Work in most police departments today follows the philosophy of Frederick Winslow Taylor, who proposed that systemizing efficiency should be the primary focus of organizational managers. Writing in 1911 Taylor declared:
“In the past, man was first. In the future, the system will be first.”
Thus, Taylor’s “scientific management” system was launched, turning the worker into a mere gear in the system, a disposable human tool, a worker-for-hire, a wage slave. Unfortunately, Taylor’s “assembly-line” system dehumanized the worker and the culture of work, pitting employees against “management,” and the very organizations that employ them.
Taylor was also oblivious to another danger inherent in his system: it left ownership, control, and decision making (not to mention the distribution of profits) in the hands of a small elite of managers, time-study engineers and owners. His system offered once self-reliant workers higher wages in exchange for their loyalty to what many consider a modern form of feudalism. Most police organizations today still operate according to Taylor’s top-down vision of the workplace.
However, the era of “no more taxes,” advanced informational systems, and the paradigm shift from an emphasis on traditional policing to community policing, is forcing a basic change in how we view the role of the police officer and the nature of the organization and communities we serve. Police organizations must recognize that, for their own survival, they must find new, more flexible ways of rewarding and motivating their employees, while controlling costs, and delivering ever-higher levels of value to their customers (employees and citizens). They are realizing that the adversarial nature o ...