International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 9 Number 1

Patterns of community policing ofcers and their work: A study of the National Police Force of Taiwan
Yumin R. Wang
Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Meiho Institute of Technology Taiwan, No. 23, Ping Kuang Rd, Neipu, Pingtung 91202, Taiwan. Tel: 886-8-7799821; fax: 886-8-7784416; email: pdrw2727@yahoo.com.tw

Received 11 November 2005; revised and accepted 22 May 2006 Keywords: community policing, police innovation, work design, job satisfaction

Yumin R. Wang PhD completed his doctorate degree at the School of Criminal Justice, SUNY at Albany. He currently serves as an assistant professor of the Department of Criminal Justice, SUNY, Brockport.

THE CHANGE AND THE REDESIGN OF POLICE WORK

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between community policing ofcers and their work. The study was based on work redesign theory, and the questions in the questionnaire were mainly adapted from the Job Diagnostic Survey. Selective sampling was employed and a total of 69 community policing ofcers of the national police force of Taiwan were surveyed. Findings indicate that ofcers of various role orientations and personality traits can take on the work that is by and large motivating. The two moderators growth need strength and context satisfaction jointly interact with the ve work attributes and determine the outcome of the work design job satisfaction. Promoting context satisfaction through exercising effective management is the key to the success of the programme.

Police administrators initiate change to promote organisational effectiveness. Community policing is the approach some employ to serve the purpose. The strategy has been moving through three stages innovation, diffusion, and institutionalisation. Practitioners have attributed the decrease in crime rates that began since 1992 to the effectiveness of the innovation (Oliver, 2000). However, the theoretical structure of the philosophy has never been specic because it was adopted and immediately became popular before empirical examinations of hypotheses had been concluded. The following seemingly inclusive denition reveals the problem: Community policing focuses on crime and social disorder through the delivery of police services that includes aspects of traditional law enforcement, as well as prevention, problem-solving, community engagement, and partnerships. The community policing model balances reactive responses to calls for service with proactive problem-solving centered on

International Journal of Police Science and Management, Vol. 9 No. 1, 2007, pp. 5165. Vathek Publishing, 14613557

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the causes of crime and disorder. Community policing requires police and citizens to join together as partners in the course of both identifying and effectively addressing these issues. (Ofce of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2005) All kinds of police operations seem to meet one or more propositions of the above descriptive statement. However, focus of the denition is on the attempt to redesign the police job. Promoting organisational effectiveness is attained through motivating ofcers at work. The literature indeed indicates that ofcers working with departments that employ higher levels of community policing programme are more satised with their job than their counterparts serving at agencies that implement lower levels of the programme (Brody, DeMarco, & Lovrich, 2002). Traditionally, the police job has been designed along classic and traditional management lines: Work is performed serially, with no innate capacity to compensate for overloads and with only a marginal support network. Positions are replaced serially, with no overlap or transference of information, as though policing were merely an assembly line, with any marginally trained worker capable of learning quickly and performing the repetitive task of any given station. (Buerger, 2000, p. 459) Community policing involves work features that are observably different from the traditional police job design. For example, Goldstein (1987) indicates that in most programmes, ofcers enjoy freedom and can exercise independence. Similarly, Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux (1990) argue that a CPO (Community Policing Ofcer) is a mini-chief in a specic beat area who also

serves as the communitys ombudsman to other public and private agencies that offer help (p. 3). The job-oriented change can be analysed by applying Hackman and Oldhams (1980) taxonomy of job enrichment. Skill variety refers to the degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities in carrying out the work, involving the use of a number of different skills and talents of the person (p. 78). Task identity refers to the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identiable piece of work, that is, [the] doing [of] a job from beginning to end with a visible outcome (p. 78). Task signicance refers to the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people, whether those people are in the immediate organisation or in the world at large (p. 79). Autonomy at work refers to the degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out (p. 79). Job feedback refers to the degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job provides the individual with direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance (p. 80). These ve motivating work attributes are provided in different programmes of community policing. CPOs are usually assigned to serve citizens living in a certain geographical area. They apply different methods in solving problems, and they perceive their job will inuence the lives of the residents. They autonomously decide how to go about their work, and they learn the effectiveness of the work they perform by directly receiving feedback from citizens (Wang, 1993, pp. 2128). Sherwood (2000) observed that ofcers serving at a department that had an advanced community policing programme scored high on skill variety, task identity, task signicance, and

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autonomy. They appear to become motivated taking on this redesigned assignment.

THEORIES OF FIT

WORK AND MOTIVATION

Greene (1989) argued that studies of job satisfaction among ofcers fail to consider sources of satisfaction in specic workrelated factors. Additionally, they may ignore the t between the police role and ofcer disposition characteristics (p. 172). He compared 125 COPE (CommunityOriented Police Education) and 85 nonCOPE ofcers in Philadelphia and concluded that community-related perceptions might have been caused directly by ofcers pre-existing differences in demographic variables (age and length of service) rather than being mediated by participation in the programme. Zhao, Thurman, and He (1999) surveyed ofcers of the Spokane Police Department. They found that the environment of the agency inuences ofcer job satisfaction. However, the above studies did not elaborate in detail how the critical psychological states the experienced meaningfulness of the work, the experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work, and the knowledge of the actual result of the work activities are a result of the interactions among the moderators knowledge and skill, growth need strength and context satisfactions and the set of work attribute variables, which consequently lead to the outcomes of the job enrichment enterprise the general job satisfaction among others. Additionally, the t proposition of job design that is postulated by Hulin (1971), Hackman and Oldham (1980) and Moos (1986), and emphasises the match between the worker and the redesigned (enriched) work which determines job satisfaction (Toch & Grant, 1982, 2005; Wang, 1993) was not sturdily investigated.

There are various theories explaining t. Researchers frequently employ Lewins equation of B = f (P, E) as a theoretical basis in studying human behaviour (KristofBrown, Jansen, & Colbert, 2002). The formula asserts that behavior (B) is a result of both person (P) and environment (E). Personenvironment (PE) t model is an application of Lewins theory. It argues that work experience is a result of the interaction between the individual and the environment (Kristof-Brown et al., 2002). The t refers to a set of cognitive processes that mediate the compatibility or congruence between the worker and a number of environmental objects. Organisational change leads to individual reappraisal of PE t, which is a result of the interactions between the characteristics of the change process, the extent of change, and individual differences. Any change conducted at the organisational level differently inuences various work groups and the members of the groups (Caldwell, Herold, & Fedor, 2004). Innovation is not necessarily welcomed by all members of the organisation. Oreg (2003) observed employees dispositional inclination to resist change. Reasons are of four kinds, involving routine seeking, emotional reaction to imposed change, cognitive rigidity, and short-term focus. Commitment to a change, on the other hand, leads to members behavioural support (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002). The t is often reached when employees are involved in development activities (Simmering, Colquitt, Noe, & Porter, 2003). Hackman and Oldham (1980) explain the t: If an individual is fully competent to carry out the work required by a complex, challenging task and has strong needs for personal growth and is well satised with the work context, then we

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would expect both high personal satisfaction and high work motivation and performance. (p. 88) The three moderators interact with work attributes to determine the outcomes of job satisfaction and performance. High-quality work that is designed to provide employees with opportunity for exercising autonomy, experiencing growth, and receiving feedback from the job enhances job satisfaction and performance (Barling, Kelloway, & Iverson, 2003). Personality traits lead to job performance by going through cognitive-motivational work orientations (Barrick, Stewart, & Piotrowski, 2002). Motivational, informational, and structural mechanisms function to intervene in the causality between task autonomy and job performance. Individual difference and task structure are the two moderators that determine the characteristics of the three mechanisms. Not all tasks are structurally suited to autonomy, and individuals are different in tting into the attribution of work (Langfred & Moye, 2004). Kristof-Brown et al., (2002) argue that work satisfaction is simultaneously inuenced by individuals t with job, groups and organisation. Job enrichment contributes to perceived organisational support, which in turn leads to workers organisational citizenship behaviour (Coyle-Shapiro & Conway, 2005). Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, and Bachrach (2000) specify that organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) involves helping behaviour, sportsmanship, organisational loyalty, organisation compliance, individual initiative, civic virtue, and self development (p. 530). Morale factors contribute to the behaviour, which involves employee satisfaction, organisational commitment, perceptions of fairness and perceptions of leader supportiveness. Job attributes, task variables, and various types

of leader behaviours contribute to the kind of conduct as well. Negative or low job satisfaction and relations with supervisors are the two variables leading to ofcer cynicism (Bennett & Schmitt, 2002). Supervisory style was even found to be associated with ofcer use of force (Engel, 2000). Moreover, street cops and management cops possess different cultures (Reuss-Ianni, 1983), as do station house sergeants and street sergeants (Van Maanen, 1989). Through the socialisation process, rank-and-le police ofcers come to view their administrators as dangerous outsiders (Bennett & Schmitt, 2002, p.494). Police chiefs manifest different styles of leadership (Krimmel & Lindenmuth, 2001). However, how these managerial behaviours motivate ofcers of different kinds remains unanswered. Context satisfaction involves contentment with job security, compensation, coworkers, and supervision (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). A number of jobs, call centre employees, cashiers, and the like, tend to be inuenced at the supervisory level instead of through the job (Wilk & Moynihan, 2005). Individuals can perceive a kind of t because they nd in their colleagues common values, personality, or goals. Although the two parties are dissimilar in personality, the subordinates satisfaction with the supervisor is likely to develop as well (Glomb & Welsh, 2005). Judge, Bono, Erez, and Locke (2005) argue that job satisfaction is a result of attainment of individual goals. It varies among workers of different personality traits. The theory is that people with a positive selfregard tend to pursue self-concordant goals and that these self-concordant goals make them happy (p. 257). The t that is conceptualised in the study delineated below considers the match between individuals police role orientation and the assignment. Ofcers possess different views of the role they play (Paoline,

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2004). Worden (1995) found ve types of police: professionals, tough cops, cleanbeat crime ghters, problem solvers and avoiders. They have different ways of dealing with the situations they encounter at work.

DEMOGRAPHIC CAUSES OF JOB SATISFACTION

There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between time and performance (Sturman, 2003). Furthermore, job satisfaction has been found associated with individual work performance (Schleicher, Watt, & Greguras, 2004). Treadway, Ferris, Hochwater, Perrewe, Witt, and Goodman (2005) found that older workers tend to perceive organisational politics more strongly and thus become less effective in job performance. The more saliently the individual perceives politics, the less satised with the job he becomes (Hochwarter, 2003). Moreover, younger members tend to reach better t compared with their older colleagues in adapting to organisational change (Caldwell et al., 2004). Employee work satisfaction is associated with the duration of job change. Boswell, Boudreau and Tichy (2005) found that transferees usually take on the new assignment with great pleasure, and they become less motivated after a certain period of time. Marital status is an operationalisation of workfamily relationship. The spillover model implies that life satisfaction is associated with job satisfaction (Summer & Knight, 2001). The levels of individual initiative assessed by the spouse or signicant others are positively associated with the levels of worker role overload, job stress, and work-family conict (Bolino & Turnley, 2005). An individuals values on various life roles are associated with his experiences of

workfamily conict (Carlson & Kacmar, 2000). Both work-to-family and family-towork conict lead to stress and low work morale (Anderson, 2002). Loss of control of the environment results in job dissatisfaction, which in turn leads to workers experience of stress (Krimmel & Lindenmuth, 2001). Ofcers frequently list the impact of the job on family as a source of stress. Marital problems or marital conicts that result in strained marriage constitute a signicant stressor (Toch, 2002). Stressors experienced on the job as well as at work lead to work family conict (Baltes & Heydens-Gahir, 2003). Consequently, married ofcers are more likely than their unmarried counterparts to experience workfamily conict and stress.

METHODS

Most of the questions in the questionnaire used in this study were adopted and revised from Hackman and Oldhams (1980) Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS), Toch and Klofas (1982) study of correctional ofcers, and Black and Reiss (1967) research on police attitudes. The three demographics age, length of service, and marital status were measured by single questions. Nine indices were operationalised to measure police role orientation, skill variety, task identity, task signicance, autonomy, job feedback, growth need strength, context satisfaction, and general job satisfaction. Koban is a community policing strategy of the national police force of Taiwan. It has been the major police activity since it was introduced from Japan before WWII. Each department has a SWAT team and a number of patrol units, the relatively new tactics learned from the US in later days. The data were originally collected for a study conducted from 1991 to 1993 in which a quasi-panel design was employed.

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It investigated how ofcer job satisfaction varies transferring from task units to kobans. This study analyses only the dataset that is composed of community policing ofcers. Half of these individuals were transferred from patrol units, and the remaining half used to serve as SWAT team members. Among the 69 cases, 29 ofcers used to serve as SWAT team members at 19 different police agencies across the island. The other 40 ofcers served at the Taipei City Police Department. Thirty-ve of them used to work as patrolmen, and the remaining ve were SWAT team members. A series of statistical analysis were performed to examine systematically the theoretical propositions introduced earlier. A general overview of the ofcer and the work was done by estimating the mean and standard deviation of the set of variables and their correlation coefcients. This explained how CPOs generally perceive the features intrinsic and extrinsic to their job. How these variables cause various results in job satisfaction was examined by running a regression analysis. Tests of interaction effects were done subsequently. Growth need strength and context satisfaction were dened as moderator variables between work attributes and job satisfaction. They interact with each other and with the ve built-in components of work to decide the quality of critical psychological states. Combined with the three demographic variables, they jointly inuence ofcer job satisfaction. Knowledge and skill, the remaining moderator, was excluded because all ofcers attended the same national police academy. They were all trained to take on the assignment. How many types of ofcers are taking on the job was analysed by performing factor analysis. Patterns of jobholders that are motivated at work were explored later. Policies for effectively managing the

programme were revealed and discussed at the end.

A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE OFFICER AND THE WORK

Table 1 below provides descriptive statistics. In the national police force, a SWAT team member needs to serve one to two years before becoming eligible for getting transferred to a koban. It takes a patrol ofcer three to ve years. The participating CPOs were members of either of the two units. They are homogenously young (mean = 27.8 years) and not senior (mean = 77.6 months of service). The dummy variable marital status (married = 1, not married = 0) shows that half of them are married. Police role orientation was measured by the index involving a total of 33 questions. A 4-point Likert scale was specied. The sum of the index ranges from 33 (crimeghting preference) to 132 (communityservice preference). Comparing the mean with the estimated median of the measure (about 82.5), it reveals that ofcers seem more inclined to serving the community. The skill variety index comprises three questions. The scale of each question ranges from 1 to 6. The overall score of the index can go from 3 to 18. Comparing the mean with the estimated median (about 10.5), it indicates that the job design requires ofcers to apply different skills at work. The task identity index involves two measures. The scale of each question ranges from 1 to 6, and the summed value can be as low as 2 to as high as 12. Comparing the mean with the estimated median (about 7), it shows that ofcers generally do not perceive engaging in a whole piece of work. Task signicance, autonomy, and job feedback were similarly measured. Comparing the means with the estimated common median (about 7), it becomes observable that ofcers normally feel that they are doing an important work, they can

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decide how to go about it, and they are aware of their performance. Motivating potential score was calculated based on the knowledge of the ve attributes. The variable purports to evaluate the overall motivation potential of the work. It was computed by summing the scores of the rst three work attributes, dividing the resulting value by three, and multiplying it with autonomy and job feedback scores (Hackman & Oldham, 1980, p. 81). Comparing the mean with the estimated median (about 400.17), it reveals that ofcers seem to have taken on a motivating assignment. The index is reported here merely for the purpose of evaluating how motivating the community policing work is on the whole. It will not be included in the subsequent analyses of the ve single components. How this variable inuences job satisfaction has been reported elsewhere (Wang, 1993). The growth need strength index involves six questions. Each of them has a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 3. The summed value of the index goes from 6 (low) to 18 (high). Comparing the mean with the estimated median (about 12), it

indicates that ofcers are unwilling to experience growth at work. The context satisfaction index is composed of 18 questions. They amount to a measure of ofcers attitudes towards their supervisors and the department. The score for each question ranges from 1 to 6, and the summed value moves from 18 (low) to 108 (high). Comparing the mean with the estimated median (about 63), it shows that ofcers are merely slightly satised with the extrinsic features of their work. The job satisfaction index is composed of four questions. Each score of the four ranges from 1 to 6, and the tallied value goes from 4 to 24. Comparing the mean with the estimated median (about 14), it reveals that ofcers are generally satised with their job. Table 2 presents the results of correlation analysis. The three demographic variables are found correlated with one another. They are negatively associated with growth need strength. It indicates that when ofcers are married and when they get older, they become less enthusiastic about experiencing growth at work.

Table 1: Descriptive statistics

Var.Name Age Length of service Marital status Police role orientation Skill variety Task identity Task signicance Autonomy Job feedback Motivating potential score Growth need strength Context satisfaction Job satisfaction
Note: n = 62 (listwise)

Minimum 23 21 0 75 7 2 4 2 4 206.67 7 28 6

Maximum 35 200 1 114 18 10 12 12 12 1233.33 18 105 24

Mean 27.83 77.57 0.49 90.48 12.91 6.32 9.17 8.07 8.63 669.19 13.99 69.65 16.97

S.D. 3.12 35.00 0.50 6.68 2.39 1.68 2.24 1.88 1.54 249.68 2.65 13.18 3.86

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The more strongly the ofcer perceives that he needs to apply different skills at work, the more identied with the work he becomes, and the more strongly he senses that he is allowed to exercise autonomy. The more strongly the ofcer experiences autonomy, the more identied with the work he becomes. The more strongly the ofcer senses the importance of his work, the more strongly he perceives he is allowed to exercise autonomy. He becomes more aware of how well he does his job, and he holds more positive attitudes towards his supervisors and the department. However, the ofcer tends to become less interested in experiencing growth at work. Finally, the more strongly the ofcer experiences autonomy at work, the more favourable he is in his attitudes towards management. The less feedback he receives from the job, the more eagerly he expects to experience growth at work. The above associations among variables are generally low in magnitude. More than two-thirds of the correlations presented in

Table 2 are statistically insignicant. Performing multiple regression and factor analysis seems reasonable.

THEORETICAL ELABORATION ON JOB SATISFACTION

This section elaborated how the ve work attributes interact with the moderators and contribute to the development of diverse critical psychological states, additionally, holding the three demographic variables constant, how these predictors individually cause the variation of ofcer job satisfaction. The results are presented in Table 3. The preliminary model involves only the original set of predictors. Interaction variables are added in the second model to serve the purpose of elaboration. In the rst model, four predictors were found causally inuencing the variation of the dependent variable. Being married leads to a decrease in ofcer satisfaction with the job. Those who more strongly perceive being able to exercise autonomy at work

Table 2: Correlation matrix

A A B C D E F G H I J K B C D E F G H I J

0.83** 0.40** 0.49** 0.12 0.12 0.07 0.05 0.21 0.20 0.01 0.09 0.12 0.01 0.12 0.08 0.25* 0.21* 0.06 0.05

0.11 0.17 0.04 0.09 0.07 0.07 0.23* 0.00

0.08 0.02 0.04 0.02 0.07 0.15 0.18

0.04 0.51** 0.01 0.23* 0.07 0.06

0.20 0.30** 0.16 0.15 0.05

0.21* 0.43* 0.23* 0.27**

0.17 0.13 0.34**

0.22* 0.16

0.12

*: p < 0.05 ; **: p < 0.01 A: Age B: Length of service C: Marital status D: Police role orientation E: Skill variety F: Task identity G: Task signicance H: Autonomy I: Job feedback J: Growth need strength K: Context satisfaction

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tend to become more satised with the job. They feel responsible for outcomes of the work. The more strongly the ofcer desires to experience growth at work, the more motivated he becomes to take on the community policing assignment. The same holds for those who more strongly perceive being supported by management. Context satisfaction is the most important predictor in the model, followed by marital status, autonomy, and growth need strength. In the elaboration model, two of the ve interaction effects appeared statistically signicant. An ofcer becomes motivated when his sense of identication with the work interacts with his growth need strength and context satisfaction results in a positive outcome. The same holds when the effect of his perception of job feedback interacts with his growth need strength and context satisfaction ends up positive.

Being married remains a negative contributor to job satisfaction. The causal association between autonomy and job satisfaction altered from being statistically signicant to statistically insignicant. It indicates that when the interactions among autonomy, growth need strength and context satisfaction occur, the perception of autonomy at work alone does not inuence job satisfaction. Similarly, neither growth need strength nor context satisfaction individually inuences job satisfaction when they interact with the ve work attributes. A suppression of association was detected. The causal relationship between job feedback and work satisfaction changed from being statistically insignicant to statistically signicant. Other things being equal, the knowledge of work performance negatively contributes to job satisfaction. In other words, when ofcers become more

Table 3: Results of theoretical elaboration

(Dependent variable = Job satisfaction) Predictor (Constant) Age Length of service Marital status Police role orientation Skill variety Task identity Task signicance Autonomy Job feedback Growth need strength Context satisfaction Skill variety interaction term Task identity interaction term Task signicance interaction term Autonomy interaction term Job feedback interaction term b. 7.21 0.23 0.02 2.67 0.04 0.23 0.48 0.37 0.65 0.31 0.34 0.16 S.E. 7.87 0.21 0.02 0.81 0.05 0.18 0.27 0.22 0.21 0.28 0.15 0.03 Beta p(t) 0.36 0.28 0.45 0.00 0.45 0.20 0.08 0.10 0.00 0.28 0.03 0.00 b 37.37 0.21 0.02 3.59 0.04 1.38 1.79 1.72 0.98 3.52 1.19 0.18 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 S.E. 21.28 0.19 0.02 0.77 0.05 0.86 1.23 0.88 0.93 1.42 0.72 0.15 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Beta p(t) 0.09 0.30 0.34 0.00 0.38 0.12 0.15 0.06 0.30 0.02 0.10 0.24 0.06 0.05 0.10 0.08 0.03

0.18 0.13 0.35 0.07 0.14 0.19 0.21 0.32 0.11 0.23 0.51

0.16 0.15 0.47 0.08 0.83 0.70 0.98 0.48 1.28 0.82 0.59 1.68 1.35 1.18 1.38 1.98

Notes: n = 62 (listwise); R-square = 0.62; P(F) = 0.00; R-square = 0.72; P(F) = 0.00

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aware of the actual result of their work, they tend to become less motivated. Presumably, community policing ofcers are frequently frustrated by knowing that their endeavours ended up futile. Referring back to the previous interpretation of the relevant nding, a more reasonable assumption is revealed. Under the supportive management of the department (positive), even low growth need strength ofcers (negative) are motivated (positive outcome) when they experience setbacks at work (negative). In other words, although the built-in job feedback attribute negatively inuences work morale, ofcers can become motivated when management is exercised in a way that matches individual growth need strength. The interaction effects appear more important than the impacts caused by the remaining two single predictors. The elaboration model explained more than 10 per cent of the variance of job satisfaction than the preliminary one. The importance of the interactions among the two moderators and the ve work attributes is manifested. To sum up, community policing is not work that is particularly designed for ofcers holding a specic kind of police role orientation. The t in this regard thus should not be an issue of concern. The match between individual work personality and the design of the work is what is at issue. Not all ofcers of different growth need strength can t into the work design. The management exercised in the programme is not exceptionally motivating. Job feedback is the only attribute intrinsic to the work that can individually inuence work morale. Knowledge of the actual result of the work is frustrating. However, the task attribute, after interacting with growth need strength and context satisfaction, leads to job satisfaction. Similarly, task identity is the remaining built-in work feature that contributes to ofcer work morale by going

through the same process interacting with the two moderators. Community policing ofcers are thereby motivated at work.
THE MOTIVATED OFFICERS

Having explained that community policing is not a work design catering to participants of various personality traits, this section continues to analyse how many kinds of ofcers are involved in the programme and which of them are motivated. Table 4 presents the results of factor analysis. A total of four types of CPOs are differentiated. Bread-earners are ofcers who are married. They are relatively older, and they have served in the force for a longer period of time. They work in order to support their family. Nearly 22 per cent of the jobholders belong to this kind of worker. Technocrats are those ofcers who work like professionals. They believe their job is important to others, they apply various skills at work, and they know how well they practise their profession. About 19 per cent of the participants are this type of jobholder. Self-fulllers are ofcers who come to work to full personal goals. They are eager to experience growth through serving the community. However, they are frequently frustrated because they are not given the whole piece of the task. Nearly 12 per cent of the jobholders belong to this type of worker. Gloomy-cops are those ofcers who wish their supervisors and department would allow them to go about their job independently. However, they are annoyed because it normally happens the other way around. About 11 per cent of the ofcers are this kind of worker. Nearly 65 per cent of the CPOs can be dened as belonging to one of the four types of ofcers. Which kinds of ofcers are motivated at work was further analysed.

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Table 4: Types of community policing ofcers

Component I Length of service Age Marital status Task signicance Skill variety Job feedback Task identity Growth need strength Police role orientation Autonomy Context satisfaction Eigen values % of variance Cumulative per cent 0.91 0.88 0.70 0.05 0.07 0.11 0.18 0.43 0.16 0.10 0.07 2.41 21.92 21.92 II 0.01 0.14 0.21 0.83 0.77 0.68 0.17 0.29 0.02 0.15 0.18 2.14 19.48 41.40 III 0.17 0.17 0.07 0.08 0.10 0.07 0.64 0.60 0.56 0.07 0.44 1.31 11.87 53.27 IV 0.00 0.04 0.09 0.32 0.15 0.26 0.47 0.14 0.17 0.83 0.66 1.25 11.39 64.66

Table 5: The motivated ofcers

(Dependent variable = Job satisfaction) Predictors Constant Bread-earner Technocrat Self-fulller Gloomy-cop
Notes: n = 61 (listwise); R-square = 0.33; P(F) = 0.00

b 16.79 0.60 0.17 0.50 2.04

S.E. 0.42 0.42 0.43 0.42 0.43

Beta

p(t) 0.00 0.16 0.70 0.24 0.00

0.15 0.04 0.13 0.53

Table 5 presents the result of regression analysis. Only one factor is found causally associated with the dependent variable. It indicates that ofcers of the gloomy-cop type are frustrated at work. In summary, 65 per cent of the participating ofcers can be typologised as breadearners, technocrats, self-fulllers, and gloomy-cops. Gloomy-cops are more likely to be discouraged at work. However, community policing remains a job design that is

suitable for ofcers of different role orientations and personality traits.

DISCUSSION AND POLICY IMPLICATION

The most observable methodological issue of the study is that the selective sampling that came up with 69 cases risks validity and reliability defects when the ndings are generalised. However, as noted earlier,

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koban community policing is a unied programme across the country. Although ofcers serving in different departments may experience a different organisational as well as community culture, they carry out a standardised operation. Compared with programmes of the variety in the US, the study has a higher reliability because the quasi-experimental condition the community policing work design is stable and consistent in the research site. Moreover, since it is a formal assignment rather than redesigned work, a Hawthorne Effect is unlikely to occur, and validity is furthered as a result. Job diagnosis is frequently conducted on workers of a single organisation. It is an analytical approach to explaining the relationship between the jobholder and the job. A control group is not necessary if change is not an issue of concern in the study (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Ofcers of different police role orientations and personality traits can take on the assignment, which seems motivating in general. The t between personality traits and the work design signicantly contributes to work morale. Job feedback is the only built-in work attribute that independently leads to the decrease in job satisfaction. After interacting with growth need strength and context satisfaction, the opposite outcome appears. The same holds when the task identity feature interacts with the two moderators. There are four types of community policing ofcers bread-earners, technocrats, self-fulllers and gloomy-cops. Community policing is not a work design for gloomy-cops. They are annoyed because the autonomy work attribute does not meet their demand, and they do not perceive management support. The problems involved in the design of the work and the relevant management issues are revealed. The estimate of task identity shows that ofcers generally do not perceive that they

are engaging in a whole piece of work. Gloomy-cops complain that management does not support them to do autonomous work. The built-in feedback attribute leads to ofcers experience of frustration. Ruminating in such a sequence, the explanation of the defects of the work design becomes observable. The management restricts the ofcers from autonomously exercising their talent and creativity so as to plan and complete the task from beginning to end. They feel frustrated because the feedback they directly receive from the job appears disappointing. The moderator management thus is crucial in determining the eventual outcome of the work design. Goldstein (cited in Taft, 1986) argues that most police agencies are designed in such a way that the rank-and-le ofcer is expected to function as a non-thinking robot (p. 22). In community policing, a rigid military structure where the emphasis is on conformity and not questioning the status quo is about the opposite of what we want to achieve (p. 23). Democratisation of the department through changing the internal command structure is essential (Killing & Moore, 1988; Skolnick & Bayley, 1988; Toch & Grant, 2005). Community policing is often seen as a bottom-up reform as opposed to the traditional top-down change effort (Oettmeier & Brown, 1988, p. 130; Trojanowicz & Bucqueroux, 1990, pp. 26-27). Top management is expected to provide the rank and le and their supervisors with complete autonomy in planning and designing their work. Middle management is supposed to encourage ofcers participation in this process (Oettmeier & Brown, 1988, p. 131). The core issue thus lies in the moderatorcontext satisfaction, which helps to determine the outcome of the work design. Promoting management effectiveness is the only approach to making the job enrichment endeavour successful

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because growth need strength is a constant. How the immediate supervisors of the community policing ofcers exercise their leadership signicantly inuences the outcome of the programme. Technically handling the personality traits of the rank and les is the rule of thumb. Although 70 per cent of the commissioners involved in a survey in Pennsylvania were high-school graduates (Pelfrey, 2004), they were more and more commanding ofcers with college education background (Langworthy & Travis, 2003, pp. 251252; Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2005, pp. 381386). Most police administrators across the country have abandoned the convenience of employing military leadership style in supervising their subordinates (Cowper, 2000). Modern management theories are being popularly applied. Changing the structure and the associated management of the police organisation seems a developing trend.
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