Law Enforcement and Organizational Structures

Organizational Structure Mission Statement The goal of the Sheriff's Department is to protect and serve all people in accordance with the law, and with the ultimate goal of creating and maintaining a high quality of life in the community. High quality of life is in part defined by respect and tolerance, as well as safety and order. To serve the primary goal of promoting a high quality of life, the Sheriff's Department will work with any and all community organizations as willing partners. The Department values cooperation, compassion, and communication.

All stakeholders will be treated with respect, and in accordance with egalitarian values and social justice. Discrimination will not be tolerated, either within the Sheriff's Office or in the community at large. Ultimately, the laws of the county, state, and nation are our primary provision. The preservation of human rights and liberties is also our mission. Part 1-Structure Formal and informal organizational structure Organizations are basically formatted to be in two categories, the formal and the informal organizational structures.

The formal organizational structures are intentionally designed with the aim of having the people working within the organization have cohesiveness in undertaking their duties with the ultimate aim of meeting the objectives of the organization. The formal organizations are hence arbitrary structures that the individuals working for the organization are required to adjust to in order to continue working for that organization in unison and harmony.

The structure guides the employees to doing some things in a given specific manner and to take orders and execute them from given individuals within the organization and generally cooperate with other employees. The formal structure also allows for the coordination between or among employees in line with the partners that they are assigned (Business Case Studies, 2014).

Ideally, the formal structure is therefore built around four major bases or pillars as follows; Division of labor- here, the organization divides the work into several smaller operations with each operation assigned to a given individual or specific individuals with the aim of specialization maximization. Scalar and functional process- this ensures that the organization maximizes the possibilities of growing vertically as well as horizontally.

Structure -- and this means that there is an overall arrangement within the organization which makes sure there is a proper balance set among the various sections of the organization and also makes sure that the execution of all the assignments or operations is in required line and the organizational objectives are secured. Span of control- this is usually in reference to the number of subordinate employees who are answerable to the superior individual hence there is a known and recognized source of command and instructions.

Apart from these pillars, the formal structures of organizations can be identified through characteristics such as being deliberately impersonal, one that is based on the ideal relationship between the employees of the organization at different ranks, the structuring is so deliberate with the ultimate aim of meeting some given goals and it is also founded on the view of the group nature of human beings. The informal organizational structure on the other hand often manifests themselves even without the management knowing.

The formal structure naturally degenerates into the informal structures even without the management intending to have it so. The informal organizational structure hence refers to relationships among the employees in an organization that are hinged on personal attitudes, emotions likes and dislikes. The relations do not follow the rules set down or any procedures or regulations as is the case in the formal organizational structures.

It is a common observation that the large formal groups often give rise to small informal groups in any organization, and these informal groups do come up automatically as oppose to being pre-planned as is the case with formal groups. The environment within the organization always plays a part in the spontaneous development of the informal groups. Apparently, as earlier insinuated, there is no organization that operates strictly by the formal written rules. The interactive relationship between the employees often never follows any formal settings.

There are problems or challenges that are manifest within the formal structure of the organization especially in relation to the law enforcement agencies. In as much as the entire agency needs to be highly formal due to the legal repercussions and the chain of command from the higher ranks, the formal structure often ignores the human factor or individuals and their accountability in these agencies. As long as the procedure was followed then the person feels he is not to blame in any way.

Again on the same grounds, it suppresses the charismatic sources of power within the organization and emphasizes more on the expert power and the coercive sources of power. There is also the misleading assumption that the officers within the department are ideal and will stick to all the rules as prescribed by the instructions which is not a reality.

The rules and regulations of most agencies are too rigid and not at all sensitive to the changing times and dynamic nature of crimes hence making it difficult to achieve the organizational goals as intended. The structure of the organization will significantly have an effect on the channel of communication within the organization with most communication taking the top-bottom structure. The management will often give instructions that will be passed down to departmental heads and in turns reach the lower level employees.

This formal structure restricts the feedback system and hardly do the management get any meaningful communication from the lower employees hence most of the time it becomes a one way communication of instructions to be executed. Part 2-Management The participatory management has some advantages that come with it especially in the law enforcement department. The participatory management will inevitably result in the establishment of the Human Service Model in the employee supervision since it will generally be directed towards employee empowerment and participation.

This management method is bound to increase productivity since the officers will be taking up responsibilities and not feel sidelined by the management hence cohesion and increase in productivity. This management approach is also bound to have an indicator of job satisfaction among the employees especially when the officers see their suggestions implemented and indeed themselves participating in implementing the suggestions. There will also be motivation among the officers, an aspect that is often too low among the enforcement officers. The participatory approach.