Deakin Business School
Faculty of Business and Law
They may be the protectors of public safety, but the Victoria Police is like any other large organisation in that it faces managerial issues which impact on staff performance. Dr Andrew Noblet in conjunction with Associate Professor John Rodwell from Macquarie Graduate School of Management recently began a three-year study involving Victoria Police. Funded by an ARC grant, the project seeks to identify those individual and organisational characteristics that impact on wellbeing and performance of staff in Victoria Police. The results of the study will be used by Victoria Police to develop strategies that can protect and enhance the health and performance of its employees.
The first phase of the project is well underway. The research team conducted interviews involving a cross section of employees. The aim of the interviews has been to identify the most pressing people management issues. These issues will be examined more closely in a small survey involving approximately 1000 employees. There a number of ways in which several of the key issues can be assessed and the small survey will enable the investigators to establish which are most relevant to this population group.
The results of the small survey of employees will then inform the development of a second survey that was distributed to approximately 3 – 4,000 staff in November 2005. This larger study will provide valuable baseline information on the wellbeing and performance of Victoria Police employees, whilst also allowing the investigators to establish preliminary insights into those characteristics or conditions that are closely associated with the outcome measures.
Andrew Noblet points out that some of the key issues already identified in the interviews, such as leadership styles, communication, and competing values, reflect the people management issues encountered by employees in other organisations and industries. 'Whilst popular opinion would suggest that the most problematic aspects of law enforcement relate to members dealing with critical and sometimes traumatic incidents, such as attending accidents, the interview results so far indicate that everyday concerns with the way work is organised and people are managed, are often considered just as problematic.' Andrew added that whilst these results are not unexpected, they have given the research team greater confidence that the issues and concepts to be covered in the surveys are relevant and important to Victoria Police.
Some current research projects include:
