Perceptions of a management development intervention in the South African Police Service.

Abstract

The focus of this project is the South African Police Service. The study looked at whether what is happening in a police station could be associated with a management development intervention -Police Station Management Programme attended by Station Commissioner and Senior Managers recently.

Using the qualitative approach - mainly the case study, the study looked at the perception o f the programme at three police stations. Also, the South African Police Service is considered in historical context of South Africa and mainly the post 1994 period Various and somewhat contradictory themes emerged in the responses. Firstly, the report highlights that the process leading to participating in the programme by the various police officers was top-down. Yet after training the police Station Commissioners and Unit Managers embraced concepts such as learning organisation, community policing and human rights - all very democratic issues in some cases within the contexts of scarce resources. Although this was a small-scale study, several implications related to the development and management of development programmes could be highlighted. First, there is a need to look at and conduct needs analysis of organisations and the staff before designing the programmes. Secondly, after such analysis, there is a need to offer challenging responsibilities to personnel consistent with the newly acquired skills, knowledge and attitudes.