Christopher Harris and Sean Perry
This study aims to obtain information regarding the personnel, policies and practices of Internal Affairs (IA) units in large, municipal, US police departments.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to obtain information regarding the personnel, policies and practices of Internal Affairs (IA) units in large, municipal, US police departments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors administered an 85-question survey to 436 departments that employed 100 or more full-time sworn officers in 2019 to inquire about their IA units, and 198 (45.4%) responded.
Findings
The authors find considerable variation in terms of the organization and management of IA units, frame policy findings in terms of IA’s best practices specified by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and find variation in adherence to these practices as well; some policies and practices are almost universally adopted, while others are much less frequently followed or even go against best practices.
Originality/value
There has only been a single study conducted of IA units and that is over three decades old. This study provides a much-needed expansion and update regarding the form and function of IA units in the US.
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Christopher M. Harris, Lee W. Brown and Marshall W. Pattie
This study examines how managers' human capital, time spent with employees and employees' human capital can influence employees' career advancement. While research tends to find a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how managers' human capital, time spent with employees and employees' human capital can influence employees' career advancement. While research tends to find a positive relationship between human capital and career advancement, less attention is paid the effect of managers' human capital on employee careers. A combination of human capital and social capital theories is used to develop hypotheses.
Design/methodology/approach
A five-year sample of American football players selected in the National Football League (NFL) draft is used to test the hypotheses. Archival data for human capital, social capital and career success measures are used, and OLS regression analyses test the hypotheses.
Findings
The authors find employees with higher levels of human capital experience greater career advancement. Managers' human capital moderates this relationship and the length of time worked together by the employee–manager dyad. The relationship between employees' human capital and career advancement is strengthened when managers have high levels of human capital.
Practical implications
The results of this study indicate that individuals with higher levels of human capital and social capital have greater career success. When individuals have higher levels of human capital it is important for them to determine how long they should work for a particular manager before advancing in their careers. Individuals with higher levels of human capital may need lees time working for a manager than those with lower levels of human capital before advancing in their careers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to careers and human resource management research by examining the moderating impact that manager human capital and time employees spend with a manager have on the relationship between employee human capital and employee career advancement.
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Christopher M. Harris and Lee W. Brown
The human capital of a leader and the human capital of the employees who work for the leader can impact the bonus earned by the leader. Little to no research has examined data…
Abstract
Purpose
The human capital of a leader and the human capital of the employees who work for the leader can impact the bonus earned by the leader. Little to no research has examined data that includes the maximum potential bonus that could be earned by a leader and the actual bonus earned. This information provides a closer examination of leader performance and the impacts of leader and employee human capital on the bonus earned by the leader.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a sample of NCAA college football teams and head coaches over two years to test their hypotheses. They measure the human capital of the team and the human capital of the head coach. In addition, the authors assess the percentage earned by the head coach of the maximum potential bonus possible.
Findings
The authors find that a coach's human capital and the human capital of their team positively and significantly predict the percentage of the maximum possible bonus earned by the head coach.
Practical implications
The results of this study indicate the importance of leader human capital to a leader's ability to earn more of their maximum potential bonus. Additionally, if a leader is able to surround himself or herself with highly talented employees, it will benefit the leader in terms of the amount of bonus earned.
Originality/value
This study extends previous research to provide a more complete picture of factors that influence a leader's ability to earn more of their maximum possible bonus. The authors’ findings that both the human capital of the leader and the human capital of employees who work for the leader impact the amount of bonus earned by the leader add value to human resource management research. Specifically, when examining factors that impact a leader's bonus earnings, it is important to consider not only characteristics of the leader but also factors apart from the leader, such as the leader's employees.
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Christopher M. Harris and Lee Warren Brown
While research has shown that multiple actors, both internal and external to the organization, influence performance, oftentimes, these actors are studied in isolation. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
While research has shown that multiple actors, both internal and external to the organization, influence performance, oftentimes, these actors are studied in isolation. This paper aims to examine the performance implications of both top management team (TMT) and chief executive officer (CEO) human capital. In addition, the authors consider external actors' influence on performance by examining corporate political activity (CPA).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a sample of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football teams, examining human capital data on the head coaches and the assistant coaches, combined with the schools' participation in NCAA football committees.
Findings
The study findings indicate that organizations engage in various market and nonmarket strategies in concert, and that different strategies result in performance outcome differences. Specifically, we examine how the use of CEO and TMT human capital and CPA interact and influence performance.
Practical implications
The authors examine the moderating effects of political activity on the human capital–performance relationship for both top leaders and TMTs. Organizations benefit from investing in the human capital of their leaders internally and CPA externally.
Originality/value
While organizations engage in market and nonmarket actions in concert, management research has generally studied these concepts in isolation. This paper suggests that both market and nonmarket activities can influence performance.
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Christopher M. Harris, Lee Warren Brown and Mark B. Spence
This study examines factors that influence organizations’ choices of an internal human capital development strategy and an external human capital acquisition strategy. The human…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines factors that influence organizations’ choices of an internal human capital development strategy and an external human capital acquisition strategy. The human resource architecture indicates that organizations will use different human capital acquisition strategies. Following the resource-based view, human capital theory and the human resource architecture, we examine factors that impact the choices of different human capital acquisition strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
We examine these important human capital decisions in the context of Major League Soccer. Data to test the hypotheses were collected from a variety of publicly available sources. We tested the hypotheses with regression analyses.
Findings
We find that while organizations employ both internal and external human capital strategies, organizations may have one dominant human capital strategy and the other strategy may be used to supplement the human capital needs of organizations. Additionally, our results indicate that organizations with an older workforce tend to use an internal human capital development strategy, while higher performing organizations are less likely to use an internal human capital development strategy.
Originality/value
This study makes contributions by examining the choices between internal and external human capital strategies and factors that influence the choice of an internal or external human capital strategy.
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– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors which contribute to, or mitigate against, both the likelihood and timing of the onset of police misconduct.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors which contribute to, or mitigate against, both the likelihood and timing of the onset of police misconduct.
Design/methodology/approach
Research hypotheses were tested examining the first personnel complaint filed against officers, using both all complaints and only substantiated complaints, from data collected on a large cohort of officers followed over a substantial portion of their careers.
Findings
Black officers and those exhibiting poor academy performance were at an increased likelihood of onset when compared to white and Hispanic officers and those who did better in the academy, while having a college degree lowered this likelihood. Officers whose first complaints were filed by citizens, and officers working certain patrol zones had quicker onset times. Those officers whose first complaint was related to service, as well as officers with prior military service, had longer onset times.
Research limitations/implications
This study relies on personnel complaints to measure onset, was conducted in a very large police department, and does not include arrest data on officers over time.
Practical implications
Onset occurs early in officers’ careers. Some factors are consistent across complaint types, while others depend on whether all complaints or only substantiated complaints are used to measure onset, which suggests that future research should consider carefully which measure they employ.
Originality/value
This study employs a longitudinal data set which follows a cohort of officers from the start of their careers, and is thus ideal for exploring the onset of misconduct.
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The aim of this study is to investigate whether police problem behaviors decline over time as officers gain experience, or whether they rise again as officers approach or pass the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate whether police problem behaviors decline over time as officers gain experience, or whether they rise again as officers approach or pass the typical year of retirement.
Design/methodology/approach
Research hypotheses were tested examining mean citizen complaint rates by years of experience, for a cohort of officers for a 14‐year period at the aggregate level, and a semi‐parametric, group‐based approach at the individual level, to estimate developmental trajectories of officers who follow similar pathways over time.
Findings
While at the aggregate level rates of citizen complaints steadily decline between years 4 and 23, there were three trajectories underlying this aggregate pattern. These trajectories differed in terms of their magnitude, but all exhibit a general decline over time, except for the most problematic group. For this group, problem behaviors began to rise between years 16 and 23.
Research limitations/implications
This study relies on citizen complaints as the primary indicator, which can over‐ and under‐represent problem behavior, was done in a large agency, which may not be representative, and does not include information on geographic assignment or arrest productivity over time.
Practical implications
Research findings suggest that for the most problematic officers, problem behaviors may exhibit an increase near retirement.
Originality/value
This study employs a longitudinal data set, which can examine within‐officer change in problem behaviors over time.
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Nargis Islam, Nigel Harris and Christopher Eccleston
Assistive technology is a term used to describe any device ranging from simple equipment to complex technologies that can assist a person with a disability. The term is now…
Abstract
Assistive technology is a term used to describe any device ranging from simple equipment to complex technologies that can assist a person with a disability. The term is now applied to new technological devices to facilitate active rehabilitation as well as to equipment to enable a person to live with their condition. Current developments such as technology for stroke rehabilitation are rarely brought to the attention of health and social care practitioners, even though frontline staff will be at the forefront of implementation, and their views of the nature of devices and their appropriateness is pivotal. This paper describes some of the technologies being developed to assist the process and delivery of stroke rehabilitation, their potential benefits in practice and stakeholder perceptions of these new technologies.
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Richard Startup and Christopher C. Harris
Outlines some of the main issues in declining membership facing the Anglican Church in Wales including doctrine, clergy, laity, evangelism and variety in worship. Considers the…
Abstract
Outlines some of the main issues in declining membership facing the Anglican Church in Wales including doctrine, clergy, laity, evangelism and variety in worship. Considers the growth of charismatic churches and the success of those with stricter codes. Concludes that many look to the church for occasional offices such as birth, marriage and death but little else. Advocates an element of strictness in order that the individual can see a difference in belonging. Points to a growth in affluence bringing tolerance and respectability and a fall in the birth rate of potential adherents.
Robert E. Worden, Christopher Harris and Sarah J. McLean
– The purpose of this paper is to critique contemporary tools for assessing and managing the risk of police misconduct and suggest directions for their improvement.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critique contemporary tools for assessing and managing the risk of police misconduct and suggest directions for their improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on extant literature, synthesizing several lines of inquiry to summarize what the authors know about patterns of police misconduct, and what the authors know about assessing and managing police misconduct. Then the paper draws from the literature on offender risk assessment in criminal justice to draw lessons for assessing and managing the risk of police misconduct.
Findings
The authors found that there is good reason to believe that the tools used to assess the risk of misconduct make suboptimal predictions about officer performance because they rely on limited information of dubious value, but also that the predictive models on which the tools are based could be improved by better emulating procedures for assessing offenders’ risk of recidivism.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should examine cross-sectional and longitudinal patterns of misconduct and associations between risk-related outputs and enforcement activity, develop better measures of criterion variables, and evaluate the predictive accuracy of risk assessment tools.
Practical implications
Police managers should make better use of the information available to them, improve the quantity and quality of information if feasible, and cooperate in the necessary research.
Originality/value
This paper offers a new synthesis of extant research to demonstrate the limitations of contemporary provisions for assessing the risk of police misconduct, and potential avenues for useful research and improved practice.