The education of police executives has been a priority of criminal justice agencies for more than 40 years to address the need to professionalize law enforcement in America. Since…
Abstract
Purpose
The education of police executives has been a priority of criminal justice agencies for more than 40 years to address the need to professionalize law enforcement in America. Since the 1980s, programs for this purpose have existed, one of which is the California POST Command College. Command College is an academically oriented executive development program intended to “invest in the future” as its students – mid-career police managers – acquire the tools and skills necessary to be promoted to executive positions. This paper aims to answer the question, “Does the Command College achieve its intended goals?”
Design/methodology/approach
A survey instrument was used to obtain perspectives of recent graduates and of those who had graduated from the program more than four years before the survey. An assessment of the frequency of promotions to command and executive roles was completed, and an external academic assessment of the program’s curriculum was completed by a university.
Findings
Support for the program by graduates increased over time, graduates were promoted at a rate of three times higher than baseline averages for police managers and the program’s curriculum was vetted as being equivalent to graduate-level courses at the university level.
Research limitations/implications
As its value is validated through this assessment, others can learn how they might better prepare their police executives for the future. No similar law enforcement program has been similarly assessed, so others may also learn ways to ensure they are achieving their intended outcomes from this example. Given the differences in other law enforcement leadership programs in terms of student selection and specific goals, direct comparisons would be limited, both by the program differences and the research design used by others as they work to validate their success in meeting their goals.
Originality/value
Although law enforcement executive education has existed since 1935, and leadership training programs for the police since 1982, no research has been conducted to validate the outcomes and impact of such programs on the graduates of such programs and their agencies.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide an interview with Bob Garratt, author of The Fish Rots from the Head. Bob has consulted internationally for over 25 years on five of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an interview with Bob Garratt, author of The Fish Rots from the Head. Bob has consulted internationally for over 25 years on five of the six continents. He is known for his discreet work on corporate governance; board review and development; director mentoring; top team development; and strategic thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent interviewer.
Findings
Bob Garratt discusses his reasons for revising of his bestselling book, and how the role of the board needs to function within an organization, in order to get the best from the business and have long‐term success.
Practical implications
The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Social implications
The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that can have a broader social impact.
Originality/value
Bob comes from a background where organizational learning and development are underpinned by the rigor action learning and the blending of human behavior with the feedback mechanisms of cybernetics. Bob wrote the first book called The Learning Organization in 1986 and has experience working with large‐scale organizational changes in the engineering, financial services, defense electronics and non‐profit sectors as well as in government.
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The article considers the changes in the structure of the UK pub sector and the falling pattern of trade which occurred at the same time. This meant that the competition within…
Abstract
The article considers the changes in the structure of the UK pub sector and the falling pattern of trade which occurred at the same time. This meant that the competition within the industry is intense. The major pub‐owning companies enjoy many economies of scale over their independent rivals. These have been considered briefly. Many of the smaller outlets have responded by adapting their pubs to meet the varying requirements of their customers. The demand for pubs with smoke‐free air and the evidence that this will increase trade have been investigated. The threat of legislation has led the industry to establish a voluntary scheme. Reports on its effectiveness have been studied, and a small local study undertaken. It appears that the big companies are swifter than their smaller rivals at taking advantage of this market demand.
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It has long been recognised that one of the rights of owning shares in a company is to receive a written annual report on the current state of health of the company and its…
Abstract
It has long been recognised that one of the rights of owning shares in a company is to receive a written annual report on the current state of health of the company and its performance over the preceding 12 months. Should this same right extend to employees? Many would argue that it should because the employee unlike the shareholder is normally dependent entirely on one company's ability to survive and pay, amongst other items, wages and salaries. Also, in many cases, an employee has invested many years of his working life with one company and therefore has a substantial vested interest in the performance and future survival of the company.
The purpose of this paper is to draw on the philosophy of information, specifically the work of Luciano Floridi, to argue that digital civics must fully comprehend the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw on the philosophy of information, specifically the work of Luciano Floridi, to argue that digital civics must fully comprehend the implications of the digital environment, and consequently an informational ontology, to deliver to students an education that will prepare them for full participation as citizens in the infosphere.
Design/methodology/approach
Introducing this philosophy for use in education, the research discusses the ethical implications of ontological change in the digital age; informational organisms and their interconnectivity; and concepts of agency, both organic and artificial in digitally mediated civic interactions and civic education.
Findings
With the provision of a structural framework rooted in the philosophy of information, robust mechanisms for civics initiatives can be enacted.
Originality/value
The paper allows policy makers and practitioners to formulate healthy responses to digital age challenges in civics and civics education.
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Choice under risk has a large stochastic (unpredictable) component. This chapter examines five stochastic models for binary discrete choice under risk and how they combine with…
Abstract
Choice under risk has a large stochastic (unpredictable) component. This chapter examines five stochastic models for binary discrete choice under risk and how they combine with “structural” theories of choice under risk. Stochastic models are substantive theoretical hypotheses that are frequently testable in and of themselves, and also identifying restrictions for hypothesis tests, estimation and prediction. Econometric comparisons suggest that for the purpose of prediction (as opposed to explanation), choices of stochastic models may be far more consequential than choices of structures such as expected utility or rank-dependent utility.
Mads Bødker and David Browning
This chapter outlines opportunities for designing place-based or localized social media services and technologies for tourist settings. Following an exploration of how ephemeral…
Abstract
This chapter outlines opportunities for designing place-based or localized social media services and technologies for tourist settings. Following an exploration of how ephemeral, collaborative social networks emerge, consideration is given to understanding tourist places in terms of networking and socialization. In the field of information technology design, there are many examples of experimental mobile, location-based services that provide informational overplays for tourism sites and generally seem to merely replicate the functions of guidebooks or online information services. However, viewing the performance of tourism through a lens that emphasizes place-making as a social practice could inspire the innovation and design of new mobile social technologies to enrich tourist places and interactions.
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Russell Craig and Joel Amernic
The purpose of this paper is to examine autobiographical vignettes that are embedded in the annual report letters to shareholders of chief executive officers (CEOs). The aim is to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine autobiographical vignettes that are embedded in the annual report letters to shareholders of chief executive officers (CEOs). The aim is to reveal the capacity of this narrative to self-construct leader identity, show how they can help CEOs attain legitimacy and how they help CEOs to exert management control.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is positioned within literature that focuses on the importance of the annual report CEO letter and the strategic use of CEO autobiographical vignettes therein. Three autobiographical vignettes included in letters to shareholders signed by E. Hunter Harrison, CEO of Canadian National Railway (2004, 2005 and 2007), are analysed using close reading techniques. This involved the authors separately reading each vignette by slowing down the reading process to aid understanding of the text’s “inner workings”. Several close readings of each vignette were conducted until a consensus was reached between the authors.
Findings
Autobiographical vignettes have strong potential to be used strategically, as rhetorical devices, to help CEOs exert management control, facilitate change, shape leader-follower relationships and sustain self-legitimacy.
Originality/value
This paper is the first within the accounting domain to highlight the potential for autobiographical narrative in a CEO’s annual letter to shareholders to convey corporate information (including strategic intent), to construct leader identity and to exert management control.