Comparisons of Different Management Approaches in Law Enforcement Agencies

Abstract

Policing is an ever-changing field. Because of innovations and shifts in cultural norms and values, police are trying to stay ahead of the game through different models, strategies, and tactics. One of the largest determining factors is management. But, what determines whether or not a law enforcement manager is competent in leading their employees through the changing times? There are several management principles laid out, and even though all of them are not directly related to policing, many of them can be employed by management at law enforcement agencies in order to become more effective.

Policing Models Overview

Police management styles, principles, and theories have evolved over the past 100 years. There were different models and as time went on and the culture shifted, police departments have had to shift their approach to policing as well.

One of the largest changes was the evolution of the policing model. For instance, up to the 1920's policing was dictated by the political model, where the political climate affected everything in the department from policies to hiring practices. However, as cities grew larger and the population increased, this model became ineffective in that there was inadequate leadership and a large lack of accountability on part of policing officers, administrations, and agencies (Roberg et al, 2002).

However, the reform model, which came next, was a bureaucratic model that focused on standards and organization. The plus side is that politics no longer played a large role in policing systems, however police strictly became reactive and not proactive – they reacted to crime, not prevented it from happening. The reform model also put up dividers between the community and the police. It became an us versus them situation (Roberg et al, 2002).

The reform model gave way to the service model after the community feedback showed that they felt police were corrupt and ineffective. This model focused on policy development, accountability, discretion, selection, training, and team policing. The police at this time were focusing on becoming more community oriented and working toward becoming more responsible (Roberg et al, 2002).

The latest policing model is the community-policing model. This has been prevalent since the 1980's. The main focal point of this model is strategy – “how the police should be evaluated, the impact of increased research on the police, how to manage police resources more strategically, how to improve relations with minority groups, and the role of community in responding to crime” (Roberg et al, 2002). Community-policing strives to work with the community in preventing crime through education, mediation, providing assistance, and strives to have a trusting relationship with the community. This model is the current model in place, however even it is slowly evolving as new ideas and principles are developed.

Management Principles Presented by Vito and Vito

In the film and book Moneyball, Beane, the owner of the Oakland A's baseball team, reevaluated the entire game of baseball using statical and empirical evidence to select players. He created a formula for the game and revolutionized the way baseball is played through his management techniques. There are several principles Beane employed that can be utilized by police department administrators to better manage and properly utilize the resources within a department (Vito & Vito, 2012).

Data Analysis, Statistics, and Empirical Evidence

One of Beane's main points was analyzing the game. He reviewed current practices in baseball and where emphasis was being put. He reevaluated the importance of different tenants and facets of the game and removed the emphasis on, say batting averages, and reapplied emphasis on walks and and generally just getting on a base (Vito & Vito, 2012).

This can be utilized in policing agencies. Through data analysis, departments and agencies can collect and analyze data to see areas where emphasis needs to be taken away and applied elsewhere.

In social sciences, such as criminal justice, researchers need to answer two main questions – “how do social arrangements affect the human condition and how do individuals influence these social arrangements?” (Sweet & Grace-Martin, 2012). This is similar to what Beane was doing when he was reevaluating the entire game of baseball. He asked these types of research questions and in that maintained value neutrality. He was not interested in proving old, tried methods. He wanted to explore all the different factors that go into the game and then, reevaluate emphasis.

This is similar to what social scientist do when collecting data on issues related to criminal justice. Social scientists use the scientific method to create a hypothesis and test it. They set dependent and independent variables, run the data, and record their findings. They test whether or not the data is relevant and non-spurious through significance testing. When all is said and done, the social scientist presents their findings and applications (Sweet & Grace-Martin, 2012).

When dealing with criminal justice data, for instance, if a researcher discovers that poverty is directly linked with robberies and violent crimes, an administrator would assign officers who had special training or experience in these types of fields to impoverished areas in their jurisdiction to investigate crime. As mentioned by Vito and Vito in an excerpt from from one of the papers they received “Statistics are used to determine locations of crimes, types of crimes and frequency of crimes, as well as determining the points at which most traffic accidents occur. Upon examining these statistics, the police manager can better allocate officers to the high crime and accident areas based on the data from these statistics, thus making the department a more efficient service provider” (Vito & Vito, 2012).

For instance, take CompStat, which is a system that allows for the collecting and interpreting of data which allows policing agencies to “map” out crime. It can be summed as a system to “Collect, analyze, and map crime data and other essential police performance measures on a regular basis, and hold police managers accountable for their performance as measured by these data.” This type of principle has already been utilized in policing agencies in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Austin (DiLorenzi et al, 2006).

Simply, if the data is valid and relevant, then utilize it to the agency's best interest. Beane did this and it brought his team out of the pits.

Innovation

One of the biggest hurdles to innovation is suspicion and recalcitrance among the agency's staff. Beane's single biggest contribution to baseball was touted by scouts, other teams, managers, etc. He had to demonstrate that his method was effective by the application of his findings. Beane was described as an innovation champion and “fundamentally different and iconoclastic view of the

game, one that is actually built on a statistical foundation of what actually works” (Vito & Vito, 2012).

Police agencies are similar. Organizational change can cause commotion within the department. Agency staff can be afflicted with inertia. Many officers will have sunk costs – these are personal investments made by the officers into their routines that affect their experience and time management. The old adage “you can't teach an old dog new tricks” comes into play. Older, more seasoned officers who have high sunk costs are often suspicious and resistant to change (Roberg et al, 2002).

However, with new types of training like FTO and a shift in focus toward community oriented policing have left these officers in a spin. This is where effective management principles come into play. Like in Beane's situation, there were many who were resistant to his new model, however with the right training and timing, many other baseball teams began to utilize his methodology and as with his disciple becoming the manager for the Boston Red Sox, who led the team to win their first World Series since 1918 (Vito & Vito, 2012).

More for Less

One of the major concepts Beane propagated was getting more for less. Having a smaller team and a smaller budget, he properly utilized his resources to build his team up. He replaced more expensive players who were known for their batting average with with players who had less expensive contracts and still could get on a base as well as the more expensive players with higher batting averages (Vito & Vito, 2012).

Police departments have similar budgetary concerns. Law enforcement agency managers and administration understand they have a limit of what they can spend on certain things and have to properly allocate their resources accordingly – and this is not just in terms of money. Resources include personnel, both sworn and civilian, patrol cars, equipment, etc. The purpose of a policing agency is to prevent crime and to achieve this goal, the proper resources must go to the proper places. Using a situational approach, for instance, means that the policing agency must make it more difficult to commit a crime and reducing the reward for the person who was planning to perpetrate the crime. This can be done by increasing police presence, however with increased police presence in a specific area would mean taking away from another area or expending more on new officers (selection, training, equipment, etc).

Another large area that police spend money is through civil liabilities. For instance, the payout amount of an average city is $118,698 – this figure includes attorney's fees as well. If a case reaches the court of appeals, the payout is higher; the payout ranging from $1 to $7.5 million in 27 cases that were examined. In these cases attorney's fees averaged $65,898. On a city by city basis, New York City has the highest payout of $964 million between the years of 2004 through 2010. Los Angeles comes in second with $190 million. Over a four year span, Detroit has paid out $45 million between 2001 through 2004; this is nearly $4,000 per officer. Cicero, Illinois paid out $1.1 million for only three suits – two sexual harassment and one excessive force. Even if a plaintiff does not prevail, the department must still pay legal fees. Some departments have entire legal divisions just to handle liability issues (Ross, 2013).

However many of these issues can be obviated with proper training. To train an officer is much less, on average, than a payout. Failure to train, actually, represents the majority of supervisory liability issues, respondeat superior. Departments who train their officers to avoid payouts utilize the loss prevention and loss reduction control strategy (Ross, 2013).

Another risk control strategy that fits into Beane's baseball principles is Segregation of Resources. By properly utilizing and managing his resources, including money and players, he was able to minimize losses. Similar to that, policing agencies will often segregate their resources by keeping back up vehicles, spare equipment, and cross-training officers (Ross, 2013) (Vito & Vito, 2012).

Management Principles Presented by Blanchard and Johnson

Blanchard and Johnson present an interesting and simplistic view of management principles. The gist of their story is that the young man had been encountering nothing but overly tough managers who had results, but did not treat their employees accordingly and managers who were very lenient with their employees, but garnered no results. These two management principles are autocratic and democratic respectively. In the young man's search, he comes upon the One Minute Manager, who embodies both types of management principles and adds his own spin (Blanchard and Johnson, 2012).

One Minute Goal Setting

One of the One Minute Manager's tactics was to set goals. However, this is not the traditional way of setting goals. The main guidelines on goal setting –

1. “Agree on your goals”
2. “See what good behavior looks like”
3. “Write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words”
4. “Read and re-read each goals, which only requires a minute or so each time you do it”
5. “Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance”
6. “See whether or not your behavior matches your goal” (Blanchard & Johnson, 2012).

With this managerial principle, the main objective is to set a goal and stick to it. However, the goal setting is in the hands of the employee. The employee ensures they are the ones meeting the goal and do not require much intervention, aside from the “Praising” and the “Reprimand”. By the manager and the employee agreeing on the goals, and the goals being written succinctly, there is no question about what is and is not the employee's job (Blanchard & Johnson, 2012)

This principle can be applied to police management in that goals are set forth and agreed upon by management and the employee. The officer is aware of their duties and what they should not be doing. The goals are concise and there is no extraneous fluff – it is very simple and straight forward, but not vague.

One Minute Praising

Like the One Minute Goal setting, the one minute praising follows similar guidelines. It is simplistic and succinct:

1. “Tell people right from the start that you are going to let them know how they are doing”
2. “Praise people immediately”
3. “Tell people what they did right – be specific”
4. “Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization and other people who work there.”
5. “Stop for a moment of silence to let them 'feel' how good you feel.”
6. “Encourage them do do more of the same”
7. “Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear you support their success in the organization”

This type of management tactic does several thing. In the story, the young man is shocked that the One Minute Manager was watching his employees to check for things they do that are right. This is important in several ways. For one, the employee knows that the manager is there. They are not being left alone to just swim around, and if they make one wrong move, the manager, like a shark, will be there to discipline. Secondly, it creates a working relationship between manager and employee that is not antagonistic – not an us versus them scenario. Thirdly, it lets the employee know the manager actually cares about their success, and they are not just a drone in the hive.

This, too, can be applied to law enforcement agencies. Essentially it is positive reinforcement. Whenever an officer arrests a convicted rapist or solves a case, they should be commended. This encourages the correct behaviors. Also, it lets the officer know that management is watching them and it creates a working relationship between the officer and the manager.

One Minute Reprimand

The One Minute Reprimand is similar to the other principles put forth by Blanchard and Johnson. The One Minute Reprimand is just that – disciplinary action for wrongdoing. However, the One Minute approach is different than many other approaches in discipline:

1. “Tell epople beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing in no uncertain terms”
2. “Reprimand people immediately”
3. “Tell people what they did wrong – be specific”
4. “Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong – and in no uncertain terms”
5. “Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel”
6. “Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side.”
7. “Remind them how much you value them”
8. “Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation”
9. “Realize that when the reprimand is over, it's over” (Blanchard & Johnson, 2012)

This approach to reprimanding an employee is different from traditional reprimands in several ways. First, it is succinct and concise. There is no venting or haranguing. It follows the principle of KISS – keep it short and sweet. Another point is that it does not demean a an employee or make them feel worthless. It is not a shaming tactic. It is a means to correct an incident where the employee's behavior or work was problematic. A great part of the One Minute Reprimand is that it is done immediately. There is no build up and no list of wrongdoings. It does put the employee on the spot, however it is quick and exacting.

This is a great tool for policing agencies as well. However because of the nature of police work and how seriously something could go wrong, the principle needs to be modified. Some issues of misconduct require more than a One Minute Reprimand. Some officers who commit certain serious offenses face suspension, termination, or even imprisonment. On minor work issues, this method would suffice, but for more serious issues, this method would prove to be inadequate.

Management Principles Presented by Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak

Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak's text focuses strictly on principles surrounding policing. Because policing is a unique field with higher risks than say a contractor or a bank, there are more complex issues especially considering that police are given the ability to take an individual's freedom away and use deadly force when permitted. The authors list many different principles, however only a few major areas will be discussed.

Management Styles and Guidelines

When discussing managerial styles, Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak often refer to leadership roles. Leadership is defined as “the art of inducing compliance, a form of persuasion, the exercise of influence, a power relationship, and an instrument of goal achievement.” In essence, a leader will influence the people in their group to achieve a common goal through the use of influence, authority, and power (Roberg et al, 2002).

In this position, a leader adopt different styles to manage their underlings. For instance, a leader whose style falls under trait theories will generally embody qualities such as integrity, effectiveness, awareness, openness, and will be a role model to the other members of the group. These qualities will be ingrained within the leader. When strictly dealing with law enforcement agencies, a leader with a trait theories style will “maintain morale; develop subordinates so they will be effective team members; be able to relate to the community; organize personnel and maintain effective review and control of operations, communicate effectively; and establish priorities and objectives” (Roberg et al, 2002). In sum, this type of leader would be a paragon – someone who is able to effectively balance obligations and the “human element” in a group.

Another style leaders may employ is directly related to their own behavior. The leader can be an authoritarian manager, who runs the show; a democratic manager, encouraging participation on part of the employees; and a laissez-faire manager, who provides little to no directions and lets the employees run the show. Essentially, this is a power balance between the manager/leader and the employees. Other types of behavioral theories include the transactional and transformational leader. The transactional leader will bargain with employees – performance equals reward. A transformational leader will garner group support and direct them toward a common goal or achievement (Roberg et al, 2002).

When discussing leadership roles and styles and applying it to law enforcement agencies, there are four management styles prevalent. First is the traditional supervisors who are task oriented and will be aggressive. These types of supervisors are like the autocratic leaders in that they rarely involve employee feedback and are more likely to take over a project and punish an employee for wrongdoing (Roberg et al, 2002). The second is the innovative supervisor, whose focal points involve being community oriented and building relationships. These managers are more accepting of change and will cultivate problem-solving skills in employees. Third is the supportive supervisor who is relationship oriented and tries to cultivate a working relationship between upper management and the employee. They act as a buffer between the two. They try to motivate employees and encourage creativity and teamwork. The last management style mentioned is the active supervisor who, like the traditional supervisor, will take over a project, however they involve their employees more in decisions and are receptive to their feedback (Roberg et al, 2002).

However, despite the varying types of management styles, an effective manager will employ a blending of the different styles depending on the situations needed. Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak outlined several principles that effective managers at companies like FedEx and Levi Strauss follow:

• “Charisma and courage” – can motivate an employee while inspiring trust. This principle states that a manager must transmit excitement about the goal/mission of the organization. Be a paragon of integrity and stand up for what they believes is right.
• “Individual Consideration” – value each member of the team as important. As a manager, coach and provide feedback to employees as well as being respectful and supportive.
• “Communication” – ensure communication between is clear in that employees understand their goals and duties. Also, provide both negative and positive feedback.
• “Empowerment” – Encourage employees to solve problems closest to them within the organization and delegate tasks to them to show they are trusted and valued.
• “Flexibility” – the ability to conform to change, and not overreact when multiple issues are presented. However, stay calm, focused, and stable during said change.
• “Integrity” – responsible, ethical, honest. Embodies ethical and moral standards, while being competent and productive (Roberg et al, 2002).

In sum, to have an effective and productive management style, a manager must employ several different styles, be flexible and organic, depending on the situation. However, while utilizing different styles, the manager must stick to a set of principles.

Control and Accountability

All managers need to be accountable for their actions. Even though police have an important role in society, as mentioned above, they are still accountable to the community and the government. Because of this accountability, this should be a deterrent for misconduct, however issues are still prevalent. However, through control, a manager can still maintain accountability, while ensuring their employees still perform and meet goals without issue.

A large part of being a manager is to be able to maintain control of a situation and be accountable for the outcomes of said situation. There are several mechanisms for managers to maintain control of a situation – preliminary controls, where a manager attempts to obviate a problem; concurrent controls, taking control in the here and now; and postaction controls, which involves taking control of the aftereffects of a situation. In a police agency, a manager would do this by utilizing written reports, audits, time related charts, and objectives (Roberg et al, 2002).

Managers can also use internal administrative controls. This includes utilizing early warning systems to detect problematic officers who seem to have had more issues than the norm. Another means of control is through employee assessments/audits. This allows managers to see which officers are meeting different goals and which ones are struggling. An assessment allows managers to assess the productivity of an officer by asking questions such as “the career aspirations of each officer?”, “the officer's assignment relative to the opportunity to make arrests?”, “officer indifference or incompetency?” and “supervision and management?”. If an officer is shown to be falling short, the manager can utilize control to respond to the employee formally or informally. A formal response generally involves training or counseling. An informal response can be something like reassigning an officer to a different position.

Overall, in a police agency, which is a unique environment separate from other employers because the nature of the work, different control tactics must be implemented depending on the situation and the style of management.

Motivation

It has been stated that a manager needs to be able to effectively motivate employees. Motivation in general deals with “the direction of behavior, the strength of the effort put forth once an individual chooses to follow a course of action, and the persistence of the behavior” (Roberg et al). Generally, motivation is tied to behavior. If a person is motivated to perform a task, how they perform the task (speed, accuracy) determines how motivated they are. Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak express motivation as a formula: Performance = f (ability x motivation)

There are other theories and models that explain motivation as well. For instance, the need hierarchy theory puts human requirements into a hierarchy with basic needs, such as physiological and safety needs bottom, and social and esteem needs at the top, with the tip being self actualization, or the realization of potential and worth. These needs are classed as higher level and lower level needs (Roberg et al, 2002).

Another theory is the Two-Factor Theory which states that there are two separate needs – satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Satisfiers are known as motivating factors that includechievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and growth. While, dissatisfiers are called hygiene factors and include policy, salary, working conditions, and supervision. In connection to the needs hierarchy, hygiene factors are analogous to lower level needs and satisfiers to higher level needs.

For a manager, to properly motivate their employees they need to be able to identify hygiene factors/lower level needs and satisfiers/higher level needs and utilize those to their advantage to motivate an employee. In policing, this can be done something as simple as a reassignment or new equipment to bonuses and awards (Roberg et al, 2002).

General Comparison and Contrast of the Three Management Styles

The three management styles presented by the three different texts all have a great deal in common, but there are also some large differences.

Comparison

The styles presented by Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak are similar to the style described by Blanchard and Johnson. They are both employee focused. The both express the idea that a relationship built on trust and fairness need to be built between the manager and the employee. They both also focus on motivation. Where Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak focus on what it takes to motivate a person and discuss minute details, Blanchard and Johnson take a more simplistic approach – praise an employee when they have done something right, and reprimand them when they have done something wrong. Having this praise or reprimand, especially the delivery, should suffice in motivating an employee, according to Blanchard and Johnson, however Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak focus on the employees needs; if their needs are met, they will be motivated. They also take a scientific approach and propose a formula for motivation.

Another large similarity between the styles presented by Roberg, Kuykendall and Novak as well as Blanchard and Johnson is worth. Both sets of authors strive to describe how managers should reinforce the worthiness of an employee. For instance, in Blanchard and Johnson's text, they explicitly state in the reprimand that to have an effective One Minute Reprimand, the manager must reinforce the worth of the employee. This is also evident in the One Minute Praise. Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak suggest something similar in the value of feedback and managerial styles that allow for employees to voice their opinions and give feedback to managers. Also, they show that by delegating tasks to employees, it reinforces the trust and relationship between the manager and the employee.

One thing all three texts share in common is the goal of innovation. For instance, in the Blanchard and Johnson text, by setting goals, it encourages innovation. It allows employees to work to those goals and set new goals. These goals allow the organization to change according to what is occurring at the time. Similar with the Vito and Vito text, where innovation is the crux of the text. Beane created a new way of playing baseball by implementing strategies that he used empirical evidence to formulate. Similarly, the Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak text discuss a move more toward community-based policing. This includes performing research and data analysis to scientifically determine how policing should be conducted, especially when considering CompStat.

Lastly, the Vito and Vito text and the Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak text share a similarity in that both discuss resources. One of Vito and Vito's main points was getting less for more. With budgetary constraints, they wanted to test to see if they could use the Moneyball approach to better allocate resources. Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak also discuss allocation of resources including officers, equipment, cars, funds, training, etc.

Contrast

The biggest difference between the principles is that the Blanchard and Johnson style stands apart in its simplicity. It is almost a skeleton, or a foundation for other managerial styles. Mostly it only addresses interactions between managers and employees. It does not address other managerial issues like resources, risk management, liabilities, etc.

Also, the Roberg, Kuykendall, Novak text is the only one to cover methods of control, which being in a position of authority, managers must utilize. However, the Roberg, Kuykendall, and Novak text is much more expansive in discussing managerial styles and also has a greater length.

Conclusion

Overall, there are several overarching factors involved in management styles and principles – building a trusting relationship, creating a productive environment by proper motivation, effectively addressing problematic behaviors, properly allocating resources, and utilizing employee feedback in a manner that will benefit the agency as a whole. With law enforcement agencies increasing their usage of scientific principles and novel management styles, management strives to make the workplace and employees more effective and productive.

Works Cited

Blanchard, K., & Johnson, S. (2013). The one minute manager. London, England: Harper Collins Publishers.

DiLorenzi, D., Shane, J., & Amendola, K. (2006, September). the compstat process: Managing performance on the pathway to leadership. Police Chief Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=998&issue_id=92006

Roberg, R., Kuykendall, J., & Novak, K. (2002). Police Management. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing Company

Ross, D. (2013).Civil liability in criminal justice (6th ed). Waltham, MA: Anderson Publishing.

Sweet, S., & Grace-Martin, K. (2012). Data analysis with spss. (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Vito, A., & Vito, G. (2012). Lessons for policing from moneyball: The views of police managers. Southern Criminal Justice Association, 38, 236–244. doi: 10.1007/s12103-012-9171-5