Activity Learning Discussion Question 3

What Organizational Theories are best suited to policing?  Justify your answer.

            Police work requires a certain type of organizational theories in order to coordinate the best possible response for the circumstance.   Three types of organizational theories apply to police work that explains structures and strategies of policing.  These three are the contingency theory, institutional theory, and resource dependency theory.  The Contingency Theory is built to develop a police structure and it believes stronger in the department’s goals, missions and visions.  A perfect of example of contingency theory is crime control in the police department.  The Institutional Theory has more to with the environment surrounding the police department.  An example of this is the social institutions operating in relation with the department’s external social and political environment like schools, shops and police forces.  The third theory is the Resource Dependency Theory.  The objective of this theory is the outside resources in which the police department receives in order to stay afloat they engage in exchanges in their environment by way of organizational trade.  An example here would be provided security for a place of business because it has been known to be at risk with crime.

            All police departments operate by a organizational theory. The operation cold stay effective if they did not so this.  Each police agency or department will operate by a different set of rules and theory.  No one will ever be the same.  Most of the time departments operate its organizational theory based around the needs of the community.  In other words, if there were a problem with gangs in the local neighborhoods they obviously there would be a gang task force available.   Most of the time this organizational theory has to be approved by board members within the city like the mayor, city councilman, and lastly the citizens in which it serves.  Resources depend how the department operates from day-to-day.  Not all departments receive resources that are readily available to them.  Some of them are not awarded funding for these types of issues.  The organizational theory a department operates by explains its structure and strategies but does not provide solutions to the problems it faces. 

Reference:

Aranfam (2012).  StudyMode.  Organizational Theories Response.  Retrieved on July 15, 2014 from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Organizational-Theories-Response-915163.html

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philsophy (2011).  Social Institutions.  Retrieved on July 15, 2014 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-institutions/