Effect of a Community Policing Management Style on Officers' Attitudes

• NCJ Number: 150662
• Journal: Crime and Delinquency Volume: 40 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (July 1994) Pages: 371-383
• Author(s): M A Wycoff; W G Skogan
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): 87-IJ-CX-0062
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

Quality management, a form of participatory management modeled on the theories of Edwards Deming, was implemented by the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department as the basis of community policing.

Abstract

An experimental police district (EPD) was established to evaluate the effectiveness of participatory management and monitor police officer attitudes toward such a management style. Surveys of sworn personnel were conducted in 1987, 1988, and 1989, and surveys of citizens were conducted in 1988 and 1990. Participatory management was assessed in terms of participation, several job satisfaction measures, perceived work significance, strength of task identity, and perceived work autonomy. Sworn personnel surveys in 1987 and 1989 found a significant increase over time in the belief that the police organization practiced participatory management. The increase in this belief was positively and significantly related to satisfaction with work, the police organization, supervision, and job growth potential and to perceived significance of work, task identity, and work autonomy. A composite measure of job satisfaction was significantly related to the receptivity of police officers to change. Surveys of citizens showed that they benefited from the Madison Police Department's participatory management style. 14 references, 2 notes, and 2 tables