making process has been slowly getting into the organisational work process, it is yet at a initial stage in the arena of the police department where it requires the most. On account of the autocratic rule, the trust is broken, motivation level is reduced and police personnel face low morale. Nature of the police force demands quick action, quick decision, shared goals and shared vision to achieve the target and on many occasions autonomous decision making creates hindrance in their path. The shared leadership will imply creating a balance of power within the vicinity of the department that could make it more convenient to measure control over the police personnel performance, many of the issues affecting their day to day functioning and personnel policies. Keeping control on the Discretionary powers of police Paradox situation comes in when we see that there is a discretionary authority, which tends to be great at the lower level of the police authority. This is the place where the patrol officers forge laws, policy and regulations, which are not conducive to the general rules. Moreover these choices are made when the patrol officers are on their actual duty in the field, away from the direct control of management. These discretionary powers enjoyed by the patrol officers may go against the authoritative rules of the manager or his policy, but on many occasions patrol officers need to follow their conscience according to the situation, which many come out to be for the better or in many occasions for the worse. To create a better police force and ensures the accountability of the same, my strategy would be to form methodologies that could increase commitment level of the police force, culture of the organisation, peer norms and values that could mould and build shape of the behavior of the employees and increase their motivation. An intelligent and evolving work force Various trend issues in the workforce and issues in the labour union are also putting pressure on the traditional way police force operates. Today workforce and police personnel are better-educated, technological savvy and quick problem solvers; these have created new set of challenges. Management in the senior hierarchy needs to develop a more conducive approach in recruitment of the new officers. Due to the highest rate in attritions and growth of the national counter terrorism activities in Australia, the need for specialized personnel has increased. There is a need for attracting specialized staff from the states and territory in the recruitment department of the police force to counter the contingencies. Attaining Prestige Looking forward towards attainment of prestige is yet another strategic endeavour, as said by Thompson, “Acquiring prestige is the “cheapest” way of acquiring power.’ (Flemming and Hall, 169) It is a greatest strategic endeavour whereby organisations formulate, create, set up and maintain a favourable image in the organisation set up. This is very important when support is needed from various external forces for control or for decreasing dependency. Prestige can be acquired in number of ways, and most of them on the Commissioners’ side. Others are like knowledge-based strategies or tactics, which try to seek ‘specialist structure for knowledge creating and sharing’. (Flemming and Hall, 171) This would increase professionalism in the police making them more proficient as well as technological savvy. This would also increase strong networking among the police force. Conclusion Environment of the NSW is very complex and challenging, with the change in the demographic set up, changes in the social and economic conditions, transnational crime, peacekeeping and deployments at the international level have created an environment to widen the range of leaders in the police department. Law and order has always been politically inspired and with the new and emerging technologies, there has been complete change in the operational networks of criminals. All these complexities involve the police networks to look forward to continuous change in their functioning and bring about deep strategic changes that would make the complete police force more responsible and corruption free. Works Cited Campbell, David. “Determination under section 33 (1) of the Police Act 1990.” Internet (2007) Available: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:SkTApAtOvT8J:www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0011/120503/ses_list.doc+Pursuant+to+section+33(1)+of+the+police+Act+1990,+and+effective+from+4+February+2008,+the+following+positions+are+determined+to+be+executive+positions+within+the+Police+Force+Senior+executive+Service:&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in, April 10, 2009. Denhardt, R.B. “The Future of Public Administration - Challenges to Democracy, Citizenship and Ethics.” Public Administration and Management: An Interactive Journal. Internet (1999) Available: http://pamij.com/99_4_2_Denhardt.htm, April 10, 2009. Fleming Jenny & Lafferty George. “New Management Techniques and Restructuring for Accountability in Australian Police Organisations.” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Managment, Vol 23, No 2 pp 154-168. Internet. Available: http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/policewomen3/fleming.pdf, April 10, 2009 Fleming, Jenny & Hall, Rob. “Police Leadership in Australia: Managing Networks” Public Leadership—Perspectives and Practices 165-176. Internet. Available: http://epress.anu.edu.au/anzsog/public_leadership/pdf/ch14.pdf, April 10, 2009. Murray Tonita. “Police and the Challenge of the 21st Century: Managing Change in Police Organisations.” Internet (2000) Available: http://www.afp.gov.au/media/publications/platypus_magazine/platypus_magazine_previous_editions/2000/september_2000/2_21century.html, April 10, 2009 New South Wales Police Force (A). “About Us”. Internet (2008) Available: http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us. April 10, 2009. New South Wales Police Force (B). “Code of Practice for CRIME (Custody, Rights, Investigation, Management and Evidence).” Internet (2008) Available: http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/acts_and_legislations/legislation_list/code_of_practice_for_crime April 10, 2009. New South Wales Police Force (C). “Standards of Professional Conduct” Internet. Available: http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/87993/SPC_Conduct_2008_INTRANET_230608.pdf April 10, 2009. Ralston, Kim, Charleston, Andrew & Ehsan, Shadi Tara. “Police Corruption – The New South Wales Experience.” Internet (2004) Available: http://www.isrcl.org/Papers/2004/Ralston.pdf, April 10, 2009 Robbins, S., Bergman R., Stagg, I. and Coulter M. “Management.” Pearson Education Australia, 2006. Scipione, Andrew. “98th Police Management Development Program Opening Address”. Internet (2006) Available: http://www.aipm.gov.au/news/archived/news06_1.html April 10, 2009. Stockman, David. “NSW police to get secret raid powers” Internet (2009) Available: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/nsw-police-to-get-secret-raid-powers/1450800.aspx April 10, 2009 Read More