Targeting Discretion: An Exploration of Organisational Communication between Rank Levels in a Medium-Sized Southern US Police Department

Abstract

As part of an ongoing research agenda exploring police discretion and accountability, I devised a diagnostic tool, the target model of discretion, aimed at comparing the discretionary priorities of top managers with the priorities of frontline workers. To test the efficacy of the target model as an organisation development tool, I conducted an analysis of intraorganisational communication between frontline officers and command staff members in a medium-sized Southern municipal police organisation. Specifically, top managers and frontline officers were asked to rate the amount of influence each of eight variables had on their use of discretion. This study is premised on the notion that effective communication within an agency would lead to reasonable similarities between the responses of those at the top and bottom of the organisation's hierarchy. The opposite proposition is also assumed. That is, in organisations with poor communication between levels, one would expect to see statistically significant differences in the responses of frontline officers and command staff members. I present my findings and recommendations for the case at hand. I conclude by discussing the potential utility of the target model for organisation development in other public sector organisations.

Leadership Styles and Work Climate of Police Stations in Davao City, Philippines

“…Work-climate has historical roots in Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management movement where the goal of Taylor was to have managers design work processes so that employees could perform in a climate conducive to greater productivity (Cooil, Aksoy, Keiningham, & Maryott, 2009). We learn work-climate is central to the social context of an organization (Glisson, 2007).…”

Police culture: An empirical appraisal of the phenomenon

“…Subsequently, police officers have great discretionary power because they work in an autonomous environment (Bittner, 1974; Worden, 1989) and flexibility of interpreting ambiguous and vague rules (LaFrance and Day, 2013). Even though police officers work in an autonomous work environment, it is argued that police officers’ discretion is constrained by organizational and other environmental factors (Goldstein, 1977; LaFrance, 2011). LaFrance (2011) argues that when there is good communication between police officers and managers, police officers and managers respond to these constraints in a similar way.…”

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