Examining the Relationship Between Agency Bureaucracy Type and Officer Attitudes

• In Event: Police Organizational Issues

Abstract

The literature is replete with the finding that organizational factors rather than the aspects of providing police service cause officers the greatest amount of stress. However, the specific organizational factors that wield this deleterious effect remain enigmatic. It was postulated that as law enforcement agencies are bureaucracies, a viable theoretical lens through which to examine this dynamic is offered in the seminal work of Adler and Borys (1996). These theorists contend that bureaucracy is perceived by employees as being either coercive or enabling depending upon how it is practiced within the organization, and, suggest that empowerment theory might be applied as a means of elucidating this employee perception. This study tested a new model, via structural equation modeling, that employed the empowerment construct to identify officers’ perception of their agency’s bureaucratic orientation. The analysis revealed an excellent fitting model where χ2 (73, N = 487) = 147.10, p < .001, GFI =.96, CFI = .97, RMSEA = .046, 90% CI [ .035 - .056], with perception of enabling bureaucracy having a negative relationship with burnout and a positive relationship with job satisfaction. The findings suggest that enabling bureaucracies can be constructed to improve officer attitudes.

Author

• Bruce Biggs, University of Indianapolis