Organizational Design: Help or Hendrance

Abstract

Many public agencies tend to be organized into vertical organizational structures. What this means is that problems that were unable to be solved at a lower level continue to rise through each level of the hierarchy until the problem is resolved. Some organizations especially law enforcement agencies seem to carry this philosophy to a whole other extreme by eliminating any resemblance of discretion at the lowest level of the organization. Much of the minor decisions are made by individuals who hold high positions in the hierarchy. This however impedes changes in the organizational design and structure of the department.

Organizational Design: Help or Hindrance?

It has been a long time tradition for law enforcement agencies to promote internal control through their paramilitary structure. But, police administrators have tried to supplement organizational structure of the police departments with written policies and procedures to regulate their officer’s conduct. The biggest problem is that when the policies are general and unclear, they become useless; in many instances if they are too numerous or detailed, they fail to serve as a workable guide.

As a result, community policing exposes officers to more opportunities for corruption. They may face residents with money, power, and influence or simply may become overzealous when they see citizens' problems ignored by other agencies. (George L. Kelling, 1988)

Historically police departments have been held to standard police procedures that were based on traditions where police officers work under central control, in other words centralized with limited discretion in the decision making process. But, with the implementation of community policing program it has relieved much of the shortcomings by placing the officer back into the community to form and alliances with the citizens which identify and prioritize community problems to allow for proactive rather than reactive responses.

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