Uses of Force by Chicago, New York, La police Research Paper

Uses of Force by Chicago, New York, La police - Research Paper Example Uses of Force by Chicago, New York, La police As maintainers of law and order in the public, police officers should be more cautious on the way they handle people in the public. From sociological and psychological view point, modern study scrutinizes on the determinants of police use of force using data gathered by Garner and Maxwell in 1996- 1997.The information herein entailed the adult custody arrests in six urban law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Dissimilar to most of the recent studies; the degree of force is extended to comprise threat of force as well as varied levels of physical force. The results have revealed strong and reliable evidence that probability os using force and the quantity of force used by the police largely is dependent on what the suspect commits rather than who the suspect is, even after controlling for other factors. The way a suspect is handled and the conduct towards the police seems as the most essential factor explaining the use of force behavior. The results obtained also reveals the effects of race and the gender relations as well as the occurrence of eyewitness and other officers on the outlook. Police use of force The na ture of police to citizen encounter may vary from civil to very fiery, and this may entail both verbal and physical conflict. Acknowledging that characteristics of such nature may encounter alongside with the behaviors of the officers and suspects is essential to comprehend the factors impacting police use of force. All over the world, policing entails and at times demands some amount of force. Bittner (1975) accentuates on this aspect of police work and, moreover, affirms that police are nothing else but a mechanism for the dissemination of situational acceptable force in the society. The law and enforcement officers, are required to use force in particular circumstances, are trained in the use of force, and, in general, encounter numerous situations on their due course of duty when the use of force is required. For instance, in arresting wrongdoers, averting escape, putting into custody the disorderly participants, or when safeguarding themselves and the blameless victims from get ting injured. As it has been confirmed by Skolnick and Fyfe (1993, p. 37), â€Å"as long as the public continues defying law and order, and resist arrest, use of force by the police remains inevitable. Even though the use of force by the police has been significant inn averting and regulating law and order in the society, it has however contributed to alarming rate of social and legal consequences amid the police and the public. This is an aspect that has predominantly resulted towards studying on this essential topic and would enrich our knowledge towards an efficient comprehension in this area of study. Recent research carried out on police use of force reveals that police use force rarely (Adams, 1999; Friedrich, 1980; Garner, Buchanan, Schade, & Hepburn, 1996; Garner & Maxwell, 1999; Worden, 1996). Whether indicated by authorized use of force, (Alpert & Dunham, 1999), the complaints of the citizens, those surveying the officers, the arrestees, citizens or the observational meth ods the recorded data constantly reveal that only a minor portion of police – public relations makes use of force. On the other hand, the encounter amid of the police and the citizen, in which police officers frequently are compelled to make swift decisions may generate inappropriate or unnecessary use of force that may ruin and lower the repute of police authority and authenticity in the public. Among the different theoretical orientations used to explain police use of force, Terrill and Mastrofski (2002) identifies a particular sociological and psychological perspective that

Organizational Change A Literature Review Essay

Organizational Change A Literature Review - Essay Example Being an ‘organism’ all organizations are prone to change; in fact change is part of its nature. Organizations always seek to maximize growth as much as longevity, and in order to ensure this growth and longevity a thriving organization must adjust in tandem with the changing times. But even as the organization seeks and adopts changes it may benefit from in the long term, these changes variably affect the lives and careers of the people who comprise it. For some the necessary adjustments are unsettling because they usually detract from the routines that organizational personnel have become accustomed to. Changes also tend to deviate from the longer-term expectations individuals have set for themselves under the conditions prior to the change, thereby creating anxieties and uncertainties that challenge the employee’s trust in his organization. Similar problems arise with respect to the organization’s other stakeholders which tend to threaten the successful adoption of the change. The literature review explores the complex issues that attend the adoption of change in organizations. Repercussions pertaining to the organization itself as well as its stakeholders shall be examined, and insights which shall be gathered from the wealth of academic literature on organizational change shall be integrated to support a furtherance of future studies. Drivers of organizational change There are three categories of forces which exert pressure for organizational change, according to Tichy (1982, as cited by Westover, 2010, p. 46), namely technical, political, and cultural forces. Technical forces refers to imperatives for change created by changes in technology and economic conditions in the environment, including the development of advance equipment, changing interest rates and increase in competition. Political forces pertains to pressures for change brought about by issues associated with power, influence, and resource allocation; these include issues of who holds authority, who are rewarded, and who are empowered to decide how rewards and resources are allocated. Finally, cultural forces refers to those pressures urging change as a result of a shift in the collective values and beliefs of people, that is, the demographic composition and cultural diversity of the labor pool and societal values (Westover, 2010). The change agent ( typically the human resources professional in an organizational setting) will perform a vital role, described in the subsequent discussion below, in bringing together both management and employees to effectively address these pressures by fostering effective change strategies. Numerous drivers of organizational change have been identified over the decades, but there has been a confluence of studies which incline towards some commonly cited factors. In a theory-building survey of academic studies, Whelan-Berry and Somerville (2010) have determined these to be: (1) the acceptance of a change vision; (2) leaders’ change related activities; (3) change related communication; (4) change related training; (5) change related employee participation; (6) aligned human resources practices; and (7) aligned organization structure and control processes (p. 182) Organizational structure as tool and barrier to organizational change According to Hannan, Polos and Carroll (2003), there are fou r types of processes that delay and may even prevent organizational change. These are: structural processes, that include the consequences of intricacy of the adopted change and the viscosity or sluggishness of response; institutional processes