Criminal Law
Communication Improvement Plan
The new Sherriff must be able to properly delegate responsibilities to the deputy Sheriffs, who in turn delegates some of his functions to other employees. In order to do this, they must establish open and reciprocal communication plan in order to deliver the department’s mission statement in line with the department’s core values. The communication process between Sheriff and deputy sheriffs to the line staff of the police department must be open and approachable in order to foster effective communication. This will ensure that there is transparency and integrity during their time of service delivery to the community.
Building a good relationship with the line staff is the best way to close the productivity gap of the employees. At the same time, it also promotes the personal effectiveness and productivity of the new Sheriff. The rationale behind effective communication on the part of the new Sheriff and his staff is that he takes the time to develop these relationships and guides them towards achieving their mission of upholding the truth and to ensure that culprits and the victims are served equal justice.
The mission of the department symbolizes an open structure since it can be applied in any nature of service granted by the department. The department’s objective is to serve justice to all. By the authority and leadership of the new Sheriff, the community policing program they plan to pursue will be enhanced through the delivery of social justice. The team will be able to apprehend the culprits and ensuring justice is served to the victims will be achieved by building good relationship within the department. Thus, having a strong and sensitive leadership shall build a solid department. The failure to maintain and keep the relationships shall weaken the entire operation. Therefore, the new Sheriff must continuously be reminded that the key to success of every leader is to establish interpersonal relationships within the department.
A good supervisor-employee relationship should be formed between the new Sheriff and his subordinates. This will enhance the cohesion between the Sherriff’s office and the citizens of the county. In order to be able to fulfill corporate social responsibility, the communication process within the organization should be smooth sailing to enhance effective delivery of public service. In addition, communication is improved to be able to adopt a social networking for a quick and efficient response to any emergency. This kind of relationship channel should be open and free to enable the parties to have their own views, interpretations, and reactions. The supervisor and the staff should have a two-way communication to keep the relationship within the police department alive and healthy. Both of the parties should be able to contribute and do their part. The best way to describe this relationship is feedback. By providing feedback, the employee and the supervisor shall keep the relationship healthy.
An example of ineffective communication between supervisors and staff is when the Sheriff does not directly communicates with his subordinates and delegates to his secretary to inform them about the new policies. The act of Sheriff in directing the secretary to post a memorandum of the new policies that are to be implemented in the department is not an effective method of communication. One example is when the members of line staff are ordered to wear bullet proof vests at all times during the transportation of prisoners, control of traffic, and investigation of accident scenes. This act of Sheriff in requiring the use of bullet proof vest at all times signifies an autocratic type of leadership. There is a strong indication that the Sheriff and the line staff failed a go through a dialogue to have an exchange of their thoughts and opinions with regard to the use bulletproof vests.
Another example is when the new advocates racism and gender discrimination within the department. The Sheriff should not discriminate the female police officers from the male officers in the delegation on work due to personal biases. Here, the Sheriff should take measures to recognize the existence of the conflict and make a definitive action to resolve the problem. In order for the new Sheriff to become a good leader, he should learn to become a skilled negotiator between the male and female officers by implementing the proper manner of negotiation with his subordinates (Gaines and Worall, 2011, p.237).
It is best to build a communication, negotiation and conflict resolution between the Sheriff and the employees. The new Sheriff must remember to develop the important skills of negotiation and conflict resolution to communicate with the line staff and negotiate favorable positions within their department (Gaines and Worrall, 2011). The new Sheriff will be able to communicate more efficiently if he allowed the line to staff to voice out their opinions on the new policy and look for the best solution that will work best for all parties. It is imperative to engage in peaceful negotiations in order to achieve a common decision based on the sentiments of the supervisor and the employees.
One strategy to improve the communication between the members of the Los Angeles County is through the implementation of the “Mutual Reward Theory” (MRT). The MRT refers to the scenario where the head of the department allows the staff members to enjoy the freedom to work with minimum supervision, gives personal recognition, and allows them to be involved in decision-making within the department.
Although formal communication is necessary for certain operations in the Sheriff’s departments, there is also a need to apply informal communication where the circumstances call for it. There are major barriers to effective communication between supervisors and employees over-framing differences, defensiveness, status differences, internal conflict, language barrier and pre-judgments (Davis, 2008). The communications process between the new Sheriff and the line staff is critical in every law enforcement department. Further, the timing of communications symbolizes that there is a need to consult the members of the department in order to be able to achieve the mission and objectives of the department.
References:
Davis, J.H. (2008).Interpersonal Communication Skills in the Workplace, 2nd ed. USA: AMACOM:
Gaines, L. K. and Worrall, J. L. (2011). Police Administration. Belmont, California.
