Understanding the role of culture and communication in implementing planned organizational change: the case of Compstat in police organizations

Despite the popularity of planned change efforts, the failure rates of implementation are as high as 50 to 70 percent (Lewis & Seibold, 1998). While these efforts are affected by technical issues, the organizations’ approach to change, structure, technological capabilities, and organizational culture and communication practices are thought to play a more critical role (Lewis, 2011). The central purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role that organizational culture and communication play in the introduction and implementation of the popular performance-based management system known as Compstat, which has been implemented by numerous police organizations in the United States over the past decade. This study aims to provide a rich and contextual understanding of Compstat’s introduction and implementation process within one large metropolitan police department. It focuses on planned change in terms of the role of culture and communication with a focus on meaning, context, and communication practices. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documents, and analyzed using grounded theory. The study revealed that culture and communication are inseparable parts of the introduction and implementation processes of this change initiative. The culture of this organization influenced the communication choices of change agents, the high level of resistance, and the ways in which resistance and acceptance of Compstat model were manifested over the years after its introduction. Compstat was undeniably part of the cultural evolution of the police department from reactive, unresponsive, and relatively unfocused with regard to outcomes, to an organization that is more proactive, accountable, flexible, performance-oriented, information-driven, and goal-oriented. The study revealed that the role of communication in the introduction and implementation of Compstat in informing officers about change and in understanding and addressing sources of resistance was not taken seriously into consideration by change agents. For the most part, communication was regarded as a symbolic activity utilizing one-way, bureaucratic channels and formal language. The recursive relationship between culture and communication was evident in the communication choices of the officers. While Compstat played a positive role in changing cultural values and enabling a new perspective and discourse in responding to crime, the change agents’ communication choices in informing officers and the culture of the organization in some respects was still traditional and bureaucratic.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Yusuf Yükse