Learning in Police Force? LO21015

Bill Braun (medprac@hlthsys.com)
Fri, 26 Mar 1999 06:17:11 -0600

Replying to LO20985 --

>A colleague of mine is looking at how concepts such as OL, KM and
>intellectual capital mangement can be applied to police forces. While the
>principle is fine, it would be good to get some thoughts on the
>implications of applying these principles in a traditional command and
>control hierarchy.

We've had several spirited discussions in class on this very question.
I've taken the position that if an organization is appropriately
mechanistic (command and control type structure) and the CEO is seen with
a copy of The Fifth Discipline under her/his arm, one should get while the
gettin's good.

Others took a different tack. In essence, they "violated" the discipline
of systems thinking in order to prove their point - they took each of the
five disciplines separately. They argued that each of the disciplines can
be at work in a mechanistic organization AND can be a benefit to the org.

Prompted in part by this, I considered Paul's question by first asking if
a police force is indeed a command and control structure. I'll venture to
say it is not. In contrast to a military structure, officers get together
at the beginning of a shift and reinforce their shared vision. Once they
hit the streets, decision making is decentralized and decisions are made
"on the spot" (albeit according to established protocols) and in that
moment, there is nothing the chief can do to micro manage the situation
(expect maybe a hostage situation).

Although they may ride in one man/woman cars, they can quickly form into a
team if the situation warrants. Officers seem to generally share a simular
mental model. They continuously train; personal mastery (admittedly tilted
to the profession aspect of the officer) is active.

Systems thinking is where it (police force as LO) appears to fall apart
although that perception may be a more a function of not understanding a
police force any better than I do.

Bill Braun

-- 

Bill Braun <medprac@hlthsys.com>

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