Managing the stress of organizational change.

Law enforcement agencies are in an era of change. The needs of communities and constituencies, rapid technological growth and enhancements, and the changing capabilities and structures of law enforcement organizations demand that agencies regularly examine and improve their ways of operation. According to some futurists, changes in a society occur in several major areas, directly affecting law enforcement and compounding the stress inherently associated with the profession.

CHANGES FACING LAW ENFORCEMENT

From a social perspective, communities are undergoing major and rapid demographic change. Police agencies have increased their racial, ethnic, and sexual diversity and have continued to improve the educational level of officers. At the same time, the employment of persons of heterogeneous age ranges has added new challenges and opportunities.

From a technological perspective, advanced information systems now allow citizens to have real-time information relating to crime, and many departments provide officers with their own computers. From 1993 to 1997, the percentage of local police departments using infield computers grew from 13 percent to 29 percent, which includes 73 percent of all officers employed. (1) Information once dependent upon access and transmission by dispatchers from antiquated computer systems is now instantly at officers' fingertips in their patrol cars.

Technological advances go beyond mere access to information. DNA technology and automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) foster the more definitive and rapid identification of unknown offenders, and enhanced ballistics technology allows for identification of weapons from shell casings instead of merely retrieved projectiles.

From an economic perspective, the United States is in an era of unparalleled growth, and many local governments, especially those relying upon property and sales taxes, have enhanced their tax bases. Concurrently, revenues available for law enforcement agencies, including federal funding, have increased. On the other hand, with unemployment rates at one of the lowest levels in history, law enforcement finds itself competing with the higher pay and better benefits of the private sector to hire the best and brightest young persons beginning their professional careers.

Additionally, environmental changes now pose a major concern to law enforcement. In such states as California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona, the infrastructure cannot handle the population explosion. Dealing with the urban sprawl, traffic congestion, and water restrictions have become law enforcement matters. Disasters, from hurricanes to tornadoes to fires, increasingly occupy the attention of law enforcement agencies and their personnel.

Finally, political change has tremendous impact on law enforcement agencies. Significantly, an increased focus on communitarianism (2) and the emergence of strong grassroots involvement at the neighborhood level have increased in recent years. Now, more than before, citizens want to be involved in the governance of their communities. As a direct result, community-based criminal justice (policing, victim services, corrections, and prosecution) is increasingly the norm, (3) and criminal justice agencies continue to remold their philosophy, structure, and tactics to meet community expectations and needs.

Concurrent with increased community-based efforts, many law enforcement agencies, like their private sector counterparts, are flattening their organizational structure, reducing the steps between entry level personnel and the chief executive officer (CEO). "The effect of flattening the hierarchical structure is to devolve decision-making authority and responsibility to the working level. This allows the principle of 'empowerment' to operate. Empowerment is the organizational principle of allowing those at the operational level of an organization, who know local conditions and needs, to make their own decisions about how their work should be done to best effect." (4)

Clearly, significant change affecting the organization and the individual has become the norm in American law enforcement. "Change within an organization is always difficult, and, in most circumstances, some employees cannot or will not adapt well. Change requires adjustment, which can be stressful." (5)

STEPS TO MANAGE THE STRESS OF CHANGE

The success of an organization and its individual employees in dealing with the stress of change depends, in large measure, on the ability of the organization's leadership to recognize, understand, and actively manage that stress. To do so, agencies can implement 10 interrelated steps.

Awareness

Perhaps, the most important step in dealing with the stress of organizational change is an awareness that it exists. Too frequently, well-intentioned police executives and administrators implement change with little effort at planning and scheduling and with little consideration for its impact on the agency's most vital resource, its personnel.

Often, the organizational change represents a blend of two management approaches. The first exemplifies a desire to flatten the organization, streamline operations, and improve efficiency and effectiveness, all indicators of the most innovative and contemporary approaches to leadership and management. The second reflects change based on a hierarchical mandate, the traditional paramilitary model of management. In this approach, the chief executive identifies the need for change and decrees its forward motion down the organizational structure, with minimal involvement of personnel at the lowest levels and little demonstrated concern for the needs or fears of the agency's "people."

Thus, understanding and mitigating the stress resulting from major organizational change on both the organization and its individual members requires recognizing that it occurs. When executives take steps to change an organization, its personnel will have a number of reactions: fear, frustration, anger, resentment, inertia, active or passive resistance, depression, and, in many cases, a welcoming of necessary improvements. The success of the change will, in large measure, depend on the executive's ability to anticipate and effectively deal with these personnel and the source of their emotions. As one information technology executive has noted, "You have to be adaptable and flexible. If you take only a collaborative approach, the change will take 3 to 5 years, which is too long given the competitive urgency. But, then the organizational psychologists we hired will say we're going too fast; people can't cope with that rate of change. I've learned to have some patience, slow down, and develop a strong relationsh ip with my subordinates to understand the impact this is having on people." (6)

Communication

For the realtor, the well-known key to successful real estate transactions is "location, location, location." Similarly, for the executive, or even first-line manager, in a law enforcement agency undergoing major change, the correlated axiom is "communication, communication, communication." During a time of change, personnel search for meaning and an understanding of the actual impact of the change on each of them as individuals. The presence of accurate and, perhaps more important, timely information delivered by credible sources on a regular basis is critical. Where a vacuum exists in the provision of such information, the organization's grapevine, enhanced within organizations with good electronic systems, rapidly will fill that void. Effective rumor control depends on an active and aggressive program of communication using all means, including interpersonal, one-on-one, written, or electronic, available to an executive.

Agencies must understand the importance of the credibility of that information and its presenter. Executives and managers charged with delivering messages relating to organizational change must directly and truthfully answer employee questions and concerns; if they do not know the answer, or are not allowed to answer specific questions, they cannot afford to lie to their constituents. Equally important, executives should maintain an atmosphere that encourages employee questions without concern for the truthfulness of the response or fear of overt or subtle reproach for simply asking questions.

While communication normally occurs between supervisors and their immediate subordinates, departmental leadership should communicate aggressively with managers and first-line supervisors, those individuals most likely to receive employee questions and to deal with their concerns. These managers should have the most accurate information, and leaders must assure that they communicate issues and answers relating to change with the same organizational voice. One private sector executive, who has captured the essence of this issue, advises, "The ability to communicate is critical. When you're doing this all the time, your own thoughts are advancing constantly, and it's easy to assume others are at the same place you are in your thinking. I had a notion that if it's clear to me, it's clear to somebody else, but that isn't the case." (7)

Leadership Presence

Experts have identified the "high tech, high touch" nature of future change. (8) In times of major change in a law enforcement organization, the high touch component becomes particularly noteworthy. The visible presence of an agency's leadership, its highest command officers, is necessary and, in the eyes of the agency's personnel, absolutely expected. Throughout the course of major change, an aggressive policy of "management by walking around" and a leadership style that encourages interactive interpersonal communication best serve leaders and the organization. When the agency undergoes significant change, the "troops" need to feel the active interest of their bosses in both them and their concerns.

For example, in 1987, when the Aurora, Colorado, Police Department was expanding its community policing approach throughout the agency and all ranks, it hired outside experts to provide the necessary training during regularly scheduled shifts. The agency ensured the consistency of the message and delivered it on their personnel's "home turf' during their normal work hours, not the day shift classroom training often offered for new issues. Yet, a more subtle message became more important than the formal one--the chief of police attended all of these sessions, regardless of the time of day or day of the week. His conspicuous presence and visible leadership clearly showed its importance to the city and the department.

Encouragement

During stressful times surrounding major organizational change, encouragement by an agency's leadership takes two forms. First, administrators should send a clear message that the change will make the agency stronger, serve the organization's members better, and eventually become fully implemented, which shows a real end in sight. At the same time, while stress accompanies change, each employee actively should adjust to it: "The organization is going to change--it must--if it is to survive and prosper. Rather than banging your head against the wall of hard reality and bruising your spirit, invest your energy in making quick adjustments. Turn when the organization turns. Practice instant alignment. Your own decisions may do more to determine your stress level than anything the organization decides to do." (9)

Second, even though the pace of change may become demanding on all elements within a department, especially its managers and supervisors, all personnel should understand that major stress requires comprehensive stress mitigation practices. The need to maintain proper dietary and nutritional habits, an ongoing physical exercise and fitness program, and acceptable outlets outside the agency for pent-up emotions remain particularly crucial for personal stress resolution during such times.

Formalized Support System

No longer immune to efforts at downsizing government, law enforcement agencies must reduce unnecessary, or outdated, programs or civilianize traditionally sworn positions. Sometimes, the impact of such organizational change is so great and viewed so personally that individuals within an organization cannot handle it effectively without professional assistance. When employees believe something jeopardizes their jobs or their concept of themselves in the workplace, the perceived consequence of change can be tremendous.

In such circumstances, access to a skilled employee assistance program (EAP), available either within the agency or through outside referrals, becomes vitally important. Employee assistance program providers should understand the law enforcement agency, the nature and process of the change, the organization's efforts during the change, and the potential impact on its personnel. When change results in the elimination of positions and departments lay off some of their employees, EAP providers, or other job placement experts, can make the transition a little easier, both for those who leave the organization and, equally important, for those who remain behind.

Stability

During times of significant organizational change, even the most well-adjusted professionals will feel a loss of control over their environment. While emphasizing the importance of change throughout the organization, some organizational elements or activities should remain stable. The agency's leadership should allow their personnel to feel that there is still something over which they have control or which remains familiar. Organizational change requires adjustment, and well-thought-out plans can make that adjustment, and the success of the change, far more likely.

Involvement

Major organizational change within a law enforcement agency can come from a variety of sources: a natural evolution to better meet organizational or community needs; a revolution resulting from changes in the jurisdiction's or department's leadership or occurring amid allegations of criminal or professional misconduct; or a devolution of successful programs or ideas that the agency head viewed, heard of, or read about. Regardless of the source of the change, the change most frequently comes from the top down, with little input from or involvement of those personnel most directly impacted.

Increased education of America's police officers and the changing culture of the work force have led line personnel to expect to be involved in decisions about their on-the-job fate. The most successful efforts at major organizational change involve the affected personnel in the tactical implementation of the program, under the strategic design of the agency's leadership. Their role can allow them to feel that they "own" part of the change, that they are responsible for its success, and that they can see the value of the change to them, their jobs, and their organization.

Training

At times, communication, no matter how effective, simply is not enough. Some types of organizational change, especially the kind built upon enhanced or expanded technology, require formalized programs of education and training. Such training is important to enhance the technical skills needed to handle both the immediate impact of change, as well as its long-range effects. Educational efforts can produce a greater understanding of the need for and the anticipated results of such change. The key is an organized approach to ensuring that personnel throughout the agency are prepared now for the future of their agency and their jobs.

Timing

One attorney, responsible for implementing a number of major political and organizational changes in a large state investigative agency, used to say, "timing is not an important thing, it is the only thing." While this adage may cause some debate, its message remains: the most successful change agents, determined to assure the results of their efforts are lasting, plan and time their change.

This belief applies both to initial efforts at implementing change and to subsequent efforts to finetune that change or implement subsequent programs, projects, or efforts. As the organization changes, the organizational culture must absorb those changes for long-term effect. As this occurs, leaders of change must assure that they do not foster an organizational counterreaction because those responsible for implementing or being affected by change are simply overwhelmed by too much over too short a period.

Managerial Burnout 

Organizational change in any law enforcement agency produces stress on all of its personnel. A change-oriented leadership frequently expects that the agency's managers and supervisors will adapt readily to their changes. Because individuals charged with effecting change care deeply about their organization, they are just as susceptible, sometimes even more so, to the fears, frustrations, and anxiety of their subordinates.

Too frequently, however, executives expect those managers to keep that "stiff upper lip," relegating their personal feelings to their unexpressed subconscious. Especially in agencies undergoing waves of change--no matter how needed or well-intentioned--these managers are prone to stress overload and, as a consequence, can lose some of the sharpness and tenacity so necessary for them to ensure effective change. When that occurs, the law enforcement chief executive risks burning out the very individuals necessary to ensure the success of his efforts.

Guarding against burnout of key staff requires the same awareness and aggressive tools that can protect the organization from its own burnout. Communication, stability, and support can help prevent this problem. Further, agencies must recognize that managers in an organization, regardless of their rank, loyalty, skills, and zeal, are still human and, during times of stress associated with organizational change, need the same sensitivity and respect that agencies give their line troops.

CONCLUSION

Community needs are changing in a variety of ways. Such necessary change impacts the quality and types of services law enforcement organizations provide for their communities and affects the organization's personnel and the heart of its culture as well. For change to have the desired lasting effect and to become absorbed within the organization's culture, the agency's highest levels of leadership must recognize and properly address the stress that such change brings.

In changing organizations, executives must acknowledge that they, in fact, organizationally and personally create and shape their own future. Efforts to improve the police agency's ability to deal with community safety and to enhance the quality of life through community policing, for instance, have affected the organization's future and potential for stress. Moreover, an executive's individual efforts, as well as those of an agency's personnel, affect each employee's future and, because of individual perspective, can cause or mitigate stress. By consciously implementing a comprehensive, 10-step stress reduction program, law enforcement executives can help both the organization and its employees manage the stress of change.

Endnotes

(1.) B.A. Reaves and A. L. Goldberg, Local Police Departments 1997 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, 2000), iv.

(2.) Of or relating to social organization in small cooperative partially collectivist communities, Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (1996), s.v. "communitarianism."

(3.) Eduardo Barajas, Jr., "Confronting Crime Through Criminal Justice," Community Policing Exchange, VII (May/June 2000): 2.

(4.) Tonita Murray, "Police and the Challenge of the 21st Century," RCMP Gazette, 62 (1, 2000): 11.

(5.)James D. Sewell, "What They Didn't Teach in Management School," FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, August 1991, 5-8. For additional management perspective, see Peter F. Drucker, Management Challenges for the 21st Century (New York, NY: Harper Business, 1999).

(6.) Abbie Lundberg, "The People Side of Change," CIO (May 15, 1997), 105.

(7.) Philip N. Newbold quoted in Abbie Lundberg, "The People Side of Change," CIO (May 15, 1997).

(8.) John Naisbitt, Megatrends (New York, NY: Warner Books, 1988). Price Pritchett and Ron Pound, A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organizational Change (Plano, TX: Pritchett Rummler-Brache, 1998),

(8.) See also, Price Pritchett, Carpe Manana: 10 Critical Leadership Practices for Managing Toward the Future (Plano, TX: Pritchett Rummler-Brache, 2000).

RELATED ARTICLE: 15 Steps to Lower Stress

* Invest 30 minutes in vigorous physical exercise, three to five times per week (assuming your doctor doesn't have a problem with that). Work up a sweat.

* Learn relaxation techniques.

* Cut down on caffeine.

* Eat right.

* Meditate, get still, "center."

* Develop better time management habits.

* Play, have fun, recharge.

* Get plenty of sleep.

* Smile more, laugh, use humor to lighten your emotional load.

* Count your blessings daily, make thankfulness a habit.

* Say nice things when you talk to yourself.

* Simplify.

* Set personal goals, give yourself a sense of purpose.

* Forgive, grudges are too heavy to carry around.

* Practice optimism and positive expectancy, hope is a muscle--develop it.

Source: Price Pritchett and Ron Pound, A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organizational Change (Piano, TX: Pritchett Rummler-Brache, 1998), 35.