Resisting Organizational Change: What Can Police Leaders Learn?

It is often valuable to dip into the academic literature on leadership for ideas that might support the effort to effect organizational change in police services across Canada. We know that there is growing, and not unreasonable, pressure on police leaders to take stock of the external conditions which speak directly to the need for fundamental organizational change in policing.

The Economics of Policing Summit that was launched by the Public Safety Canada has begun a process of review and research that is intended to support a change agenda involving the federal government, civilian governing authorities, police executives, and other public safety stakeholders.

Economics of Policing

The Council of Canadian Academies has organized an Expert Panel on the Future of Canadian Policing Models which will work toward answering the basic question: "Given the evolution of crime, the justice system, and society, what does current evidence and knowledge suggest about the future of the public policing models used in Canada?"

Expert Panel on the Future of Canadian Policing Models

These, and other, initiatives designed to examine some of clearly pressing challenges facing policing in Canada as the economic downturn combines with a pattern of declining crime rates to create circumstances where meaningful change is both warranted and responsible.

Accordingly, we may anticipate that there will be change of some magnitude introduced across the landscape of Canadian policing. It may not be as exhaustive or transformational as some policy analysts might expect. It may not represent a "re-imagining" of the policing enterprise in a manner that was seen in the 1980s when the philosophy of community policing began to really take hold of some innovative police leaders and their organizations. However, regardless of the degree to which change occurs, there will be a requirement for those in charge of change to deal with the inevitable resistance to change. We know, from the writings of police academics like Dorothy Guyot that changing police organizations is akin to "bending granite" therefore a refresher on the research and practice of resistance to organizational change is in order.

To that end, it is worthwhile considering the following article:

Erwin, Dennis G. and Andrew N. Garman (2010). "Resistance to organizational change: linking research and practice." Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 39-56.

The authors have undertaken a literature review using some specific databases in order to arrive at relevant articles dealing with topics around resistance to organizational change. This led them to 123 articles that met the criteria established for this purpose. However, upon further review, the authors narrowed their focus to a group of 18 articles considered useful for their immediate consideration.

One 2007 survey found that among 1,536 executives, who had been involved in some form of organizational change initiative, on 38% asssessed the initiative as successful. Furthermore, only 30% of those executives felt that they contributed to sustained improvements in their organization. This certainly tells us that successful organizational change is not only difficult to achieve, it is hard to sustain, and often fails to include everyone in its scope.

We are reminded of the early groundbreaking work of Kurt Lewin and M. Gold and their three-stage model of organizational change; which involves unfreezing, moving, and freezing phases. Lewin's work, in particular, is extremely useful for arriving at a clear understanding of organizational change processes, and the psychological underpinnings of much of our human (all too human) reactions to change. Lewin is also responsible for some helpful theorizing around the concept of 'force field analysis' which considers the larger context in which organizational changes occur.

Kurt Lewin

It is important to focus on the individual's behaviours, needs, values, and motivation when considering resistance to organizational change. Several authors have formulated different approaches that attempt to discern aspects of resistance to change:

In the context of change, we may consider a four-stage model that includes: anticipation, confirmation, culmination, and aftermath. Each of these stages has their own characteristics and in the realm of (post)modern Canadian policing we are currently struggling with the confirmation phase where the absolute necessity for reform is under discussion, debate, and dialogue.

It is also useful to acknowledge that resistance to change may actually be turned to productive purposes through a challenge to goals, objectives, and plans. This is somewhat of the gadfly effect that can produce improved results. It is not at all surprising that Canadian police leaders are offering some degree of push-back with regard to fundamental change within their field of expertise. This is especially the case for Canadian police associations as they grapple with the implications of proposals for major transformations in the ways that policing is delivered across the country, including such concepts as 'tiered policing' or alternate delivery models which may erode the pre-eminence of fully-sworn police officers.

Certainly, there are cognitive, behavioural, and affective dimensions to resistance and many individuals may experience considerable ambivalence in face of organization change. This has been experienced in major police change initiatives, such as the Ontario Provincial Police's Organizational Review process which took place in the 1990s under OPP Commissioner Tom O'Grady. This initiative was derivative of the larger Social Contract exercise set in motion by the Bob Rae NDP government and was viewed by many as an attempt to force the OPP to find savings that were not necessary, not justified, and not conducive to public safety. However, in spite of these doubts and in the face of considerable organizational resistance, the leadership of the OPP proceeded to define itself as being engaged in ten (10) "business lines" and applied, among other things, the then popular concept of business process re-engineering (articulated by Michael Prince and James Champy) to re-design not only the OPP's processes but also its organizational structure. This was a powerful learning experience for the members of the OPP who were involved in the enterprise and allowed this police service to better align itself in a cost-effective manner and one that further institutionalized the philosophy of community policing.

Aspects of personal resilience, self-concept, and risk tolerance are considered important for those who are about to confront organizational change. Of course, these are qualities that are not uncommon for effective leaders in any organization. In Canadian policing, they may be found in those individuals who demonstrate leadership qualities and a capacity to weather the 'storms' of organizational change.

Erwin and Garman also point to these additional qualities for those who are more likely to succeed (and perhaps thrive) in this context: openness to experience; lower risk aversion; and higher tolerance of ambiguity. Furthermore, they see the useful role played by both humour and positive anticipation as beneficial, adaptive defense mechanisms. On the negative side, denial, dissociation, isolation of affect, projection, and acting out serve as negative defense mechanisms. Clearly, police leaders who are in a position to shepherd through organizational change initiatives must be possessed of the positive characteristics, while being simultaneously on the lookout for those negative ones. This means being capable of a degree of self-analysis and introspection.

The authors of the article under discussion emphasize that information is gold in these circumstances. Communication should become almost a fetish to ensure that people are on board, individuals are engaged in the change process, and that details about the process of change and the likely outcomes of the change are constantly before people's eyes.

Erwin and Garman provide considerable detail on the difficulties associated with a lack of trust in management which may be the produce of skepticism and cynicism. These are considerations that are not unfamiliar to Canadian police leaders. There is a strong sub-text of skepticism and cynicism in the realm of policing by nature and these aspects may be intensified and heightened during periods of organizational change. Certainly, there has been no shortage of both skepticism and cynicism throughout the lead-up to the Economics of Policing initiative launched recently through Public Safety Canada.

The ability of management to lead the organization through the change continuum is not always clearly accepted nor apparent. Many instances may be highlighted where the rank-and-file within a police service have questioned (both internally and publically) the capacity of senior police management to deliver of organizational change initiatives. There was a period within Canadian policing where police associations were launching 'non-confidence' votes against their respective chiefs of police with the basic message: we as a union do not believe that the CEO has the wherewithal to lead our police organization. Clearly, if police reforms are going to evolve from such undertakings as the Economics of Policing in Canada, there will have to be a great deal of confidence in the abilities of the country's police executives to make these reforms work in a meaningful and measureable manner.

In order to offer some practice guidelines for change agents and managers, Erwin and Garman have distilled their research to point to the following key aspects:

• plan for resistance;
• provide additional support;
• gain support and help;
• address individuals' concerns;
• provide support & training;
• communicate;
• ensure understanding of the change;
• examine policies & behaviours for consistency;
• encourage & allow opportunities for participation in the change process;
• develop confidence & trust;
• emphasize more effective management styles; and
• develop quality manager-employee relationships

Police leaders in Canada will surely be called upon to deliver some level of organizational change over the next few years in order to respond to the challenges that are being placed before them by civilian governing bodies, police oversight groups, politicians (municipal, regional, provincial, and federal), academics, and other stakeholder groups. A close and careful reading of the kind of study prepared by Erwin and Garman may prove highly educational for those leaders as they contemplate how they will operate in this new environment.

Repetition & the Compulsion to Repeat: A Police Case in Point

A recent article in one of the academic journals may be of considerable interest to those involved in policing. This is especially appropriate in Canada as we focus on the 'Economics of Policing' which brings with it a concentration on possible organizational change. The citation for this article is as follows:

Diamond, Michael A. (2013). "Repetition and the compulsion to repeat: psychodynamic challenges in organizational learning and change." Administration & Society, 45 (5), 499-521.

Dr. Diamond is currently the director of the Center for the Study of Organizational Change (CSOC) within the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri. He has written earlier on his work as a consultant within police departments and brings a useful perspective to bear on the challenge of change in these types of institutions.

Dr. Michael Diamond

This recent article considers the impact of compulsive and counterproductive repititions on individual and organizational behaviour. Of course, for those involved in the area of training, repetitions may be extremely valuable for achieving higher levels of performance. Diamond acknowledges that there are, indeed, constructive and destructive forms of repetition. His focus in this instance, however, is on a police department where the chief and his management team (of captains) are viewed as being out of touch with the realities of police work. Consequently, the chief, and his team, view the officers as being immature and unrealistic in their demands. Police officers have engaged in acts of subtle sabotage including abuse of vehicles, aggressive behaviour, and avoiding traffic stops. Both sides become entrenched in their view of each other and any effective resolution seem difficult to achieve.

Diamond discusses how organizational diagnosis may be accomplished through the telling of that organization's "story" which really amounts to a narrative outlining some persistent structural and organizational fragmentation features. For learning to occur across an organization and for meaningful change to take place it is important that the inhibiting effects of individual and relational compulsions to repeat behaviour be addressed.

The author is an advocate of importing aspects of psychodynamics into the consulting process in order to assist individuals to reach some level of self-awareness that allows them to transcend the (natural) compulsion to repeat certain behaviours in personal and professional relationships.

Diamond uses the language of transference and countertransference to speak about relationships within organizations. Transference refers to the emotional bonds that exist between individuals which unconsciously influence and complicate relationships. It describes psychodynamic processes whereby individuals compulsively and repeatedly transfer feelings derived from childhood (or early profound relationships) onto work colleagues and supervisors. Accordingly, countertransference relates to unconscious and automatic emotional responses of others to the experience of these transferred and displaced emotions directed toward them by work colleagues and staff. It is asserted that adults are routinely engaged in the unwitting replication of child-like roles and relationships.

Organizations must be understood through a careul interpretation of the quality of interpersonal relationships. Diamond notes that police organizations are often able to change and adapt to challenges. However, they also exhibit an organizational culture which is "shaped by repetitive thematic and patterned narratives signifying experientially shared organizational stories, metaphors, and histories (p. 503)." Routine is important to police organizations and is profoundly comforting to all levels within the police department. Indeed, bureaucratic structures are ideally suited to encouraging, establishing, and sustaining routine. Yet organizations often require meaningful change if they are to thrive or survive in new circumstances.

Diamond speaks about the "existential threat" that often accompanies fundamental change. Stress and anxiety often go hand in hand with the loss of certainty and predictability that organizational change may signal to individuals. Resistance to change is a common phenomenon. Organizational theorists, like Argyris and Schon have distinguished "single-loop learning" from "double-loop learning" to capture some key insights. Single-loop learning (also known as first order processing) may involve a limited commitment to change. However, it is often governed by an individual's need to escape any risk of embarrassment or appearance of incompetence. Clearly, this attitude is not conducive to real change and actually against the possibility of arriving at breakthrough solutions or innovative approaches to organizational challenges.

The literature of organizational change labels double-loop learning as the reflective practice which allows an individual to admit to, and articulate, organizational problems, challenges, and difficulties. This is clearly the proper path to seeking solutions or proposing approaches that may resolve those issues. One is reminded of the important work of Thomas Kuhn in his publication: The structure of scientific revolution. Kuhn spoke about "paradigm shifts" and the importance of new researchers in various fields of science who could not acccept the anomalies which others in their field had come to minimize in order to continue with their routine work.

Diamond insists that meaningful change within organizations must be accompanied by careful analysis of the interpersonal relationships that exist within those organizations. There is a strong psychological compulsion to repeat that operates below the conscious level of thought. By explaining, exploring, and exhibiting organizational "stories" (or narratives) it is possible to make explicit some of the challenges that exist within an organization and move toward a resolution of those challenges.

Earlier, Diamond published a summary of his study of a police department which explores another aspect of organizational culture that relates to the question of repetition and the compulsion to repeat:

Diamond, Michael A. (2008). "Telling them what they know: organizational change, defensive resistance, and the unthought known." Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 44 (3), 348-364.

In this article, he explores the skillful defense mechanisms people have developed to distance themselves from challenging and/or painful work experiences. He draws again on the literature of psychology when discussing Winnicott's concept of the 'true and false self' rooted in infancy. Organizations, including police departments, typically exhibit a defensive and highly political culture characterized by degrees of deception, mixed messages, camoflage, and other less than transparent approaches to their mandate. In order to truly comprehend these organizations, it is useful to move toward the encouragement of the 'true self' through deeper understanding of the complex psychological and subjective realities of organizational life. When combined with the social, political, economic, and structural realities of organizations, Diamond suggests that breakthroughs may be made which result in meaningful change.