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  • Essay / The Thin Blue Line: Embedding Culture Change at New Zealand Police...

    When looking at the report “Treading the Thin Blue Line: Embedding Culture Change at New Zealand Police”, it shows that There are members within the police force who are resisting the changes that Police Minister Judith Collins and Police Commissioner Peter Marshall are trying to implement. This report showed that there are two main groups resisting change: frontline staff and female New Zealand Police officers. Front-line workers resist change because they believe the proposed changes do not address what needs to be changed. Officers believe that the organization's senior management does not understand the issues facing front-line officers; so they cannot handle situations properly. Front-line staff also believe that officers are only promoted to senior management positions because they know how to "game the system" and not because of their own merit on the field. This belief sparks controversy within the system when management suggests that front-line officers change. they disagree because they think management doesn't understand how the change will affect the people on the front lines. One of the frontline officers who responded to the 2010 survey regarding the relationship between frontline staff and national headquarters said that the only people he trusted were his comrades and the colleagues he worked with , this result shows the distrust that front-line staff have towards their superiors. management of police forces. Another response from the same investigation was: “The commissioner and all his fellow inspectors in the headquarters bullshit castle should go back to the streets and face reality. And I've heard this kind of directive before the middle of a newspaper...trying to implement change within an organization as large and diverse as the New Zealand Police. Identifying groups that are resistant to change is important because it helps find a solution that can apply to everyone when it comes to implementing change. Having critical perspectives on cultural change is also important, as it shows the nature of how culture can arise within an organization, as well as the different challenges that can accompany implementing cultural change. It is also important to manage resistance within an organization because if not managed, it could develop into a situation where leaders are no longer trusted by senior management. the organization. This case study showed both positives and negatives that highlighted opportunities for improvement within the management of the New Zealand Police Force..