NCJ Number
111848
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 15 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1987) Pages: 262-270
Date Published
1987
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Comprehensive questionnaires were distributed to 418 supervisors at all levels in a metropolitan police department to determine the degree of bureaucratization as perceived by the respondents, respondents' perceptions of their own role performance, and their perceptions regarding their organization's effectiveness.
Abstract
Measures of role performance encompassed personal achievement, job satisfaction, recognition from superiors, contribution to organizational objectives, sense of organizational objectives, sense of organizational responsibility, reward equal to performance and expectations, use of education and experience, and sense of self-fulfillment. Variables relating to organizational effectiveness covered productive output, service quality, organizational efficiency, anticipation of problems, new techniques, adaptation to change, and coping with unexpected events. The study indicates that selected measures of perceived role performance can be high in a bureaucratic organization. Other measures of perceived role performance apparently suffer from bureaucratic restraints. High levels of bureaucratization exact a toll in the form of perceptions of generally low organizational effectiveness among members of the organization. Also, in a highly bureaucratic organization, perceptions of heightened role performance contribute to perceptions of greater organizational effectiveness and a marked improvement in actual performance throughout the department. Immediate improvement in organizational performance across the board can be achieved by transforming the various measures of bureaucratization into avenues of opportunity leading toward even higher levels of perceived role performance. 6 tables and 27 references.