Custom «Performance Management» Essay Paper Sample

Royal Virgin Island Police Force strives hard to serve the community by maintaining public order and peace, detecting crimes and preventing occurrence of such crimes (John and Eleese, 2004, pp 45). It also allows efficient flow of traffic system while at the same time issuing community policing. As part of a comprehensive research on how management systems in the police force are conducted, the RVIPF looks on ways of improving the technology and shaping the police force functions. Accordingly, Total Quality Management (TQM) has been proposed to be the best system to be introduced to assist in measuring management performance and functions of all levels of the police force.

At present the Royal Virgin Island Police Force, which forms the basis of the study, has a total of 11 police stations located at different parts of the British Islands (John and Eleese, 2004, pp 45). The police stations include Main Road Tortola, West End Tortola, Police Head Quarters Tortola, Cane Garden Tortola, East End Tortola, Airport Beef Island, Marine Base Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, North Sound and lastly the Jost Van Dyke Police Station. RVIPF main aim is to satisfy community's needs, ensure that its employees received the best trainings and procedures, by implementing the use of TQM in its management system. This thesis will focus on the present systems used in the police force and the improvements that would be accrued in the force on implementing use of TQM as a modern technology. It will also look at performance management system in the RVIPF, how it is conducted, how often it is renewed and if it functions to fulfill communities' needs.

Background of the study

The role of police officers and other authority personnel go as far as watching and monitoring the performance of individuals in police force (Dibdin, 2001, pp 96). Dibdin (2001, p. 97), indicates that the police authorities need to overlook the planning activities in the management system and ensure that work is done in accordance with the police force mission statements. According to Dibdin (2001, pp 97), the strategic plan of RVIPF was to be implemented so that all the police force members could be aware of the objectives of the firm.

In enacting this to both the public and the officials in service, the authorities needed to ensure that police resources are effectively distributed among its workers so that work is done in accordance to what is expected out of them (Dibdin, 2001, pp 97). Skogan and Frydl (2004), also supported this by indicating that relative priorities should be instilled in the management team in order to achieve high results in the work force.

The statutory duties instills the role of police authorities, to be ensuring that continuous assessments are done in the performance management sector in order to strategize ways of improving it. The police authorities have the responsibility of listening and including the public interests when enacting policies in the police force. This research will focus on the performance management at RVIPF, which heads 11 police stations including; Main Road Tortola, West End Tortola, Police Head Quarters Tortola, Cane Garden Tortola, East End Tortola, Airport Beef Island, Marine Base Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, North Sound and lastly the Jost Van Dyke Police Station.

The duty of police authorities in the performance management should seek to ensure that the community receives top priority in when implementing security measures and allocating police resources (Dibdin, 2001, pp 96). They should also scrutinize the planning processes by identifying areas that requires to be amended or require much attention. In addition, they play a role in monitoring the training activities of its staff members to ensure that total risk management is enforced in the force.

With the increasing need to improve services offered by the Royal Virgin Island Police officers, the Association of Police Authorities (APA) identified the need to implement the use of Total Quality Management system in the performance management. The association instilled the advantages that will be accrued to the RVIPF management sector when TQM is implemented. According to Cook and Verma (2002, pp 45), the use of TQM in the management system allows the police force officers to be in a better position to monitor its activities in all the police stations without actually going to the sites.

In order to face the challenges faced by RVIPF, which included how to be accountable in responding to the immediate needs of the community and public, concerning, maintaining total safety, law and order, the RVIPF saw the need to enact a system that would be able to collect, analyze and store data in a way that would be effective in decision making process. When pressured about certain crimes and sceneries, the police officials were expected to give detailed information and statistics within a short notice period. Lack of such services in maintaining performance managements induced a lot of pressure to the top officials and its juniors and that is why new improved measures were sought for, as observed by Dibdin (2001, pp. 96).

This thesis will majorly feature on the systems that were initially used to manage the police force, its effectiveness and how these systems could be improved by implementing use of Total Quality Management system in the police force. The thesis also indicates the findings from interviews and questionnaires issued to the police officers who had been in service for more than 7 years. It also summarizes the impact on police officers on using TQM in the police force. This implementation is done in comparison to other methods that can be used in the police force to improve its performance management system.

Nature of the Study

The study was conducted on realization that the police force needed new technologies to satisfy community needs and expectations. The research in this study will focus on the systems used in the police force today and its inadequacies. It will then establish and research information about TQM management system and its importance in the police force system. It will cover all areas in the police force that needs to be efficiently managed and requires most attention to ensure the police force fulfills its mission in the community. RVIPF main concern is to create inducive environment to its citizens by ensuring that it's free from any fear of crime and bringing all charged persons to justice. It also upholds law and issues policing services to the community at large (Dibdin, 2001, pp 96).

Research objectives

The objectives of this study are;

Ø To study about the systems that are used in the police force and find out if it needs any improvement

Ø Find out enough information about Total quality management

Ø To critically investigate the impact of using TQM in the management system of the police force

Ø To investigate police force readiness for TQM application and what their take is on its application in the system

Ø To find out other methods that can be used by the police force management team to improve the performance of the work force.

Research Questions

This study aims to answer the following questions in order to fulfill the above stated objectives of the study

Ø What systems were used to manage the police force?

Ø What problems results from using the above mentioned system?

Ø What is Total Quality Management system and how effective is it in the police force?

Ø What is the expected reaction of the police team on introduction of TQM in their management system?

Ø How is the introduction of TQM beneficial to all persons working in the police force and to the community as a whole?

Significance of the Study

This study was done in a way to address all those working in the police force to take initiative measures to improve the service they were offering to the public. The research was also done to assess the performance of RVIPF police officers in relevance to their job requirements. It focuses on the role of police authorities in relation to what is entitled of them and, this places the public in a strategic position of safety. The community and the public will be in a good position to assess the work done by the officers and will also be able to raise notice incase their interests are not met or fulfilled. The improvement measures by the police officers will oversee the growth of services issued to the public. The public will be able to get a quick response pertaining matters of emergency. The line managers will be assured of equal distribution of police resources in all the police departments including the small offices that are out of town or far from headquarters offices.

Statement of the Problem

The royal virgin island police force had the need to improve its management system in the workforce of its employees and staff. The RVIPF officials required information concerning a system that could be implemented in the police force to measure the performance of the staff while at the same time ensuring that resources are adequately distributed in the system to fulfill what the community expected of them. The force chose the use of Total Quality Management system to enable each employer to fully access his/her contributions and performance level in the entity, getting information concerning the contribution of their peers and all the management staff working in the force. TQM was deemed the most appropriate method of observing the performance of employees and critically assessing their accountability which was an ideal direction in which RVIPF intended to take. According to Dibdin (2001, pp 96), lesser improvement methods have been undertaken by the police heads to address this issue of performance and necessary actions have to be taken to ensure today's police force are well equipped in readiness to serve the community.