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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:20 pm
Time: 12:20 pm
Results for police morale
1 results foundAuthor: Hogget, James Title: Challenge and Change: Police Identity, Morale and Goodwill in an Age of Austerity Summary: This project was developed by a research team at the University of the West of England (UWE) under the direction of the Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. James Hoggett. The project adopted a mixed methods approach, comprising an on-line survey questionnaire utilising both quantitative closed and qualitative open questions. These questions were used to elicit self-report data from 13,591 police officers from the rank of Police Constable to Chief Inspector from the 43 police forces in England and Wales. This is a response rate of an approximate one-in-ten when judged against figures from Her Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary (2013) which suggests an eligible population size of 128,199. Statistical tests were used to identify whether there was any geographical clustering on response profiles and whether these profiles differed between police forces or between the ranks of Constable, Sergeant, Inspector and Chief Inspector. It was found that differences in responses between forces and ranks are small, and there is no extensive geographical clustering of responses. The lack of differences between forces and ranks and the absence of any substantive clustering is in-keeping with a consistent set of responses suggesting a common voice across the sample. The self-report data contained in this report cover a number of issues. These issues include officers police/professional identity (how they perceive their roles and duties and whether being a police officer is an integral part of who they are), contextual issues currently impacting on the police profession (i.e. participants' views on the changes and challenges they face in relation to issues such as the government spending cuts and Winsor reviews), issues of police morale, sacrifice and goodwill and finally officers hopes and concerns for the future of the police service. Key findings include; - 79.6% of respondents agree or strongly agree that policing is a vocation rather than a job. - Only 1.6% of respondents agree the current government supports the police and only 1.1% positively report confidence in long-term government plans for policing. 95.8% disagree that cuts will not affect police resilience, 89.8% agree or strongly agree that the police are under resourced while only 6.4% of officers agree or strongly agree that the cuts will not impact on their ability to do their job. A further 80.4% agree or strongly agree that the current proposals, if implemented, will give criminality the upper hand - 84.0% of respondents either agree or strongly agree that some police reform is needed and 87.6% that some change is needed. Additionally 92.5% agree or strongly agree change and reform should be independent of politics while 96.3% are similarly in agreement that change should be made in collaboration with the police. - 83.8% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the Winsor reviews will negatively impact on their ability to do their job while 92.6% disagree or strongly disagree with the statement - The aim of the Winsor recommendations is not to save money but to create a more efficient, productive, motivated and highly skilled workforce. - 80.5% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the support of the general public positively impacts on their job. However, only 8.9% agree or strongly agree that the general public understands what the police do. 81.2% agree that the proposed changes in the Winsor review will negatively impact on the police's relationship with the public and only 1.7% agree or strongly agree that the changes being made to the police service are in the public's best interest - Only 11.9% of the sample respondents agree or strongly agree that they would join the police today if starting afresh. A further 64.9% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would consider looking for alternative employment and 44.2% agreed or strongly agreed that they would consider voluntary severance. - Only 9.6% of respondents reported that their morale was high while only 1.9% reported that the morale of their colleagues was high. - 96.0% of respondents agree or strongly agree that they make sacrifices to be a police officer while only 18.9% agree or strongly agree that the sacrifices are still worth it. Additionally 96.9% of respondents agree or strongly agree that officer goodwill is essential to the success of the police, while only 11.3% agree or strongly agree that the changes occurring to policing will not erode this goodwill. The report also identifies that the police service is an organisation which creates a strong sense of identity for its members. Being a police officer forms a fundamental part of an individual's self-concept, therefore what happens to the police is of great importance to them and subsequently can have both positive and negative impacts which transfer beyond when officers are on duty. Interestingly the report also identifies that police organisational identity is important as it underpins officers' organisational citizenship behaviour (goodwill). In other words it appears that the behavioural norms and rules that are consonant with police organisational identity are based on officer's willingness to go above and beyond what is contractually expected in order to get the job done. If police organisational identity is threatened or changed it could change the normative rules of police behaviour from that based on goodwill to that based on work to rule. Finally the report suggests that senior management engagement and the development of management procedures to address the uncertainty created by current changes is important so that officers feel both supported and protected by the senior ranks. By supporting and encouraging active engagement from officers in the change process itself senior management may be able to strengthen police organisational identity and thus increase police organisational citizenship behaviour. Details: Bristol, UK: University of the West of England, 2014. 170p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 13, 2014 at: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/22392/9/Challenge%20and%20change%20police%20identity%20morale%20and%20goodwill%20in%20an%20age%20of%20austerity.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/22392/9/Challenge%20and%20change%20police%20identity%20morale%20and%20goodwill%20in%20an%20age%20of%20austerity.pdf Shelf Number: 131902 Keywords: Job SatisfactionPolice AdministrationPolice MoralePolice Officers |