Adaptive Change in Law Enforcement Supervision - Essay Example

RUNNING HEADER: Adaptive Change in Law Enforcement Supervision Adaptive Change in Law Enforcement Supervision BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HEREAdaptive Change in Law Enforcement Supervision Heifetz defined adaptive change as a non-technical circumstance or activity that requires flexible thinking in order to manage the change. Adaptive change involves challenges when there are no simplistic solutions and when the organization must develop new strategies and different collective perspectives to promote positive changes.

Adaptive change involves altering attitudes, behaviors, or long-standing values in order to be responsive to changing conditions within the organization. This theory runs under the assumption that there will be resistance to change, and this makes adaptive responses more challenging, since adapting will require changing mindsets and sometimes even principles to ensure an effective change plan and implementation. Heifetz’ principles of adaptive change are highly relevant in the contemporary police organization, requiring multiple competencies of supervision in order to create a cohesive and flexible policing organization.

The supervisor, according to Heifetz, must be able to recognize when individual or organizational values will be a risk to a change and determine when the specific challenge will require adaption to determine a problem resolution. According to Stephens (2005, p.53), policing has historically maintained a system of values and attitudes that represent a “slow-to-change subculture”. In the modern police organization, it is becoming a common practice to be more interactive with local citizens and local government as part of cooperative, community-minded policing activities.

The demands of strained budgets and more social interest in policing transparency is creating mandates for policing officials to establish systems to report on police activities to the city it serves, including developing crime maps, crime data websites, and training imperatives to help community leaders understand the risks of crime in particular regions (Diamond & Weiss, 2008). Under Heifetz’ first principles, the supervisor must recognize where long-standing values on less transparency and more autonomy in policing will meet with resistance and determine how adaptability will impact relationships in the community policing efforts.

The second principle, reducing or balancing distress in those performing the adaptive work, also relates to community policing efforts. Community leaders and citizens under these shared and educational programs will have more visibility during the routine operations of policing systems. In the organization, police officers and supervisors are used to work under a particular organizational culture that is well-established, formalized, and where sector-specific language serves as the foundation for effective discussions between organizational members.

When community members and citizens enter this fold and do not maintain the decorum or the language proficiency that officers are accustomed to maintaining, considerable frustrations in providing knowledge transfer and shared learning can create significant stress. The supervisor must be more visible in moderating these discussions and must attempt to build relationships so that distress is balanced and effective discussions can be achieved. The policing supervisor must also consider Heifetz’ third principle, which is maintaining focus and avoiding denial or scapegoating, which are defense mechanisms of avoidance of the work required.

Fairholm (2009) identifies the concept of transformational leadership, according to which the supervisor promotes a shared vision, acts as a role model of desired behaviors through legitimate actions, and inspires through coaching. The supervisor must consistently reinforce the mission for change, illustrating how it will benefit the policing organization in the long run. By accepting responsibility and accountability for errors, as one example, the supervisor will gain more respect and commitment to following change imperatives so that officers will model these behaviors and accept the change.

Heifetz’ fourth principle, ensuring autonomy in change employees to allow them to perform the change practices themselves, is also highly relevant to the supervision role in policing. Psychological theory in organizational science dictates that when people are given more autonomy and shared decision-making, they are more committed to job role and less resistant when change activities occur within the organization (Fairholm, 2009). The supervisor must assess the adaptive activities necessary to ensure proper facilitation of the change and then determine which policing roles are required to meet the goal or mission.

Experiential learning would be one method beneficial for the supervisor, which involves hands-on learning through tactical strategy development. For example, using the community policing concept, the manager can delegate training or meeting agendas to various officers or other support staff so that they gain experience in these activities with community or local government members. It would be necessary for the supervisor to follow-up on their interventions and reward accordingly to continue to reduce stresses and also motivate the change actors.

Once everyone in the organization understands they must be part of the mission of change, all involved in the change begin to understand their roles and are willing to perform their obligations in the change cycle. References Diamond, Drew, & Weiss, Deirdre M. (2008). Community policing: Looking to tomorrow. U.S. Department of Justice, Retrieved August 31, 2012 from http://cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/e050920207-CommPolicing_Looking2Tomorrow.pdf Fairholm, M. (2009). Leadership and organizational strategy.

The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 14(1), 26-27. Stephens, Gene. (2005, March-April). Policing the future: Law enforcement’s new challenges. The Futurist. Retrieved August 27, 2012 from http://www.policefuturists.org/pdf/M-A2005Futurist_Stephens.pdf