Law Enforcement Supervision Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Law Enforcement Supervision - Assignment Example Leadership and Organizational Culture Negative images and observations of people within the law enforcement organizations create an unpleasant working environment. In turn, this adversely influences organizational effectiveness, which is needed to counter crime, turmoil and other services. Society is deprived of quality and expected police services due to the unhealthy functioning of the police agencies. A prosperous, fostering working environment enables police agencies to focus on providing premium police services in a time of meager resources. Every police organization has its own unique sub-culture (Crank & Caldero, 2000). In spite of this, police organizations share certain characteristics, which make them similar due to shared experiences. All police agencies deem themselves to be paramilitary agencies, different from the mainstream community, who are required to be hyper-vigilant all around the clock (Gilmartin, 2002). Likewise, they experience tedium, are compelled to work wh ile others go on vacations, and most importantly they live through life and death experiences together. Consequently, they became bound together in an emotional culture. This culture also serves to glue supervisors to the people and agencies they serve in. Additionally, it delineates the Cop confidential conduct in relation to promotions; and the act of getting detached from one police subculture and being bound to another. John G. Serier has noted in his report, that a mutual experience amongst first-line police supervisors was ‘leaving the stock’ (Serier J. , 2003). Initially in their career, supervisors occupy the same position as line officers, working sidelong them. However, promotion to supervisor separates them from others they had worked with for years. Hence, acceptance by peers of a police officer is an integral and prized stage for them (Manning, 1989). Becoming a supervisor denotes the leave of an officer from his peer group. Additionally, it also signifies seeking acceptance of novel peers and upper level management of police agencies. Supervisory models Supervisors act as influential figures for other officers owing to various mechanisms. For instance, the command supervisory model focuses on the formal authority in the hands of supervisors. It advocates that adherence to bureaucratic standards and setting high performance standards can positively influence subordinates’ behavior (Allen & Maxfield, 1983). However, the downside is that the command model mitigates the task environment. As opposed to this, the bargaining supervisory model advocates mutual dependence of supervisors and officers. Officers need to seek small favors from supervisors such as favorable working schedules, partners, cases, departmental discipline, and the like factors. On the other hand, supervisors are dependent on subordinates’ productivity and maintain a low profile to keep out of problems. This reciprocity instead of the authoritative chain of command positively affects the behavior of subordinates. The impact of supervisors will be then equal to the benefits that will be provided to the subordinates. However, these benefits are restricted in public agencies like police organizations that are governed by civil service laws. Hence, it can be concluded that subordinates’ attitudes are modestly affected by the priorities of supervisors. Transactional leadership