Organizational Structure And Leadership

Organizational Structure and Leadership

Consider the differences between these two law enforcement agencies: Sheriff Andy Griffith and his two-man Mayberry sheriff’s office, and the 35,000-officer New York City Police Department.  (If you’ve never heard of Andy, take a quick Internet interlude.)  Both agencies have the same mission—keeping the peace.  However, could Andy Griffith walk the streets of New York unarmed and talk his way into keeping the city safe?  Would a riot-gear-equipped NYPD SWAT team be the best way to keep the peace in Mayberry?

Whether an organizational structure is hierarchical or organic, the culture of a law enforcement agency comes from the top.  In this assignment, you will examine environmental factors and devise the most appropriate organizational structure, defend your choice, and explain how the structure you have devised would best perform the mission of keeping peace in the community. Scenario:

Bayside Village has undergone rapid change in the last ten years.  Once a summer vacation getaway of seaside cottages and boutique shops, Bayside’s economy suffered when the auto plant in neighboring Metro City closed.  Now Bayside is a city in transition as lower-income residents of diverse ethnic backgrounds have moved in and the original residents have relocated to more vibrant cities farther down the coast.  Originally a sleepy village of 1,500, Bayside now has a population approaching 10,000.

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Read the following from the textbook, Criminal Justice Organizations Administration and Management:

a. Chapter 2, “Structure of Criminal Justice Organizations”

b. Chapter 3, “The Criminal Justice System in Its Environment”

3. Using Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 as a guide, write a paper:

a. Briefly (in one or two paragraphs) discuss the characteristics of the hierarchical organizational structure and the organic organizational structure.

b. Discuss the environmental factors at issue in the Bayside Village scenario.

c. Then, placing yourself as the newly appointed chief of the Bayside Village Police Department, devise an organizational structure for the Bayside PD, assuming the following:

i. You have 28 patrolmen ranging from veterans of the “old” Bayside Village to new graduates of the state law enforcement training academy.  Two of the patrolman-rank officers are detectives.

ii. You also have four sergeants and one lieutenant.

iii. A central dispatch agency handles 9-1-1.  It does not report to the chief of police, but you have two civilian clerks.

d. Describe in detail the type of structure you have chosen and the reasons you feel this structure is the preferred organizational structure for the Bayside Village Police Department.  Include the advantages of your structure the disadvantages of adopting another structure.

e. Lastly, indicate how the structure you selected is more conducive to leadership as opposed to merely management in the Bayside Village Police Department.

4. Deliverable:

a. A two- to three-page paper, double-spaced, 12-pt. type

b. An organizational chart

i. You can create the organizational chart in Word or PowerPoint