Senior police leaders such as Outram et al (2014, 92) are calling for, “new approaches and fresh thinking,” to managing police officers because traditional approaches to policing are not working. The implementation of NPM has changed the way police are managed, although the pace and depth of change has varied across different countries. Whilst organisational change is part of public sector workplaces (Conway, Kiefer, Hartley & Briner 2014) the pace of change has been faster in core-NPM countries (Australia, USA), whereas NPM laggards (Italy, Malta) have experienced less change (Pollitt & Bouckaert 2011).
Aim
This paper compares the similarities and differences in the way changes have been managed in policing across the four countries (Kuipers, Higgs, Kickert, Tummers, Grandia, & van der Voet 2014). In particular, this paper compares the link between organizational leadership, organizational learning and engagement of police officers in the USA, Malta, Italy and Australia. Formal organizational learning refers to the suite of formal actions that influences policies and processes about how knowledge is implemented in practice (Vera & Crossan, 2004). Past research has identified the role of the leader as a strong determinant of the value employees place on learning, however, changes to management practices in some countries because of the implementation of NPM has changed the extent to which leaders are involved in training -especially on-the-job training, (Makin, 2015). Consequently, questions are now being raised as to whether past organizational learning practices are effective, especially considering the scarcity of public resources.
RQ1: What are the similarities and differences in police leadership, satisfaction with training and engagement across Australia, Malta, Italy and the USA?
Methods
The aim of this study was to examine and compare the impact of organizational processes (leadership and training) on the engagement of police officers in Australia, USA, Italy and Malta. A cross-sectional design based on survey, utilizing a self-report strategy was employed to collect data from 1039 police officers: 588 from one state in the USA, 193 from one state in Australia, and from 258 working in the police department of Malta. The police data from Italy is being collected at the moment.
Results We expect the SEM results to show a difference in the implementation of change based on whether the country is a core-NPM or NPM laggard country
Organisational change and the organisation of public sector work
