An investigation of the resource implications of the introduction of "new taylorism" into the Cleveland constabulary

Abstract

The research is concerned with analysing the impact that organisational change' is having on the police service and in particular the effect that change has on individual systems within the Cleveland Constabulary. The theoretical part of the research examined the rationale for change within public sector organisations, the reasons for adopting this rationale and the likely effects on organisations that follow this programme. In order to place this in context a review of literature relating to private and public sector strategic management issues was carried out. The empirical part of the research involved interviews with a wide selection of senior police officers within the Cleveland Constabulary. This was followed by a forcewide survey of police officers of all ranks and a case study of the organisation. The focus of the research is to evaluate the cause and effect of change on all key elements that play a major part in determining the organisation’s strategic direction. The word strategy' has been given many different meanings and defined in many ways. One of the simplest and most used definition for defining an organisation’s strategy is given by Hofer and Schendel (1978):"Fundamental pattern of present and planned resource deployments and environmental interactions that indicates how the organisation will achieve its objectives." (Hofer and Schendel, 1978 :25)Corporate strategy can be regarded as the configuration of the activities of an organisation, allocating resources to each activity and co-ordinating the activities to meet the organisational objectives. The key elements of strategy are grouped under the generic headings of: human resources; financial resources; technological systems; and legal/political systems. The research has analysed the inter-relationships and effect that change has on the various elements by breaking it down into four specific areas for investigation: Overall efficiency - has the change resulted in increased or decreased overall efficiency; Resources - Has the change led to increased or decreased resource consumption; Operational efficiency - Has the change led to increased or decreased productivity; Bureaucracy - Has the change led to increased or decreased bureaucracy The purpose of the research is to develop a framework that can be applied to managerial issues and problems that are not amenable to rigorous analysis or are difficult to evaluate in strict mathematical terms. The framework developed can be regarded as a "heuristic' programme, that provides a significant contribution to determining the impact A at change can have on inter-related systems. It is hypothesised that if the impact of change programmes that have already been implemented can be evaluated, then we may learn from them, building these lessons into a model for determining the impact of future change. The main finding of the research was that the implementation of initiatives or techniques developed in the private sector, such as quality control, cost control and computerised production techniques, are not readily transferable to the public sector. Consequently, Ae projected cost savings and improvements in productivity failed to materialise. In many cases the introduction of new initiatives has resulted in: Increased cost; Decreased overall efficiency; Decreased productivity; Increased bureaucracy. There has been an identified drift into negative' efficiency, which is detrimental to the health of the organisation. The research identifies a need for immediate remedial action that can only take place when the organisation has developed the ability to recognise the symptoms. The organisation is progressive and will no doubt develop the focus to recognise the weaknesses inherent in its present strategies and those of the external bodies and agencies influencing the environment. This research provides a methodology to develop that focus and provides a framework to evaluate present and future strategies.