Police Management

Because policing is government's primary instrument in achieving social control, its management is of particular importance. Management theory attempts to identify and predict the behavior of organizations and their members. Police management refers to the administrative functions associated [Page 342]with managing a law enforcement agency, including identifying and training qualified candidates, directing and coordinating personnel, monitoring the performance of personnel in areas such as regulatory enforcement and their ability to provide the public with access to existing services, and practicing crime prevention and reduction. For modern police managers to apply theory with street reality in an effort to develop innovative strategies, it is essential that they possess an understanding of the historical foundations of management (or organizational) theory. Employing the appropriate theory or combining aspects of several different theories can enable the police manager to consistently select the optimal daily response to the challenges associated with the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of personnel and resources, which in turn positively influence the productivity and/or outputs of the organization and the individual. Law enforcement agencies—particularly the larger ones—have turned to the private sector for models.

Several theories are classified as classical approaches to management. In 1911, Frederick Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Management. This publication became the foundation of the scientific management approach in its contention that the primary objective of management lay within the development of a system, based upon the identification of casual relationships in an attempt to predict potential outcomes based upon existing conditions, that ensures the employer maximum prosperity while also ensuring that the employee enjoys a comparable level of prosperity. Management systematically addresses the challenges and obstacles to prosperity and verbalizes said challenges, following extensive analysis and discussion, so that all within the organization successfully comprehend and respond to said challenges. To ensure that the organization and the employee prosper, management develops and defines the skill sets required to accomplish the task, meticulously screens and selects the most appropriate and qualified candidates for the selected mission, provides the appropriate levels of training and incentives to ensure success, and controls the work environment by reducing or removing the distractions associated with the operation. In 1916, Henri Fayol furthered the theory of scientific management with the publication of Administration Industrielle et Generale, identifying the five critical “rules” of management: foresight, organization, command, coordination, and control. The judicious application of discipline and sanctions, unity of command and direction, clearly delineated lines of authority, and the subjugation of individual interests to the general interests of the organization are several of his more critical principles. In 1937, Luther Gulick refined the concept of functional management with the publication of Papers on the Science of Administration, which introduced the acronym POSDCORB, which declared that planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordination, reporting, and budgeting were the critical functions of management.

Police managers embraced the theories associated with the classical approach to management and the resultant rational and efficient form of bureaucratic organization. The daily operations associated with command and exigencies of the service preclude many police managers from formally pursuing the study of management theory. Thus, the appeal of the concise renditions of the essential elements associated with the managerial process offered by the scientific approach—as well as the logic and order that accompany the division of labor and authority, clearly delineated and defined duties and responsibilities, standardized rules and procedures, and a hierarchical line of authority—is obvious.

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