Managing Police Organizations, 8th edition

For courses in police management and leadership.

The indispensible guide for leading police personnel to breakthrough performance.

Now in its eighth edition, Managing Police Organizations sets the standard for police leadership and management by exploring the relationship between leadership, management, and results. Written for a broad audience, the book focuses on developing character and leadership competencies. Using case studies and structured learning exercises, it seeks to break down constricting operational levels and barriers within police organizations and the communities they serve. The text follows a logical three-part organization and each chapter examines a key challenge for police managers and presents practical ideas and methods police managers can use to successfully lead their agencies toward quality and excellence of service.

Hallmark Features

Helps students become better leaders and facilitators—The text provides strong coverage of leadership styles and team empowerment.

• Builds on contemporary management themes within the context of the police organization
• Familiarizes students with the accountability, care-taking, and caring aspects of leadership 

Gets students to apply what they have learned—Chapters present text material in practical and engaging ways, getting students involved and actively learning.

• Each chapter includes 3 to 4 structured exercises that get students involved and encourage them to apply chapter material to realistic scenarios. Exercises are also great resources for stimulating classroom discussion.
• Case studies, case examples, and numerous self-awareness scales get readers actively involved in the material. 

Encourages self-awareness and ethical behaviour—Emphasis on values and ethics helps students analyze their own value systems. Value clarification is presented as a foundation for managing oneself and leading others.

• How-to exercises and real-life examples of ethical dilemmas help readers become more aware of personal values and prepare them for difficult situations they may face in the field.

Emphasizes the important difference between management and leadership—with insightful discussions on tactical vs. strategic planning and community- and problem-oriented policing.

The Eighth Edition has been reorganized and presents substantial new material on integrity, well being, empowerment, and other topics.

New! Chapter 2, Integrity—discusses foundational values and ethics of police managers in a real-world framework. This crucial new material addresses the fact that a vast majority of leadership failures are due to violations of integrity, and provides practical information and techniques for identifying values and dealing with ethical issues.

New! Chapter 6, Well Being—is a blend of scientific evidence on the vital role of emotional intelligence and positive psychology in striving for quality performance

New! Chapter 5, Empowerment—deals with the many issues involved with the balance of power in an organizational setting, all based on recent research studies. Discussions include

• when and how to empower staff—and when not to
• the importance of trust
• how to identify and make the most of different individuals’ strengths
• how to deal with problem personnel and problem bosses
• handling criminal behavior in the workplace
• achieving the enormous benefits of teamwork with an organization