“The new police organization through the eyes of the employees”

Abstract

Background: The Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) argue that it is too early to assess the reform’s impact on the operational work, in this paper I wish to look on the implementation and the usage of management tools and goals during a change process within the Swedish Police Authority and the effect of the reorganization in one of the new regions. The reform has been put in a negative light by the media, as well as by many of the employees in the police force. In general the reform has been called a failure so far, but is it really? Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how the implementation of the new organization has affected the employees in the Swedish Police Authority and how they experience the usage of goals as a management tool. Methodology: The study has a qualitative research strategy. The study is based on seven semi-structured interviews with addition of other researches made on the same subject. It can be classified as a comparative case study. Conclusion: The study shows that the employees in general have a positive attitude towards the new organization and can understand why there was a need for change and stood positive for it to be done. They however feel that there are still some obstacles in form of shortage of resources to be able to fully succeed with the aim to reach the goals. The informants I met all gave the impression of being loyal to their organization and contribute with their own resources and working towards the official goals. Keywords: Reorganization, change process, change management, management tools, goals, effects, resources