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
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