Question

Discuss specialization in police agencies, the principles of hierarchy, and span of control of management

Answer 1

The word specialization is used in two distinct aspects in organizational theory. It may refer to a division of labor between units of the organization, i.e. the division of the organization into specialized units, each of which has a specific task to perform, or it may refer to a division of labor between the individual workers of the organization, each of whom is a specialist in a particular type of work.The word is used mainly in the former sense in the police agency and is especially interested in specializing in the handling of youth crime and young offenders: that is, the presence of a police organisation unit that is specialized in youth crime-often called a youth team, youth section, or youth office. In smaller police organizations, however, this "unit" may consist of one or two policemen assigned to manage youth-related incidents, and who may operate in a bigger unit — such as the GIS or patrol— which is not itself a specialized youth unit.

The chain of control consists of four levels: top executives, middle executives, lesser executives, and rank and file. Top executives formulate the general objective and create policy choices on resource allocation, middle executives formulate goals and plans for implementing choices from above and coordinate operations from below, reduced executives introduce higher-level choices and coordinate and direct the job of staff at the smallest level of the organisation and the rank and file

Organizational designs are concerned with formal arrangement patterns and relationships established by police leadership to connect individuals to achieve organisational objectives. There are many hierarchical levels and tight control spans in a large structure as well as an attempt to coordinate operations through centralization. There are few hierarchical levels and broad ranges of command in a flat system, resulting in a decentralized system where power and decision-making are delegated to lesser levels of organization.

Police executives need to understand how to handle group behavior, like that of subcultures of police. The socialization of an officer determines his / her perspective of the work, given that policemen may adopt the culture of a manager or the culture of a street cop. Subculture of the police differs between agencies. The public police world introduces a police force devoted to defending and serving, while a police force that is conservative, cynical, and self-protective is revealed by the private police world. Police officers may be members of unions and/or brotherly organisations.