NCJ Number
82582
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1981) Pages: 47-54
Date Published
1982
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Findings and implications are presented from an analysis of police officers' perceptions of supervisory and administrative support.
Abstract
Hypotheses developed from the literature are that (1) police perceptions of supervisory and administrative support will not be related to the popularly ascribed attitudinal perspectives of authoritarianism, anomie, or political conservatism; (2) level of education, age, birth order, sex, race, job satisfaction, or military background will not carry any significant association with perceptions of supervisory and administrative support; and (3) assuming that particular individual styles are compatible with certain departmental approaches, style conflict will affect police perceptions of supervisory and administrative support. To test these hypotheses' questionnaires were sent to about 900 officers in 18 police departments throughout the country.The most significant portions of the questionnaire were designed to measure perceptions of supervisory and administrative support, styles of policing, and organizational climate. Two attitudinal measures, anomie and job satisfaction, were found to be the strongest individual-level predictors. The pattern of environmental predictors lends some support to the hypotheses emphasis on organizational culture as the primary influence on perceptions of supervisory and administrative support. Particularly, supervisors and administrators are more likely to be regarded with suspicion if the department exhibits rigid and more orthodox management styles. The findings thus suggest that the organizational structure and management style of a department, as well as certain individual officer attitudes, influence officers' perceptions of supervisory and administrative support. Tabular data, 39 references, and 8 notes are provided.