The fast‐expanding Benson Group plc announce two new acquisitions — one of which complements their extensive heating manufacturing activities.
Examining the techniques of a management consulting firm comprising actors, directors, producers, writers, musicians and other artists, the article reveals through several case…
Abstract
Purpose
Examining the techniques of a management consulting firm comprising actors, directors, producers, writers, musicians and other artists, the article reveals through several case studies how a company of avant‐garde artists has turned the lack of conventional business training from a competitive disadvantage to a unique benefit.
Design/methodology/approach
The article opens with a brief overview of the company, Learning Worlds, and its historical evolution from the Gertrude Stein Repertory Theater. From interviews with clients and several case studies, the article proposes three qualities through which Learning Worlds has demonstrated its value to global corporate enterprises developing sophisticated business products. These qualities are those of communication, differentiation and the perspective of “outsider” minds. The qualities are described and the part they have played in engagements with clients is demonstrated in three case studies, with Kepner‐Tregoe, LexisNexis, and Microsoft.
Findings
Arts training increases sensitivity to audiences, and improves facility with aesthetic impact, stories and drama. The avant‐garde impulse encourages organizations to look beyond the usual solutions and habitually search for difference. And an “outsider mind” sees through assumptions and around organizational barriers to discover new paths to success. Learning Worlds' success with clients is based on a willingness to grasp business issues, but hold onto the arts advantage.
Originality/value
By detailing qualities uniquely developed by artists and demonstrating how their expert application has led to success in particular situations, the article demonstrates the value of occasionally stepping outside determined best practice to try a different set of strategies for reaching winning solutions.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide findings of an exploratory study of Special Agents in Charge (SACs) in a variety of federal law enforcement agencies and presents summary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide findings of an exploratory study of Special Agents in Charge (SACs) in a variety of federal law enforcement agencies and presents summary descriptions, including demographics and career paths of female agents.
Design/methodology/approach
Incumbent SACs, reached with assistance from law enforcement organizations and through snowball techniques, anonymously completed questionnaires that were mailed to each individually. This methodology provided a snapshot in time of the first generation of women to have reached the rank of SAC.
Findings
The findings suggest that women are moving up the ranks of federal agencies even while their overall percentages of employment have become somewhat static. Regardless of type or size of federal agency, there are a number of common career paths and the ages and racial demographics of the women are also similar across agencies.
Practical implications
As federal agency recruitment of women seems to have stagnated, a portrait of women who have reached middle management may provide insight into the obstacles women face in these agencies and also into how some women have overcome these obstacles.
Originality/value
The findings are derived from the first ever study of women SACs. In addition to providing a snapshot of incumbent women, it will provide baseline data for later studies of future generations of women who move up in the ranks of federal law enforcement.
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Eugene A. Paoline and John J. Sloan
Descriptive analyses of campus police agencies reveal that agencies’ tactical and operational features are similar to those found in municipal agencies. The problem is that none…
Abstract
Descriptive analyses of campus police agencies reveal that agencies’ tactical and operational features are similar to those found in municipal agencies. The problem is that none of these studies have examined, using multivariate models, the structural characteristics of these organizations. Using LEMAS data collected in 1995, this study answered two main questions: what are the organizational characteristics of campus police agencies; and what factors, both internal and external, explain variation in the structural dimensions of the agencies. The results indicated that campus police agencies possess the same structural characteristics of municipal police agencies identified by 40 years of police organizational research, and internal agency characteristics were most important in explaining variation in the organizations’ structural dimensions. The degree to which campus agencies have adopted organizational structures that are similar to those of municipal police is discussed and framed within an institutional perspective.
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John Shjarback, Scott Decker, Jeff J. Rojek and Rod K. Brunson
Increasing minority representation in law enforcement has long been viewed as a primary means to improve police-citizen relations. The recommendation to diversify police…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasing minority representation in law enforcement has long been viewed as a primary means to improve police-citizen relations. The recommendation to diversify police departments was endorsed by the Kerner Commission and, most recently, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. While these recommendations make intuitive sense, little scholarly attention has examined whether greater levels of minority representation translate into positive police-community relations. The purpose of this paper is to use the representative bureaucracy and minority threat frameworks to assess the impact of the racial/ethnic composition of both police departments and municipalities on disparities in traffic stops.
Design/methodology/approach
A series of ordinary least squares regression analyses are tested using a sample of more than 150 local police agencies from Illinois and Missouri.
Findings
Higher levels of departmental representativeness are not associated with fewer racial/ethnic disparities in stops. Instead, the racial/ethnic composition of municipalities is more predictive of racial patterns of traffic stops.
Originality/value
This study provides one of the few investigations of representative bureaucracy in law enforcement using individual departments as the unit of analysis. It examines Hispanic as well as black disparities in traffic stops, employing a more representative sample of different size agencies.
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Nicholas Michael Perez, Max Bromley and John Cochran
The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the environment in which law enforcement officers operate is a main source of their job satisfaction, which is related to their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the environment in which law enforcement officers operate is a main source of their job satisfaction, which is related to their overall work performance. In this line of research, a recent study by Johnson (2015) examined the organizational, job, and officer characteristics that may predict a police officer’s organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study replicates and extends the analyses performed in that study using an alternative data source to understand the influence of these measures on sheriff deputies’ organizational commitment during their organization’s shift to community-oriented policing.
Findings
Our results, while similar to those of Johnson (2015), revealed some unique findings. For example, in the current analyses, several organizational- and job- factors were significantly associated with deputies’ commitment to the sheriffs’ office. Specifically, deputies who report receiving higher supervisor feedback, higher peer cohesion, higher job variety and autonomy, and lower job-related stress were more highly committed to their law enforcement agency.
Practical implications
Key implications emerge for police administrators aspiring to influence employee organizational commitment during major agency shifts.
Originality/value
Overall, the present paper largely supports and progresses the findings of Johnson (2015) by extending them to sheriffs’ deputies, who are still largely underrepresented in policing research, and to an agency undergoing a dramatic organizational change. As such, the present study represents an important next step in understanding the factors that influence organizational commitment in law enforcement organizations.
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Samantha M. Riedy, Desta Fekedulegn, Bryan Vila, Michael Andrew and John M. Violanti
To characterize changes in work hours across a career in law enforcement.
Abstract
Purpose
To characterize changes in work hours across a career in law enforcement.
Design/methodology/approach
N = 113 police officers enrolled in the BCOPS cohort were studied. The police officers started their careers in law enforcement between 1994 and 2001 at a mid-sized, unionized police department in northwestern New York and continued to work at this police department for at least 15 years. Day-by-day work history records were obtained from the payroll department. Work hours, leave hours and other pay types were summarized for each calendar year across their first 15 years of employment. Linear mixed-effects models with a random intercept over subject were used to determine if there were significant changes in pay types over time.
Findings
A total of 1,617 individual-years of data were analyzed. As the police officers gained seniority at the department, they worked fewer hours and fewer night shifts. Total paid hours did not significantly change due to seniority-based increases in vacation time. Night shift work was increasingly in the form of overtime as officers gained seniority. Overtime was more prevalent at the beginning of a career and after a promotion from police officer to detective.
Originality/value
Shiftwork and long work hours have negative effects on sleep and increase the likelihood of on-duty fatigue and performance impairment. The results suggest that there are different points within a career in law enforcement where issues surrounding shiftwork and long work hours may be more prevalent. This has important implications for predicting fatigue, developing effective countermeasures and measuring fatigue-related costs.
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Conducts a pilot study on excessive fatigue in patrol officers of high crime rate areas, using data collected by 53 telephone esquires. Compares police overtime to that considered…
Abstract
Conducts a pilot study on excessive fatigue in patrol officers of high crime rate areas, using data collected by 53 telephone esquires. Compares police overtime to that considered acceptable in other professions where public safety is implicated and finds that police receive unfavorable treatment. Considers the vulnerability of police to the effects of fatigue and the potential costs of fatigue on cognitive performance, misconduct, health and safety. Remarks that police are culturally constrained to accept fatigue; that managers depend on overtime to cope with fluctuating demands and to operate within economic limits; that police are obliged to spend lengthy hours in court; that officers can become dependent on overtime pay. Suggests inter alia that community policing will help in avoiding “exhausted crusaders”. Advocates use of self‐regulation, peer monitoring and health care, use of improved technology, modifying work schedules, limiting exposure to high crime and considering reforms to civil liability.
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Prior research established several important influences on the representation of women in policing, using a variety of secondary and primary data. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior research established several important influences on the representation of women in policing, using a variety of secondary and primary data. The purpose of this paper is to examine how experimental manipulation of online recruitment materials impacts potential applicants.
Design/methodology/approach
The study relied on a census of 11 criminal justice courses taught at a public university, asking students to respond to an experimental vignette instrument (n=174). The 3×2 experimental vignette involved manipulation of two variables: the identification of recruits with diversity language (“individuals,” “women and men” or “a diverse group of individuals”) and mention or absence of discussion of physical fitness requirements.
Findings
Results largely run counter to prior research concerning women in policing, with women actually indicating increased probability of providing their contact information when encountering vignettes with physical fitness requirements.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates that small manipulations of recruitment content can have significant and gendered impact on potential applicants. This paper provides a foundation for empirical study of how changes in online recruitment materials impact a variety of relevant outcomes relating to applicant behaviors.