I read a recent letter to the editor in The Economist which caught my
attention about a Police force and the structural nature of resistance to
change.
Apparently, there is a big issue about the British police become more
racially diverse. The question was, "What's wrong with the Police and
government officials that they aren't driving this change more rapidly
through the Police?"
The letter to the editor said, "You misunderstand the structure of the
Police. From one layer to the next, there is a built-in barrier... A
precinct captain is perfectly willing to consider whether to obey the
orders of a superior or the Chief. Why? Consider the alternative... If the
whole force were responsive to direction from any point, think about the
opportunities this would create for improper influence!" [This is a very
rough quote... I don't have the article at hand.]
This made me think about the possibility that some governmental
organizations (police, IRS, schools) are not and should not be responsive
to a single point of control. Others, like the military, achieve their
ability to mobilize resources from their responsiveness to control from a
single point.
>A colleague of mine is looking at how concepts such as OL, KM and
>intellectual capital mangement can be applied to police forces. While the
>principle is fine, it would be good to get some thoughts on the
>implications of applying these principles in a traditional command and
>control hierarchy.
-- Rick
--Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash> Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: Richard@Karash.com "Towards learning organizations" | Host for Learning-Org Discussion (617)227-0106, fax (617)523-3839 | <http://www.learning-org.com>
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