Centenial Celebration

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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue

Time: 1:55 am

Results for police job satisfaction

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Author: Alderden, Megan A.

Title: The Diversification of Police Departments

Summary: In the last few decades there has been a particular emphasis on diversifying the police workforce. Much of these efforts have resulted in a significant increase in proportion of police officers that are female or racial and ethnic minorities. In 1987, females accounted for almost 8 percent of police officers while racial and ethnic minorities accounted for nearly 15 percent of police officers. By 2003, these figures had increased to 11 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Large agencies in particular have been successful in recruiting both female and racial and ethnic minorities; police agencies that serve one million or more residents reported in 2003 that 17 percent of their workforce was female and almost 40 percent were racial or ethnic minorities (Hickman & Reaves, 2006). Although these data clearly indicate an increase in both female and racial and ethnic minority officers, little attention has been paid to understanding how diversification impacts the police agency workplace. The justification for increasing diversity in personnel has focused on both workplace performance as well as the workplace atmosphere. Higher levels of workplace performance and satisfaction within organizations arise when diversification is sought as a way to truly incorporate different employee viewpoints, experiences, and cultures. Using Ely and Thomas's (2001) theoretical constructs on diversification perspectives, we developed several survey questions to assess officer perceptions of their workplace. Ely and Thomas found that an agency’s diversification perspective - that is, why they sought to diversify their workforce - influenced workplace performance and satisfaction among employees. Specifically, the discrimination and fairness perspective, which entails agency administrators diversifying their workforce to make things equal and to make up for past discrimination, was associated with more negative workplace experiences and workgroup performance. The access and legitimacy perspective, which entails agencies diversifying as a way to enter new communities or to legitimize their work with the existing communities they serve, was associated with both negative and positive workplace experiences and performance. The integration and learning perspective, which involves agencies diversifying because administrators believe it is needed to change organizations and their external relationships, encourage agency innovation, and facilitate organizational learning, was associated with positive workplace performance and employee satisfaction.

Details: Washington, DC: National Police Research Platform, National Institute of Justice, 2011. 8p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 2, 2018 at: https://www.nationallawenforcementplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TheDiversificationofPoliceDepartmentsFINAL2.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: https://www.nationallawenforcementplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TheDiversificationofPoliceDepartmentsFINAL2.pdf

Shelf Number: 150446

Keywords:
Diversity
Minorities in Policing
Police Job Satisfaction
Police Legitimacy
Police Performance
Police Recruitment Hiring