Diversity across Ranks: The Impacts of Personal and Organizational Factors on Advancement

• In Event: Leadership in Policing

Abstract

The ascension of sworn personnel into leadership positions in police organizations, and the ranks in which leaders are developed, turns to some extent on organizational factors – structures and procedures, and the opportunities that are afforded to members – and to some extent on the personal values and professional goals of officers. The joint distribution of promotional opportunities and members’ values and goals, insofar as they vary by race, ethnicity, and gender, affects the diversity of the personnel at every organizational level. We analyze patterns of advancement to the ranks of commissioned and non-commissioned officers in the New York State Police, overall and by demographic group, including officers’ choices to engage in the promotional process, their performance on promotional exams, and promotional outcomes. We estimate the effects of personal factors – i.e., subjectively assessed importance of a promotion, career orientations, personal demands, professional preparation, the incentive of higher pay, the appeal of one’s current position, and levels of organizational commitment – and organizational factors as they are experienced and perceived by officers – mentoring, networking, organizational “inhibitors,” in-group preferences, and organizational justice.

Authors

• Robert E. Worden, John F. Finn Institute / University at Albany

• Sarah J. McLean, John F. Finn Institute

• Hannah Cochran, John F. Finn Institute

• Beau P. Holladay, John F. Finn Institute / University at Albany