Staff one, 1978, p. 48 |
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Police Tcadeisbip and Agency Personnel
conference. There are those who arc brand new lo the group.
Lei's say il is Iheii first day on the job, ami they aie awaie
that everyone knows Ihey arc new. Because of their gcncially
acknowledged ignorance of the particular subject mallei,
they arc nol ashamed to ask questions. Thai kind of person
will say, "I never heard thai term befoie; what docs il mean?"
Someone explains to him what il means. Everyone realizes
that he wasn't neccssatily supposed to know (he answer, and
he didn't lose face in asking.
Next, (here arc (hose lha( aie paid to know. They aie
supposed lo know certain things and Ihey have a lot to lose.
They are not going lo ask questions. If Ihey don't know the
answer, Ihey are going lo keep their mouths shut, because
they ate paid to know.
Then there are those people in the meeting who know
everything there is to know aboul the subject. They aie the
distinguished experts; because of their stains, they don't have
to show off, and they arc going to just sit there being vciy
quiel, unless you call on them. If you do call on llicin, Ihey
will impart a little wisdom.
The first guy, the guy who is new, isn'l supposed to
know anything, and he will be willing to put his hand up and
ask questions, but nol (he guy in the middle. Nol lire guy who
is supposed lo know and is gelling paid for il, but is a fake.
He is never going lo acknowledge his ignoiancc by asking a
question on something he is supposed lo know. In dealing
with these kinds of meetings you have to be awaie of this
phenomenon and exercise caution by not cinbaiiassing
people.1 We have been foi lunate in and absolutely gialilied
by the willingness of my subordinates lo conic light out and
put it on the line.
There, are certain kinds of meetings we don't have. Wc
don't have great big staff meetings of deputy chiefs and gical
*K. Lewin, "Studies in Group Decision," in Group Dynamics:
Research and Theory, eds. D. Carlwright and A. Zandei (Pvan
ston, III.: Row, Peterson, 1953).
80
Police I endeisbip and Arjency Personnel
big staff meetings of captains and gical big staff meetings of
commanders, because wc have found that Ihey aie an absolute
waste of time. I played that game for two years. Because wc
had only weekly assistant chiefs' meetings, some pcofrfc believed
that I was isolated and did not ically know whal was hap|>cning.
They would say, "If only he would listen lo us, Ihcn he would
really know." So I started having big staff meetings with
deputy chiefs and with my commanders. The night before a
meeting, I would hcai one of thein saying, "Boy, if he would
only listen lo me, I would ically tell him how it is." When I
went lo Ihe meeting, I would call on (hat man who was
supposedly icady to fell me aboul all these problems. I would
say, "Mac, how aie things going?"
"Oh, just great, chief, just great. No problems al all."
"Everything is just going great?" I would retort'. "And
thcic ate no problems?"
Quickly he would icply, "No, chief, you're doing a great
job, chief."
Then I would go aiound the room, and not one of these
guys would conic up with anything. They were all beating their
gums saying that I needed lo have them in a weekly staff
meeting so Ihey could keep me fiom being dumb. I might
have needed that in fact, I probably do -but they didn't do
the job of making me small.
People Ihink that just because they aie paid lo know
what's going oil, they automatically possess knowledge. In
my department, I would learn absolutely nothing fiom them.
Why? Because they don't know vciy much. Things go up only
two levels horn them; Ihey might know what captains tell
them and they might even know what lieutenants tell I hem,
bul nothing thai the sergeant ever says gels up lo (hem, and
nothing (hat the chief ever says gels down through llicin. Wc
have wasted all kinds of lime with my commanders in coin
mandeis' meetings but no more.
One lime, Pat Muiphy said lo me, "You know, when I
was coininissioiici of New Yoik, I used lo ask my inspectors
how Ihe men fell aboul something."
01
Object Description
| Title | Staff one, 1978 |
| Description | Edward M. Davis. Staff one: a perspective on effective police management. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1978. Accompanied by memo indicating the photocopy of the book was provided by the author. PART OF: Commission meetings (6 of 6). PART OF A SERIES: Materials in the series fall into one of several categories related to the Independent Commission's work product: (1) Commission meeting materials, which include meeting agendas, work plans, memoranda, and articles about police misconduct that were circulated and reviewed during the Commission's internal meetings; (2) public correspondence, which includes citizen complaints against the LAPD in the form of written testimony, articles, and an audio cassette tape, as well as letters drafted by citizens in support of the LAPD; (3) summaries of interviews held with LAPD officers regarding Departmental procedures and relations; (4) public meeting materials, which include transcripts, supplementary documents, and witness statements that were reviewed at the Commission's public meetings; (5) press releases related to the formation and work product of the Commission; and (6) miscellaneous materials reviewed by the Commission during its study, including LAPD personnel and training manuals, a memorandum of understanding, and messages from the LAPD's Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT) system. |
| Creator | Davis, Edward M. |
| Publisher (of the original version) | Prentice-Hall, Inc. |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
| Date issued | 1978 |
| Type |
texts images |
| Format | 130 p. |
| Format (aat) | books |
| Format (imt) | application/pdf |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991 |
| Series | Independent Commission file list |
| File | Commission meetings |
| Box and folder | box 22, folder 9, item 2 |
| Provenance | The collection was given to the University of Southern California on July 31, 1991. |
| Rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Repository name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
| Repository address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
| Repository email | specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | indep-box22-09-02 |
Description
| Title | Staff one, 1978, p. 48 |
| Format (imt) | image/tiff |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | Police Tcadeisbip and Agency Personnel conference. There are those who arc brand new lo the group. Lei's say il is Iheii first day on the job, ami they aie awaie that everyone knows Ihey arc new. Because of their gcncially acknowledged ignorance of the particular subject mallei, they arc nol ashamed to ask questions. Thai kind of person will say, "I never heard thai term befoie; what docs il mean?" Someone explains to him what il means. Everyone realizes that he wasn't neccssatily supposed to know (he answer, and he didn't lose face in asking. Next, (here arc (hose lha( aie paid to know. They aie supposed lo know certain things and Ihey have a lot to lose. They are not going lo ask questions. If Ihey don't know the answer, Ihey are going lo keep their mouths shut, because they ate paid to know. Then there are those people in the meeting who know everything there is to know aboul the subject. They aie the distinguished experts; because of their stains, they don't have to show off, and they arc going to just sit there being vciy quiel, unless you call on them. If you do call on llicin, Ihey will impart a little wisdom. The first guy, the guy who is new, isn'l supposed to know anything, and he will be willing to put his hand up and ask questions, but nol (he guy in the middle. Nol lire guy who is supposed lo know and is gelling paid for il, but is a fake. He is never going lo acknowledge his ignoiancc by asking a question on something he is supposed lo know. In dealing with these kinds of meetings you have to be awaie of this phenomenon and exercise caution by not cinbaiiassing people.1 We have been foi lunate in and absolutely gialilied by the willingness of my subordinates lo conic light out and put it on the line. There, are certain kinds of meetings we don't have. Wc don't have great big staff meetings of deputy chiefs and gical *K. Lewin, "Studies in Group Decision," in Group Dynamics: Research and Theory, eds. D. Carlwright and A. Zandei (Pvan ston, III.: Row, Peterson, 1953). 80 Police I endeisbip and Arjency Personnel big staff meetings of captains and gical big staff meetings of commanders, because wc have found that Ihey aie an absolute waste of time. I played that game for two years. Because wc had only weekly assistant chiefs' meetings, some pcofrfc believed that I was isolated and did not ically know whal was hap|>cning. They would say, "If only he would listen lo us, Ihcn he would really know." So I started having big staff meetings with deputy chiefs and with my commanders. The night before a meeting, I would hcai one of thein saying, "Boy, if he would only listen lo me, I would ically tell him how it is." When I went lo Ihe meeting, I would call on (hat man who was supposedly icady to fell me aboul all these problems. I would say, "Mac, how aie things going?" "Oh, just great, chief, just great. No problems al all." "Everything is just going great?" I would retort'. "And thcic ate no problems?" Quickly he would icply, "No, chief, you're doing a great job, chief." Then I would go aiound the room, and not one of these guys would conic up with anything. They were all beating their gums saying that I needed lo have them in a weekly staff meeting so Ihey could keep me fiom being dumb. I might have needed that in fact, I probably do -but they didn't do the job of making me small. People Ihink that just because they aie paid lo know what's going oil, they automatically possess knowledge. In my department, I would learn absolutely nothing fiom them. Why? Because they don't know vciy much. Things go up only two levels horn them; Ihey might know what captains tell them and they might even know what lieutenants tell I hem, bul nothing thai the sergeant ever says gels up lo (hem, and nothing (hat the chief ever says gels down through llicin. Wc have wasted all kinds of lime with my commanders in coin mandeis' meetings but no more. One lime, Pat Muiphy said lo me, "You know, when I was coininissioiici of New Yoik, I used lo ask my inspectors how Ihe men fell aboul something." 01 |
| Filename | indep-box22-09-02~048.tif |
| Archival file | Volume71/indep-box22-09-02~048.tif |
