Challenges Facing New South Wales Police Service: Management Solutions

Management challenges

Discuss about the Challenges Facing New South Wales Police Service.

The New South Wales police (NSW) is a government Organization and just like any other organization. In every organization, there are rules and regulations that govern it, and this is not an exemption for the New South Wales police as an organization. Every organization has a management, and it is the mandate or the responsibility of the management to take care of the organization for a better outcome. Management is a process of continued and related activities that involve achieving the organization's goals by working with human resource and other organizational resources. The NSW police Service requires better management or rather an improved  management system to ensure that both the division senior officers, detective officers and the general duty workers work in accordance with the NSW police service, Statement of Values and Code of Conduct and Ethics. The paper will explore the challenges facing the New South Wales Police Service by incorporating a management theory to determine the most effective solutions.

NSW Police Service has three identifiable management challenges that could easily affect the outcome of the organization as a whole. The first management challenge is; Organizing, this involves putting together the identified activities, ideas, and resources into action to achieve the organizational goals, the activities or tasks should be organized in a way that each individual's outputs contribute to the success of various departments, which in turn endow to success of a branch, and most importantly adds up to the organization’s success (Schermerhorn, 2011). According to the reform that was initiated in response to Wood Royal Commission into corruption in NSW Police Service that, the main activity was the use of cross-functional teams and the transference of democratic control mechanisms by dispersing the power that previously dominant divisions and individuals had acquired. This was a great idea for the seniors to call for an open forum to discuss the implemented changes within the NSW Police but it is the senior’s mandate to make sure that everyone participates and give out their opinion on how to approach and go about the implemented changes, but, this is contrary to what the seniors are doing, this is different from what is stipulated in their code of conduct and ethics rule number 4 which states treat everyone with respect, courtesy and fairness and 9 which states that not to make improper use of their position or NSW information or resources. The divisional seniors and the detectives take charge and do not give chances or opportunities for the General duty workers to share their opinions for the betterment of the entire organization (Gordon & Grant, 2006).

Management Concepts

The second management challenge is Influencing; this is also called motivating, leading or directing. Influencing requires the managers to motivate the organization members in the direction that helps them achieve the given goal or objective. According to this case study, the divisional seniors misuse their authorities and mandates as seniors to influence or rather to lead their fellow organizational members to the direction that doesn’t help it achieve their given goal as a whole. They use their positions and powers to oppress the other team members views and opinion and even use threat for example at one point in the meeting, one detective demands that the other members of his team to “fill out forms in a certain manner, adding ‘or I’ll throw them back to your faces” (Gordon & Grant, 2006). This statement alone creates an inferiority complex among other team members, diminishing their morale to contribute positively to the organization. The seniors are also influencing the other officers like the detectives and the team leaders to maintain their hard stands on the other team members and this is clearly seen on how each and every one of them addresses the other team members, and even how they refer to them while addressing them despite knowing their names. This is a management challenge because if they were all given an equal fair hearing and an opportunity to speak out their ideas and opinions it could positively improve things like communication, among them since communication is key to change (Aepli, Ribaux & Summerfield, 2011).

The third management challenge seen in this case study is coordinating. Coordinating function of leadership is very key because it ensures that all functions of the organization are in order and operating successfully for the betterment of the organization. It is of importance that an organization work together or rather coordinate in order to achieve a particular stipulated goal (Bruijn, Heuvelhof & Veld, 2010). Coordinating brings together all members of New South Wales Police Service to work towards getting a common ground on the recently implemented changes within the organization. But in this case, scenario coordinating is not applied anywhere. This is noticeable on how the senior conduct the meeting and how he interrupts the others while they are talking, apart from that there is no protocol on who is to speak after who and the kind of language to be used during the meeting. You find that the meeting is so disorganized in a way that only the senior, the detective and team leaders are talking at random generalizing their ideas to match that of the other team members. They do not give other team members an equal opportunity to share information that could be of benefit to the organization. At the end of the meeting, the seniors make conclusions based on their own their own ideas and contributions and expecting the other members to comply with their final decisions. This kind of management leadership cannot bring about any change. I believe that for change to happen, the voice of the oppressed (meaning the other team members) should be heard as well by being given an opportunity to speak out their thoughts on how changes should be achieved (Teale, 2003).

Management is a process and if the New South Wales Police Service can put all the mentioned above challenges into practice then it is definite that the NSW police service will have a great improvement and coming into a common consensus. The discussed challenges namely; organizing, influencing/directing and coordinating all relate to leadership and decision-making concept. This concept explains that management may be referred to the art and science of planning, organizing, influencing human power used to control the constraint and utilize the resources for the benefit of the organization and its members (Mills, 2007) In this case study organizing, influencing and coordinating are portrayed as the major management challenges by the NSW police service, the leadership and decision-making concept should be used to overcome the challenges faced by the NSW police service. For example, organizing as a management challenge goes hand in hand with this concept in that, if the leaders develop their organizational structure in a way that everyone is involved and participates in various task force and decision-making process then the ultimate outcome is going to be successful for the good of the organization and the human resource as well (Hannagan & Bennett, 2008).

The second identified management challenge discussed in the case study was influencing. Influencing relates to the human relation concept in that, management begins with leadership, and the leaders should have good relationships with all members of the organization in order for them to move together as a team. If the leadership has bad relation then definitely this affects the productivity of the organization . Leaders are supposed to act as role models to the other staffs, good human relation influences the other staffs to be more optimistic and aggressive about their job which in turn will enhance the company’s productivity (Griffin, 2007). This can only be achieved if the leader understands other members’ personalities, values, attitudes, and emotions. In this case study, the seniors behave in an unprofessional way and without respect and not recognizing the diversity (Newton, 2011). The way they relate to the other team members is alarming, they do not have respect and courtesy for the other members, for example when they constantly interrupted them whenever they stood to speak and another the second scenario is when the detective does not recognize the rest of the members by their names but instead referring to their team members as ‘they’. A good leader should allow for interactions and understand each and every member’s thoughts and feelings about particular issues being discussed (Hannagan, 2002).

The third management challenge discussed in the case study is coordinating. The integration concept involves coordinating, I can imagine of an organization without coordination, where things are done without consultation and involvement of both parties. Such kind of an organization is not likely to do well in achieving its goals and objectives. Integration is a way of pulling material and human resources together towards achieving a common goal (Griffin, 2007). If the leaders do not involve the human resource by working together towards making organizational decisions then it clearly means that their contributions are not needed and that, the leaders have the rights and privileges of making decisions on behalf of the rest. In this case study, you find that the seniors, including detectives and the team leaders, do not mind about other members decisions, they care about protecting their positions and forgetting that they are supposed to involve each and everyone in the development. And this is expressed in the manner in which the discussion is being carried out shows that the hierarchy of top to bottom is applied. Whereby it’s only those at the top management are allowed to have the final say (Newstrom, 2015).

Having studied this case study I am certain that the NSW police service can use a different kind of approach to convey information and to make everyone feel valued. The three discussed management challenges above namely, organizing, influencing and coordinating can be resolved to change the current situation at the NSW police service. Theory x and theory y have been used often to compare two different kinds of management to create a great outcome in the organization. Theory x and theory y believe that the main key to our work and life success is to create a conducive environment where individuals feel appreciated and recognized by their personal difference. This theory acknowledges our difference in terms of wants, needs, values, expectations, and goals. If the NSW police service gets to use theory x and theory y then it means that the perception that the seniors have believed that they have the right to command and dictate what the rest will diminish with time. Our personal theory usually impacts the motivational approaches we do choose to deal with such differences, such philosophies or attitudes towards others can be mapped to theory x and theory y (Sorensen, 2015).

Theory x defines the exact management at the NSW police service, this theory states that the management is authoritarian, repressive, with very tight control to its members. The end result of this kind of management is, there is no development, production is limited and because of the threats, reprimands, suspension, termination, and financial penalties lead to depressed culture. Unlike theory y where there is an opportunity for advancement, responsibility, recognition, financial rewards and praise. This in return will create an environment of fear and managers or senior are viewed with distrust and seen as dictators rather than team leaders or team players (Cardy, 2004). 

The best theory that can be used to resolve the management challenges at NSW police service is theory y. This theory assumes that some people can be personally self-driven and take responsibilities. The management in theory y believes that authority should be decentralized to team members to ensure that, they have all the available resources required to achieve their organizational goal. This type of management is free and developmental, there is control, achievements and continuous improvement achieved by enabling empowering and giving responsibilities (Jackson, 2000).

By using theory y there definitely will be a high level of organization experienced within management because the authority is decentralized down to the employees and it is their responsibility to manage the organization. In this same theory, you find that influencing or rather directing is well demonstrated in the way the management. The fact that the management recognizes the team members and even give them financial rewards for a good job done, shows how influential the management is (Kreitner, 2009). Finally, there is a lot of coordination in theory y and this is evident on how the team members socialize with the top management. The management understands and respects everyone within the organization, hence creating a good working environment for both the management and the team towards achieving their ultimate goal.

Conclusion

In summary, the challenges experienced in the NSW police service has been discussed in the above paragraphs and the solution on how to curb the management challenges has also been discussed. According to this case study, there is poor management in the NSW police service and this is the main reason as to why all the above-mentioned challenges are experienced. If the seniors can learn how to first deal with the members in a respectful and understanding manner, by making them feel valued and appreciated despite their position in the hierarchy, then this can be the first step to solving the challenges they are experiencing. Communication is the key to organizational achievements, and the seniors at the NSW police service should take this as a challenge, by giving everyone an equal chance to air out their grievances and problems so that they can all feel included and this will create a great impact on the organization’s future performance.

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