Organizational Theory and It's Effects on Policing

For hundreds of years much energy has been placed into studying the art of management. Man is constantly seeking new and innovative ways to improve production, better allocate labor and accomplish more with less. However, the foundations of modern management were laid by men of the past such as Adam Smith and Daniel McCallum. Their work and writings are the groundwork for not only the organization of business management but for modern police administration.

In 1776 the Scottish Economist and Philosopher, Adam Smith's book "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" was published (www.adamsmith.org). In the first chapter of this book entitled "Of the Division of Labour", smith writes about a pin factory which could produced only a few dozen pins per day but was able to produce thousands of pins each day after labor was divided up so that each worker was performing only one simple task. According to Smith, "This great increase of the quantity of work which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many" (Smith).

The assertion is that when an individual only performs one specific and repetitive task he becomes and expert at his assigned task and as result the quantity of production increases.

Similar principals are being used in modern business management. For example former chairman of ServiceMaster stated, "When someone wasn't performing, we would... look for another position for that person. One can accomplish something only with his strengths. With his weaknesses, he cannot accomplish anything. Thankfully here lies an advantage of the organization. In an organization, we can bring an individual's strengths into play and make his weakness irrelevant" (Edersheim, 175). When a worker is only doing one task he can play to his strengths. For instance, if a factory worker's only job is to tighten screws, then the fact that he is not good at hammering nails is of no consequence. All that matters is that he can tighten screws. Therefore, his weakness has no negative effect on production.

The concept of division of labor is also germane to police administration. Most large departments are divided up into special units; each unit handles certain crimes or issues within the department. This division is commonly refereed to as specialization. According to Swanson et al, "...specialization produces different groups of functional responsibilities, and the jobs allocated to meet those different responsibilities are

staffed or filled with people who are believed to be specially qualified to perform those jobs. Thus, specialization is crucial to effectiveness and efficiency in large organizations.... Specialization also helps during the investigation of narrowly defined technical crimes, such as bombings, computer fraud and environmental dumping" (232).

When officers are assigned to a special unit and deal solely or predominately with the business of the unit the productivity of the police is increased as well as the quality of work. Officers develop expertise in their area of work which allows them to work in a more swift and efficient matter. Such that a homicide detective would not generally concern himself with white collar crimes or identity theft, rather, he only works in his area of expertise. The result is that cases are solved faster and more work done. The concept of specialization is a product of Adam Smith's principals of division of labor.

Daniel McCallum was the superintendent of the New York & Erie Railway. In his 1856 superintendent's report suggest some principals that he believed would increase the railways efficiency. He called for the utilization of the following principals:

1) A proper division of responsibility

2) A sufficient power conferred to enable the same to be fully carried out

3) The means of knowing whether such responsibilities are faithfully executed

4) Great promptness in the report of all derelictions of duty, that evils may be at once corrected

5) Such information, to be obtained through a system of daily reports and checks that will not embarrass principal officers, nor lessen their influence with their subordinates

6) The adoption of a system, as a whole, which will not only enable the general supervisors to detect errors immediately, but will also point out the delinquent

McCallum also facilitated the use of the organizational chart to which is used to track an organizations structure and rank and file.

The principals of McCallum are the foundation of the modern business management including the use of organizational charts. Organizational charts are commonly used by businesses and organizations of all types. According to the Harvard Business Review, "From the beginning, the organization chart was much more than a piece of paper. McCallum insisted that people report only to their superiors; there was no bucking the lines of authority set out on the chart. 'All subordinates should be accountable to, and be directed by their immediate superiors only,' he wrote in 1856. 'Obedience cannot be enforced when the foreman in immediate charge is interfered with by a superior officer giving orders directly to his subordinates.'" (Chandler, 156). The use of the chart allowed for the implementation of McCallum principals by creating a chain of command. "The organization chart is a symbol of the evolution of Western industry from businesses.... Its development and proliferation heralded the rise of the modern corporation" (Chandler, 157). The organizational chart is a fundamental component of modern business management.

Just as the McCallum organizational chart was important to business management it is also an central tool of law enforcement agencies. It is used by police administration to organize the chain of command with in a department and show the flow of the departments division, subdivisions, beats, units etc. Appendix 1 shows the organizational chart of the Vacaville Police Department.

The chain of command is also born out of McCallum's prinicipals. The chain of command allows for supervision of officers and for "evils to be corrected" with in the department. "The principal of hierarchy requirement that each lower level of organization be supervised by a higher level results not only in the use of multiple spans of control but also in different grades of authority that increase at each successively higher level of the organization. This authority flows downward in the organization as a formal grant of power from the chief of police to those selected for leadership positions. These different grades of authority produce the chain of command" (234, Swanson).

The chain of command is an integral component of police administration, form the chief down to the beat officer and nonsworn personnel and the use of the organization chart allow for clear delineation of the chain of command.

McCallum's principals of daily reports and checks are also a significant element of police organization. Officer and supervisor create written reports for calls dispatched too, investigations in progress, traffic stops and all types of duties performed. Reports are also used to track officer officer conduct or to pass information throughout the department. The reports allow supervisors to maintain information of what their subordinated are doing and the activities of the department. According to McCallum this system of reports is necessary to make sure that each officer is doing what is required of him and to protect the integrity of the department.

The practices and needs of management are still changing and evolving and Police must be aware of these changes and be able to respond to them by adjusting their personnel and resources accordingly. For this reason trends and changes in general and business management are relevant to the management of police. The ideas and principals of men such as Smith and McCallum lay the foundation not just for management of factories or companies but also for police organizations and the effects of their principals can be readily seen in the functions of law enforcement agencies.

Works Cited

Appendix 1. Organizational Chart http://www.ci.vacaville.ca.us/departments/police/__documents/Org%20Chart.pdf 03/02/2008

Chandler Jr., Alfred D. "Origins of the Organizational Chart." Harvard Business Review. Mar/Apr88, Vol. 66 Issue 2, p156-157

Edersheim, Elizabeth Haas, The Definitive Drucker. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

McCallum, Daniel. Superintendent's Report, NY & Erie RR 1856

Smith, Adam.An Inquiry into the Nature And Causes of the Wealth of Nations. http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/won-b1-c1.htm

Swanson, Charles R, Leonard Territo, Robert W. Taylor. Police Administration: Structures, Processes, and Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2005