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Pacific Coast University Police Department sworn officer staffing shortages: a gap analysis

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Pacific Coast University Police Department sworn officer staffing shortages: a gap analysis

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PACIFIC COAST UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT SWORN OFFICER STAFFING
SHORTAGES: A GAP ANALYSIS
by
Gawin Gibson

A Dissertation presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2021

Copyright 2021 Gawin Gibson

ii

DEDICATION

I dedicate this dissertation to my wife Annette who has been my consummate
“cheerleader” and supporter since our union. She has embodied the true essence of sacrifice and
selflessness during this process and I will forever owe her a debt of gratitude. To Dr. Laurie
Johnson (Cohort 10), you have always shown Annette and I a great deal of kindness and support
and you were the catalyst for me in selecting this challenge. I thank you, and you will always be
a “big sister” to us. I also dedicate this dissertation to Cohort 11 who have allowed me a safe and
supportive environment in which to test my personal beliefs on leadership and accountability. I
will always look upon our “Saturday” group as a close-knit family. Lastly, to my fellow law
enforcement officers, “Adopt a guardian’s mindset, but retain a warrior’s heart!”

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to my wonderful family and wife, who have always encouraged me to be the
best version of myself. You have instilled within me a perseverance to withstand the adversities
of life while appreciating its small pleasures. I would be remiss in not mentioning the favor my
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has blessed me with and how his “hand” has guided me through
life’s journey and this unique experience. This has truly been a growth experience for me and it
arrived at a crossroads in my personal development.
Thank you, Dr. Phillips, for remembering things about my dissertation I had forgotten,
your dedication to each and every one in your charge, and for having the patience of Job! You
are truly amazing and a gifted educator. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr.
Seli and Dr. Greenstein for providing guidance, understanding, and reassurance to me during this
process.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………….ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………iii
LIST OF
TABLES……………………………………………………………………………...................viii
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………ix
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………x
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1
Organizational Context and Mission ...........................................................................................2
Local Community ........................................................................................................................2
PCUPD’s Framework ..................................................................................................................3
Organizational Performance Status .............................................................................................3
Related Literature ........................................................................................................................4
Importance of Addressing the Problem .......................................................................................6
Organization Performance Goal ..................................................................................................7
Description of Stakeholder Groups ..............................................................................................7
Sworn Personnel ..........................................................................................................................8
Administrative Vice Chancellor and Executive Board ................................................................8
Collective Student Body ..............................................................................................................9
Stakeholder Group for the Study ...............................................................................................11
Purpose of the Project and Questions ........................................................................................12
Methodological Framework .......................................................................................................13
Definitions .................................................................................................................................14
Organization of the Project ........................................................................................................15
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................................................................16
Influences on the Problem of Practice .......................................................................................16
Succession Planning .................................................................................................................16
Leadership’s Effects on Staffing Levels ....................................................................................19
Recruiting and Retention ...........................................................................................................21
Competitive Job Market .............................................................................................................22
Job Attractiveness ......................................................................................................................25
Generational Shift ......................................................................................................................26
Millennial Workers ....................................................................................................................28
Multiculturism’s Effect on Municipal Policing ........................................................................31
The Clark and Estes’ (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework .........................................33
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences .......................................35
Knowledge and Skills ................................................................................................................35
Knowledge of Recruitment Strategies ...................................................................................37
Knowing How to Apply the Methods, Laws, and Regulations for Recruiting ......................38
Effectively Applying Self-Reflective Practices for Recruiting .............................................40
Motivation ..................................................................................................................................42
Sworn Officer Self-Efficacy ..................................................................................................44
Sworn Officers’ Attributions .................................................................................................48
Organization ...............................................................................................................................51
Shared Governance ................................................................................................................54

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Organizational Trust ..............................................................................................................55
Strategic Partnership ..............................................................................................................56
Policies and Procedures .........................................................................................................57
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Motivation and the
Organizational Context…. .........................................................................................................60
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................64
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ..................................................................................................65
Sampling and Recruiting Strategy .............................................................................................65
Research Questions ....................................................................................................................65
Participating Stakeholders .........................................................................................................66
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale .............................................................................67
Criterion 1 ..............................................................................................................................67
Criterion 2 ..............................................................................................................................67
Interview and Sampling Recruitment Strategy ......................................................................67
Data Collection and Instrumentation .........................................................................................69
Interviews ...................................................................................................................................70
Interview Protocol ..................................................................................................................70
Interview Procedures .............................................................................................................72
Documents and Artifacts ...........................................................................................................73
Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................74
Credibility and Trustworthiness .................................................................................................75
Ethics .........................................................................................................................................76
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS .....................................................................................................80
Participating Stakeholders .........................................................................................................81
Documents and Artifact Analysis ..............................................................................................83
Document Analysis ....................................................................................................................83
PCUPD Policy and Procedure Manual ..................................................................................83
PCUPD Organizational Flowchart .........................................................................................85
PCUPD Strategic Initiatives ..................................................................................................85
Artifact Analysis ........................................................................................................................86
PCUPD Recruitment Video ...................................................................................................86
Knowledge Influence Findings ..................................................................................................88
Sworn Officers Do Not Have Knowledge to Recruit and Hire .................................................89
Sworn Officers Have Not Applied the Methods, Laws, and Regulations in Reference to Sworn
Officer Recruitment and Hiring .................................................................................................91
Sworn Officers Have Reconciled Their Reasoning for Joining and Remaining Employed with
the Organization .........................................................................................................................94
Summary of Knowledge Findings .............................................................................................97
Motivation Influence Findings ...................................................................................................97
Sworn Officers Believe They Can EffectivelyRepresent the Organization as Active
Recruiters ...................................................................................................................................98
Sworn Officers Believe Their Success in Recruiting and Hiring is Dependent Upon
Organizational Factors Beyond Their Control .........................................................................100
Summary of Motivation Findings ............................................................................................101
Organizational Influence Findings ...........................................................................................101
Organizational Leadership Does Not Model Shared Governance in Support of Recruitment

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Goals ........................................................................................................................................103
Stakeholders Have Not Been Supported Via a Culture of Trust in Achieving Recruitment
Goals ........................................................................................................................................106
Organizational Strategies Are Not Aligned with a Culture of Partnership and Inclusion that
Encourages Recruitment ..........................................................................................................108
Policies and Procedures that Support Sworn Officer Recruitment Efforts Have Not Been
Implemented ............................................................................................................................111
Summary of Organizational Influence Findings ......................................................................115
CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS .....................................................................................................116
Knowledge Recommendations ................................................................................................117
Improving Sworn Officers’ Knowledge to Recruit and Hire ...................................................117
Job Aids to Help Sworn Officers Apply the Methods, Laws, and Regulations for Recruiting
and Hiring ...............................................................................................................................119
Motivation Recommendations .................................................................................................120
Sworn Officers Should Participate in Recruiting and Hiring Practices that Enhances Their
Perception of Personal Choice and Control .............................................................................120
Organization Recommendations ..............................................................................................121
Sworn Officers Should Be Included in Hiring Forums for Selecting Sworn Officer Candidates
..................................................................................................................................................123
Department Leaders Should Encourage Sworn Officer Participation in the Recruiting and
Hiring Process .........................................................................................................................124
Department Leadership Should Frequently Communicate Organizational Strategies and
Request Assistance from Sworn Officers Toward Meeting Recruiting and Hiring Goals ......125
Department Should Adopt Policies and Procedures to Encourage Sworn Officer Participation
in Recruiting and Hiring Sworn Officer Candidates ...............................................................126
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan ......................................................................127
Organizational Purpose and Expectations ...............................................................................128
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators ..................................................................................129
Level 3: Behavior .....................................................................................................................130
Critical Behaviors ................................................................................................................130
Required Drivers ..................................................................................................................131
Organizational Support ........................................................................................................133
Level 2: Learning .....................................................................................................................133
Learning Goals .....................................................................................................................134
Program ................................................................................................................................134
Evaluation of the Components of Learning .........................................................................135
Level 1: Reaction .....................................................................................................................136
Evaluation Tools ......................................................................................................................137
During the Program Implementation ...................................................................................138
Delayed After Program Implementation ..............................................................................138
Data Analysis and Reporting ...................................................................................................140
Summary ..................................................................................................................................141
Limitations and Delimitations ..................................................................................................141
Implications for Practice ..........................................................................................................142
Future Research .......................................................................................................................144
Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................146

vii

References ................................................................................................................................147
Appendix A Information Sheet for Exempt Research .............................................................158
Appendix B Inteview Protocol..................................................................................................160
Appendix C Document Analysis Protocol ................................................................................163
Appendix D Evaluation Survey During Hiring Cycle ..............................................................164
Appendix E Sample Evaluation Survey After Hiring Cycle ....................................................166

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals .........................................................................10
Table 2 Knowledge Influence, Knowledge Types, and Knowledge Assessment for Analysis .....42
Table 3 Motivational Influences and Motivational Influences Assessments .................................51
Table 4 Assumed Organizational Influences and Organization Influence Assessments ...............59
Table 5 Summary of Participants: Experience as a Sworn Officer ...............................................82
Table 6 Summary of Document and Artifact Analysis Findings ...................................................87
Table 7 Participants Comments About Knowledge Required to Recruit and Hire From
Community .......................................................................................................................90
Table 8 Participants Comments About their Engagement in Active Recruiting ...........................95
Table 9 Participants Comments About Recruitment Policies and Procedures ............................113
Table 10 Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ........................................117
Table 11 Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations .........................................120
Table 12 Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations .....................................122
Table 13 Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes ........................129
Table 14 Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation ..............................131
Table 15 Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors ...........................................................132
Table 16 Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program ........................................136
Table 17 Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ......................................................137

ix

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................62
Figure 2. Participant Feedback on Evaluation Tool Enabling Learning Outcomes ....................140

x

ABSTRACT
Despite progress made toward addressing sworn officer staffing shortages, sworn officers have
not been made legitimate partners in reducing systemic sworn officer staffing shortages via
recruitment from a diverse campus community. The purpose of this study was to reveal the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO) influences that contribute to sworn officer
understaffing at a relatively large southern California university police department. This study
applies the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework to examine the performance gaps of
sworn officers in achieving their goal of recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus
community. The stakeholder group for this qualitative study are currently employed sworn
officers who hold various ranks (e.g., officer, sergeant, lieutenant) from a large university police
department. The methodology applied by the researcher to investigate influences included
interviews and document analysis. This study provides recommendations developed by utilizing
the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The recommendations
may assist organizational decision-makers with the implementation of recruitment strategies
aimed at reducing sworn officer staffing shortages, via recruitment from a diverse campus
community.

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Sworn officer understaffing for law enforcement agencies has become a critical issue in
urban policing within the United States in recent years, affecting municipal law enforcement
agencies’ ability to sustain social justice within the communities served (Oliver, 2018).
Community perceived inequalities, such as controversial officer involved shootings like the
incident in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014 and the shooting of Michael Brown and
subsequent protests against the police agency involved, have further degraded the attractiveness
of a career in law enforcement for many. Moreover, more than 70% of African Americans,
Latinos, and Caucasians in the United States believe law enforcement does not adequately
address minority community concerns due to a lack of racial diversity within law enforcement
organizations (Weitzer, 2015). Consequently, law enforcement’s inability to address community
perceived inequalities has led to a decrease in police officer staffing for municipal law
enforcement agencies.
Large metropolitan law enforcement agencies, such as the Los Angeles Police Department
and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, attribute the decline in recruiting and hiring police
officers to increase public scrutiny and abuse of police officer actions (Weitzer, 2015). Coupled
with the agencies’ firm stance against casual drug usage, the selection pool has drastically
decreased over the past decade (Oliver, 2014). American working-class African American and
Latino families, living within the jurisdiction of municipal law enforcement agencies
contextualize the importance of police-community relations in reference to the level of trust and
respect reciprocated between law enforcement organizations and the communities served
(Schlosser et al.,2015). Furthermore, the 2009 Community Oriented Police Services (COPS)
survey indicated urban community members will not cooperate with law enforcement entities

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without trust and representation (Bonner & Johnson, 2017). According to the authors the survey
included U.S. police administrators in organizations with 101 to over 1000 sworn officers, with
55% to 75% stating trust and representation was imperative for recruiting and hiring success
(Bonner & Johnson, 2017).
Organizational Context and Mission
Pacific Coast University Police Department (PCUPD; pseudonym) is a state sanctioned,
police department acting with full autonomy from its host organization Pacific Coast University
(PCU; pseudonym). PCUPD’s mission is to provide exceptional service and protection to
university staff, faculty, and students in support of their academic endeavors. PCUPD
accomplishes this by providing 24-hour, 365 days a year service to a multicultural diverse
campus located within a robust and complex metropolis.
Local Community
The local community is comprised of above median income households, typically
representative of the Baby-Boomers generation having significant socioeconomic influence with
university leadership and local political officials, and the university population (e.g., student,
staff, and faculty). PCUPD’s engagement with community members is typically orchestrated via
enforcement encounters, citizen assists, non-emergent community services requested (e.g., noise
abatement), and notification from external stakeholders in reference to student related incidents.
Although considered the primary law enforcement entity servicing the immediate demographic,
PCUPD shares law enforcement jurisdiction with the municipal law enforcement agency in
which the university is situated in. Historically, PCUPD has engaged in recruiting practices from
the student population. Former and current students on the verge of graduating have been the
target of PCUPD recruitment efforts. Today, generational appeal and an inability by the

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organization to create and sustain supportive environments for sworn officers have diminished
PCUPD’s ability to recruit from the student population. PCUPD’s recent recruitment efforts
from the campus community have been nonexistent due to the local demographics not being
reflective of applicant criteria, and potential applicants not willing to engage in public service.
PCUPD’s Framework
PCUPD was established in 1919 and is composed of the typical hierarchical structure
observed within municipal and state (e.g., highway patrol) law enforcement agencies, with the
head of the organization identified as the Chief of Police. Structurally, PCUPD is composed of
two primary divisions of operations, an Administrative Operations division and a Patrol
Operations division. Each division is led by a senior manager (Captain), who oversees operations
and functions pertinent to maintaining organizational mission objectives. According to PCUPD’s
Background and Training Supervisor (personal communication, March 19, 2019) PCUPD is
currently composed of approximately 35 first line sworn officers, ten sergeants, five lieutenants,
one captain, and one police chief. Additionally, PCUPD employs approximately 130
civilian employees, encompassing part-time student employees and full-time employees who
support the organization’s mission. Given these points, PCUPD’s sworn officer staffing supports
PCU’s mission and dedication to campus partners via addressing staffing shortages by
consistently backfilling sworn officer shifts in hopes of maintaining the organization’s
performance status.
Organizational Performance Status
The organizational performance problem at the root of this study is PCUPD’s sworn
officer understaffing. Per the agreement established between the organization’s head executive
(Chief of Police) and PCU’s Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC), PCUPD is expected to increase

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sworn staffing to 100% by December 2021, thereby creating a safe environment in partnership
with a diverse campus community to reduce the incident of crime while enhancing the quality of
life for all. During 2019, multiple sworn officer positions remained unfilled at PCUPD,
representing a gap of 11%. In order for PCUPD to fulfill its mission and provide services to
students, staff, faculty and the surrounding communities, it is imperative that PCUPD remain in
compliance with the agreement established between the Chief of Police and the Associate Vice
Chancellor (AVC), who oversees PCUPD’s budget. Although PCUPD experienced a reduction
in reported crimes occurring in or about campus proper in 2018, calls for services such as, mental
assessment calls, noise complaints, domestic incidents, and medical aid calls have increased.
PCUPD’s Annual Report and Crime Statistics indicated a decline (.84 in 2014 to .82 in 2016) in
student, staff, and faculty ratios in comparison to PCUPD officers (PCUPD Annual Report and
Crime Statistics, 2016). In 2018 PCUPD received 83,826 calls for service in comparison to
83,225 calls for service in 2019. Current data (2019) has not yet been tabulated on the number of
crimes reported to PCUPD that officers responded to in or near campus, but the numbers will
more than likely indicate a slight decline in overall crime. This is more than likely attributed to
the department’s reporting protocol being streamlined and the introduction of online and
telephonic reporting options. Failure to address this decline can result in PCUPD’s inability to
provide consistent 24-hour services to students, staff, faculty, and neighboring communities.
Related Literature
The aftermath of the 1960’s and 1970’s civil unrest presented United States law
enforcement organizations with an opportunity to acknowledge there existed a significant crisis
in police legitimacy (Brunson & Gau, 2011). In response, law enforcement leaders enacted
policies to increase police officer responsiveness to the communities in which they served. One

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such policy, the Community Accountability Mandate, was a key proposal aimed at addressing
police legitimacy through enhanced community representation (Brunson & Gau, 2011). The
Community Accountability Mandate led to the integration of urban police organizations,
assuming diversification would reduce the amount of negative interactions between officers and
community members (Brunson & Gau, 2011).
National law enforcement leaders believed racial diversification schemes would properly
address community generationally perceived inequalities, such as racial profiling and over-
policing (Weitzer, 2015). Unfortunately, national law enforcement leaders failed to consider the
effects of institutional racism and its intergenerational effects on law enforcement legitimacy and
subsequent community recruiting (Schlossler et al., 2015). Societal implications, such as
ecological dynamics (e.g., nefarious activities), aid in shaping police-community relationship
that diminish law enforcement recruitment from urban communities (White & Escobar, 2008).
Furthermore, Bonner and Johnson (2017) state that although law enforcement administrators in
municipal organizations having more than 101 sworn officers, 55% to 75% believe diversity to
be crucial in bridging organizational culture with police-community relationships. However, this
level of diversity remains an unrealized goal by many municipal law enforcement agencies.
Research suggests that urban residents prefer to see community representation within their local
law enforcement organizations, believing diversity aids in establishing confidence and trust in
their local law enforcement agency (Weitzer, 2015).

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Importance of Addressing the Problem
The problem of inadequate sworn officer staffing is important to solve for a variety of
reasons. As a result of underrepresentation in United States municipal law enforcement
organizations by minority community members, law enforcement recruiting and subsequent
hiring from the communities in which its serves remains in decline. Biased-based police
practices (e.g., stop and frisk) and systemic racism further inhibit diversity with law enforcement
organizations (Kringen, 2016). Martin Kaste (2014) reports, “Many young people today,
particularly of color, have far more opportunities, professionally than 40 years ago” (para. 7). In
effect, local communities have traditionally provided municipal law enforcement organizations
with potential candidates, who embody the agencies philosophy for enhanced police-community
partnerships (Oliver, 2018). Organizational legitimacy has increased due to diversity strategies
targeted at recruiting and hiring sworn officers from local communities (Wolf & Nix, 2017).
Unfortunately, PCUPD’s inability to provide adequate sworn officer staffing remains a
significant impediment to providing PCU with adequate police services, necessary for supporting
the university’s mission. Thus, it is important for PCUPD to develop effective recruiting and
hiring strategies. According to Dowler (2005), sworn officers who are subjected to prolonged
exposure to organizational and inherent stressors succumb to increased health problems and
weakened coping strategies. The author states that increases in sworn officer burnout are
manifested physically (e.g., heart illnesses, alcoholism, ulcers, etc.) and psychologically (e.g.,
infidelity and domestic violence) (Dowler, 2005). As a result, staffing vacancies can increase
exponentially due to sworn officers not being physically, legally and or psychologically capable
to meet the organization’s standards and performance goals.

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Organizational Performance Goal
By December 2021, the Pacific Coast University Police Department will be at 100%
sworn officer staffing. The Chief of Police established this goal as a key element within the
organizations’ strategic initiative plan (May 2018) after recognizing the need to enhance campus
safety measures. The attainment of the organization’s performance goal will be made possible
with increased department representation from a diverse campus community. The achievement
of PCUPD’s goal in achieving full staffing is being measured by periodic audits and progress
reports by the Quinn Williams Group (public policy firm) through spring 2020. The Quinn
Williams Group created a task force (2018) that presented PCU with 28 recommendations for
enhancing campus safety, one of which was the attainment of 100% sworn officer FTE staffing.
Of note, recommendation #20 outlines the task force’s concerns in reference to PCUPD’s ability
to expand existing training on measures (e.g., de-escalation techniques, cultural diversity, and
uses of force) that reduce negative interactions with community members, resulting in increased
community representation within the sworn officer core (University wide Policing Task Force,
2019).
Description of Stakeholder Groups
In attainment of PCUPD’s mission, PCUPD strives to align performance goals and
organizational accountability with the expectations of internal and external stakeholders. As a
result, PCUPD is held accountable by three diverse, engaged, and critical stakeholder groups:
sworn personnel, Administrative Vice Chancellor and the executive board, and the collective
student body.

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Sworn Personnel
The first stakeholder group is PCUPD’s sworn officers. PCUPD’s sworn officer group is
comprised of sworn officers, sergeants, lieutenants, and captains who comprise the majority of
PCUPD’s workforce. PCUPD’s sworn officers contribute to PCUPD’s organizational goal by
providing timely and professional services to PCU’s student, staff, faculty, and local community
members, which in turn develops positive rapport with community members and support for
increased department budgetary allocation.
PCUPD’s sworn officers provide emergent and critical care to a growing campus
community of approximately 90,000 students, staff, and faculty members, as well as providing
law enforcement service to the neighboring campus communities. PCUPD’s sworn officers
depend upon PCUPD’s accountability in establishing and sustaining safe and practical work
conditions, which include appropriate hiring, retention, and staffing of sworn officers.
Unfortunately, PCUPD’s ability to retain and compete for sworn officers has diminished due to
market conditions and national negative publicity resulting from sworn officer use of force
incidents. For this reason, this stakeholder group has expressed inappropriate staffing as a
PCUPD priority and an administrative accountability measure currently not met by PCUPD.
Administrative Vice Chancellor and Executive Board
The second stakeholder group is PCU’s Administrative Vice Chancellor (AVC) and the
twelve-member executive board. PCUPD is accountable to PCU’s AVC and the university’s
executive board in reference to campus policy, budget management, and employee retention.
PCUPD also relies on the AVC and the university executive board for adequate funding and
political support. This reciprocating director-provider relationship is maintained through

9

PCUPD’s ability to retain autonomy from the host organization (PCU), while providing law
enforcement services.
The AVC and executive board contribute to PCUPD’s organizational performance goal,
by providing adequate budgetary allocation to PCUPD for the hiring and retention of sworn
officers. Unfortunately, based on a lack of a targeted budget being allocated toward hiring and
retention efforts, it appears the mission and values associated with this stakeholder group
conflicts with that of PCUPD’s mission and values. Since the AVC’s appointment in March of
2016, PCUPD has not been afforded increased budgeting and or alternative funding to address
department hiring and retention concerns (C. Choi, personal communication, July 30, 2019). As
a result, PCUPD has struggled in meeting its organizational goals in reference to personnel
hiring, retention, and budget management.
Collective Student Body
The third stakeholder group identified is PCU’s collective student body. According to the
admissions statistics published on the university’s website, PCU’s student body is comprised of
approximately 31,000 undergraduate students and approximately 15,000 graduate students. This
stakeholder group has called upon increased agency transparency, the creation of innovative
crime prevention approaches, and the development of a legitimate partnership with PCUPD. For
this reason, PCUPD has actively recruited sworn officers from PCU’s student body for several
years. In as much as, this addresses this stakeholder group’s yearning for increased transparency
and partnership, PCUPD’s recruitment of sworn officers from the student body addresses this
stakeholder group’s desire for representation by targeting recruitment toward university
community members. This stakeholder group’s contribution to PCUPD’s organizational goals
correspond to providing PCUPD with candidates by which PCUPD can hire and achieve its long-

10

term staffing goal. Unfortunately, due to frequent turnover as a result of changes in the student
body due to transfer and matriculation, this stakeholder group frequently experiences extreme
variances in reference to sustaining a uniformed identity, mission objectives, and group
cohesiveness. Thus, PCUPD has had difficulty in attaining a reliable and consistent partnership
with this stakeholder group. Table 1 depicts the stakeholder’s organizational performance goals
and their subsequent completion dates.
Table 1
Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goals
Stakeholders Group’s Performance Goals
Organizational Mission
Pacific Coast University Police Department’s (PCUPD) mission is to provide exceptional service
and protection to university staff, faculty, and students in support of their academic endeavors.
Organizational Performance Goal
By December 2021, PCUPD will be at 100% sworn, full time employment (FTE) staffing, an
increase from 87.7% to 100% full time employment (FTE) staffing.
PCUPD’s Sworn Officers AVC and PCU’s Executive
Board
Student Body
By March 2021, PCUPD’s
sworn officers will actively
recruit from the campus
community to support
achieving the organizational
goal of achieving 100%
FTE staffing.
By July 2021, the AVC and
PCU’s executive board will
determine an adequate
organizational budget allocation
system, indicative of maintaining
operational costs and hiring
initiatives (e.g., competitive
recruiting).
By March 2021, PCU’s
student body will develop an
action plan to address student
concerns in reference to a
legitimate partnership with
PCUPD.

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Stakeholder Group for the Study
While all stakeholders will undoubtedly contribute to PCUPD’s long term goal of 100%
sworn full-time (FTE) employment, by December 2021, it is imperative to focus on how
PCUPD’s performance goals align with and support sworn officers in their goal of decreasing the
hiring and retention gap for full-time sworn personnel.
As a result, the stakeholders of focus for this study will be PCUPD’s sworn officers. This
stakeholder group was selected due to PCUPD’s organizational goal directly affecting the
working conditions and quality of life of this stakeholder group. The stakeholders’ goal,
supported by PCUPD’s head executive (Chief of Police) and the collective bargaining unit, is
that by March 2021, PCUPD’s sworn officers will actively recruit from the campus community
to support achieving the organization’s goal of increasing patrol staffing. PCUPD sworn officers
realize that achieving their goal is in part based on developing trust and respect, reciprocated
between PCUPD and the communities in which they serve. Therefore, PCUPD sworn officers
will encourage diverse representation within the organization, supported through campus
community members participating in the sworn officer recruiting process. PCUPD sworn officers
who are of diverse backgrounds and cultures aid in modeling what a potential career in law
enforcement might entail for minority applicants. In effect, these officers create a pathway for
the organization to be trusted and accepted by community members. With that said, PCUPD’s
organizational goal is in alignment with this stakeholder’s goal. Moreover, PCUPD’s hiring and
retention procedures include establishing and sustaining aggressive and selective recruitment
strategies, establishing hiring bonuses, and the implementation of employee retention strategies
(e.g., compressed work schedules).

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PCUPD’s progress in achieving its organizational goal will be measured by PCUPD’s
sworn officers, which will provide monthly updates to PCUPD’s executive team. Sworn officers
available for daily vacant patrol shifts and PCUPD’s special events will be the determinant in
reference to PCUPD’s progress toward achieving its organizational goal. Thus, PCUPD’s
success in meeting the growing service demands of a diverse campus community is incumbent
upon PCUPD incorporating diversity within its ranking structure, in reaching its organizational
goal of 100% sworn, full-time employment by December 2021. Failure to accomplish this goal
will lead to increases in response times and diminished services which could degrade public
support for the organization.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project is to conduct a gap analysis to examine the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that interfere with PCUPD achieving 100% full-time
sworn employment staffing by December 2021. The analysis will begin by generating a list of
possible or assumed interfering influences that will be examined systematically to focus on
actual or validated interfering influences. While a complete gap analysis would focus on all
stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholder to be focused on in this analysis is PCUPD’s
sworn officers.
The questions that guide this study are the following:
1. What is PCUPD’s sworn officers’ knowledge and motivation in reference to recruiting
from the campus community in order to increase sworn officer staffing?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture, context, and PCUPD’s sworn
officers’ knowledge and motivation to recruiting from the campus community in order to
increase sworn staffing?

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3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources related to supporting PCUPD’s sworn officers
in their goal of recruiting from the campus community in order to increase sworn officer
staffing?
Methodological Framework
Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis, a systematic, analytical method that helps to clarify
organizational goals and identify the gap between the actual performance level and the preferred
performance level within an organization, was used in this study. The methodological approach
and rationale utilized for research will be a qualitative research method, primarily due to its more
generalized and inductive approach in identifying themes via a natural setting. The rationale for
selecting the qualitative inquiry method, is primarily based on the need to solve a specific
problem of practice currently affecting the mission of PCUPD while having a degree of influence
on change during the research process. Furthermore, a qualitative design approach allows for
frequent construct and reconstruct of research design required of practitioners operating within
the environment. In turn, interconnection and interaction among design components is increased
(Maxwell, 2013). Based on the research questions, in reference to “how a task is accomplished”
and “what the stakeholders believe and or identify as barriers,” the qualitative inquiry method is
best suited to examine data derived from the experiences of research subjects. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016), described this phenomenologist focus on how experiences are thus transformed
into consciousness. Examining the “lived experiences” of subjects, now transformed into group
consciousness and subsequently manifested in enhanced stakeholder self-efficacy, is imperative
in achieving the organization’s performance goals (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The research is
evaluated via interviews and document analysis.

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Definitions
Police Legitimacy: The extent to which police organizations are viewed as legitimate in their
performance by community members.
Societal Implications: The process of determining and understanding how people might be
affected by processes, rules, and or regulations.
Ecological Dynamics: An approach for understanding phenomena which occur at an ecological
state, the scale where the relationship between individuals and their environment is defined.
Sworn Staffing: California Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified members of
PCUPD.
Full Time Employment Staffing: Employee calculated work hours at or in excess of 40 hours per
week.
Snowball Sampling: Research participants recruit other participants for a test or study.
Jim Crow Laws: Laws enacted by local enforcement agencies that enforced segregation in the
southern region of the United States during the late 19
th
and early 20
th
century.
Ferguson: City within Missouri famous for the 2014 riots in association with the police involved
shooting of a local resident, Michael Brown.
Emotional Intelligence: An individual’s capacity to be aware of, control, and express emotions
while handling interpersonal relationships empathetically.
Merit-Based Recruiting: Recruitment and selection processes that comply with all federal and
state laws, in an attempt to fill police officer vacancies via selecting the most qualified
applicants.
Eric Garner: Died after being placed in a police choke-hold in 2014 by a New York City Police
Department officer.

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Social Persuasion: Deliberate attempt by a party to influence the attitudes or behavior of another
party in achievement of a predetermined end.
Participative Management: Empowering organizational members to actively engage in solving
issues and challenges facing organizations.
Polarity Management: The management philosophy in reference to understanding that polarities
(i.e., contradictory tendencies), identified within organizations do not require solving or
eliminating, but merely management.
Micro-geographies: Involving and concerned with strict geographic localization.
Groupthink: The practice of thinking or making decisions in a group in a way that discourages
creativity or individual responsibility.
Stovepiping: Raw data being diverted straight through to the hierarchy.
Organization of the Project
Five chapters are used to organize this study. This chapter provided the reader with the
key concepts and terminology commonly found in a discussion about PCUPD’s sworn officer
understaffing. The organization’s mission, goals and stakeholders as well as the initial concepts
of gap analysis were introduced. Chapter Two provides a review of current literature surrounding
the scope of study. Topics of police legitimacy, societal implications, and competitive hiring
practices affecting sworn officer recruiting and hiring will be addressed. Chapter Three details
the assumed interfering elements as well as methodology when it comes to choice of
participants, data collection and analysis. In Chapter Four, the data and results are assessed and
analyzed. Chapter Five provides solutions, based on data and literature, for closing the perceived
gaps as well as recommendations for an implementation and evaluation plan for solutions.

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CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Sworn officer staffing within municipal law enforcement agencies directly affects public
safety, social justice, and community support. By failing to address the causes for declining
interest in the profession, law enforcement is ill equipped in developing effective and sustained
approaches in meeting the increasing demands and requirements of communities at large. In this
chapter, I will first review the influences on the problem of practice. Next, a review of PCUPD’s
sworn officers’ role will be discussed, followed by the explanation of the knowledge, motivation
and organizational influences’ lens used in this study. Next, I will turn my attention to PCUPD’s
sworn officers’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences and complete the chapter
by presenting the conceptual framework.
Influences on the Problem of Practice
The influences on municipal sworn officer understaffing in the United States are vast and
profound. The first chapter introduced the problem from a macro perspective and concluded with
a detailed analysis of the problem as it applies within an organizational context with an identified
stakeholder affirming a goal for improvement. Research has revealed eight major areas of
research that aid in understanding the problem of practice, including succession planning,
leadership’s effect on staffing, recruiting and retention, competitive job markets, job
attractiveness, generational shifts, millennial workers, and multiculturalism’s effect on municipal
policing. Each area has a significant influence on the problem of practice. This section will
explore those themes and their effect on the problem of practice.
Succession Planning
Succession planning in law enforcement is more than merely selecting the next ranking
officer in succeeding the chief; it also requires investing in accountable practices that prepares

17

potential successors for critical roles within the organization (Bratton, 2008). The author
explained that one of the highest priorities for a police chief is to develop his or her staff in order
to meet the increasing demands of the public and the uncertainties of a dynamic profession.
Succession plans are considered successful when the plan diversifies in order to ensure a
consistent return (Stafford, 2019). The author asserts that law enforcement owes it to the public
to be proactive in identifying those individuals who challenge their leadership and organizations
to do better, grow, and plan for change. Thus, leaders should not seek carbon copies of
themselves, leaders should seek out the “rising stars” within their organizations who are
committed and equipped to address organizational challenges, such as sworn officer
understaffing (Stafford, 2019).
Planning toward addressing municipal sworn officer understaffing in the United States
involves long-term strategic planning with short-term benchmarks embedded to ensure
accountability. This is accomplished after assessing an organization’s personality, history, union
issues, politics, budget, community concerns, resources, and most importantly culture
(Michelson, 2006). According to Davis and Dolson (2018), an organization’s ability to maneuver
successfully through internal and external changes is based on the strength of its current culture
and the manner in which its culture is safeguarded during said changes. This is apparent in small
organizations that overemphasize training and hiring, thus resulting in smaller organizations
typically struggling or even collapsing without planned succession (Johnson et al., 2018).
According to Michelson (2006), organizational long-term investment in succession planning
enables organizations to stress the skills required of the leadership position, the challenges facing
potential leaders, and the transferable skills that any candidate for the position should possess.
Thus, the process of skill development should start with informational knowledge progressing to

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an advanced mastery of competency where learned skills are transformed into reflexive natural
abilities (Reeves, 2010). Identifying successors from the organization’s talent pool who have soft
skills easily transferable into the organization’s plan-driven chain of command is essential for
planned succession (Johnson et al., 2018). Sustaining organizational processes that ensure
continued effective performances via identifying future leaders is imperative for organizations
desiring to become learning organizations, where the continuation of new perspectives and
innovative ideas take precedence over recycling old ideas and concepts (Davis & Dolson, 2018).
Planned exposure and situational controlled inoculation allows potential candidates experience in
performing tasks under the supervision of senior personnel, affording organizations the ability to
assess potential future leaders’ administrative and management skills beyond police work
(Michelson, 2006).
Millennial workers’ perspectives are shaped by society’s usage of information
technology, social networking, innovative and creative collaborations, and an enhanced global
connectiveness (Waljee et al., 2018). Therefore, it is incumbent of organizational leaders
operating within hierarchal frameworks to recognize this as a generational diversity and not a
behavioral issue (Waljee et al., 2018). In viewing this concern from the officer’s perspective,
junior personnel who desire to assume a leadership role within their organization, should
consider seeking out a respected and experienced mentor who understands the nuances of
generational diversity and has organizational experience in a formal leadership role (Michelson,
2006). For instance, numerous state and local jurisdictions in the United States and Canada have
initiated mentoring programs during the 1990’s and 2000’s, aimed at preparing successors to
assume power when the time presents itself (Reeves, 2010). According to Waljee, Chopra, and
Saint (2018), micromentoring provides an alternative to traditional mentoring, thereby

19

addressing the defined needs of junior workers via increased engagement. The authors assert that
micromentoring entails engaging millennial workers in frequent meetings that allow for
cognitive diversity. For instance, brief meetings held frequently allow for enhanced engagement
by the mentor under the guise of addressing organizational dilemmas resulting in leaders playing
an integral role in shaping the next leaders for the organization (Waljee et al., 2018). By and
large, succession planning is targeted at having the right people, across organizations in the right
place at the right time by planning for future contingencies, thereby creating true “learning
organizations” (Reeves, 2010).
Leadership’s Effect on Staffing Levels
According to Mccabe and O’Connell (2017), the second greatest expense to any local
government’s budget is public safety and yet, the impact of having too few or too many sworn
officers allocated to a police department is often not recognized by senior leadership. It is
estimated that by the year 2020, most sworn officers in the United States will be members of the
millennial generation, which is primarily the result of senior personnel leaving due to excessive
workloads, job stressors, and the enticement of early retirement. As a result, it should always be
the mission of organizational leaders to identify individuals with leadership qualities and abilities
that can address challenges posed to law enforcement organizations (Trice et al., 2017).
Police leadership is regarded as more specific and circumstantial in comparison with
leadership within other types of organizations, thus requiring the implementation of an evolving
skill set (Moggre et al., 2017). Police leadership is performed in a rank-based culture where the
conformity of junior officers is normalized as a demonstration of effective leadership (Davis,
2018). As a result, junior officer conformity is expected from organizational leaders who are
viewed as causal agents of change while junior officers are perceived as passive recipients

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(Davis, 2018). Moreover, tensions arise within this organizational culture due to constructs and
conventions in reference to “know your place” and “rank knows best” deemed not only as a
cultural influence, but as an operational normalcy (Davis, 2018). Consequently, based on the
manner in which power is exercised, sustained, and negotiated within police organizational
cultures tensions between leadership and junior personnel affect sworn officer retention
negatively (Davis, 2018). According to Wilson and Weiss (2014), police departments from
across the country are reporting increased rates of staff turnover by police administrators, citing
departmental variables such as, crime rates, job tasks, and types of calls that influence staffing
levels. According to Michelson (2006), law enforcement, as a whole, need to do more in
addressing the crisis in sworn officer understaffing. While many law enforcement organizations
have given much attention to recruiting and retention, a fundamental question exists in regards to
just how many sworn officers does a particular agency need (Wilson & Weiss, 2013). The
staffing problem is exacerbated when senior personnel such as supervisors and mid-level
managers vacate sensitive and critical assignments. In doing so, organizations experience a
drastic reduction in institutional knowledge as well as political relationships and support
(Michelson, 2006). Consequently, the number of leaders vacating supervisory and or managerial
roles creates an issue in assessing the ability of lesser experienced sworn officers to assume these
critical leadership functions (Michelson, 2006). Nevertheless, regardless of how and why
personnel are selected for leadership roles within law enforcement organizations, the manner in
which organizations perceive and respond to collective bargaining staffing minimums, shift
distribution, and supervisory placement remains a primary factor for recruiting and retaining law
sworn officers (Wilson & Weiss, 2014).

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Recruiting and Retention
The recruiting and retention dilemma faced by today’s law enforcement organizations is
complicated, but centered on there not being enough qualified and or interested individuals to
assume sworn officer openings. With this in mind, recruiting and retention is a concern for both
large and small police organizations. According to Hilal and Litsey (2019), sworn officer
turnover is an important topic to review based on the correlation to recruiting and retaining
sworn officers. The authors go on to state that replacing sworn officers is both time-consuming
and expensive due to direct costs being attributed to agencies for background investigations,
uniforms and equipment, psychological assessments, medical assessments, overtime, training,
and associated administrative costs. Indirect costs such as, accumulated institutional and
professional knowledge, productivity, and reliability are intangible items that also affect the
organization’s ability to meet its mission (Hilal & Litsey, 2019). According to Hilal et al.,
(2017), the associated costs increase exponentially when considering today’s sworn officer is
required to have increased knowledge in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The
authors state screening processes that emphasized traditional recruiting strategies (e.g., shooting,
driving, and defensive tactics) are now being tailored to assess skills and abilities more in line
with today’s context-specific variables. According to Todd (2004), recruiting and retention has
been identified as one of the major concerns affecting 21
st
century policing, with smaller
agencies being more susceptible to the effects of sworn officer understaffing. The author asserts
one of the most important questions asked of today’s police administrators is, “where will the
next generation of police officers come from?” (Todd, 2004 p. 1). Smaller municipal police
organizations (e.g., 50 or less) suffer the most from sworn officer understaffing due to fierce
competition from higher salaried and better-budgeted agencies. Thus, small municipal police

22

organizations inadvertently become training grounds whereby sworn officers gain training,
experience, and confidence for entry into larger, better paying agencies (Todd, 2004). Municipal
law enforcement organizations must also deal with the realities of attrition which in turn leads to
continuous recruiting and hiring initiatives aimed at attracting the most viable candidates.
According to Wilson and Grammich (2009), a local police department in Arlington County has
been experiencing an annual attrition rate of approximately ten percent since 2003, which has
been cited as close to the annual attrition rate of most, small police agencies within the area.
Moreover, the inability to hire and fill the ranks with qualified sworn officers has a greater
demoralizing effect on smaller agencies, due to prolonged decreases in manpower, subsequent
increases in workload, and depleted department budgets due to increases in overtime allotments.
Although data indicating the overall national law enforcement vacancy rate is not typically
tabulated, as of June 30, 2016, 15,322 general purpose law enforcement agencies (i.e., municipal,
county, and regional), estimated there was approximately 701,000 sworn officers in the United
States (Hyland, 2018). Unfortunately, from 1997 to 2016 the number of sworn officers in the
United States per 1,000 residents decreased, from 2.42 (1997) to 2.17 (2016) down 11%
(Hyland, 2018). According to the author, this was exacerbated due to an eight percent increase in
the United States’ population during the same time period.
Competitive Job Market
According to Wilson and Grammich (2009), today’s municipal law enforcement
organizations are tasked to provide a wide range of services to an expanding clientele list. The
authors state attrition also occurs for both unique and typical reasons with crisis and location
being two primary factors. According to Wilson and Grammich (2009), many large agencies, due
to their size hire continuously while other agencies find themselves hiring after a calamity (e.g.,

23

Ferguson), in which public scrutiny and the disdain associated with continuous negative media
portrayals of the profession weigh heavily on line-level sworn officers and diminish the
attractiveness of the profession to potential candidates. The authors explained that location also
affects an organization’s ability to recruit and retain sworn officers. Smaller local agencies
operating within and congruent to larger police organizations (i.e., Los Angeles Police
Department and New York Police Department), typically find themselves becoming “breeding
grounds” for larger law enforcement organizations due to the attractiveness in compensation,
assignments, and ease of hiring for lateral candidates (Wilson & Grammich, 2009). A notable
retention issue that has become increasingly prevalent within the past decade has been the rate of
retirees from the profession. According to Wilson and Grammich (2009), several small agency
police administrators attribute their number of eligible sworn officer retirees to be a significant
staffing challenge for their organizations. In effect, due to the nature of the profession and the
stresses associated with the work, most agencies allow sworn officers to retire prior to age 60.
This has led large (i.e., 10,000 plus) municipal agencies, such as the Los Angeles Police
Department and the Philadelphia Police Department to enact sworn officer retention programs
such as the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), aimed at maintaining adequate
department staffing, proficiency in assignments, and increasing job attractiveness (Alava et al.,
2010). Coupled with a robust economy and an attractive job market, potential sworn officer
candidates are presented with a myriad of employment opportunities today that did not exist
decades prior. Consistent with this, is that pubic service entities such as law enforcement
organizations must compete with private and non-profit employers in attracting and retaining
millennial workers (Ng et al., 2016). Unfortunately, millennial preference toward employment
within the private sector has been attributed to their distrust in government’s bureaucratic

24

culture, government’s lack of innovation, and they don’t see government as a way to improve
their lives (Ng et al., 2016). The authors go on to state these preferences were gathered from a
2014 study conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, that surmised that an
increasingly apathetic generation may have contributed to a lack of interest in government jobs.
Furthermore, millennials have observed the public sector’s inability to reinvent itself, embrace a
collaborative and flexible work environment, and integrate technology into its day to day
operations (Curry, 2017). According to Mostyn (2018), a recent law enforcement summit hosted
by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in December 2018 revealed, of the law
enforcement agencies that conduct sworn officer exit interviews, the second reason most sworn
officers resigned was to pursue a career in another profession. In general, pay is not the primary
factor for sworn officers transitioning to the private sector, but the realization that compensation
is not commensurate with expectations aids in luring current sworn officers and potential
candidates to other professions (Roufa, 2019). Of the professions most chosen, are those which
affect their daily lives (e.g., Google, Instagram, Netflix, Amazon, and medical companies),
which is not overwhelmingly surprising due to the majority of millennial and Generation Z
entry-level employee candidates indicating via the 2018 National Society of High School
Scholars survey (NSHSS), having majored in a related science, technology, engineering, and
mathematical (STEM) discipline in college. By and large, today’s potential sworn officer
candidate seeks a very different psychological contract than their predecessors, demanding an
emphasis and adherence on a mutually-defined work-life balance state of employment (De Hauw
& De Vos, 2010).

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Job Attractiveness
The evolution of policing can be viewed through observing the demographics of police
departments and the duties assigned within United States municipal law enforcement
organizations. According to Andrade (2016), historically, policing in America was centered
around hiring conservative male, Caucasians. Law enforcements’ conception of externally-
oriented practices (e.g., community policing) in the late 1960’s, spawned several decades of a
law enforcement philosophy based on an ideology of shared governance (Carter, 2009). Today,
the roles of municipal sworn officers have evolved to include maintaining public order and
enforcing laws with or without external political and financial support (Andrade, 2016). Even
with the increased hiring of minorities and women from local communities, the overall growth of
recruits has not kept pace with the demand for sworn officers. Historically, law enforcement
positions have been relatively easy to fill, typically attracting more applicants than available
positions (Langham, 2017). As an illustration, a 2016 U.S. Department of Justice employment
survey on full-time sworn law enforcement personnel indicated a progressive decline in staffing
from 1998 (2.42 per 1,000 residents) to 2012 (2.39 per 1,000 residents) (Banks et al., 2016).
According to Langham (2017), a career in law enforcement represented a stable work
environment, promotional opportunities, competitive benefit packages, a pension, and positive
imaging from the public. A competitive employment market, changing ideologies associated
with maintaining equilibrium between work and family responsibilities, and changing
expectations within the workplace and worker autonomy, have dwindled attractiveness in the
profession as a career choice (Langham, 2017). Moreover, recent studies (German Socio-
Economic Panel, 2016) documenting Millennial students’ attraction to public service have
pointed to their appeal of extrinsic rewards over intrinsic rewards (Ng et al., 2016). The author

26

explained the study indicated that of the Generation Y students surveyed, the vast majority
indicated job security, leisure time, and fair salary were extremely important to them. Although
the profession has long been observed as one of the few having significant job security,
municipal police departments are struggling to recruit and hire sworn officer candidates due to
concerns germane to job attractiveness (Andrade, 2016).
In 2006, more than 80 percent of United States law enforcement agencies reported sworn
positions that they were unable to fill, thus causing significant increases in the workload of their
sworn officers (Langham, 2017). A study (United States Department of Justice, 2009, Table 74)
from 2014 reported there were approximately 627,949 sworn officers in the United States
(Andrade, 2016). According to the author, this reflected a significant decrease by 78,937 based
on a previous 2009 report. In order for municipal police organizations to fulfill their mission of
maintaining public order and enforcing laws, police administrators and policy makers must
determine and sustain a philosophy of continuous recruitment and hiring, regardless of budgetary
limitations (Langham, 2017). According to the author, law enforcement administrators must find
ways to attract quality candidates from the newest generation entering the workforce.
Generational Shift
Many issues (e.g., workload, public support, declining pensions, competitive salaries, etc.)
indicate a steady decline in the number of law enforcement candidates, none more than
generational differences. According to Langham (2017), baby-boomers (1946-1964) offered the
bulk of law enforcement candidates, primarily during the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s, many
of whom had prior military experience and being well suited for a para-military organization
such as law enforcement. Today, law enforcement organizations are experiencing the retirement
of these individuals, many holding critical leadership positions whereby a significant amount of

27

institutional knowledge is required. Police administrators turned to the next generation (Gen x)
for supplementation of their ranks, believing this generation would abide by the same work
disposition of that of their predecessors (Langham, 2017). Generation X refers to the population
following the baby-boomers born between 1961 and 1981 or 1965-1983 (Barnett, 2001).
Regardless of the birth year, this generation is identified via common life experiences, associated
with being fiercely independent, more technologically oriented, and culturally diverse (Barnett.
2001). The author asserts that this generation witnessed their parents laid off due to unscrupulous
acts perpetrated by big-business, which in turn shaped their perception of the working world
believing that security is the product of transferability of one’s skills to other jobs, rather than
from the attainment of advancement in hierarchically managed organizations.
Generational fluctuations occur within most organizations, but at a slow, gradual pace
allowing work infrastructures to adapt to new worker ideologies. Historically, this has been true
for law enforcement, due to the generational gap (i.e. differences in early life experiences)
between baby-boomers and Generation X being relatively small in comparison to the baby-
boomers and the millennials (Corzine et al., 2010). Due to increases in longevity and economic
instability, law enforcement officers from the baby-boomer generation and Generation X, have
co-existed in American law enforcement, with the baby-boomers occupying the top
administrative law enforcement positions and Generation X law enforcement officers holding
middle-level positions (Corzine et al., 2010). However, according to Langham (2017) the
profession is currently experiencing record numbers of vacancies in top law enforcement
positions, due to baby-boomer sworn officers reaching retirement age. The author goes on to
state the rate of attrition through retirement has led the supporting generation (Gen X) to assume
greater leadership roles in law enforcement with limited experience and a diminished maturation

28

period. Exacerbating the decline in suitable candidates to fill law enforcement ranks is the
realization that Generation X, as a whole, is a much smaller workforce than its predecessor
(Twenge, 2010). Born within a period when Americans were having fewer children, Generation
X is the smaller of the workforce generations due to having a smaller generational span (16
years), with an estimated population of 65.8 million in 2018 (Fry, 2016). In comparison, the
baby-boomers were estimated at 74.9 million in 2015 and the millennials (GenY) estimated to
peak at 81.1 million in 2036 (Fry, 2016).
According to Twenge (2010), when comparing intrinsic and extrinsic work values
between baby-boomers and Generation X, time-lag studies conducted via the U.S. Monitoring
The Future surveys (MTF) showed a curvilinear pattern, with Generation X significantly more
likely to value money, status, and prestige than baby-boomers with intrinsic values (e.g., value of
the task, helping others, challenging work) indicating no significant difference. According to
Corzine, Jaeckle, and Roberts (2010), this has propelled the succeeding generation of law
enforcement professionals toward similar goals, but desiring greater work autonomy and
flexibility in career choices.
Millennial Workers
Like America, many western industrialized countries are experiencing significant
shortages in skilled workers due to the Baby-Boomer generation reaching retirement age and
subsequently exiting the workforce (Ng et al., 2016). As a result, Generations X and Y are
occupying leadership positions once held by a more experienced workforce. Although many
debate the exact time frame representative of the millennial generation (Gen Y), for the purpose
of discussion, the millennial generation is defined as those born between 1982 and 2000
(Langham, 2017). According to Ng et al., (2016), a decrease in espoused public service

29

motivation by millennial workers, has resulted in significant shortages in skilled workers and has
played a significant impact on public service job renewals. To exacerbate the matter, law
enforcement in the United States is experiencing a convergence of generational influences on the
profession from three generations (Langham, 2017). As previously mentioned, the vast majority
of law enforcement positions currently held within United States municipal law enforcement
organizations are primarily filled by members from the baby-boomer and Generation X
workforce. However, law enforcement administrators have begun hiring millennial workers as
replacement workers in critical positions due to retirement-based attrition, thereby creating
opportunities for organizational diversity via generational blending (Langham, 2017). Although
the potential for positive synergy via integrating diverse work groups is immense, generational
blending and the integration of workgroups having differences in values, worldviews, and ways
of working can lead to intergenerational conflict within the workplace (Maier et al., 2015). For
example, analyst have observed that millennial workers exhibit characteristics that differ from
previous generations, which influence their attitudes and expectations concerning work (Henstra
& McGowan, 2016). Moreover, in comparison to Baby-Boomers and Generation X members
millennials perceive less intrinsic value from employment and express a desire for enhances
workplace autonomy (Henstra & McGowan, 2016). As a result, millennial workers appear prone
to self-serving behaviors, exhibit less organizational loyalty, and are perceived as entitled and
unwilling to “pay their dues” by baby-boomer and Generation X workers (Henstra & McGowan,
2016). Navigating organizational conflict while onboarding new hires into the culture and
workplace demands of law enforcement depends on understanding and responding to the
differences in norms and values between the generations represented in the workplace (Corzine
et al., 2010). According to the authors, each generation embodies a decorum of altruism, respect

30

for authority, or attitudes toward peers, but the millennial generation has been described as being
overly ambitious, seeking instant gratification, showing little loyalty to employers, changing jobs
frequently, and having unrealistic expectations of employers. According to Ng, Gossett, and
Winter (2016), this perception of millennial workers is in part due to millennial workers
perceiving public service jobs as antiquated, inflexible, and stagnant. Thus, the image of a career
in a public service such as law enforcement is viewed as restrictive and stagnant and does not
excite a generation that operates at “digital speed” (Ng et al., 2016). As a result, attracting
millennial workers to an organization such as law enforcement with a clearly defined
hierarchical structure and well-defined roles, requires law enforcement administrators to educate
themselves on the generational differences and workplace expectations associated with new
recruits (Corzine et al., 2010). According to a 2008 study conducted by Universum, a company
which surveys approximately 250,000 graduating students each year about workplace
preferences, the survey revealed that millennial workers are seeking clear paths to leadership
opportunities, advancement, high future earnings, rapid promotion, challenging work,
professional training and development, a variety of assignments, flexible working conditions,
and a high level of responsibility (Corzine et al., 2010). With that said, millennials value
“meaningful work” in alignment with their desire to create a work environment where fair and
adequate recognition and compensation are standardized (Ertas, 2016). Millennials expect the
appropriate degree of recognition associated with their responsibilities demanding supervisors
and managers personally know their level of organizational commitment and engagement (Maier
et al, 2015). The authors explained that millennials believe in collective action and desire
collaboration, but are unflattered by titles, positional status, and archaic policies. Unfortunately,
law enforcement administrators’ reluctance to acknowledge and subsequently augment

31

organizational culture and traditions in relationship to generational preferences, has resulted in a
lack of concessions to the work environment and an inability to adequately diversify its ranks.
Multiculturalism’s Effect on Municipal Policing
Diverse succession planning for law enforcement agencies has become a national critical
issue in recent years, yet the majority of American municipal law enforcement agencies have not
made recruiting and hiring minority law enforcement candidates a priority (Oliver, 2018).
According to Oliver (2018), diversity promoting policies and recruiting strategies were
implemented in the 1990’s by many municipal law enforcement agencies to remedy
discrimination and increase representation of traditionally disadvantaged groups.
Today, the lack of diversity within municipal law enforcement agencies remain a
significant impediment to sustaining social justice within our urban communities due to poorly
conceptualized recruiting and marketing strategies (Oliver, 2018). The author asserts that
controversial officer involved shootings (e.g., Ferguson), have further degraded the attractiveness
of a career in law enforcement to potential minority candidates, which is due in great part to
perceived inequalities within municipal law enforcement organizations.
Community perceived inequalities, permeated and sustained generationally through
disingenuous racial diversification schemes and policies founded on racist premises (e.g., Jim
Crow Laws), remain an impediment in recruiting minority applicants (Weitzer, 2015). Oliver
(2018) states the racial composition of a municipal law enforcement agency has a significant
impact on trust and whether the agency truly reflects and embodies community concerns.
According to a study by Weitzer (2015), more than 70% of African Americans, Latinos, and
Caucasians in the United States believe a metropolitan’s police force should reflect a similar
racial composition to that of the community. The results revealed most urban residents prefer to

32

see racially-mixed teams of officers serving their communities, believing diversity aids in
establishing confidence and trust in their law enforcement agency (Weitzer, 2015). Given that
municipal law enforcement agencies throughout the nation have traditionally limited
employment to Caucasian males, the successful implementation of racial diversity within
municipal law enforcement agencies remain a community accountability problem (Brunson &
Gau, 2011).
According to Brunson and Gau, (2011), community accountability, the predecessor to
community-oriented policing, was implemented nationwide as a method to increase municipal
sworn officers’ responsiveness to the communities in which they served. The hiring and
integration of African American sworn officers into African American communities was a key
proposal under the community accountability mandate (Brunson & Gau, 2011). Brunson and
Gau further stated that the inception of diversifying municipal law enforcement organizations
spawned from mitigating community outrage regarding inadequate minority representation, not
on establishing organizational equality. Brunson and Gau (2011) stated that this was enacted due
to a national law enforcement philosophy, assuming minority sworn officers would reduce the
amount of negative interactions between officers and community members. Furthermore, the
authors revealed a competing theory suggesting the effect of introducing African American and
Latin American sworn officers into communities comprised of their racial demographic, as
ineffective due to ecological dynamics. Ecological dynamics within urban communities’ aid in
reducing diversity in municipal law enforcement organizations due to societal implications
(Weitzer, 2015).
According to Weitzer (2015), interaction between sworn officers and community
members are primarily based on these ecological dynamics which shape police-minority

33

relationships and diminish recruiting opportunities for minority applicants. According to White
and Escobar (2008), municipal law enforcement agencies have systematically begun to replicate
federal law enforcement hiring standards due to higher expectations from constituents and
increased organizational liability. The effort to professionalize municipal law enforcement
agencies resulted in enhanced drug screening policies and minimum educational requirements
(White & Escobar, 2008). The authors assert that these requirements have a disproportionate
negative impact on minority applicants due to societal implications (e.g., drug use / exposure)
and unequal opportunities for secondary education. Furthermore, this philosophy fails to account
for systemic socioeconomic depression experienced generationally by minority groups (White &
Escobar, 2008). Institutional racism and its intergenerational effects have severely degraded
municipal law enforcement’s recruiting efforts of potential minority sworn officers, through
continued negative encounters with urban community members (Schlosser et al., 2015).
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework
Clark and Estes (2008) stated the gap between desired and actual performance must first
be assessed and eventually closed if organizational goals are to be achieved. The authors further
stated that alignment between organizational goals and stakeholders begin with identifying gaps,
assessing stakeholder knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences which impede
organizational performance. Rueda (2011) identified four types of knowledge influences critical
for influencing stakeholder goals: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.
Additionally, there are three motivational indexes within work environments: when individuals
actively choose to pursue a work goal, when distractions dissuade individuals from persisting
toward a specified goal, and when persistence is challenged and overcome via the application of
mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008). According to Rueda (2011), self-efficacy and competency

34

beliefs, attributions and control beliefs, values, and goals are principles considered when
analyzing performance gaps. Lastly, organizational influences such as workplace culture, work
processes, and resource availability are organizational influences that may impede stakeholder
performance.
The elements identified in Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analyses will be further addressed
in the literature as they relate to PCUPD’s sworn officer’s ability to actively recruit from the
campus community to support achieving the organization’s goal of increasing patrol staffing
from 87.7% to 100% full time employment (FTE) staffing by December 2021. A discussion on
assumed influences on the stakeholder performance goals as they relate to knowledge and skills
will comprise the first section. The next section will comprise a review of assumed influences on
attaining stakeholder goals from a motivation perspective. Lastly, organizational influences on
achievement of stakeholder goals will be examined in the final section. In conclusion,
stakeholder knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on performance will be
explored through the methodology discussed in Chapter Three.

35

Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
This research literature review focuses on the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences necessary for PCUPOs to achieve their stakeholder performance goal of actively
recruiting from the campus community in order to achieve 100% full-time sworn staffing by
December 2021. Barriers and influences affecting stakeholders in achieving their goal of actively
recruiting sworn officer candidates will be explored independent of one another, and then
collectively through the conceptual framework.
Knowledge and Skills
The application and understanding of appropriate and precise knowledge are fundamental
in achieving PCUPOs’ stakeholder goal. According to Clark and Estes (2008), knowledge and
skill enhancement is a fundamental requirement for job performance. Determining whether
people know how, when, what, why, and where to achieve performance goals is essential in
determining gaps in knowledge and skills. Nonetheless, organizations typically fail in making
sustainable connections between organizational goals and team-related goals due to failing to
identify mechanisms for enhancing stakeholder knowledge and skills that are essential in
aligning organizational goals with related tasks (Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, understanding
what organizations need to know and the methods required to achieve stakeholder performance
goals are critical for organizational success (Rueda, 2011).
Assessing relevant knowledge types is imperative in understanding the gaps and
mechanisms required in achieving the stakeholder goal. According to Rueda (2011), the first
knowledge type, factual, commonly known as facts, refers to knowledge basic to specific
disciplines, contexts, or domains necessary in problem solving. This knowledge domain is an

36

affirmation of something already known. For example, stakeholders’ knowledge of barriers that
impede goal attainment would be considered their basic factual knowledge about the job.
The second knowledge type, declarative knowledge is knowledge of principles,
classifications, theories, or models pertinent to a particular area (Rueda, 2011). To emphasize,
this knowledge type includes principles (e.g., laws, and regulations) for achieving goals.
PCPDOs’ awareness of their knowledge in reference to department recruiting and hiring
standards would be considered declarative knowledge, whereas knowledge in reference to
specified details (e.g., hiring codes) would be factual knowledge due to officers having a
working knowledge about specific hiring details. Declarative knowledge is characterized most
clearly as knowledge that is rich in relationships and an interweaving of the intuitive and formal
knowledge on a personal basis (Hallet et. al., 2010). Procedural knowledge is the third
knowledge type and it relates to PCUPO’s knowledge in relationship to having the skills
necessary in accomplishing tasks and goals (Rueda, 2011). According to Hallet, Nunes, and
Bryant (2010), procedural knowledge involves following a sequence of certain defined actions
that are meant to produce a desired result. Notably, stakeholder knowledge in the execution of
recruiting and hiring tasks is knowledge related to methods and procedures. Applying interview
techniques toward recruitment would be an example of procedural knowledge.
Lastly, Rueda (2011) stated that metacognitive knowledge is an awareness of one’s own
cognitive process. This knowledge type aids individuals in assessing their approach toward
achieving goals. Van Velzen (2012) described metacognitive knowledge as a knowledge about
one’s cognitive process. In other words, one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive
processes and an ability to accurately define his/her thoughts or knowledge (OZsoy et al., 2009).
For example, stakeholders having self-knowledge in reference to personal tendencies that may

37

impede goal attainment and or reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses when it pertains to
supporting the department in the recruitment and staffing process is considered metacognitive
knowledge. An individual’s ability to verbalize their knowledge about memory, comprehension,
and learning processes is an example of metacognitive knowledge (Handel et al., 2013). By and
large, due to divergent influences experienced within organizations it is imperative to
differentiate between the knowledge types in the application of effective performance outcomes.
This research review has determined three primary knowledge types: declarative, procedural, and
metacognitive, necessary to achieve PCUPOs’ goal.
Knowledge of Recruitment Strategies
The first knowledge influence PCUPOs need to attain is an understanding of their role as
active recruiters of sworn officer candidates. PCUPOs need a clear and concise idea as to what
this role would resemble within the organization. Prior to the implementation of a solution, a
fundamental knowledge is required in reference to “why” a solution is required. Declarative
knowledge creates a pathway for the implementation of solutions only after practitioners have
gained an understanding as to why an action or goal is required (Rueda, 2011). Jong and
Ferguson-Hessler (1996) described declarative knowledge as static knowledge about facts,
concepts, and principles, functioning as additional information required in solving problems.
PCUPO’s awareness of recruiting strategies as they apply to current laws and procedures
is declarative knowledge. Declarative knowledge works in tangent with explicit knowledge
toward gaining an understanding of procedures used to recruit and hire sworn officer candidates.
According to Nickols (2010), explicit knowledge is knowledge which has been articulated (e.g.,
rules and procedures), codified, and documented as best practices and or standard operational
procedures (SOP). Implicit knowledge is implied by or inferred from observable behaviors or

38

performances (Nickols, 2010). For instance, a trainee understanding why the department
mandates certain protocols in initiating a high-risk traffic stop is declarative knowledge. Thus,
declarative knowledge is more or less domain specific and may be abstracted and generalized in
applying strategies and procedures toward solving a host of problems, not to mention PCUPD’s
sworn officer understaffing problem (Jong et al., 1996).
Knowing How to Apply the Methods, Laws, and Regulations for Recruiting
Knowledge of methods used for increasing sworn officer staffing within the organization
is the second knowledge influence that PCUPOs need to achieve in accomplishing their goals.
As previously mentioned, procedural knowledge encompasses information applied by
individuals for tasks completion. PCUPOs need to know and appropriately apply the application
of laws, rules, and regulations governing sworn officer recruiting and subsequent hiring.
Moreover, PCUPOs need to understand of how to apply laws, rules, and regulations when
confronted with macro-level variables ranging from the economy, race, sex, and age patterns in
American society (Jordan et al., 2009). This knowledge influence is categorized as procedural
knowledge due to it focusing on stakeholders knowing “how” to apply appropriate rules, laws,
and regulations in sworn officer recruitment and hiring. The assessment methods used to
determine if a procedural knowledge gap does exist are interviews used to assess stakeholder
knowledge in the application of recruiting and hiring rules, laws, and regulations.
According to Jordan et al. (2009), hiring practices in law enforcement have shifted from a
political “spoils” system, to a merit-based recruiting system. Merit-based recruiting practices
include intricate knowledge required in successfully addressing barriers (e.g., race, sex, and age)
while implementing strategies and contexts necessary for recruiting and hiring sworn officers,
similar to those espoused in the Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement Initiative launched in

39

2015 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). The initiative identifies barriers that
undermine diversity in law enforcement and provide promising practices in creating diverse
workforces in municipal law enforcement organizations (Bonner & Johnson, 2017). By and
large, PCUPO’s ability to attain a clear understanding of sworn officer hiring and recruitment
procedures in relevance to targeting diverse applicants, aids in enhancing their overall
effectiveness in seeking diverse sworn officer candidates. For the most part, this is accomplished
by identifying existing barriers that diminish diversity within law enforcement. According to
Oliver (2014), the quality of law enforcement services provided to communities is severely
reduced by an organization’s inability to effective develop and implement effective sworn officer
recruitment plans.
Law enforcement agencies are not uniquely equipped to replace the human relationship
skills of sworn officers and the social bonds created between sworn officers and community
members. Thus, the quality of individuals hired will ultimately determine the quality of the
organization (Oliver, 2014). For this reason, PCUPOs need to know how to apply industry
standards in the recruitment and hiring of sworn officers (Kringen, 2016). Therefore, stakeholder
basic understanding should encompass organizational needs in reference to determining
candidate qualifications, assessing the needs and desires of the candidate pool, structuring a
selection process toward those needs, and determining the key issues in law enforcement
recruitment and retention (Oliver, 2014). For example, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD)
implemented a recruitment strategy in 2008 to bridge its personnel gap while minimizing sworn
officer attrition. The plan called for targeting broader recruiting resources, improving screening
efficiency, and revising the recruiting and testing process (Ridgeway et al., 2008). According to
the authors, SDPD implemented targeted recruiting efforts via brochures, radio, an outdoor

40

advertising to appeal to a broad range of potential candidates. To support organizational
recruitment efforts, recruitment efforts were focused on the local community and incentivizing
the recruitment efforts of sworn and civilian personnel was authorized (Ridgeway et al., 2008).
The authors further stated that the organization implemented a redirection process for
unsuccessful candidates, whereby the candidate would be redirected to the recruiter for follow-
up. As a result, within two years SDPD received measurable success via establishing a
partnership with stakeholders (i.e., sworn officers and civilian personnel) and implementing the
practices previously mentioned.
Effectively Applying Self-Reflective Practices for Recruiting
The third knowledge influence PCUPOs should undertake in the achievement of their
goals is the application of self-reflective practices in assessing continuous learning toward
achieving tasks and goals. As a result, PCUPOs will be better able to address issues and concerns
presented by potential sworn officer recruits during the recruiting process. Self-reflective
practices incorporated throughout the recruiting process will enable PCUPOs to properly gauge
potential gaps in the program, thus allowing PCUPOs an opportunity to make the appropriate
changes prior to potential recruits having a negative recruiting experience.
Police administrators typically integrate self-reflective practices such as emotional
intelligence in assessing a candidate’s psychological fit within law enforcement organizations
(Saville, 2015). Emotional intelligence is defined as an individual’s ability to interpret,
understand, and manage one’s own emotions and well as others through applying personal
competencies such as self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-control (Saville, 2015).
The author asserts that policing requires the appropriate application of social competencies such
as conflict management, empathy, and leadership which are essential for police leaders (Saville,

41

2015). Conversely, sworn officer candidates typically seek autonomy, competence, and
organizational relatedness in ascertaining social partnerships and representative bureaucracy with
organizations (Linos et al., 2017). Police administrators and sworn officer candidates are
assessing self-reflective skills, required of PCUPOs in determining organizational viability.
A 2014 poll conducted by USA Today and the Pew Research Center reported that most
Americans believe police accountability to be lacking and or non-existing by American police
administrators (USA Today & Pew Research Center, 2016). According to a 2000-2010 study
conducted on English and Welsh police administrations, self-reflective practices aid in increasing
representative bureaucracy and organizational relatedness, thus improving integrity within law
enforcement organizations (Hong, 2016). The author states the study revealed an association
between an increase in police force ethnic representation and a reduction in police misconduct.
Becoming aware of emotional triggers, through self-reflective practices aid in establishing
organizational representative bureaucracy by providing sworn officers alternative responses to
environmental stressors (Saville, 2015). According to Turner (2009), educators Ulrich and
Smallwood linked emotional intelligence to professional success, via an Air force study (1997)
of recruiters. According to the author, after identifying Air Force recruiters via a self-reflective
assessment tool (e.g., Emotional Quotient Inventory) who possessed self-awareness, self-
assurance, and self-esteem, recruiters were twice as productive as recruiters from other services.
The relevance of the study is due to the correlation between law enforcement officers and
military personnel who operate within similar dynamic environments (e.g., para-military), where
work related stressors can negatively affect emotional intelligence. The retention rate for
recruiters increased by 92 percent (Turner, 2009). Thus, the application of self-reflective

42

practices by stakeholders aids in identifying psychological needs sworn officer candidates may
require (Weitzer, 2015).
Table 2 illustrates the knowledge influences, types, and assessment required in achieving
the organizational and stakeholder goals. Furthermore, Table 2 illustrates the knowledge type
and knowledge influence assessment necessary for stakeholders in achievement of their goals.
Table 2

Motivation
Mayer (2011) described motivation as an internal state that initiates and maintains goal
directed behavior. The author further theorized that classic theories of motivation were primarily
derived from drive reduction, in which biological needs where satisfied. According to Mayer
Knowledge Influence

Knowledge Type
(i.e., declarative
(factual or
conceptual),
procedural, or
metacognitive)
Knowledge Influence
Assessment
Sworn officers need to understand
the characteristics of the campus
community population in regard to
effectively recruiting from the
population.

Declarative
Interviews used to assess Sworn
officers’ ability to express their
understanding of recruitment and
hiring procedures.
Sworn officers need to assess and
reflect in determining their
reasoning for remaining employed
with the organization.

Metacognitive
Utilizing interviews, sworn
officers will reflect on their own
current department needs and
their own recruitment process.
Sworn officers need to apply the
methods, laws, and regulations in
reference to recruiting sworn
officers from the campus
community population.
Procedural Interviews used to assess current
knowledge on the application of
industry standards in reference
to recruiting and hiring sworn
officers.
Knowledge Influence, Knowledge Types, and Knowledge Assessment

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(2011), modern motivational principles, such as the learner’s cognition, play an integral role in
the development of self-regulated learners, self-motivation, and expected outcomes. Otis and
Pelletier (2005) state that higher levels of self-determined motivation are associated with feelings
of pleasure, choice, and personal importance. Additionally, motivation is self-determined when
an activity is initiated for autonomous reasons (Otis & Pelletier, 2005). An example of this
would be sworn officer’s self-motivation and persistence to carry out environmentally friendly
behaviors such as procedural justice (Otis & Pelletier, 2005). The authors state, according to
Richer, Blanchard, and Vallerand (2002) self-determined motivation leads to less sworn officer
emotional exhaustion and greater work satisfaction due to an association between self-
determined motivation and increased enjoyable work behaviors. PCUPO’s motivational drive
could increase via effort-based attribution due to goal attainment being proportional to mental
effort, active choice, and persistence (Rueda, 2011).
There are three motivational “indexes,” or types of motivational processes within work
environments that influence performance: active choice, persistence, and mental effort (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Active choice refers to the intention of an individual to pursue a goal, now replaced
with action, with emphasis on the “active” pursuit of goal achievement and not the intention
(Clark & Estes, 2008). For example, stakeholders may have the acquired knowledge and desire
to attain a goal, but do not pursue the goal. They may have succumbed to procrastination,
avoidance, delaying, or distractions that diminish goal attainment (Clark & Estes, 2008).
According to Clark and Estes (2008), persistence refers to an individual’s ability to
remain task oriented once active choice has manifested. Unfortunately, according to Federici and
Skaalvik (2011) prolonged active engagement in dynamic work environment’s leads to
emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishments. Maslach

44

(2003), defined burnout as a psychological syndrome that involves a prolonged response to
stressors in the workplace. Complex and dynamic jobs involve exposure to a wide range of
pressure dividing attention between complex tasks and relationships (Federici & Skaalvik, 2011).
As a result, frequent exposure to stressors and distractions are believed to be the greatest
impediment in remaining persistence in the attainment of goals. This is evident in stakeholder
groups that frequently abandon initiatives and goals for the next or newest concept.
Lastly, Clark and Estes (2008) stated mental effort is the element that ties active choice
and persistence together, thereby creating the three facets of motivational performance. The
authors defined mental effort as the cognitive effort exerted toward task completion and being
determined in large measures by an individual’s confidence. Consequently, frequent and or
prolonged exposure to the routineness of tasks decreases mental effort and creates a cycle of
long-term occupational stress, especially among workers (e.g., teachers, sworn officers, etc.) who
deal with servicing people (Federici & Skaalvik, 2011). For instance, stakeholders who are held
accountable for innovative, active choices exude greater amounts of mental effort due to greater
liability attached to those choices. Rueda (2011) provided an overview of motivational variables
essential in understanding motivational dynamics, such as: self-efficacy and competency beliefs,
attribution and control beliefs, values, and goals. The following sections will focus on self-
efficacy and attributions as these variables being identified as critical to PCUPOs’ goal
attainment.
Sworn Officer Self-Efficacy
The first motivational influence imperative for PCUPOs’ performance goal attainment, is
self-efficacy. PCUPOs need to believe they are capable in effectively representing the
organization as active recruiters. Wigfield and Eccles (2000) stated self-efficacy focuses on

45

individuals’ belief about how confident they are in the completion of different tasks, rather than
establishing comparisons to others. Wigfield and Eccles (2000) further stated that an individual’s
belief in their ability and expectations of task achievement is critical in motivation. According to
Bandura (2000), perceived efficacy has a key role in human functioning as it directly affects
behavior and has a significant impact on goals, aspirations, outcome expectations, affective
proclivities, perception of impediments, and opportunities in the social environment. The author
asserts that efficacy beliefs influence erratic, strategic, optimistically and pessimistically
thinking.
According to Usher and Pajares (2008), self-efficacy beliefs are created and interpreted
from four sources: mastery experiences, social persuasion, vicarious experience, and
physiological reactions. The authors defined mastery experience as an interpretation of results
from an individual’s previous attainments. As a result, successful endeavors raise confidence in
individuals’ ability to be successful once more, supporting that mastery of experience in a
domain often leads to enduring effects on self-efficacy (Usher & Pajares, 2008). Self-efficacy is
typically interpreted through observing others, which leads individuals to gauge their success and
failure via a vicarious experience (Usher & Pajares, 2008).
Usher and Pajares (2008) defined social persuasions as encouragement received from
support groups (e.g., teachers, employers, peers, and parents), in which evaluative feedback and
judgements are rendered, when the individual is not skilled in making accurate self-appraisals.
Supportive messages and positive feedback can bolster an individual’s effort and self-
confidence, thus increasing performance. Moreover, feedback should be appropriately framed in
supporting self-efficacy and include mentorship in encouraging individuals to measure success in
terms of personal growth rather than triumphs over others (Usher & Pajares, 2008). Lastly, self-

46

efficacy beliefs are also formed by physiological reactions (e.g., anxiety, stress, fatigue, and
mood), typically interpreted by individuals via assessing their performance in various
environments. Cues to expected outcomes in reference to success or failure can have a severe
effect on self-efficacy (Usher & Pajares, 2008).
As shown above, self-efficacy plays a significant role in individual performance especially
in determining the relationship between work characteristics and learning outcomes. Most
notably, in relationship to psychological work demands and the amount of control workers
believe they possess to meet these demands, as stated by Karasek’s and Theorell’s demand-
control (DC) model (Toon et al., 2010). According to the authors, the DC model proposed that
learning leads to a broadening of the range of confrontable challenges within the work
environment. Several subsequent studies (19 of 30) supported the DC model, consistently
showing optimal outcomes for individuals in high demand/ high control jobs (Toon et al., 2010).
As an illustration, sworn officers’ ability to master the skills and abilities required to be
proficient in the profession are based on sworn officers’ exposure and successful negotiation of
evolving confrontable challenges (e.g., emotional intelligence, lack of control over work,
unplanned work schedules, social isolation, etc.). Unfortunately, the profession of law
enforcement is one where exposure to confrontable challenges is considered professional
normalcy, thus it is believed to be a work characteristic (Talavera-Velasco et al., 2018).
Consistent exposure to confrontable challenges leads to chronic strain and fatigue in workers that
negatively affect self-efficacy (Toon et al., 2010). As a result, diminished belief in control over
one’s work environment leads to decreased mastery of skills and reduced self-efficacy. Whereas,
greater mastery of skills and abilities were directly proportional to reduced levels of stress and
fatigue (Toon et al., 2010). For this reason, it is important to consider the relationship between

47

resiliency to environmental stressors and sworn officers’ ability to accurately identify
controllable and uncontrollable stressors within their work environments.
A recent study (2018) conducted on the relationship between sworn officers’ self-efficacy
and use of force (UOF) incidents during the execution of an arrest, indicated self-efficacy
influenced sworn officers’ selection of activities upon their environments. Hence, a 2018 pilot-
study conducted via online surveys and a nonrandom subsample of 1,064 un-ranked United
States sworn officers, indicated that incorporating increased training in self-defense disciplines
elevated sworn officers’ confidence in going “hands-on” (using force) (Torres, 2018). By and
large, the study was conducted after several high-profile national incidents (e.g., Eric Garner,
Ferguson, etc.), in which sworn officers’ decisions to use force have been scrutinized. Thus, a
perceived apprehension in sworn officers’ desire to engage in hands-on activities has been
speculated as a possible reason for increased crime rates and increased officer on-duty injuries
(Torrers, 2018). In combatance of this, several officers received enhanced self-defense training
consisting of martial arts, pressure point applications, and ground fighting techniques from police
academy defensive tactics instructors (Torres, 2018). In short, the study predicted that increasing
sworn officer self-efficacy in applying arrest and control techniques would also increase sworn
officers’ willingness to use force when applicable. As a result, sworn officers also experienced
increased self-efficacy via a diminished degree of concern for being injured while applying force
(Torres, 2018). As can be seen, PCUPOs’ ability to encapsulate the skills and abilities required
of them in becoming departmental recruiters is primarily based on their ability to negotiate
confrontable challenges, while properly identifying uncontrollable and controllable stressors
within their work environment. By and large, PCUPOs’ affirmation in their ability to bolster and
sustain their self-efficacy, thereby becoming “active recruiters” is imperative for goal attainment.

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Sworn Officers’ Attributions
The second motivational influence identified for PCUPOs’ goal attainment is related to
attribution theory. PCUPOs need to feel they can increase sworn staffing to 100 percent through
their own recruiting and hiring efforts. Motivational attempts in task performance is related to an
individual’s belief in a desired outcome. Hence, attributions for successfully completing a task
are processes in which we designate as either controllable or uncontrollable. An individual’s
attempt to make sense of their environment and the manner in which they respond within the
constructs of that environment is an example of the attribution theory. PCUPOs’ response to
their work environment may be in relationship to what they perceive as controllable.
Consequently, consistent fluctuations within the immediate environment may result in
diminished effort and engagement with achieving identified goals. Rueda (2011) stated
attributions refer to an individual’s belief in the reasons for success or failure in tasks, including
the control the individual has in affecting that outcome. As a result, PCUPO’s may experience
diminished resolve and a significant disconnect with goal attainment due to unstable
environmental factors believed as enablers to their success.
According to Mayer (2011), individuals who exert effort-based attributions are more
likely to achieve their performance goals due to interpreting success or failure to their own
degree of effort. Moreover, when individuals believe that failure in the attainment of goals is not
a permanent disposition and influenced by controlled variables increased effort is typically the
result (Rueda, 2011). Additionally, attributions are along three dimensions: stability, locus, and
control. Stability refers to whether attributions are stable or unstable, attributing causality to
factors that will either change (unstable) or remain permanent (stable) over time (Rueda, 2011).
For example, if PCUPOs’ believed their effort is related to bolstering intradepartmental social

49

networks and increasing morale for controlling turnover rates, this would be an example of
stability. Locus refers to whether an attribution is related to variables internal to the individual or
external, thus goal attainment is subject to the individual’s belief in reference to their innate
abilities or external, uncontrollable forces in play (Rueda, 2011). According to the authors,
subcultures such as PCUPOs believe important events are caused by external forces beyond their
control. For this reason, addressing locus within this group is a critical component in PCUPOs
achieving their goal. Controllability refers to an individual’s belief that internal or external forces
are either controlled and within their power to influence or uncontrollable (e.g., organizational
structure or work assignment) and outside of their sphere of influence (Gist & Mitchell, 1991).
For instance, an example of controllability would be if PCUPOs believed that community
perceptions of officers will always be negative, thus an uncontrollable variable exist. PCUPOs’
ability to effect positive change within its social environment may be directly related to this
stakeholder groups’ ability to define and make sense of its role within the organization
(Barthelemy et al., 2016). Organizations that employ strategies aimed at “winning the hearts and
minds” of the rank and file, do so through the implementation of collaborative decision-making,
thereby building employee commitment through enhanced stewardship (Steinheider &
Wuestewals, 2008). Steinheider and Wuestewals further stated that through role identification, a
shared governance between sworn officers and organizations create participative management
strategies that reduce resistance to police reform initiatives and improve public service.
According to Steinheider and Wuestewals (2008), participative management is defined as any
power-sharing arrangement in which workplace influence is shared by individuals who are
otherwise hierarchical unequals. The authors stated that Lawler’s typology (1998) suggests that
job involvement, wherein systems provide autonomy within work environments can create an

50

atmosphere of “high-involvement” increasing sworn officer influence over their work
environments.
Consequently, organizations that undergo restructuring due to crisis (e.g., Ferguson) and
or economics (e.g., Compton Police Department), do so with the realization significant impact on
sworn officer roles and confidence may occur (Mendel et al., 2017). With this in mind, a clear
understanding that the organization’s culture may include broader cultural issues such as,
participative management is imperative in managing potential deficiencies in sworn officer
attribution (Mendel et. al., 2017). For instance, the organization must strive to reach an
equilibrium in defining the parameters of participative management in relationship to sworn
officers’ logical and rational efforts toward attainment of a mutually desired outcome. An
example of managing potential deficiencies in PCUPOs’ attribution, would be assumptions made
by the officers in reference to their efforts being acknowledged and considered for
implementation by PCUPD’s management team. Identified deficiencies in attribution, including
perceived trait or disposition, (bias), will be addressed via providing effective, feedback, and
engagement in attribution retraining.
Table 3 illustrates the motivational influences required in achieving the organizational and
stakeholder goal. Furthermore, Table 3 illustrates the motivation type and motivation influence
assessment necessary for goal attainment.

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Table 3

Organization
Clark and Estes (2008), state organizational goals are typically achieved via a system of
complex interacting processes requiring specialized skills, knowledge, and motivation to operate
successfully. Interacting processes are susceptible to organizational influences which may
increase the complexity of tasks, thereby increasing organizational performance gaps and
inhibiting organizational goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). The authors assert that organizational
performance gaps, due to the lack of efficient and effective organizational cultural models and
cultural settings are inevitable even for organizations with highly skilled and motivated
personnel.
Schein (2017) defined culture as a shared product of shared learning forming patterns of
belief and values that give meaning to the daily activities and work of a specified group. The
author explains that the concept of culture implies structural stability, depth, breadth, and
patterning, specific to a group. Organizational culture is both stable and dynamic, surviving
organizational fluctuations (e.g., attrition, succession, etc.), but susceptible to leadership changes
Assumed Motivation Influences

Motivational Influence Assessment

Self-efficacy: Sworn officers need to believe they
can represent the organization as “active
recruiters.”
Interviews with sworn officers, in
reference to determining the officers’
degree of personal accountability in
active recruitment.

Attributions: Sworn officers need to believe that
recruitment success is dependent on their own
recruiting and hiring efforts rather than external
factors that are beyond their control.
Interviews gauging sworn officers’
efforts in retention.
Motivational Influences and Motivational Influence Assessments

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and crisis (Schein, 2017). Ostroff, Kinicki, and Muhammad (2013) defined organizational
culture as a property of the collective reflecting a phenomenon based on symbolic meanings.
The authors assert that organizational culture is expected to align with structures,
practices, and policies, thus evolving into a function of industry and environmental
characteristics. The leader’s values, vision, and goals to an explicit or implicit adoption of
structural features and practices that in time become the norm (Ostroff et al., 2013). The
internalization of organizational values leads to a congruence of goals for individuals and
solidifies organizational cultural strengths and shared values (Buschegens et al., 2013).
According to Schein (2017), the breadth of culture implies that culture is pervasive and
influences active settings supporting true and sustainable organizational culture existing outside
of leadership and perpetuated by task managers and agents alike. Culture represents an evolved
context embedded in systems, is collectively held, and resistant to manipulation (Ostroff et al.,
2013). For example, PCUPD’s mission statement and core values are cultural models, developed
by stakeholders asserting non-negotiable beliefs, values, and behavioral assumptions (i.e.,
cultural depths), that support organizational stability through crisis. As a result, group members
develop paradigms strengthening organizational culture that have the potential to manifest into
organizational subcultures.
Subcultures often occur when task managers and agents attempt to make sense of their
work environments and or believe the cultural model is being challenged (Clark & Estes, 2008).
According to Buschegens et al. (2013) subcultures or clan cultures are expected to foster a
greater cohesiveness and creative environment due to a reliance upon participation, employee
involvement, and open communication to instill cohesion. This may be susceptible to groupthink
if not monitored (Buschegens et al., 2013).

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Cultural models specify how and when people, equipment, and materials interact over
time in achieving organizational goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). According to Smircich (2017), its
presence is believed to be revealed in the patterns of attitudes and actions of organizational
members. The author continues by stating that organizations are seen as social instruments that
produce goods, services, and as a by-product, they create distinctive cultural artifacts such as
rituals, legends, and ceremonies. Cultural models also indicate organizational values, beliefs, and
attitudes asserting how the organization handles its daily business. For example, PCUPD’s
cultural model is based on the organization’s core values, asserting what the organization
believes as essential for accomplishing its mission. These invisible and often automated work
processes provide an organizational schema for achieving organizational long-term objectives.
Organizational leaders select strategies that provide a high level of congruence between
the goals of management and the goals of their organization’s social system, thus enhancing
organizational schema for long-term objectives (Buschegens et al., 2013). Clark and Estes (2008)
assert culture and change processes often interact and foster organizational performance
problems manifesting themselves within activity settings. Cultural settings typically dominate
the organizational environment supporting the values and beliefs of the organization. PCUPD’s
cultural setting is predicated on adherence to organizational rules, polices, and practices.
Moreover, traditionalist organizations, such as PCUPD are predicated on adherence to
past practices and professional standards making them more reluctant to culture and change
processes. Unfortunately, organizations typically develop different cultures over time, thereby
compromising cultural settings due to organizational influences affecting the active setting
(Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, identifying cultural models and settings, such as shared

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governance, trust, strategic partnerships, and policies and procedures influencing PCUPD is
imperative in supporting stakeholder knowledge and motivational influences.
Shared Governance
Creating and sustaining an organizational environment supporting values, beliefs, and
policies and procedures, that enhance knowledge and motivational influences (e.g.,
metacognition, self-efficacy, attributions, etc.), is the first cultural model influences. As
previously discussed, the attainment of stakeholder goals is in part predicated on determining
gaps in stakeholders’ knowledge and motivation in reference to what needs to be known (e.g.,
rules, laws, and regulations), and effort-based drive proportionate to mental effort, active choice,
and persistence in addressing cultural changes (Rueda, 2011). Organizational cultural changes
conflicts with group stability, thereby challenging the existing cultural DNA of organization
(Schein, 2017). The author continued by stating shared learning (i.e., culture) manifests into
behavioral norms becoming automated and validated with the passing of time, thus supporting
organizational identity through structural stability. Therefore, organizational change is difficult
to attain due to a perceived assault on structural stability, based on members valuing stability,
believing it provides meaning and predictability (Schein, 2017).
Saxon and Guo (2011) described governance as accountability resting within upper-
echelons of organizations. Team-based oriented organizations relying upon shared governance
experience enhanced organizational performance due to accepting and adjusting to stakeholder
values and beliefs (Cortes, 2007). Organizational willingness to accept and adjust to developing
stakeholder schemas (e.g., knowledge and motivation) is imperative if PCUPD is to achieve its
goal of supporting stakeholder performance goals of achieving 100% full-time sworn staffing by
December 2021. PCUPD and its stakeholders must enter a participatory relationship, whereby

55

equitable and shared governance is transformed into new work processes capable of being
absorbed into cultural settings if this goal is to be achieved. Redesigned organizational work
processes that support joint accountability (e.g., recruitment practices), aid in identifying process
barriers (e.g., lack of trust) inhibiting the formation of viable activity settings (Clark & Estes,
2008).
Organizational Trust
According to Schein (2017), organizational trust is predicated on developing cultural
norms and determining mechanisms for nurturing relationships within cultural settings.
Understanding the mechanisms for developing organizational trust and openness is the second
cultural model influences PCUPD needs to attain in support of stakeholder goals. Most
organizations approach sustaining trust via team-building, whereby organizational authority is
temporarily suspended in fulfillment of tasks in an effort to personalize relationships (Schein,
2017). According to Fard and Karim (2015), all organizational relations are established based on
trust and refers to the positive expectations of people and the expectations of organizational
members about competency, reliability, and benevolence. Thus, the process of organizational
trust in public organizations is the responsibility of qualified leaders willing to be vulnerable and
share authority when applicable (Fard & Karim, 2015). According to Clark and Estes (2008),
traditionalist organizations such as law enforcement agencies and military divisions are mission-
oriented entities that are dependent upon clear channels of authority which foster greater
cohesion within subcultures (e.g., teams, squads, platoons, etc.), but with diminished host
cohesion (Clark & Estes, 2008). As a result, organizational trust may be established solely
amongst subcultures formulating competing values, beliefs and goals, while operating
independently of the host organization (Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, in enhancing

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organizational trust while reducing the probability of developing subculture norms, PCUPD must
be willing to forgo operating within traditional mechanisms of control while embracing
mechanisms for nurturing relationships within cultural settings. For example, sworn officer
recruiting and retention efforts are compartmentalized within organizational divisions where a
mechanism of control (e.g., chain of command) prohibits stakeholders’ involvement in the
process. Therefore, establishing a culture of organizational trust is predicated on creating and
sustaining mechanisms for nurturing relationships within cultural settings (Schein, 2017).
Strategic Partnership
Supporting the knowledge, skills, and motivation of stakeholders, and focusing those
results toward organizational goals is paramount for organizations attempting to increase
efficiency and effectiveness within cultural settings (Clark & Estes, 2008). Moreover, sustaining
stakeholder knowledge, skills, and motivation is incumbent on creating activity settings where a
strategic partnership between the organization and stakeholder is clearly defined (Clark & Estes,
2008). Activity settings are supported via reducing stark hierarchical contrast between self and
others, thus promoting organizational actors to position their collective identities in maintaining
relationships (Ybema et. al., 2012). This is no more apparent than in law enforcement
organizations where hierarchical structures are used to maintain subservient relationships.
Therefore, developing activity settings capable of nurturing and sustaining a strategic partnership
with stakeholders is the first cultural setting influences PCUPD should incorporate in supporting
stakeholder goals. Developing and supporting a strategic partnership is grounded on establishing
a team oriented “We” culture, whereby stakeholders operating within activity settings view
themselves as integral elements in achieving organizational goals. According to Clark and Estes
(2008), team-oriented cultures (“We”) invest greater effort and suspend personal desires in

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attainment of organizational goals, believing unity in effort as important as goal attainment.
Team members realize collaboration is required in order to become a successful performer,
particularly within high-pressure and rapidly evolving dynamic environments (e.g., law
enforcement) (Schein, 2017). As a result, in achieving its goal of providing stakeholder support
in attainment of goals PCUPD’s strategic focus should be on the realignment of organizational
strategies within a culture of partnership and inclusion.
Policies and Procedures
The manner in which management influences employee compliance to organizational
police and procedures shapes organizational cultural values, and employee behavioral intentions
(Hu et al., 2012). The authors continue by stating, educational activities can reinforce and frame
organizational culture and subsequently influence employee behavior in sustaining
organizational priorities. Even though, organizations typically design systems (e.g., core values)
and procedures which communicate the organization’s priorities and commitment to its mission,
these systems are not self-sustained (Schein, 2017). In fact, reinforcement mechanisms, such as
policies and procedures are typically utilized in supporting organizational authority via reducing
ambiguity and anxiety, but can be redesigned to support organizational trust, shared governance,
and strategic partnerships (Schein, 2017). For this reason, a commitment toward realigning
policies and procedures that support organizational culture with the influences previously
discussed (shared governance, strategic partnership, and trust), thereby supporting stakeholder
goals, has been identified as a cultural setting influence.
Organizational authority via the usage of policies and procedures is typically wielded by
managers who oscillate between inclusive and exclusive boundaries, thereby blurring social
guidelines in the accomplishment of tasks (Ybema et. al., 2012). In considering undertaking

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organizational policy and procedural changes, PCUPD must be prepared for managing
socialization elements in reference to establishing social guidelines during a transformation
period where the culture of the organization may be in flux (Johnson, 1998). Johnson stated that
organizations must be equipped to manage polarity issues arising from changes within
organizational socialization in which competing values, beliefs, and cultural norms strive for
organizational dominance. According to Johnson (1998), polarity management entails dealing
with chronic issues which appear unavoidable and unsolvable. The author continued by stating
traditional problem-solving remedies typically increase the problem and or transfers the problem
to another section of the organization. For example, supporting stakeholders’ goal of achieving
100% sworn officer staffing by December 2021, via recruitment from the campus community is
a problem previously addressed through traditional problem solving. Thus, consideration should
be given in reference to redefining and or removing restrictive policies and procedures inhibiting
stakeholder knowledge and motivational influences, thereby strengthening organizational
cultural settings (Schein, 2017). Table 4 illustrates the organizational performance and
stakeholder goals in alignment with the organizational influences required in achieving each
goal. Furthermore, Table 4 illustrates the assumed organizational influences and organizational
influence assessment necessary for stakeholders in achievement of their goals.

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Table 4

Organizational Mission
Pacific Coast University Police Department’s mission is the creation of a safe environment, in
partnership with a diverse campus community in order to reduce the fear and incident of
crime, enhancing the quality of life for all.

Organizational Global Goal
By December 2021, Pacific Coast University Police Department, will increase sworn officer
staffing from its current 87.7% to 100%.
Stakeholder Goal
By March 2021, Pacific Coast University police officers, will recruit sworn officer candidates
from the campus community as a measure to increase hiring and retention.

Assumed Organizational Influences

Organization Influence Assessment

Cultural Model Influence 1: PCUPD needs to
reflect the values and beliefs supporting shared
governance in achieving sworn officer
recruitment goals.
Interview questions which gauge
PCUPD’s willingness to relinquish
absolute authority over this domain.
Cultural Model Influence 2: A culture of trust
needs to be established within PCUPD, which
supports stakeholders in achieving sworn officer
recruitment goals.
Interviews used to determine the degree
of organizational trust.
Cultural Setting Influence 1: PCUPD should
support alignment of organizational strategies,
within a culture of partnership and inclusion, that
encourages recruitment strategies.
Interviews in reference to identifying
organizational strategies which foster
recruiting initiatives.
Cultural Setting Influence 2: PCUPD should be
committed toward removing policies and
procedures inhibiting stakeholder knowledge and
motivational influencers.
Interviews regarding identifying
organizational policies and procedures
restricting stakeholder metacognition,
self-efficacy, and attribution.
Assumed Organizational Influences and Organizational Influence Assessments

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Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and
Motivation and the Organizational Context
In establishing a qualitative study, a substantial extent in constructing a research design
involving interconnection and interaction among various design components is required. Gaining
an understanding of underlying issues, concerns, settings, and involved persons is imperative in
understanding associated theories, beliefs, experiential knowledge, and prior research potentially
guiding research (Maxwell, 2013). According to Maxwell (2013), even the most carefully
collected results can mislead research if interconnectivity and interaction are not accounted for.
The author asserts that the conceptual framework for research design is dependent upon
borrowing theories and concepts from other constructs and models, and constructing
philosophical and methodological paradigms supportive of research. Establishing a clear and
objective qualitative paradigm enables the researcher in deciding which module is required to
construct a conceptual framework (e.g., experiential knowledge, existing theory and research,
pilot and explanatory research and thought experiments), in alignment with the research
questions (Maxwell. 2013). The chapter review uncovered organizational cultural influences
(shared governance, trust, partnerships, and policies and procedures), stakeholder knowledge
influences (procedural and metacognitive), and motivational influences (self-efficacy and
attributions), as the influences in alignment with the research questions.
As stated, developing effective conceptual frameworks involves recognizing that
potential knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences, affecting stakeholders’ goal
attainment share interconnectivity and interaction (Maxwell, 2013). Furthermore, understanding
the relationships between influences and the manner in which they are manifested within settings
is imperative in attempting to understand the barriers stakeholders will have to address. The

61

study attempted to understand the mechanisms used by organizations (e.g., bureaucratic
accountability), which inhibit stakeholder influences (e.g., self-efficacy and metacognition) in
achieving performance goals. Understanding organizational influences which inhibit stakeholder
influences is imperative for designing effective organizational work processes (Clark & Estes,
2008). Moreover, it is not merely enough to identify stakeholder knowledge and motivational
influences such as, metacognition and self-efficacy and their subsequent interactions, but a clear
understanding of their interconnectivity within organizational cultural settings must be
interpreted as well (Maxwell, 2013).
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) state that visual documents are effective in presenting
findings of research study, allowing the viewer to make correlations without researcher bias. My
conceptual framework diagram, indicates a visual representation of the knowledge, motivational,
and organizational influences which play a significant role in stakeholders attaining their goal of
PCUPD increasing sworn officer staffing via recruitment from within the campus community to
100% by December 2021. Furthermore, the manner in which the influences are depicted,
provides a visual representation as to the symbiotic nature between organizational influences and
stakeholder knowledge and motivation.
The diagram (Figure 1) demonstrates PCUPD’s organizational influences (blue circle),
stakeholders’ knowledge and motivational influences (green oval), in relationship (blue arrow) to
the stakeholders’ goal (gold rectangle) of increasing sworn officer staffing, via recruiting from
the campus community from its current 87% to 100%. Due to the stakeholders being an internal
entity, operating under the auspices of PCUPD, stakeholder knowledge and motivational
influences are interconnected to and supported by organizational influences, such as cultural
models and setting.

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Figure 1
Conceptual Framework

Pacific Coast University Police Department
Cultural Model Influence 1: PCUPD needs to
reflect the values and beliefs supporting shared
governance in achieving sworn officer recruitment
goals.
Cultural Model Influence 2: A culture of trust
needs to be established within PCUPD, which
supports stakeholders in achieving sworn officer
recruitment goals.
Cultural Setting Influence 1: PCUPD should
support alignment of organizational strategies,
within a culture of partnership and inclusion, that
encourages recruitment strategies.
Cultural Setting Influence 2: PCUPD should be
committed toward removing policies and
procedures, inhibiting stakeholder knowledge and
motivational influences.
Sworn Officers
Knowledge (Procedural): Sworn officers need to know the methods,
laws, and regulations in reference to officer recruitment.
Knowledge (Metacognitive): Sworn officers need to assess and reflect
in determining their reasoning for remaining employed with the
organization.
Motivation (Self-efficacy): Sworn officers need to believe they are
capable in representing the organization as “active recruiters.”
Motivation (Attributions): Sworn officers should feel that increased
turnover rates, are due in part, to the officers’ inability to encourage
peers to remain loyal to the organization.

By March 2021,
PCUPD’s sworn
officers will actively
recruit sworn officer
candidates from
within the
community,
increasing sworn
officer staffing to
100%.

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Alignment between organizational goals and stakeholder goals is dependent upon
identifying gaps in assessing the interactions between stakeholder knowledge, motivational, and
organizational influences (Clark & Estes, 2008). The depicted diagram (Figure 1) displays
stakeholder influences (e.g., procedural, metacognitive, declarative, self-efficacy, and
attributions) as supported by PCUPD’s organizational influences (e.g., shared governance, trust,
partnership, and supportive policies and procedures). For example, PCUPD’s organizational
influences are encapsulated within the larger “blue circle,” which gives the interpretation that
PCUPD’s organizational influences are essential in supporting stakeholder knowledge and
motivational influences. The “green oval,” containing PCUPD’s stakeholders’ knowledge and
motivational influences, is depicted within the blue-organizational influences circle, due to
PCUPD’s stakeholder knowledge and motivational influences being supported through
organizational cultural settings. For example, adherence to the chain of command is a cultural
setting at PCUPD supported by its leadership. The chain-of-command outlines PCUPD’s
hierarchy of reporting relationship and identifies accountability within decision making pods
(e.g., investigations). PCUPOs’ knowledge and motivational efforts are managed with the aid of
the chain-of-command via the centralization of tasks. As a result, the organization typically
supports PCUPOs’ knowledge and motivation via assignment (e.g., training). If PCUPD
stakeholders are to achieve their goals, organizational influences must be at an optimal condition
for supporting them (Rueda, 2011). The “blue directional-arrow” indicates the flow of
stakeholder goal attainment, once the integration of organizational, knowledge and motivational
influences has been achieved within organizational settings. For instance, PCUPOs selected to
the organizations’ background and training division are supported via assignment to training
courses that enhance their self-efficacy. At the conclusion of training, there is an organizational

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expectation that PCUPOs work within organizational cultural settings (i.e., policies and
procedures) toward reaching its staffing goal. This pivotal point within goal attainment is derived
from PCUPD’s ability to develop and sustain organizational cultural settings, which support
stakeholder influences toward goal achievement. Lastly, the “gold rectangle” contains the
stakeholder’s goal of increasing PCUPD’s sworn officer staffing to 100% by December 2021
through campus community recruitment initiated in March 2021
Conclusion
The purpose of the study is to examine the root causes inhibiting PCUPD from achieving
its goal of increasing sworn officer retention by 100%, by December 2021, via recruiting from
within the campus community. Through the Clark and Estes Gap Analytical Framework (2008),
this chapter identifies the stakeholders’ knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences
through the implementation of a conceptual framework. The research, through the adaptation of
a conceptual framework (e.g., experiential knowledge) identified knowledge, motivational, and
organizational influences as potential inhibitors to PCUPD achieving its goal. Thus, identifying
and discussing knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences in reference to their
interaction and interconnectivity is imperative to the study (Maxwell, 2013). Based on the study
identifying knowledge, motivational and organizational influences (e.g., self-efficacy, cultural
settings, and metacognition) as having a significant impact on research design, Chapter 3 will
outline the methods used (e.g., surveys and interviews) for assessing assumed interfering
elements through the research.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODS
Sampling and Recruiting Strategy
Determining sampling and recruiting techniques for supporting PCUPD’s sworn officers
is required in order to direct the research toward purposeful and intentional results. The purpose
of the study was to unveil the root causes inhibiting PCUPOs from achieving their goal of
increasing sworn officer recruiting from the campus community, in order to increase sworn
officer staffing by 100% by December 2021. Through studying the characteristics of a subset
(i.e., sample), a deductive argument can be made toward the characteristics being synonymous
within the larger population (Johnson & Christensen, 2014). According to Maxwell (2013),
sampling in qualitative research involves the researcher stating a question regarding a broad
population and subsequently selecting a portion from that population to answer purposeful
questions. Purposeful sampling highlights what is typical, normal, and average in attempting to
understand what truly reflects the average person or situation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This
study utilized both interviews and document analysis to address the following research questions.
1. What is PCUPD’s sworn officers’ knowledge and motivation in reference to recruiting
from the campus community in order to increase sworn officer staffing?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture, context, and PCUPD’s sworn
officers’ knowledge and motivation to recruiting from the campus community in order to
increase sworn officer staffing?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources related to supporting PCUPD’s sworn officers
in their goal of recruiting from the campus community in order to increase sworn officer
staffing?

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Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder population of focus for the research study was PCUPD’s sworn police
officers. PCUPD’s sworn officers were selected as the focus of research based on their inherent
positioning within the organization for enacting the greatest degree of organizational influence.
Moreover, PCUPD sworn officers have been identified as the stakeholder population receiving
the greatest benefit for the organizational change initiative evaluated in this study. Thus,
determining what this stakeholder group needs to know and the mechanisms (e.g., conceptual
framework) required for stakeholder goal attainment, is critical for stakeholder success (Rueda,
2011). The research involved identifying 10 currently employed PCUPD sworn officers from the
total population of 54 for interviews based on the established criteria. All had a minimum of five
year’s tenure with the organization. This criterion was selected based on the researcher’s
experiential knowledge and interpretation in reference to the amount of time required for
organizational indoctrination for incoming members into this stakeholder group (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Due to the onboarding requirements for new members (e.g., academy, field
training program), and the associated organizational stovepiping that occurs, full indoctrination
into the stakeholder group and PCUPD’s organizational cultural settings requires a minimum of
five years. The research’s goal was to not solely identify barriers associated with PCUPD’s
sworn officers interacting within PCUPD’s organizational culture and context, but to also
understand the knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences associated with hiring
and retaining sworn officers at PCUPD.

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Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The following criterion was established in rationalizing the reasoning for
selecting PCUPD sworn officers for the study:
Criterion 1
Sampling participants were currently employed with PCUPD and had a
minimum tenured employment with PCUPD of at least five years as a sworn officer.
Incumbency was a basic requirement for the research study as it related to organizational
indoctrination.
Criterion 2
Sampling participants had a minimum of three years of field experience
within the organization. Three years of field experience was considered ample time for sworn
officers to be thoroughly integrated into police culture, thus becoming acquainted with the
nuances, stressors, and organizational culture.
Interview and Sampling Recruitment Strategy
The study was based on a non-probability purposeful sample approach, due to the sample
size requiring a significant amount of organizational knowledge. Although the total stakeholder
group size was 54, participants meeting the criterions (i.e., tenure and field experience) were
limited due to the majority of sworn officers within the organization having limited tenure and
experience. With that said, the researcher was only able to identify ten participants that met the
criterions stated. As a result, the research design goal was to incorporate qualitative (interviews)
research methods for evaluating PCUPD sworn officers’ aspiration in goal attainment, using a
sample size of 10 participants. Sample size becomes relevant in determining the site (e.g., where
research takes place) and the process (i.e., the evolving nature of events undertaken by

68

participants within the setting) (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). According to Gagnon et al. (2015),
choice of location for qualitative research methods is typically dictated by the interviewer,
thereby establishing a physical space and a place where power dynamics, identities, social
relations, and meanings are defined. In reference to social relations, it was revealed that the
interview site could produce “micro-geographies,” whereby new insights with respect to research
questions could be used to interpret interview material (Elwood & Martin, 2010). With this in
mind, it was tempting for the researcher to assign an interview location where a power
relationship (e.g., participants employer) existed in order to elicit a desired response. In
combating this, the researcher initially selected a neutral interview location, such as an office
location removed from the participant’s employer location. This proved futile due to the COVID-
19 pandemic and the associated restrictions that prevented in-person interviews.
Strategies implemented for participant recruitment considered where the research took
place (e.g., neutral site) and under what conditions the research occurred (e.g., off-duty). The
strategies implemented for participant recruitment were through personal requests and participant
referrals. Equally important in identifying potential participants for the study was the
development of a mechanism for identifying sample participants, through existing participant
acquaintances. Snowball sampling was utilized in identifying and selecting additional sample
participants based on meeting the criterion previously identified and their willingness and
availability (Fink, 2016). Due to the COVID-19 and state advised social distancing mandate,
interviews were administered via an online platform (e.g., Zoom) and or by phone. Participant
recruitment utilized emails soliciting volunteers from PCUPD sworn officers who meet the
criterion. In conclusion, constructing a research design targeting underlying issues and concerns

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was dependent upon constructing frameworks where research priorities interconnected with
appropriate sampling strategies (Maxwell, 2013).
Data Collection and Instrumentation
The selection of the data collection methodology was based on the research topic, the
sample population in question, and in making certain the research was directed toward
purposeful and intentional results. A qualitative approach was selected due to this approach
allowing for greater exploration and analysis within the study. The qualitative data method
strategy was best suited for designing a conceptual framework for the study, due to the allowance
of theories, beliefs, experiential knowledge, and prior research in framework construction
(Maxwell, 2013). For example, the qualitative research design (interviews) component was ideal
for a sample population of 10, so in addition, a non-probability approach was selected based on
the researcher’s intent toward subjectivity in participant selection (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Furthermore, interviews allowed for greater personalization of the subject matter and increased
the researcher’s ability to expound on participants’ answers (Johnson & Christensen, 2014).
Abstaining from using the observation data collection method was in part due to the
researcher’s experiential knowledge in reference to the intended research site and sample
participant availability within organizational settings being restrictive. Understandably, the
observation data method could afford the researcher the benefit of identifying verbal and non-
verbal cues in reference to validating participant answers as reliable. Unfortunately, in
considering the hierarchical framework of the organization, the intended research site (police
station), and the researcher’s positioning within the organization, this data method was not
implemented due to a high probability associated with skewed results.

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The implementation of a quantitative analysis (i.e., surveys) as a data collection
methodology was not considered due to PCUPD having a divisional structure, whereby workers
are assembled into teams (e.g., sworn officers, detectives, motor units, etc.), operating within
organizational cultural sub-settings. The researcher believed the data collected via numerical
comparisons and statistical inferences (quantitative analysis) would not accurately depict and
perceive the evolving social realities experienced by participants within the profession of law
enforcement. Of equal note, this determination was based on the researcher’s experiential
knowledge in reference to PCUPD’s historical negative response to quantitative data collection
methods. Within the past few years (2015 to 2018), PCUPOs have been inundated with
organizational surveys mandated by PCUPD’s new administrative leadership team. PCUPOs
expressed their discontent in participating in surveys, citing disingenuous intentions for data
collection by PCUPD’s leadership. Thus, the selection of a data collection method deemed
ineffective and insulting by potential participants, would undoubtedly lead to limited
participation and enhance the possibility of skewed results.
Interviews
Interview Protocol
According to Irwin and Stafford (2016) questions should clarify item language, ensure
response options are relevant to the research questions, and that the design is clear and easy to
navigate. Interview questions probing for interconnectivity and interaction between the
stakeholders and the organization were utilized to align the study with the conceptual framework
in assessing the interaction of stakeholders’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational context.
According to Maxwell (2013), the construction of a clear and objective qualitative design aids in
aligning the conceptual framework with research questions. Furthermore, the author asserts that ,

71

understanding the barriers that influence stakeholders is dependent upon choosing questions that
align to design modules (e.g., experiential knowledge, existing theory and research, pilot and
explanatory research and thought experiments). Thus, due to the researcher’s experiential
knowledge, interviews were best suited to conduct research on this stakeholder group primarily
due to this stakeholder group, historically having a negative disposition to participating in
quantitative instrumentation methods (e.g., surveys). Even though realizing the benefits for using
quantitative instrumentation methods such as surveys, that allow for increased effectiveness and
efficiency, the researcher believed interviews were best suited due to cultural considerations in
reference to the chosen stakeholder.
Furthermore, in addressing specific nuances and details in reference to uncovering in-
depth examination of phenomenon within this unique and somewhat socially isolated stakeholder
group, a qualitative data collection method was best used for uncovering the interactions between
the chosen stakeholder and the organization. In addition, given the relatively small sample size
(10), the researcher believed interviews were best suited for allowing flexibility in uncovering
individual perspective and influences in relation to a particular domain (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Thus, the interview protocol utilized a semi-structured protocol allowing flexibility in
questioning and the ability to redirect questions.
According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), an interview approach allowing for enhanced
flexibility via a less formalized design, enhances organic flow and increases spontaneity by
participants, necessary in identifying knowledge and motivation gaps in attainment of the
stakeholders’ goal of 100% sworn officer staffing. The semi-structured interview protocol allows
for probing questions required of the chosen stakeholder group. Probing questions were
administered via four of the six types of interview questions: demographic questions, knowledge

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questions, sensory and background questions, experience and behavior questions, opinion and
values questions, and feeling questions as described by Patton (2002). Of the six, questions used
to ascertain experience and behavior, values, knowledge, and feelings were pertinent in
collecting the required data. The research questions were addressed via establishing a baseline of
information through the usage of interview questions identified. For example, experience,
behavior, and value questions addressed the professional behavior, beliefs, and subsequent
actions of individuals while questions exploring the feelings of individuals, spoke to their
emotions while in their professional setting. How and why a task was done was addressed via
knowledge questions which were obtained via a semi-structured protocol.
Interview Procedures
According to Irwin and Stafford (2016), creating a relaxed atmosphere for participants is
imperative in soliciting responses free of coercion. Explaining how the interview session would
occur, along with the duration, and ethical standards binding the research aided in reducing stress
associated with soliciting information from participants. Determining how participant feedback
would be captured (e.g., note taking, audio, or video recording, etc.) was imperative for showing
respect to participants (Rubin & Rubin, 2012).
In addition, the researcher’s positional authority within the organization required the
utilization of a co-researcher (proxy) for soliciting the data. Although necessary, the introduction
of a co-researcher proved to be challenging due to the coordination of multiple fluctuating
interview schedules with that of the interviewer. Also, the researcher strived to keep the
interview session to the time specified to indicate support and respect to the participant, thus
reinforcing the researcher’s credibility throughout the process (Irwin & Stafford, 2016). With
this in mind, participant interviews were conducted during participants’ non-working hours.

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Based on the various work schedules (e.g., nights, weekends, etc.) participants were assigned to,
and the spontaneity of assignments (e.g., court, warrant service, training), close collaboration via
emails with participants occurred toward developing optimum interview dates and times.
The interviews occurred in July 2020 via the Zoom online platform. Document collection
occurred after the start of interviews in July 2020 and concluded in August of 2020. Each
participant underwent one interview. The total interview time for the stakeholder group was
approximately ten hours. The researcher accounted for special circumstances, some unique to the
stakeholder group (e.g., court appearances, call-ins, overtime assignments, etc.), that would
affect participants’ availability, but interview dates and times did not require adjustments. The
participant interviews lasted approximately one-hour and were conducted via the Zoom online
platform based on COVID-19 guidelines in reference to social distancing.
Documents and Artifacts
In support of research credibility, a confluence of evidence that draws upon multiple
sources of data in furtherance of convergence and corroboration was analyzed (Bowen, 2009).
According to Bowen (2009) document analysis is a research method commonly used in support
of qualitative analysis that enhances the researcher’s ability to corroborate findings across data
sets. As a result, a triangulation of data sources aided the researcher in guarding against
accusations that the findings were single-sourced, single-method, and a result of researcher bias
(Bowen, 2009). According to the author, the rationale for document analysis lies in its role in
methodological and data triangulation, its usefulness in case study research, and its credibility as
a stand-alone data source for specialized forms of qualitative research. Non-technical literature
(e.g., department memos and policy manuals) are sources of empirical data used to aid the
researcher in developing understanding and insight into the research problem (Bowen, 2009).

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With this in mind, locating, analyzing, and authenticating non-technical documents were
essential for the researcher in determining the origins and intent of documents (Merriam &
Tisdale, 2016). Thus, the researcher as the primary instrument of data collection, attempted to
discover as much as possible about the documents, their intent, the author(s), and the manner in
which they were implemented (Merriam & Tisdale, 2016).
The researcher sought out documentation outlining PCUPD’s operational framework (e.g.,
mission-oriented, hierarchical order, and paramilitary structured) in answering the research
questions. PCUPD’s policy and procedure manual, organizational flowchart, and strategic
initiatives were analyzed in reference to uncovering knowledge, motivational, and organizational
influences affecting PCUPO’s from achieving their goal of increasing sworn officer hiring by
100% by December 2021, via campus community recruitment. In doing so, the researcher
considered the history of the documents in reference to its current relevance, the completeness of
documentation as it pertained to possible addendums added that may have altered the
documents’ intent, and the group or entity the documents were directed toward (Merriam &
Tisdale, 2016). The July 2020 document collection start date was chosen due to alignment with
PCUPD’s completion date (June 2020) for revamping its data storage capacity (e.g., computer
servers) and the operations manual, both critical for retrieving documents and artifacts which
supported a foundation of information toward responding to the research questions.
Data Analysis
According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), the organization and collection of data must
begin early, but only fully synthesized once all the data has been collected. Merriam and Tisdell
(2016) further stated that data analysis is one of the few aspects of doing qualitative research in
which there is a preferred method. Generally speaking, the preferred way is to conduct it

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simultaneously with data collection (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Participants’ comments were
documented during each interview via the Zoom recording and transcription function. This
allowed the interviewer to critically analyze participants’ answers toward developing follow-up
questions that stimulated more in-dept responses. Analytic memos were created for each
interview as they related to the conceptual framework and research questions. Creswell and
Creswell (2018) stated that coding enhances the researcher’s ability to manage and properly
organize qualitative data. With that said, the coding process occurred in phases, with the first
phase assigned to the usage of open coding, looking for empirical codes, and applying priori
codes from the conceptual framework. The second coding phase consisted of aggregating
empirical and priori codes into analytical/axial codes. The third and final phase consisted of
identifying pattern codes and themes that emerged in relation to the conceptual framework and
study questions. Documents and artifacts were analyzed for evidence consistent with the
concepts in the conceptual framework.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
According to Maxwell (2013), the onus of ensuring the results of the study are credible is
a burden placed on the researcher, so it is imperative the researcher implements strategies to
ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of respondent data. The researcher’s positional
authority over the participant group required the assistance of a student-peer (co-researcher) to
conduct interviews in maintaining the credibility and trustworthiness of data collection. The data
collection method utilized by the student-peer for each participant interview was audio
transcriptions via the Zoom recording function. Additional documentation (e.g., journals,
diagrams, etc.) were not utilized by the co-researcher. Participant confirmation occurred via
phone follow-ups by the researcher prior to scheduled interview times to ensure participants’

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availability and the participants chosen based on the criteria, were the participants actually
interviewed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The strategies implemented (transcription of interviews
and participant validation) allowed the researcher to ensure data credibility and the
trustworthiness of the process.
Ethics

The responsibilities associated with involving human participants in studies involves three
main ethical principles designed to minimize the risk for participants. According to Ryan et al.,
(2014), researchers must account for ensuring the respect for persons, beneficence, and justice
within their research. Ethical codes established to safeguard research participants are based on
the United States federal government’s Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), which emphasize
research subjects are given sufficient information to make informed decisions, acknowledge their
right to withdraw from the study, understand that risks are minimized, are aware that the benefits
of the research should outweigh potential risks, and that research should be conducted
exclusively by qualified investigators (Glense, 2011).
The approach implemented to ensuring the participants were not harmed during the
research included advising them of informed consent. According to Rubin and Rubin (2012), a
core requirement of the IRB process is ensuring that participants understand the nature of the
research, the potential risks associated with their participation, that their participation is
voluntary and not overtly or covertly forced, and that the power to discontinue participating at
any time lies solely with them. For this reason, the interviewer verbally advised participants of
the study’s purpose, informing them that some of the questions may make them feel
uncomfortable and they could refuse to answer any of the questions, or stop participation in the
study at any time. Participants were provided with a copy (email) of all forms and documents

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(e.g., informed consent) prior to their interviews. The interviewer addressed questions regarding
the protocol in a confidential manner (Krueger & Casey, 2009). Participants were verbally
advised there was no compensation for the study and no apparent direct benefits as a result of
their participation.
Upon receiving consent, the interviewer asked each participant for their permission to
audio record the interview, reaffirming audio recording as an optional process and the use of note
taking as an alternative if permission was not granted. All participants consented to audio
recording via the Zoom recording function and were verbally notified when recording began and
ended. Participants were told the audio recording would not be shared with the public or other
researchers and subsequently destroyed after the conclusion of analysis. The interviewer verbally
advised the participants she would employ a standardized open-ended interview style allowing
for a highly focused and detailed interview which respected participants’ time (Patton, 2002).
According to Patton (2002), the standardized open-ended interview provides greater detail due to
the researcher presenting the same questions in the same manner to participants, minimizing
variations among participants while enhancing participant comparisons. The standardized open-
ended interview was administered via a conversational partnership style, which enhanced the
degree of openness and trust between the interviewer and participants (Rubin & Rubin, 2012).
Participants were given an approximate end-time (e.g., one hour) for the conclusion of the
interview in adherence with being respectful of their time. According to Glense (2011)
participants have a right to expect researchers act in due regard in reference to protecting their
confidence and anonymity.
As a result, the interviewer verbally advised participants of the researcher’s ethical
responsibility to not discuss the specifics of the interview with subjects without participants’

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approval, and that data collected from their participation in the research would be maintained via
a password encrypted computer-mediated communications system, which would be available to
the researcher exclusively and stored in a locked file cabinet (Glense, 2011). In confirming
participant understanding and acknowledgement of the interviewer’s verbal instructions, each
participant was asked to read the IRB information sheet prior to beginning the interviews.
Ethical consideration regarding the researcher’s relationship with participants are a major
source of inquiry in qualitative research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). My relationship to the
organization (Lieutenant) created an ethical dilemma in reference to exploitation, whereby
organizational positioning created questions of power and control (Glense, 2011). In minimizing
a power and control dynamic within my research, I utilized a peer to conduct participant
interviews which reduced participant perception in reference to their participation being
involuntary, not confidential, and not within participant control. Based on my organizational
authority and the research questions being closely aligned with known long-term organizational
goals I believed participants, who are in subordinate roles (Patrol Officers / Sergeants), would
immediately presume their participation was mandatory and in accordance with maintaining
positive standing with the organization. I approached participants as a potential at-risk
population where I strived to diminish their concerns in reference to the study being mandated
and not confidential (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). In doing so, I believed the participants attained an
enhanced perspective regarding the reason for the study and exhibited diminished social
desirability bias.
According to Robinson and Leonard (2019), social desirability bias occurs when
participants edit their responses to portray themselves in a favorable light. Direct participation on
my behalf (interviewer) would have supported an environment where participants could

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unconsciously find themselves answering questions in the manner they believed I would like
them to respond. Coupled with my own biases, this would have been disastrous for my research
and derailed my opportunity of reaching the intended goal. Tenure within the study site would
have also subjected me to act on assumptions I possessed in reference to the validity of the data.
For instance, my experience as a background investigator within the organization’s hiring
division allowed me insight into the complexities of the problem. Alas, I gained this experience
as a patrol officer several years ago and it was relevant to a profession comprised of a different
generational workforce. Therefore, mitigating processes were implemented (proxy) that
acknowledged, accepted, and adjusted for my personal bias toward maintaining my obligations
to the participants and to the readers of my work (Rubin & Rubin, 2012).

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS

Chapter four transitions from the assumed causes of performance influences under the
knowledge, motivation, and organization influences discussed in Chapter three, to a succinct
focus on the research via the presentation of collected data. The Clark and Estes (2008)
conceptual model provided the framework for identifying the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences that encourage or prohibit PCUPD sworn officers from actively
engaging in officer recruitment. Recommendations (Research Question 3) for improving PCUPD
sworn officer engagement in the recruiting process are presented in Chapter five.
Chapter two’s literature review revealed nine assumed influences derived from the
research questions that support the knowledge, motivation, and organizational goals of
participating stakeholders. The collected data was analyzed in furtherance of understanding the
challenges PCUPD sworn officers encounter in becoming active recruiters of sworn officers.
Data validation was achieved through the use of qualitative and document analysis. Three
research questions guided this study:
1. What is PCUPD’s sworn officers’ knowledge and motivation in reference to recruiting
from the campus community in order to increase sworn officer staffing?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture, context, and PCUPD’s sworn
officers’ knowledge and motivation to recruiting from the campus community in order
to increase sworn staffing?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources related to supporting PCUPD’s sworn officers
in their goal of recruiting from the campus community in order to increase sworn officer
staffing?

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Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder group solicitated to participate in the study are seasoned law enforcement
officers with experience in management, supervision, training, recruiting, and investigations. The
10 participants selected from the total population of 54 were all current employees of PCUPD
working a variety of assignments (e.g., backgrounds and training, investigations, motors, field
training, threat management, and special events). Nine participants were male and one was
female.
The criterion and the participant’s voluntary participation was verified prior to each
interview. The selection of participants also represented PCUPD’s hierarchical framework in
reference to rank and authority. Four participants were currently assigned as patrol officers
responsible for providing patrol related services to PCUPD’s students, faculty, staff, and
surrounding community members. These line-level sworn officers are integral in providing law
enforcement services to the communities previously mentioned and they have a multitude of
ancillary assignments (e.g., field training officer, threat management investigator, detective,
motor and traffic investigator, etc.). Five participants held the ranking classification of police
sergeant denoting their primary responsibility to provide supervision to line-level officers. Due
to their tenure with the organization (15 to 30 years) these participants typically worked multiple
assignments within the organization giving them a broader perspective to draw upon. The
remaining participant held the ranking classification of lieutenant and is primarily responsible for
managing a division (e.g., patrol, investigations, etc.) within PCUPD’s two bureaus.
Adjustments to the manner in which participants would be interviewed were made due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Novel
Coronavirus Disease, COVID-19, a pandemic on March 13, 2020 and a national emergency was

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declared in the United States suggesting mitigating strategies in the form of sheltering in-place,
social distancing, masking, and enhanced personal hygiene. In turn, this affected traditional
qualitative data collection, and an online platform (i.e., Zoom) was used to solicit the interviews
due to state rules mandating social distancing as a preventative method. All participants had a
minimum of five year’s tenure with the organization. This criterion was selected based on the
researcher’s experiential knowledge and interpretation in reference to the amount of time
required for organizational indoctrination for incoming members into this stakeholder group
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In addition, the researcher’s positional authority within the
organization required the integration of a co-researcher that conducted all participant interviews.
Due to the onboarding requirements for new members (e.g., academy, field training program),
and the associated organizational stovepiping that occurs, full indoctrination into the stakeholder
group and PCUPD’s organizational cultural settings requires a minimum of five years.
The below listed, Table 5 represents participant demographics in relation to years as a law
enforcement officer (LEO), assignments, and the participant’s rank at the time of the interview
Numerical assignment was used as participant pseudonyms to support confidentiality.
Table 5
Summary of Participants: Experience as a Sworn Officer
Participants Pseudonyms Years as a LEO Desire to Recruit Rank at Time of
Interview
Participant #1 30 Yes Sergeant
Participant #2 20 Yes Sergeant
Participant #3 15 Yes Officer
Participant #4 25 Yes Sergeant
Participant #5 30 Yes Sergeant
Participant #6 20 Yes Detective
Participant #7 20 Yes Sergeant
Participant #8 15 Yes Officer
Participant #9 30 Yes Lieutenant
Participant #10 15 Yes Officer

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Document and Artifact Analysis
An analysis of PCUPD’s documents and artifacts (e.g., policy manuals, memos,
department notices, etc.) were used as empirical data for developing insight into the problem
inhibiting PCUPD sworn officers from achieving their goal. The inclusion of a document and
artifact analysis guarded against researcher bias and enhanced the credibility of the research via
data triangulation (Bowen, 2009).
Document Analysis
Documents analyzed included the organization’s policy and procedure manual, the
organization’s organizational flowchart, and the organization’s strategic initiatives that were
implemented in 2017. With certain notable exceptions described below, document analysis
revealed only minimal mention of processes, practices, procedures, or discussions related to
achieving the stakeholders’ goal of recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus
community by March 2021. Consequently, the documents referenced did not provide significant
data pertaining to sworn officer recruitment policies, procedures, and or strategies aimed at
reducing sworn officer staffing shortages at PCUPD.
PCUPD Policy and Procedure Manual
The 951 paged document that governs PCUPD’s policies and procedures does not
specifically speak to reducing staffing shortages. At best, the policy refers to a sworn officer
patrolling shift matrix for maintaining minimum shift deployments for both watches (i.e., A and
B watch). The manual does outline a mechanism (overtime procedures) to mitigate patrol shift
staffing shortages from internal sources, but there is no mention of an initiative aimed at
reducing sworn officer staffing shortages via the inclusion of candidates from the campus
community within the manual or assignment of tasks for doing so.

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Under the Responsibilities of Sworn Personnel heading within the manual, there is no
mention of recruiting or hiring sworn officer candidates as a requirement of each subsequent
position. The responsibilities of each ranking position from the Chief of Police to sworn officer
are described in detail and contains the caveat of “performing related duties as assigned” as a
catch-all responsibility that allows the organization flexibility in manipulating job assignments
and duties.
An analysis of the manual’s Employee Responsibilities section was conducted and it too
revealed no responsibilities assigned to sworn officers in relationship to engaging in active sworn
officer recruitment. An analysis of the Training section of the manual produced similar results,
but did mention maintaining minimum shift levels as a requirement met prior to approving
training requests. Finally, an analysis was conducted of the Recruitment and Selection section
toward locating documentation supporting sworn officers’ engagement in a recruitment plan
aimed at reducing sworn officer staffing shortages.
The findings revealed an exhausting list of potential disqualifiers from being selected as a
sworn officer candidate, but no supporting documentation indicated organizational support for
sworn officer engagement in recruitment was found. In fact, other than an overview of the
minimum applicant qualifications described in the policy and procedure manual, there was no
relevant evidence that would support the stakeholders’ goal. Consequently, sworn officers’
ability to attain their goal of reducing staffing shortages at PCUPD may be significantly inhibited
due to the organization not developing clear and concise policies and procedures in support of
active recruitment.

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PCUPD Organizational Flowchart
In support of conducting a thorough and comprehensive analysis of PCUPD’s documents
that support the stakeholders’ goal, an analysis of organizational processes, actions, and steps
represented via a workflow process was conducted. The organization’s most recent (2020)
workflow process chart was analyzed for evidence revealing formal sworn officer recruitment
processes identified via a visible representation. No discernable evidence in support of processes
that enable sworn officers in engaging in active recruitment of sworn officer candidates was
found. Albeit, the analysis did reveal an entity identified as “Recruitment and Backgrounds” as a
sub-division of the “Personnel and Training” unit that was identified as one in the same due to
the researcher’s experiential knowledge. Unfortunately, the “Recruitment and Backgrounds”
unit’s primary function is conducting intake assessments and not sworn officer recruitment. As a
result, the analysis of PCUPD’s workflow processes, actions, and steps revealed no supporting
evidence that the organization supports sworn officer engagement in recruiting.
PCUPD Strategic Initiatives
An analysis of the organization’s commitment toward investing internal resources in the
attainment of organizational goals was conducted to ascertain the effects of planned projects on
stakeholder goal achievement. The organization’s strategic initiatives were adopted in 2017 and
directed toward addressing gaps in organizational effectiveness. The Specific Measurable
Achievable Relevant and Timed (SMART) management process was used as a mechanism to
develop sustainable organizational change via driving initiatives that addressed campus safety,
community partnerships, cultural models, and technology. The analysis identified two strategic
initiatives (Identify Employee Growth Opportunities and Participation in Growth Strategies)
developed to support professional development for sworn officer development. Sworn officer

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training was identified as the catalyst required to achieve the goal, but specific training targeted
toward reducing sworn officer staffing shortages was not identified. Unfortunately, training was
only suggested in the form of intradepartmental cross-training opportunities for sworn and non-
sworn personnel aimed at administrative duties (e.g., detective assistant and records assistant)
and not for sworn officer recruitment. Consequently, an analysis of the organization’s strategic
initiatives did not reveal evidence in support of sworn officer engagement in the recruitment
process.
Artifact Analysis
An analysis of the organization’s artifacts included the organization’s 2015 recruitment
video, posted on PCUPD’s website. The recruitment video has the potential to resonate strong
sentiments toward organizational acceptance and affiliation. The video was created to
specifically address organizational recruitment via symbolism and imagery and distributed via a
medium (website) commonly used by today’s generational workforce.
PCUPD Recruitment Video
Video marketing allows the organization the ability to specifically design and tailor its
messaging toward a selective audience. An analysis of the organization’s 2015 recruitment
revealed a legitimate attempt by the organization toward addressing the stakeholders’ goal of
recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus community, but it did not address
supporting sworn officers’ engagement in recruitment of sworn officer candidates. In effect, this
organizational tactic was solely from the purview of the organization and not inclusive of the
stakeholders’ goal and or stakeholders’ contributions to organizational recruitment efforts.
Table 6 below represents the assumed influence informed via document and or artifact
analysis. Organizational cultural models (CM) and cultural settings (CS) were found to be the

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most prominent and validated as priority gaps based on the document and artifact analysis in
relation to the stakeholders achieving their goal of recruiting sworn officer candidates from the
campus community.
Table 6
Summary of Document and Artifact Analysis Findings
Document/ Artifact Assumed Influence Validated Gap

Policy and Procedure
Manual

(CS#2) Stakeholders
need to be supported via
a culture of trust in
achieving their goals.

Validated

PCUPD
Organizational
Flowchart
(CS#1) A culture of
partnership and inclusion
should align with
organizational strategies
that encourage
recruitment and
retention.

Validated

PCUPD Strategic
Initiative
(CM#2) Stakeholders
need to be supported via
a culture of trust in
achieving their goals.

(CS#1) A culture of
partnership and inclusion
should align with
organizational strategies
that encourage
recruitment and
retention.

Validated

PCUPD Recruitment
Video
(CM#1) Shared
governance is an
organizational value
reflected in stakeholder
retention goals.

Validated

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Knowledge Influences’ Findings
The first research question presented was directed toward determining if PCUPD’s sworn
officers possessed the required knowledge and motivation to engage in recruiting of sworn
officer candidates from the campus community. To address the knowledge component of this
question, the interview protocol for the study utilized 16 questions to gauge PCUPD’s sworn
officers’ knowledge about recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus community. Nine
questions were asked to gauge sworn officer metacognition, in which participants were asked to
gauge the importance of recruiting sworn officer candidates. Five questions were asked to gauge
declarative knowledge, whereby participants were asked to assess recruitment efforts targeted
toward potential sworn officer candidates from the Millennial and Z Generation. In gauging
procedural knowledge, two questions were asked to assess participant’s knowledge and ability to
become active sworn officer recruiters.
The validation of knowledge influences as a gap or asset was based on the analysis of
participants’ responses and supported via the triangulation of data sources (e.g., documents and
artifacts). Document and artifact analysis did not provide information supporting assumed
knowledge influence gaps. The data revealed that sworn officers’ knowledge and motivation in
reference to recruiting from the campus community is limited due to organizational
centralization that prevents non-assigned personnel from engaging in formal recruitment efforts.
Moreover, there exist among sworn officers a philosophy that “experience” equates to
recruitment skills and knowledge. Knowledge findings will be discussed below.

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Sworn Officers Do Not Have Knowledge to Recruit and Hire
The assumed influence that sworn officers need knowledge to recruit sworn officer
candidates is validated as a gap toward achieving the stakeholders’ goal. Participants’
experiences ranged from patrol officer to patrol lieutenant with the majority of the participants
having worked in multiple ancillary assignments, thus creating a broad spectrum of experiences
with recruiting efforts from which to reflect upon. The themes that emerged indicated that sworn
officers believed that compassion, empathy, being of good character, and a desire to participate
are the qualifications required of a good sworn officer recruiter. Other than a desire to want to
engage in recruiting efforts, participants believed a basic knowledge of the organization and the
ability to professionally express this was imperative for recruiting.
The majority of participants believed their current status as a sworn officer provided them
with the necessary knowledge and skills required for recruiting sworn officer candidates. Other
emerging themes related to qualifications they believed were important were professionalism,
enjoying helping others, and trust. Trust was viewed as an organizational legitimacy enhancer
that allowed sworn officers the autonomy to engage in active recruitment. They did not
articulate specific skills or knowledge aside from general knowledge that would be needed to
effectively recruit and hire. Consequently, the findings support the hypothesis that sworn officers
do not fully understand the requirements to engage in successful recruitment of sworn officer
candidates. Table 7 summarizes participants’ responses with example quotes related to sworn
officers’ lack of declarative knowledge toward recruiting sworn officers from the campus
community.

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Table 7
Participants’ Comments About Knowledge Required to Recruit and Hire from Community
Participant Responses

Participant 1
I think there’s no qualification. Anyone in uniform can recruit. And I don’t even
think you have to be sworn! You can be non-sworn as long as you’re happy with
your agency. So, I think recruiting is everyone’s responsibility, not just the
officers’ but the dispatchers as well. Whether you’re sworn or non-sworn like
support staff, I think its everyone’s job. We’re always looking for good people.

Participant 2
Well, In the true sense of the word there really isn’t any qualifications other than
being an officer. So, I won’t say that there’s any training experience necessary
other than you demonstrating the reasons why you think someone else would be
happy.

Participant 3

There’s no application, no process, no interview process, I think its just kind of
they expect everyone that’s working here to actively recruit because they know
we need officers.

Participant 4

Your desire, your desire to want to go out there and do it. And, then also how
much you’re willing, you know, like do the homework to have knowledge to
pass along to people.

Participant 5

You really have to be fair and objective. You can look for a specific profile of a
person to try to recruit, but you’re gonna miss a lot of other good candidates in
the process.

Participant 6

I think everyone that has become a recruiter, are typically the ones who advance
in the department and become supervisors. Because they literally, they’re the
ones that are to me molding the future of the department and you have to trust
them.

Participant 7

Number one, you have to have knowledge of how the agency works, too. You
have to have more of a macro view of what a career in law enforcement entails.

Participant 8

I would go back to knowing the process because the more you know, the better
you are at explaining a lot of because it’s like 1,2,3. You’re looking at about
eight steps in the process, so there’s a lot going on in each step. That’s something
they don’t tell you unless you talk to a recruiter.

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Participant 9 Someone who has good character, someone who, through their past has
demonstrated that they can make good decisions.

Participant10

They have to historically or traditionally show that they can represent the
department well, either in the way they police or maybe in the different roles that
they’ve carried out thus far.
______________________________________________________________________________
Sworn Officers Have Not Applied the Methods, Laws, and Regulations in Reference to
Sworn Officer Recruitment and Hiring
Participants’ interviews used to gauge sworn officer’s procedural knowledge relating to
applying the methods, laws, and regulations toward sworn officer recruiting and hiring indicated
this was a gap. Participants equate the formal hiring process (e.g., application, interview, and
background steps) to recruiting. Approximately 40% of the participants believed the
organization’s onboarding process was identical to its recruitment process. The remaining 60%
stated the process was relatively informal or believed the recruiting process to be centralized
within the Background and Training unit.
Participants who stated they understood the recruitment process typically recited the
application process undergone by sworn officer candidates. Participant 2 stated:
We put out a job requisition so people can go to our website, see that we have a job
opening. They can put an application in and then make themselves available for the
subsequent testing processes, the written and the physical and the interviews.
When asked, Participant 5 said, “Not as good as I would like to be, I know there is a lot of
outreach done through social media.” Even the more experienced officers believed the
organization’s onboarding and application process to be same as the recruitment process.
Participant 8 said:
You know, a written exam, they do a psychological exam, a physical agility exam, and I

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explain what that consists of. After that, I explain to them what happens after we get their
scores, we do an interview, which consists of three people being on the panel and just a
general interview about what they know about the department. If they do pass, then they
move onto the pre-selection, background interview portion of it, we send them all the
paperwork, I sit down with them, I do an intake and from there, based on what I find out
in the intake I compare their answers to our policy and procedures and see if there are any
disqualifiers.
Although Participant 8’s statement revealed a well-rounded understanding of the organization’s
hiring process, an overview of the recruitment process was not offered. This was the typical
response of participants when asked what their understanding of the recruitment process was. At
best, participants cited the organization’s social media presence as the organization’s recruiting
process. Participant 4 stated:
I think we put out a recruitment notice or something, I mean, it goes out on the website
more than anything. So, it says hiring, but now it’s mostly all web. On the website, you
apply on the website, you do all that.
Participants’ interviews revealed that sworn officers do not apply specific knowledge and skills
toward recruiting sworn officers, but instead believe that sharing their professional experiences
was critical in recruiting sworn officer candidates. The vast majority (90%) cited that reflecting
and subsequently applying their experiences as law enforcement professionals was an important
element in their ability to recruit sworn officer candidates. For example, Participant 3 stated,
“My great experiences were the reason why I wanted to be a police officer. My negatives are that
there were things that drove me to not want to stay, and I don’t ever want anybody to feel this
way.” Participant 7 stated, “So I use my background in the job knowledge that I have as a

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recruitment tool.” Participant 7’s professional experience as a former background investigator
within the Background and Training unit along with his statement, denotes the belief that the
majority of sworn officers are under the impression that “shared experience” is the predominant
skill-set required for recruiting sworn officer candidates. Participant 6’s comments were from
the perspective of a lateral sworn officer. Lateral sworn officers are those officers that were on-
boarded into the organization after receiving their Policer Officer’s Standards and Training
(POST) certificate from another law enforcement organization. Although typically well-versed in
the protocols and technical aspects of law enforcement, these officers will often find it
challenging to integrate themselves into the culture of an organization. Participant 6 said:
I usually share my experiences which is good for me because I came from another agency.
When they think about the university, they think of it as a different system. It kind of is,
but not really and it’s a stereotype, oh you’re a campus cop, or campus security, or you’re
not a real police officer, all those stigmas are there. And when I talk to people, I can erase
all those because I’ve done them, you know, and I can also give them the difference
between working at bigger agencies.”
Participant 6’s statement suggests the theme of “shared experiences” as an applicable recruitment
skill may be systemic within the recruiting paradigm of law enforcement. Participant 4’s
comments supported this assertion:
I have 20 years at PCU, and a few years at another agency, so I mean, I have a pretty
broad base of experience and you know, that anytime you can get somebody to talk from
personal experience, you know this is what I can say I did.
Participants’ interviews indicated there is a validated high-priority gap in this assumed
influence inhibiting stakeholder goal achievement. The participants were asked if they knew how

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their current knowledge and abilities applied toward recruiting sworn officer candidates from the
campus community. The sum of participants’ responses revealed a heavy reliance on the sharing
of personal experiences as a skill or knowledge base set with a disregard toward the application
of methods, laws, and regulations for recruiting sworn officer candidates. As a result, the
interviews revealed sworn officers equate their current level of experience as adequate for
recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus community.
Sworn Officers Have Reconciled Their Reasoning for Joining and Remaining Employed
with the Organization
In analyzing the problem of practice, it was critical to understand the reasoning of sworn
officers for remaining employed with the organization due to their reasons possibly being used to
elicit sworn officer recruitment. Participants’ interviews were used to assess sworn officers’
reasons for continued employment with the organization. The findings indicated that sworn
officers’ reasons for remaining employed with the organization centered around two primary
themes: a desire to “give back” to the profession through recruiting and mentoring sworn officer
candidates and an enjoyment for the work. Participants stated their engagement in organizational
goals was enhanced when allowed to integrate their training and experiences toward strategic
planning for training and mentoring sworn officer candidates. Participants also referenced being
allowed to apply their professional experiences toward organizational recruiting strategies as an
enhancer for their desire to remain employed with the organization. As a result, participants
stated an enjoyment for the work was achieved due to their ability to rededicate themselves to
organizational goals via reflection and regulating their reasoning for remaining affiliated with the
organization.
Participants’ responses in reference to rededicating themselves to the organization were
supported by the sub-theme of not desiring to start over at another organization. Table 8

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summarizes participants’ responses with example quotes related to sworn officers’ metacognitive
knowledge toward engaging in active recruiting of sworn officer candidates from the campus
community.
Table 8
Participants’ Comments About their Engagement in Active Recruiting
Participant Responses

Participant 1

This is a career where you have to have an interest in it. I don’t think this is
something where you can just, you know, talk to someone off the street. You
kind of have to want to do this.

Participant 2

To me, I’m a coach at heart and I’m a coach and teacher at heart. So, I enjoy
taking someone from joining the department and teaching them on what law
enforcement is about. I find value in that, I get satisfaction and that’s
wonderful.”

Participant 3

I love this profession. I got into it for noble reasons and to see it messed up,
criticized and ridiculed hurts. You don’t want to slack-up on recruiting because
then you end up getting the bad folks. So, I think, you know, we must stress
active recruitment of the right people.

Participant 4

It’s a balancing act and the way I approach people and talk to them about
recruiting, you know on the campus and what not, is going to be a little bit
different than some, you know, buddy on the street.

Participant 5

So, as I near the finish of my career in about two years, I would like to think that
there are other officers here who want to follow similar footsteps in starting and
ending their career with the same agency. I mean, personally, I became an officer
because I wanted to help protect people. So, fixing the recruiting problem, I
think appealing to a population that wants to be a part of helping to fix that
problem. I think that’s really a modern day, modern mindset approach to, to
really get involved.

It’s important for the organization to grow, I want to grow. I’m a training officer
as well. I like training. I like getting a new person in. I like training them and

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Participant 6 then seeing them take off on their own. In my mind, I’m hoping that person is
going to work with me for the rest of their life, be a good asset for the
organization. So, that’s my goal.

Participant 7

The reason that I do a lot of stuff in the recruitment area still is that, that’s the
number one problem with law enforcement right now, is inadequate staffing, and
that’s a national problem. So, I could complain about it, or I could try to fix it.

Participant 8

When I first started, I would do this job for free. Because I love the job. I love
helping people, training people, So, being able to teach somebody how to search
a person, you know, conveying that to a trainee is gratifying.

Participant 9
So, if I can recruit someone who fit in both a municipal police department and a
university department, simply because the work here is so much more
demanding, they would do well in a large department. This is a little different
than others.

Participant10

I’ll even approach individuals from how I see them interacting with a store clerk,
and just ask them about, hey, are you a student here? What are your future plans?
Are you interested in a career in law enforcement? This is what we do, here’s my
card.
______________________________________________________________________________
The evidence reflects that a validated gap does not exist for this influence. Participants
cited intrinsic values denoting a professional maturation expected of this segment of the
stakeholder population when asked to reflect on their reasoning for continuing their affiliation
with the organization. This is of note due to the organization’s sworn officer cadre becoming
increasingly representative of the Millennial and Z Generations. Participants cited their ability to
actively engage in active recruitment of sworn officer candidates from the campus community,
was in part due to reconciling their reasoning for remaining with the organization. Participants
believed that through self-regulation a rededication to organizational goals and an awareness of
an innate desire to “give back” to the profession via mentoring and recruiting was achieved.

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Summary of Knowledge Findings
Knowledge findings confirmed and validated that PCUPD sworn officers would benefit
from enhanced declarative and procedural knowledge in recruitment methods, laws, and
regulations. The majority of participants (60%) revealed that they believed the recruitment
process was an informal process and that knowledge in recruiting strategies was either a result of
time on with the organization and or centralized within the organization’s Background and
Training unit. Participants’ responses (90%) also indicated a prevailing ideology that the sharing
of experiences and effective recruiting were synonymous. As a result, participants were unable to
identify training and or education that would enhance their knowledge base and assessed their
current level of recruitment knowledge as adequate and effective. In addition, the analysis of the
knowledge findings also revealed a strong connotation between professional satisfaction and
sworn officer engagement in the organization’s recruiting process.
Motivation Influences’ Findings
This research study assessed two assumed motivational influences addressing self-
efficacy and attributions. The influences were assessed via participant’s interviews, and the
findings were presented in detail under the appropriate sections below. The interview protocol
for the study utilized three questions to gauge PCUPD’s sworn officers’ motivation in reference
to recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus community. Two questions were asked to
assess sworn officers’ self-efficacy, in which participants were asked about their belief in their
ability to engage in recruiting sworn officer candidates, as well as their attitude toward sworn
officers becoming active recruiters. One question was used to gauge sworn officers’ attribution,
whereby participants were asked what they have done to enhance their satisfaction with the
organization. The validation of motivation influences as a gap or asset was based on the analysis

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of participants’ responses and supported via the triangulation of data sources. Document and
artifact analysis did not prove relevant for motivational influences. The findings presented in the
following section address the validation of motivation influences via the themes that emerged
during the interviews.
Sworn Officers Believe They Can Effectively Represent the Organization as Active
Recruiters
The first research question was utilized in assessing if sworn officers believed they have
the ability to effectively recruit sworn officers from the campus community. Participants (60%)
rated their current ability as a recruiter of sworn officers as above average and identified
themselves as ideal recruiters. This sentiment was expressed in participant 1’s statement, “Not to
brag, but I think I’m a 10! Okay, I recruited a lot of people for a long time. I would help young
officers who didn’t quite understand the process.” Participant 7 ranked himself as an average
recruiter stating, “I, I can tow the party line if you will, very easily.” Participant 7 followed this
sentiment when he said:
So, I don’t think I’m a great recruiter by any stretch of the imagination, and I’m not the
worst that I’ve ever seen. I think I’m just an average guy in an average world. Your
people are your best recruiters.
Participant 3 believed his ability to represent the organization as an active recruiter was “fairly
high.” Participant 3 stated, “I think I’ve earned a lot of credibility over the years. I give them the
good and the bad, but I always go back and I let them know that it’s, it’s not up to these people
here to make your life complete, like you have to, you have to do the work. Albeit, without
receiving training and or exposure to the organization’s recruiting process, the participants
expressed a sincere confidence in their ability to actively recruit sworn officers from the campus

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community as expressed via Participant 10’s statement in reference to his personal assessment as
a recruiter:
Ten out of ten, and I suggested that they let me do it, but it becomes a weird battle
between, like, oh, is it being fiscally responsible if we allow him to do it, then do we have
to allow everyone to do it.
The inference to the “weird battle” is a reference to the lack of organizational support he
believed detriment to his ability to engage in active recruitment that was initially identified when
participants’ were asked if they believed sworn officers should participate in the recruiting
process. The response to this question was overwhelmingly, “yes.”
Participant 5’s response was one of the few indicating a perceived inability to recruit.
Participant 5 believed this was primarily due to being inundated in his assigned duties and not
given an opportunity to engage in active recruiting. Participant 5 said, “Honestly, not too high.
Just given the job duties that I have, I don’t get a chance to interact with the public as often as
some of the others. I would say, yeah, that’s probably below a C.” The personal assessment
offered by Participant 5 revealed an innate ability and potential desire to engage in active sworn
officer recruitment. Participant 6 expressed his ability to be a recruiter of sworn officer
candidates from the campus community as above average. Participant 6 said, “I could do it…
I’m good at it.”
The evidence reflects that a validated gap does not exist for this influence and thus has not
contributed to inhibiting the stakeholders’ from achieving their goal. Participants exuded
confidence in their ability to engage in active recruitment of sworn officers from the campus
community and were eager to participate in the process. This confidence was accompanied with
an onus that the problem was not insurmountable and within their ability to resolve. Thus, sworn

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officer self-efficacy was not identified as a potential contributor to the stakeholders not achieving
their goal, but due to the existence of a prevalent organizational recruitment gap, participant
overconfidence may be a contributing factor for participant reluctance in accepting
recommendations for validated gaps within the knowledge influences.
Sworn Officers Believe Their Success in Recruiting and Hiring is Dependent Upon
Organizational Factors Beyond Their Control
When asked if sworn officers attributed their success as active recruiters as dependent
upon organizational factors outside of their immediate control, participants revealed a reflective
nature not previously witnessed during the interviews. Participants ‘responses suggested that the
attainment of sworn officer recruitment goals were more or less dependent upon organizational
factors beyond their control. This belief was supported by Participant 10’s statement, “I think we
all have a responsibility to recruit, but as for employee empowerment and incentives that
obviously works, but, I’ve seen that the department doesn’t value the officers we have now.”
Participant 4 attributed his success as a recruiter of sworn officers due to his ability to focus on
things he likes to do as a department leader. He referenced his experience as a Field Training
Officer (FTO) and his previous experiences in the organization’s recruiting process as enablers,
but cited organizational change and politics as current inhibitors to him engaging in active sworn
officer recruitment from the campus community. Participant 8’s statement aligned with
Participant 4’s experience when she indicated that her ability as an active recruiter of sworn
officer candidates from the campus community was directly associated with her time spent in the
Backgrounds and Training unit, but presently recruitment activities were unsupported by the
organization due to her change of assignment. Participant 8 said:
So, just being able to get that type of training, because once you go into personnel and

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training, you get to go to background investigator school. So being able to attend that
training and every year we go to a conference and just, you know, meet other background
investigators and learn how they do things.
Participant 7 inferred the organization’s hierarchal framework as an inhibitor to his ability to be
an active recruiter when he stated, “A lot of people seem to be in this just for themselves and
trying to get that next promotion… that’s just sad.” Participant 7 further stated,
I’ve just personally kept an optimistic outlook and I can control only what I can control. I
can’t control what I can’t control. And so, I just try things to do that make me happy, and
always try to make the organization a better place. That’s my goal.
Participants’ responses indicated there is a validated gap in this assumed influence inhibiting
stakeholder goal achievement. Participants’ responses revealed sworn officers attribute their
success as active recruiters of sworn officer candidates from the campus community as outside of
their control and dependent upon organizational factors (i.e., hierarchical structure).
Summary of Motivation Findings
The data demonstrated that participants believed organizational factors beyond their
ability (e.g., chain of command) to control impeded their success to recruit sworn officer
candidates from the campus community. Participants’ responses indicated a genuine desire
toward the recruitment of sworn officer candidates from the campus community, but overall
success was attributed to organizational supportive settings. Consequently, sworn officer
attribution was identified as an inhibitor to stakeholders achieving their goal.
Organizational Influences’ Findings
In conjunction with participant interviews, this research study incorporated document and
artifact analysis generated by PCUPD to address the interaction between organizational culture,

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context, and sworn officers’ knowledge and motivation related to recruiting sworn officer
candidates from the campus community. The data revealed from the first research question
indicated a gap existed in sworn officers’ knowledge and motivation in achieving sworn officers’
goal of recruiting sworn officers from the campus community. Research question two focused
on organizational culture and context as supporting influences on sworn officers’ ability to
recruit from the campus community.
Although sworn officers acknowledged recruiting sworn officer candidates from the
campus community as integral for organizational sustainability, discerning the appropriate
strategy (e.g., strategic planning, active recruiting) has languished and defaulted to an informal
process. Sworn officers believed their knowledge and motivation levels as adequate for
addressing the problem, but participants’ interviews revealed that both knowledge and
motivation were validated gaps impeding sworn officers from recruiting sworn officer candidates
from the campus community. Participants believed an emphasis on shared values between sworn
officers and the organization has not been achieved due to an inability by the organization in
determining who, when, and how participation in recruiting sworn officer candidates from the
campus community should be manifested. As a result, a shared schema in reference to sworn
officer recruiting from the campus community between sworn officers and the organization has
not been substantiated and remains incongruent based on poorly defined cultural settings.
The validation of organizational influences as a gap or asset was based on the analysis of
participants’ responses and supported via the triangulation of data sources. Document and
artifact analysis validated that gaps existed in sworn officer’s ability to recruit sworn officer
candidates from the campus community due to the absence of supportive organizational policies,

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procedures, and frameworks. The findings presented in the following sections address the
validation of organizational influences via revealed themes from participant interviews.
Organizational Leadership Does Not Model Shared Governance in Support of Recruitment
Goals
Participants stated they believed the organization does not align its vision in reference to
reducing sworn officer staffing shortages at PCUPD with sworn officers’ goal of recruiting
sworn officer candidates from the campus community. Participants specifically referenced
arrogance within the organization’s leadership structure as an impediment toward engaging in
active partnerships with sworn officers. According to Cortes (2007), shared governance enhances
team performance in organizations that model accountable practices for partnership and equity in
decision-making. Alas, participants stated that arrogance was a systemic organizational problem
that prevents sworn officers in opportunities to engage their values in identifying potential sworn
officer candidates from the campus community.
Participant 7 cited organizational arrogance as detrimental toward developing
collaborative recruitment strategies aimed at meeting the goals of the organization and sworn
officers. Participant 7 believed the organization did not have the appropriate organizational
models in place that enhanced the organization’s ability toward engaging in an equitable
ownership of the problem. He stated, “This takes a bit of work and effort, so if you really want to
make people the best that they can be, you have to put the infrastructure in place that we
currently don’t have.” Participant 7 indicated that the organization typically failed to follow-
through with recruiting ideas that he associated with an unwillingness to allow sworn officers
authority in making practice-related decisions. He said:
So, there’s nobody who wants to go out and try to make a plan or make anything like that.

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They just want people to bring in the bodies. You have to make an investment in the
officers. The only time the organization is willing to bring sworn officers in is if it’s
easier for them and they think they can get something out of it. I don’t think there’s any
vested interest.
Participants believed the organization did not have a vested interest toward sworn officers
participating in sworn officer recruitment based on its inability to follow-through with recruiting
concepts and ideas. As a result, participants cited the organization’s inability to create an
organizational schema in support of active sworn officer recruiting via establishing an equitable
partnership toward goal attainment as a systemic problem. The theme of organizational follow-
through as a supporting element of empowering sworn officers with the authority to make
decisions affecting the active recruitment of sworn officer candidates was identified as a
potential inhibitor when Participant 1 stated:
You know one time the command staff said they we’re going to start paying $5000 for
every officer when you recruit someone, they get hired, and successfully complete
probation. Well that never came to fruition. It just looks like pie in the sky.
In fact, Participant 1 stated the organization was not doing enough to address participation by
sworn officers in the recruitment process and cited a lack of follow-through as an ongoing
impediment toward organizational collaboration with stakeholders. He stated, “They put out an
email regarding who wanted to be on a recruitment committee. They got a committee together
from volunteers, had a meeting, and nothing has happened since that first meeting. You know,
you have to follow-through.” Participant 1’s statement suggests the organization has not created
an environment where sworn officers feel empowered to make decisions regarding sworn officer

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recruiting. Instead, the organization merely allows sworn officers to recruit without abdicating a
degree of control.
Participants’ responses indicated the organization has not created a culture of shared
governance, which has negatively affected sworn officers’ ability to engage in active recruiting
of sworn officer candidates. In addition, the responses indicated a significant issue with
organizational follow-through in reference to recruitment efforts. Participants’ responses also
inferred an organizational unwillingness to formalize the recruitment process, thus supporting the
belief that sharing of authority toward addressing the problem was not an organizational desire
and an informal process was the preferred strategy. Participant 3 referenced a lack of
organizational standards in sworn officer recruiting as a barrier to sworn officer participation via
his statement, “There’s no real standard of what we do. There’s nothing set in stone. It’s more
like, hey man, tell your friends.” Participant 8’s statement indicated a “half-hearted” effort by the
organization toward formalizing the sworn officer recruitment process:
Like I said, no, you know, they put out an email as far as going out to job
fairs. As far as speaking to recruits at the academy, that’s more the sergeant’s job in
personnel and training.
Participant 8’s reference to the “sergeant’s job” infers centralization of tasks may be a significant
inhibitor toward stakeholder goal attainment.
The data uncovered from participants’ interviews revealed there is a validated gap in this
assumed influence. Participants’ responses indicated an unwillingness by the organization to
engage in a meaningful partnership with stakeholders toward addressing sworn officer staffing
shortages. Participants’ responses also indicate poorly defined cultural settings in the form of
misalignment of organizational incentives for recruitment have contributed to a degraded

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relationship between the organization and sworn officers thereby compromising goal attainment.
Recommendations for addressing poorly defined organizational cultural settings will be
addressed in Chapter 5.
Stakeholders Have Not Been Supported Via a Culture of Trust in Achieving Recruitment
Goals
Participants’ responses revealed that organizational supportive models are believed to be
less than adequate for establishing a culture of trust between the organization and stakeholders.
Participants’ interviews indicated their level of trust in the organization’s ability to support
sworn officers in recruiting sworn officer candidates ranged from trusting the organization
(30%), to trust being relatively low (50%) with the remaining in-between. Participants’ responses
centered about the theme of trust as a poorly established cultural model.
Participants cited their low level of trust in the organization’s ability and desire to increase
sworn officer recruitment was in part due to poorly defined organizational settings that do not
adequately support sworn officer engagement in active recruitment. Participant 7 said, “I trust
some people in our organization,” which communicates the belief that a bifurcated ideology
exists between sworn officers and the organization in regards to sworn officer recruitment.
Participant 1 described the organization’s support via allowing sworn officer recruiting as a
“back and forth” situation and based on false pretenses. Participant 1 said:
You know, we say, our people are our greatest asset, but you know, you’ve got to put your
money where your mouth is. You got to show it. You know, talk is cheap, you know, in
the millennial and Generation Z they’ll let you know talk is cheap, because they’ll go
where people are putting their money where their mouth is.

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Participant 3 stated that he believed organizational trust of the sworn officer cadre toward
achieving recruitment goals was typically at the mercy of external political pressures and that
“caving under the pressures” has become common place for organizational leaders. Participant 3
said:
You gotta kind of play the game as a sergeant, lieutenant, captain, or chief. I think if we
honestly just stopped playing the game and just really be honest, I think we would win
more. It’s not about politics, we really have to figure out what our goal is.
Participant 3’s reference to “playing the game” was in regards to the organization’s inability to
establish an authentic supportive relationship with stakeholders, whereby sworn officers are
given the resources toward goal attainment. Participant 3 went on to state “Recruiting the right
people, that comes with actually having a mission and vision and values that people can join with
and totally feel like they take part of, so that kind of includes everybody.” Participants believed
trust was contingent upon organizational change toward the placement of personnel in desirable
positions where they could effect change. Participant 7 referenced the placement of “good people
in the position,” suggesting a belief that organizational cultural settings are poorly constructed
toward supporting sworn officers in addressing their recruiting goals.
Several participants referenced immediately implementing actionable organizational
changes as an enhancer of organizational trust. The placement of personnel in appropriate
settings dedicated to solving the organization’s sworn officer recruiting problem was cited again
by participants as an enhancer of organizational trust. Participants cited that “placement” merely
placated sworn officers and was useless without sustainable authority.
Participants’ responses revealed there is a validated gap in this assumed influence
preventing stakeholders from achieving their goal. The lack of organizational trust was identified

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as a significant inhibitor toward sworn officers addressing sworn officer recruitment from the
campus community. Moreover, participants’ responses indicated the organization lacked a
culture of inclusiveness, whereby legitimate valuation of ideas and concepts could be made.
Participants assessed the root organizational problem was due to a lack of trust perpetuated by
organizational leadership.
Organizational Strategies Are Not Aligned with a Culture of Partnership and Inclusion
that Encourages Recruitment
Participant interviews indicated that a validated gap exists in sworn officers achieving
their goal due to poorly aligned organizational strategies that inhibit a culture of partnership and
inclusion at PCUPD. Participants (70%) stated that they believed the organization would
implement sworn officers’ ideas and strategies for recruiting sworn officer candidates. However,
they voiced that organizational implementation would benefit from a formal process aimed at
including sworn officers in the recruitment decision-making process.
Participant 3’s statement reflects the sentiment of a need for collaboration, “Oh, yeah,
yeah, especially if we collaborate with the younger officers. I think they actually would and
make it a policy and get the actual team to do a lot of the recruiting. I think, it would be
awesome.” Participant 3’s reference to “make it a policy” is in regards to the organization’s
recruitment strategy being considered an informal process with inconsistent results. Like
participant 3, Participant 9 referenced the organization’s reliance on an informal recruitment
process as a strategy not in alignment with a culture of partnership and inclusion toward
achieving sworn officers’ recruitment goals. Participant 9 referenced discussions and make-shift
recruiting strategies with sworn officers during formal (e.g., briefings) and informal (e.g., think

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tank) sessions that masquerade as inclusive, formal organizational recruiting strategies.
Participant 9 said:
Officers are encouraged in roll call and we have discussions on recruiting. We’ve had a
breakout group, kind of a think tank on it. And a lot of officers have participated, but
those aren’t every day and they’re not codified in any kind of regulation or policy.
Participant 8 also inferred that the organization’s inability to effectively communicate and
subsequently develop codified sworn recruitment strategies was a hindrance to establishing true
participation and inclusion in the recruitment process. Participant 8 provided the following
statement when asked if the organization would implement recruiting ideas from sworn officers:
Yes, I think they would, we’re at a point where we’re desperate, so recruitment, you
know, anything that we can give the department they were like, just give us ideas and
we’ll look into them and we don’t know if they did.
Participant 7 also believed that the organization would implement ideas from officers in
reference to recruiting sworn officer candidates, but cited the organization’s leadership as a
hindrance to full implementation. Participant 7 said:
Yes, yes I do, however, I think that there is a lot of arrogance in our command structure
that needs to be put to the side. And I think arrogance is the one biggest problem that we
have. And again, it’s going back to the like, I’m always open for new things and if
someone tells me I don’t understand something, I will always listen.
Participant 2 stated that previous organizational attempts toward inclusion have languished due
to half-hearted efforts at attempting to make all sworn officers “feel” involved in the process.
Participant 2 stated that organizational strategies aimed at creating a culture of inclusiveness
enabling sworn officers to address the recruiting problem where in the form of soliciting

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volunteers for recruitment teams and putting out “feelers” to sworn officers for submitting their
recruiting ideas. Participant 2 stated that the response was dismal and many of the suggestions
received from sworn officers were not implemented.
Participants’ responses revealed there is a validated gap in this assumed influence
preventing stakeholders from achieving their goal. Although participants believed the
organization would utilize recruitment ideas from sworn officers toward recruiting sworn officer
candidates from the campus community, this was accompanied with the belief that the
organization did not value the idea of partnership with sworn officers as a mechanism toward
resolving the recruiting problem. In addition, participants’ responses indicated that current
organizational settings (e.g., hierarchical structure, centralization of tasks, etc.) inhibited
organizational fluidity toward implementing recruiting ideas and concepts. Organizational
models, such as empowerment and shared governance require mechanisms for disseminating
their importance to the organization. Participants cited they thought this could best be
accomplished by frequently communicating the ideas of leadership and redistributing sworn
officers’ ancillary tasks (e.g., vehicle maintenance) toward goal attainment. Participants viewed
the organization as unwilling to make the changes necessary to create a culture of partnership
and inclusion, partly due to a nonexistent (i.e., informal process) mechanism supporting
implementation. Participants believed this failure to be a prime example of the organization’s
struggle with creating a culture where sworn officers believe their ideas and concepts can
eventually be manifested into actualized recruiting strategies. As a result, participants believed
the organization lacked a culture of partnership, whereby legitimate sworn officer recruitment
ideas and concepts could be made.

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Policies and Procedures that Support Sworn Officer Recruitment Efforts Have Not Been
Implemented
During their interviews participants cited the nonexistence of organizational policies and
procedures guiding recruitment efforts at PCUPD. At best, participants mentioned the creation of
a recruitment committee as an organizational procedure guiding recruiting initiatives. As a result
of participants’ interviews, a validated gap was identified toward sworn officers achieving their
goal due to the absence of policies and procedures that support sworn officers in recruiting sworn
officer candidates from the campus community.
Participants stated that although agreed upon by both organizational leadership and sworn
officers, the recruiting committee was never actualized toward solving the problem and once
again viewed by the rank and file as the organization failing to follow-through on ideas and
concepts. When asked by the interviewer to cite organizational policies and procedures aimed at
supporting sworn officers’ recruitment efforts, Participant 3 said:
There is none, and like I said, word of mouth, hey, I’m just trusting you to go out there
and find people that you know. Other than that, it’s just pray people look at your website
or your Instagram feed.
Participant 3’s statement inferred the organization’s recruitment strategy as an informal act
dependent upon an officer’s desire to engage in active recruitment of sworn officer candidates.
Participant 1 stated he also was unaware of organizational policies and procedures that supported
sworn officer engagement in the recruiting process. Participant 1 referenced the lack of codified
policies and procedures as an inhibitor to sworn officers’ engagement in recruiting efforts.
Participant 1 said:
There’s nothing really written down, It’s just a word of mouth thing. They feel that, you

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know, you should take pride in your agency and you should tell others about it. And that’s
a feeling, but based on morale, like right now, morale is not in a good place.
Participant 5 referenced a lack of procedures within the organization as impeding sworn officers’
active engagement in the recruitment process via his statement, “it’s just more so the culture that
we are.” When prompted by the interviewer to elaborate, Participant 5 said:
I think it’s just more of getting out there and just doing it. And so, I think it’s inhibited by
positive procedures. But as far as current practices go, it’s not getting done as much as we
could require more sacrifice from a variety of different divisions within the department.
Participant 5’s reference to “sacrifice” infers the creation of policies and procedures where sworn
officers are not only encouraged to engage in active recruiting of sworn officer candidates, but
also supported via the development of formal policies and procedures aimed at appropriately
addressing the recruitment problem. Participant 2 stated he believed the organization desires
sworn officers to recruit, but other than encouragement, there is no organizational standard and
or policy guiding sworn officers in recruiting efforts. Participant 2 said:
I can tell you it’s highly encouraged. Not so much that it’s in policy that you shall or
should do recruiting. It’s just that we’ve tried marketing blitzes where we tried to explain
to the officers what the organization would like you to reach out to folks, pass them a
business card, give them my number (backgrounds and hiring). So, we’ve tried to cover
the gamut as far as our ability to use officers without creating a designated recruitment
team, even though we’ve done that too.” I want people to know that they’re all part of the
recruiting team.
Participant 2’s reference to “pass them a business card” is indicative to what the data has
revealed in respect to how PCUPD identifies its sworn officer recruitment strategy. In effect,

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participants routinely described the organization as adhering to a nonchalant and pedestrian
approach toward addressing the organization’s recruiting problem. Consequently, participants
believed sworn officers associated informal recruiting strategies as formal active recruiting
supported by organizational policies and procedures. Participants stated the need for a “stern
voice” in addressing the problem and creating formal organizational policies and procedures that
support sworn officer recruiting efforts from the campus community. Table 9 summarizes
participants’ responses with example quotes related to the existence of organizational policies
and procedures that support sworn officers’ recruitment efforts from the campus community.
Table 9
Participants’ Comments About Recruitment Policies and Procedures
Participant Responses

Participant 1

There’s nothing really written down. It’s just a word of mouth thing. They feel
that, you know, you should take pride in your agency and you should tell others
about it.

Participant 2

I don’t know if there’s anything in the policy to say that the officer should or
shouldn’t.

Participant 3

There is none, and like I said, word of mouth and somehow, we get people
coming in and applying for jobs.

Participant 4

I don’t know if the policies and procedures really have an impact on that. I mean,
you know, policies and procedures are there to basically guide an officer on how
to do his job. I don’t know if that so much applies to recruiting, as I guess the
more they know our policies and procedures the more educated they become
regarding what’s expected.

I don’t see anything in our current policies and procedures that inhibit it. Think
it’s just more of getting out there and just doing it.

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Participant 5

Participant 6

Um, that’s a good question. I know there’s no mission like a mentor program for
that and that’s where you know there’s a certain level of thinking about getting
people in here, but you know, that’s what that is. We don’t have that… okay.

Participant 7

From a policy perspective there’s really nothing in there that mentions
recruitment with the exception of selection standards. So, I would say policies
and procedures, um, we have attempted to make, like a recruitment committee
that we’ve done, we’ve made it, it’s been created. Then we’ve tried to come up
with ideas and things like that, but people need direction and people need to
understand what the goal is.

Participant 8

I don’t think it has much weight on making an officer a recruiter for the
department. I think learning the policy as far as recruitment, I mean, maybe they
can put it out to officers and then say, hey, you know if you guys care to go on
job fairs, you should learn the recruitment policy as far as PCUPD.

Participant 9
The only policy that I know that directly supports that, like I said they have a
monetary award if they successfully recruit somebody who gets through the
academy, all the other policy procedures are just about doing the job. They also
have specific procedures that go through the Peace Officer Standards and
Training guidelines with regards to how all that’s done.

Participant10

There isn’t any. There’s no policies and procedures. If we just came up with an
idea to have an internal recruiter, collateral assignment, I think you would have a
number a people interested.
______________________________________________________________________________
A validated gap in this assumed influence preventing stakeholders from achieving their
goal was affirmed via participants’ responses. Although participants’ responses revealed they
were unaware of organizational policies and procedures that supported sworn officers’ active
engagement in recruiting, the data revealed that sworn officers believed an interconnection
existed between organizational informal practices and formal policies and procedures. In effect,
an analysis of participants’ responses revealed that participants considered informal recruiting
practices (e.g., handing out business cards, etc.) as a sanctioned and formalized organizational

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recruiting policy. Consequently, participants believed the informal recruitment practices that they
engaged in to be in support of organizational strategic initiatives aimed at addressing the
organization’s systemic staffing shortages. With that said, participants believed an inability by
the organization to define formal recruiting policies and or procedures was an impediment to
supporting sworn officer recruiting efforts.
Summary of Organizational Influence Findings
An analysis of the data demonstrated that participants believed that poorly defined
organizational cultural models (e.g., shared governance, trust, employee valuation, and
organizational follow-through) were attributed to inadequate cultural settings that inhibited
sworn officers from engaging in and sharing in the decision-making process for recruiting sworn
officer candidates from the campus community. As a result, informal sworn officer recruiting
practices have been allowed to masquerade as formal organizational recruitment processes and
are believed to be supported via organizational policies and procedures. Participants’ responses
indicated that sworn officers attributed the organization’s inability to implement and sustain
sworn officer recruiting concepts and initiatives to a lack of sworn officer appreciation.
Furthermore, participants believed sworn officer devaluation by the organization was responsible
for sworn officers’ distrust of organizational efforts toward addressing the recruitment problem.
All four organizational influences are considered to be a gap based on the findings of this study.

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CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter will address the final research question toward developing recommendations
for organizational practices utilizing the knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO)
influences identified as gaps in Chapter Four. Recommendations were developed from evidence-
based principles that emphasize supportive learning and training as components of stakeholder
goal attainment. Due to the uniqueness of the stakeholders’ work environment, thereby limiting
the time and assembly of stakeholders the recommendations will be implemented via a mix of
structured (e.g., training courses) and non-structured (e.g., hiring process) learning programs
aimed at meeting the infrequent and irregular demands of the learning event.
Program implementation will use the New World Kirkpatrick Model’s four levels to
evaluate training programs as the sole evaluation tool. The four levels are defined as; Level 1:
Reaction- the degree to which participants find the training favorable and relatable to their work
environments, Level 2: Learning- the degree to which participants acquire the necessary
knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment based on their engagement in training,
Level 3: the degree to which participants apply what was learned during training and applied to
the work environments, and Level 4: Results- the degree to which targeted outcomes occur as a
result of the training and accountable measures (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Stressing that effective training and development begins prior to the program event, the
New World Kirkpatrick Model emphasizes the philosophy that “the end is the beginning,” thus
trainers must begin with desired results (Level 4) and then determine the required behavior
(Level 3), the optimal learning program(s) (Level 2), and participant acceptance to the training
(Level 1). As a result, desired outcomes become the impetus to defining critical behaviors
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).

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Knowledge Recommendations
Rueda (2011) identified factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive
influences critical for influencing stakeholder goals. The influences presented in Table 10 depict
influences on the stakeholder performance goals and recommendations to address validated gaps
in the declarative and procedural knowledge influences for sworn officers as articulated in
Chapter Four. The influences relate to the knowledge required of PCUPD’s sworn officers in
achievement of their goal of increasing patrol staffing to 100% by December 2021, via recruiting
from the campus community.
Table 10
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Knowledge Influence

Principle and Citation Context-Specific Recommendation
Declarative influence:
Sworn officers need
knowledge to recruit
and subsequently hire.
Increasing germane cognitive
load by engaging the learner in
meaningful learning and
schema construction facilitates
effective learning (Kirshner et al.,
2006)
Provide training to sworn
officers that connects new
information with prior
recruiting and hiring
knowledge and or experiences.
Procedural influence:
Sworn officers need to
apply the methods,
laws, and regulations in
reference to sworn
officer recruitment and
hiring.
To develop mastery, individuals
must acquire component skills,
practice integrating them, and
know when to apply what they
have learned (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006)
Provide job aids (e.g.,
flowcharts) that aid officers
with making sense of the
materials to enhance their
ability to integrate and apply
laws and regulations for
recruiting and hiring sworn
officers.

Improving Sworn Officers’ Knowledge to Recruit and Hire
As depicted in Table 10, the stakeholder’s declarative influence currently indicates this is
a validated gap toward achieving the stakeholder’s goal. A recommendation embedded in the
cognitive load theory has been selected to close this declarative gap. Moreover, increasing

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germane cognitive load by engaging the learner in meaningful learning and schema construction
facilitates effective learning (Kirshner et al., 2006). The recommended solution is to provide
training to sworn officers that connects new information with prior recruiting and hiring
knowledge and or experiences. An example of this would be to provide training that
demonstrates, guides, and provides feedback toward perfecting a new procedure. Clark and Estes
(2008) stated that training is often required when learning job tasks requires a higher level of
knowledge and skill support than what job aids can provide. The authors continued by stating,
training is necessary when the goal faced is just new enough that people will not benefit from a
checklist job aid or a procedural job aid that describes “how to do it.”
A schema involving significant stakeholder engagement is critical for this stakeholder if
learning is to occur. Experiential learning where new knowledge is linked via relating existing
experiences to recruiting and hiring knowledge should be applied. The process of transferring
schemas to working memory can be used to select and organize knowledge elements into
coherent structures (Mayer, 2011). As a result, learners can mentally connect verbal and pictorial
models with prior learning that is retrieved from long-term memory (Mayer, 2011). Engaging the
learner in relevant and meaningful cognitive exercises that connect prior experiences will help
manage their cognitive load and facilitate learning. The author asserts that prior knowledge plays
a crucial role in learning engagement via guiding the knowledge construction process whereby
the addition of new knowledge can be held in working memory and organized into a single
structure. J. Kirkpatrick and W. Kirkpatrick (2010) stated that engagement levels are directly
related to the level of learning that is attained. The application of a linear approach, whereby the
cognitive load is managed via a single series of steps within an active recruiting and hiring
process, would close this declarative gap for the stakeholder. The evidence confirms that the

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capacity for learning is increased when combined with prior experiences and learner
engagement.
Job Aids to Help Sworn Officers Apply the Methods, Laws, and Regulations for Recruiting
and Hiring
This knowledge influence has been identified as a validated gap impeding the stakeholder
from achieving their goal. Table 10 depicts this procedural influence as a stakeholder priority
toward goal attainment. A recommendation based on the cognitive load theory has been selected
for closing the procedural gap for this stakeholder. To develop mastery, individuals must acquire
component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). The recommended solution is to provide job aids (e.g.,
flowcharts) that aid officers with making sense of the materials to enhance their ability to
integrate and apply laws and regulations for recruiting and hiring sworn officers. According to
Clark and Estes (2008), knowledge and skill enhancement are required of individuals who do not
know how to accomplish a task and when anticipating future challenges that will require novel
problem solving. Training elements introduced into the learning process will enhance
performance by supporting the learning of how-to knowledge so learners can achieve recurring,
job tasks (Clark & Estes, 2008). Integrating new variables (e.g., laws) into processes that mimic
known vital processes (e.g., department procedures) already conceptualized by the learner, will
enhance the mastery of skill and close the procedural gap for this stakeholder group. Thus, the
effectiveness of training largely depends on the trainee’s ability to develop a wide mutable set of
skills and use these newly acquired competencies on the job (Grossman & Salas, 2011). The
evidence supports the theory that learning is attained when the learner applies their newly
acquired skill-set in the work environment.

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Motivation Recommendations
Clark and Estes (2008) defined motivation as a distinct yet cooperative psychological
system that gets us going, keeps us moving, and tells us how much effort to spend on a work
task. Self-efficacy and attributions were identified in Chapter Two as key influences that
characterize motivational dynamics critical for influencing stakeholder goals. Be that as it may,
the data compiled and analyzed from participants’ interviews revealed that a validated high-
priority gap in sworn officer’s self-efficacy did not exist. In fact, the data revealed an above
average belief (60%) that the problem was within their ability to solve. Table 11 depicts the
attribution influence on the stakeholder performance goals and recommendations to address the
gap identified in relation to attribution.
Table 11
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Motivation Influence*

Principle and Citation Context-Specific Recommendation
Attributions: Sworn
officers need to believe
that their success in
recruiting and hiring is
dependent on their own
efforts rather than factors
beyond their control.
Learning and
motivation are
enhanced when
individuals attribute
success or failures to
effort rather than
ability (Anderman &
Anderman, 2009)
Officers should be allowed to
participate in organizational recruiting
and hiring practices (e.g., physical
agility, interviews, etc.) that provide
opportunities to exercise personal
choice and control to re-familiarize
sworn officers with the expectations for
potential recruits.

Sworn Officers Should Participate in Recruiting and Hiring Practices that Enhances Their
Perception of Personal Choice and Control
The motivational influence attribution has been identified as a validated gap impeding the
stakeholder from achieving their goal. A recommendation rooted in attribution theory has been
selected for closing this motivational gap for this stakeholder. Learning and motivation are

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enhanced when individuals attribute success or failures to effort rather than ability (Anderman &
Anderman, 2009). The recommended solution is for the organization to allow officer
participation in organizational recruiting and hiring practices (e.g., physical agility, interviews,
etc.) that provide opportunities to exercise personal choice and control to re-familiarize sworn
officers with the expectations for potential recruits. Organizational leaders overseeing the
recruiting and hiring process should encourage officer participation in recruiting drives, physical
agility tests, and the oral interview process. Encouraging officer participation in the recruiting
decision-making process will aid in closing the attributions gap for this stakeholder.
Organizations involved in participative management that encourage employee
engagement aid in managing potential differences in employee attributions (Mendel et al., 2017).
Collaborative decision-making employed by organizational leadership increases employee
commitment through enhanced stewardship (Steinheider & Wuestewals, 2008). The authors
asserted that job involvement, allowing autonomy within organizational work environments,
creates elevated levels of worker involvement and increased influence within the work
environment. The evidence supports the recommendation asserting that employee attributions are
enhanced toward goal attainment when organizations support participation, personal choice and
control within organizational activities.
Organization Recommendations
Schein (2017) stated that culture was pervasive while influencing active settings derived
from a shared product of learning to form patterns of beliefs and values that give meaning to the
daily activities of specified work groups. Cultural models such as shared values, beliefs,
governance and trust were identified as key influences that characterize organizational dynamics
critical for influencing stakeholder goals. In addition, cultural settings such as partnership,

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inclusion, and the removal of organizational policies and procedure inhibiting stakeholder
knowledge and motivational influences have also been identified as organizational influences
affecting stakeholder goals. All organizational influences were validated as gaps through this
study. Table 12 depicts the organizational influences on the stakeholder performance goals and
recommendations to address these gaps. The influences relate to the organizational models and
settings required of PCUPD’s sworn officers in achievement of their goal of increasing patrol
staffing to 100% by December 2021, via recruiting from the campus community.
Table 12
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Organization Influence*

Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
Cultural Model Influence
1: Shared governance is an
organizational value
reflected in stakeholder
retention goals.
Effective leaders share
power appropriately. They
consider equity in the
process of allocating
resources (Johnson, 2006).

Organizational culture is
created through shared
experience, shared learning
and stability of membership.
It is something that has been
learned. It cannot be imposed
(Schein, 2004).
Department leadership should
create and include sworn
officers in hiring forums
whereby decisions on selecting
sworn officer candidates are
discussed and formalized.
Cultural Model Influence
2: stakeholders need to be
supported via a culture of
trust in achieving their goals.
The four primary
characteristics followers
describe in the “best” leader
are: trust, compassion,
stability and hope (Rath &
Conche, 2009).

Department leaders should
communicate the need for
sworn officers to participate in
the recruiting and hiring
process and work with sworn
officers toward creating
opportunities for increased
sworn officer participation.
Cultural Setting Influence
1: A culture of partnership
and inclusion should align
with organizational strategies
Organizational effectiveness
increases when leaders help
the organization set clear,
concrete and measurable
Department leadership should
establish a mechanism (e.g.,
department newsletter,
periodic briefings) for

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that encourage recruitment
and retention.
goals, aligned with the
organization’s vision.
(Schein, 2004).
communicating organizational
strategies and enlisting
assistance with meeting
organizational priorities (e.g.,
recruiting and hiring).
Cultural Setting Influence
2: Removing policies and
procedures inhibiting
stakeholder knowledge and
motivational influencers is
suggested.
Effective organizations
ensure that organizational
messages, rewards, policies
and procedures that govern
the work of the organization
are aligned with or are
supportive of organizational
goals and values (Clark and
Estes, 2008).
Learning, motivation and
performance will be
enhanced if participants have
clear, current and
challenging goals. For
feedback to be effective, it
should be timely, concrete
(task focused) and goal-
focused (Kluger & DeNisi,
1996).
Department leadership should
create and implement policies
and procedures that support
sworn officers’ participation in
the recruiting and hiring
process.

Department policies and
procedures that encourage
active participation and
decision-making in the
recruiting and hiring process
should be adopted.

Sworn Officers Should Be Included in Hiring Forums for Selecting Sworn Officer
Candidates
Pacific Coast University Police Department’s (PCUPD) ability to reflect the values and
beliefs supporting shared governance and organizational retention goals is an organizational
influence that has been identified as a validated gap impeding the stakeholder from achieving
their goal. A recommendation rooted in leadership theory has been selected for closing this
organizational gap for sworn officers. Effective leaders share power appropriately and they
consider equity in the process of allocating resources (Johnson, 2006). Furthermore,
organizational culture is created through shared experience, shared learning, and stability of
membership. It is something that has been learned. It cannot be imposed (Schein, 2004). The

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recommended solution is for organizational leadership to create and include sworn officers in
hiring forums whereby decisions on selecting sworn officer candidates are discussed and
formalized. Organizational leadership should create an “officers only” hiring review board
whereby potential sworn officer candidates are vetted for hiring prior to being given a
conditional offer of employment. The integration of shared governance within the hiring process
supports the organization’s values and beliefs and reduces the gap in this cultural model
influence for this stakeholder.
Schein (2017) stated that group stability conflicts with organizational culture primarily
due to organizational members viewing changes within the organization as threatening to
organizational structural stability. The development of stakeholder schemas allowing
for participative relationships in organizational decisions is dependent upon organizational
leaders integrating equitable and shared governance into sustainable work processes (Clark &
Estes, 2008). The evidence supports the recommendation that the organization should align its
values and beliefs with a legitimate and participative relationship with the stakeholder in the
hiring process. This participative relationship with the sworn officers would allow sharing in the
decision-making process for hiring sworn officer candidates.
Department Leaders Should Encourage Sworn Officer Participation in the Recruiting and
Hiring Process
Establishing a culture of trust within PCUPD has been identified as a validated gap
impeding the stakeholder from achieving their goal. A recommendation rooted in leadership
theory has been selected for closing this organizational gap for this stakeholder. The four
primary characteristics followers describe in the “best” leader are: trust, compassion, stability,
and hope (Rath & Conche, 2009). The recommended solution is for the organizational leaders to

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communicate the need for sworn officers to participate in the recruiting and hiring process as
well as work with sworn officers toward creating opportunities for increased sworn officer
participation in organizational recruiting and hiring practices. Organizational leaders should
create realistic opportunities for sworn officers to participate in hiring decisions, such as
inclusion in oral boards and the background intake process. Sworn officer participation in the
recruiting decision-making process will aid in enhancing a culture of trust and reduce this
organizational cultural model gap for the stakeholder.
Fard and Karim (2015) stated that sustained organizational trust is predicated on a leader's
willingness to be vulnerable and share authority. In effect, this show of vulnerability enhances
trust and positive expectations in reference to organizational benevolence (Fard & Karim,
2015). According to Schein (2017) sustaining and nurturing relationships within cultural settings
(e.g., hiring teams, recruiting team members, and field training unit) is imperative for
establishing organizational trust. The evidence supports the recommendation that PCUPD must
establish a mechanism for sustained trust via relinquishing authority within specified areas of the
hiring and recruiting process if the stakeholder is to achieve their goal.
Department Leadership Should Frequently Communicate Organizational Strategies and
Request Assistance from Sworn Officers Toward Meeting Recruiting and Hiring Goals
Establishing a culture of partnership and inclusion supported via alignment with
organizational strategies for recruiting and retaining sworn officers is an organizational influence
that has been identified as a validated gap impeding the stakeholder from achieving their goal. A
recommendation rooted in leadership theory has been selected for closing this organizational gap
for sworn officers. Organizational effectiveness increases when leaders help the organization set
clear, concrete and measurable goals, aligned with the organization’s vision (Schein, 2004). The

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recommended solution is for organizational leadership to establish a mechanism (e.g.,
department newsletter, periodic briefings) for communicating organizational strategies and
enlisting assistance with meeting organizational priorities (e.g., recruiting and hiring).
Leadership should create realistic and attainable benchmark goals that align with the
organization’s recruitment and retention strategies. Monetary incentives should be created for
sworn officers who meet and exceed organizational expectations. Therefore, organizational
leaders who actively seek alignment of organizational strategies with cultural settings such as
partnership and inclusion reduce the gap in organizational cultural settings for this stakeholder.
According to Schein (2017) collaboration is an integral part of a team’s ability to become
and remain successful, especially within dynamic settings. Moreover, sustaining efficient and
effective activity settings is dependent upon strategic partnerships between organizational leaders
and stakeholders (Clark & Estes, 2008). The evidence supports the recommendation that
organizational leaders should create meaningful mechanisms for communicating organizational
strategies for recruiting and retaining sworn officers and request the assistance of sworn officers
in the development of these strategies.
Department Should Adopt Policies and Procedures to Encourage Sworn Officer
Participation in Recruiting and Hiring Sworn Officer Candidates
The department’s inability to adopt policies and procedures that support sworn officers’
knowledge and motivational influences has been identified a validated gap impeding the
stakeholder from achieving their goal. A recommendation rooted in leadership theory has been
selected for closing this organizational gap for this stakeholder. Effective organizations ensure
that organizational messages, rewards, policies and procedures that govern the work of the
organization are aligned with or are supportive of organizational goals and values (Clark and

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Estes, 2008). Learning and motivation performance will be enhanced if participants have clear
and current challenging goals. For feedback to be effective, it should be timely, concrete (task
focused) and goal focused (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). The recommended solution is for
organizational leadership to create and implement policies and procedures that support sworn
officer participation in the recruiting and hiring process. An example of this would be the
implementation of policies and procedures that support the creation of a recruitment committee
whereby sworn officers can review and ultimately select candidates for hiring. Organizational
policies that incentivize sworn officers’ participation in the recruitment process should be
supported via organizational frameworks (e.g., Background and Training / Field Training
Program) that enhance sworn officers’ participation in the decision-making process for hiring
sworn officer candidates. The adoption of policies and procedures that enhance sworn officers’
participation in the recruiting decision-making process will aid in closing this organizational
cultural setting gap for this stakeholder.
Organizational systems created to communicate the organization’s vision and mission are
typically not sustainable without a commitment to align policies and procedures with cultural
settings (Schein, 2017). The evidence supports the recommendation that organizational leaders
should adopt policies that decentralize organizational strategies (e.g., recruitment and hiring) and
support them with procedures that enhance cultural settings where participation in solving
organizational goals are encouraged.
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
An updated training model, based on Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick’s four levels to evaluate
training programs, was created to support training professionals (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016). This New World Kirkpatrick model focused on addressing the needs of training

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professionals for the modern work environment and learning landscape, correcting
misinterpretations and misuse of the model, and illustrating how the model applies to modern
development and performance (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The authors recommend
approaching the four levels of evaluation from the perspective of aligning the mission of the
organization with targeted outcomes. Thus, the four levels are approached from the reverse order
to keep this focus prevalent. As previously stated, level four focuses on results and targeted
outcomes from the training implemented; level three discusses participant behavior and the
degree of information applied to participant’s work environments; level 2 tackles learning and
participant acquisition of knowledge, confidence, and commitment to use their knowledge in the
work environment; and level one focuses on participant reaction and engagement (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). As a result, the New World Kirkpatrick model is ideal for the
implementation and design of this study and represented through external and internal outcomes,
critical behaviors, and required drivers to ensure the intended results are realized.
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations
By December 2021, the Pacific Coast University Police Department will be at 100%
sworn officer staffing. This goal has been identified as a key element within the organizations’
strategic initiative plan (May 2018) after recognizing the need to enhance campus safety
measures. The attainment of the organization’s performance goal will be made possible with
increased department representation from a diverse campus community. The stakeholders’ goal
is to actively recruit sworn officer candidates from the campus community thereby
reducing sworn officer staffing shortages and increase sworn officer retention. The selection of
the stakeholders’ goal was in response to stakeholders’ concerns in reference to increased

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workloads for this group, resulting in diminished retention of group personnel. The expected
outcomes are centered about the stakeholders achieving their goal.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) stated that leading indicators establish a connection
between performance of critical behaviors and the organization's highest-level result. As a result,
planned outcomes are better supported. Table 13 depicts external and internal outcomes
representing the results and leading indicators for the study. Outcomes are supported by
affirming how achievement is attained (metrics) and how measurements (methods) are
implemented.
Table 13
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
1. Reduce sworn officer
staffing shortages by
100% by June 2021.
1.a. Number of open shifts increased or decreased
due to sworn officer call-ins, vacation, and or
assigned training during a deployment period
1.b. Number of vacated patrol shift assignments
unfilled due to officer unavailability in
comparison to previous deployment period.
1.a. Review of weekly patrol
shift reports.
1.b. Monthly report from
background and training
lieutenant.
1.c. Track the percentage of
sworn officer positions filled.
2. Improved patrol
coverage for campus
population.
a. Increase or decrease in the number of negative
officer-citizen interactions reported from previous
deployment period
b. Increase or decrease in the number of citizen
complaints on sworn officers sustained since last
deployment period
c. Increase or decrease in the amount of vehicle
and pedestrian contacts made by officers resulting
in citations from previous deployment period
2.a. Student, staff, and faculty
surveys.
2.b. Monthly review of patrol
statistical sheets.
2.c. Monthly review of citations,
warnings, and field contacts
issued.
3. Enhanced police-
community
collaboration.
3.a. Increase or decrease in the number of
participants not in attendance at the Police
Chief’s Advisory Committee (PCAC) during
school year
3.b. Increase or decrease in the amount of
feedback received from campus community
members and local merchants after PCAC meeting
for the school year
3.a. Track the amount of
complaints received by the
Chief’s office.
3.b. Monthly review of website
for messages from community
members (e.g., Info at PCUPD).
Internal Outcomes

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1. Decrease in sworn
officers ordered to
work to achieve
minimum patrol shift
staffing.
1.a. Reduced funding expenditures for overtime
for patrol shift staffing.
1.a. Monthly review of overtime
spent for patrol backfill.
2. Improved sworn
officer morale.
2.a. Increase in the number of applicants that have
applied for specialty positions in comparison to
previous deployment period
2.b. Increased number of qualified applicants that
compete for promotional processes in comparison
to previous deployment period.
2.c. Percentage increase in self-reporting of
improved morale based on established indicators
in comparison to previous deployment period.
2.a. Track specialty positions
remaining open after posting
date deadlines.
2.b. Track number of applicants
in attendance for promotional
processes (e.g., oral boards,
written tests, etc.).
2.c. Bi-annual department
survey.

Level 3: Behavior
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), described Level 3: Behavior as the degree to which
participants applied new knowledge within their working environments via critical behaviors,
required drivers, and on-the-job training. According to the authors, Level 3 is considered the
“missing link” in moving from learning to results due to Level 3 being more than merely
evaluation, but it is also a comprehensive and continuous performance monitoring and
improvement system enhancing participant accountability in performing critical behaviors.
Critical Behaviors
Those behaviors that are essential for achieving organizational success are identified as
critical behaviors. According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) critical behaviors need to be
specific, observable, and measurable. Critical behaviors are the behaviors performed by the
primary training audience and connect them to the intended outcomes. For example, sworn
officers who seek to insert themselves into the recruitment process via seeking training and
opportunities to actively participate would be a critical behavior. Table 14 depicts those critical
behaviors required of sworn officers in achievement of their goal to increase sworn officer
staffing via recruitment from the campus community.

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Table 14
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1. Sworn officers request a
step-by-step action flowchart
that outlines hiring
procedures.
Increase in number of requests
for information regarding
hiring procedures received by
background division.
Testing participant roster
maintained by
background division
tracks volunteers.
Quarterly or
when authorized
by the Chief of
Police.
2. Sworn officers request
human resource training that
provides guidance and
feedback for hiring sworn
officer candidates.
Increase in number of training
requests to attend human
resource training.
Training completion
certificates submitted to
the background and
training division for
tracking.
Bi-annually
3. Sworn officers request to
participate on interview
boards and the pre-academy
training.
Increase in number of sworn
officers who volunteer for oral
boards and to teach academy
learning domains in the pre-
academy.
Volunteer roster
submitted to the
background and training
division for tracking.
Quarterly or
when authorized
by the Chief of
Police.
4. Sworn officers actively
recruit sworn officer
candidates from the campus
community.
Increase in number of sworn
officer referrals received by
the background division.
Tracked via intake
process with sworn
officer candidate.
Quarterly or
when authorized
by the Chief of
Police.

Required Drivers
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) stated that properly identifying the required drivers to
reinforce, monitor, encourage, and reward performance is the key to accomplishing the desired
on-the-job application of participant learning during training. According to the authors,
organizations that create accountable support systems that reinforce the knowledge and skills
attained during training can expect a higher percent of participant application in the work
environment than organizations that solely rely on participant committals (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). Thus, it is incumbent upon leadership to create organizational settings where
participants are encouraged to utilize the knowledge and skills acquired from training programs
in the work environment. Table 15 details the required drivers required to drive stakeholder
achievement.

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Table 15
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical
Behaviors
Supported
1, 2, 3 Etc.
Reinforcing

Background lieutenant provides a step-by-step
flowchart (job aid) outlining the hiring process.
Quarterly or when
authorized by the
Chief of Police.
1
Administrative Captain assigns sworn officers to
attend training on sworn officer hiring practices.
Quarterly or when
authorized by the
Chief of Police.
1,2
Background sergeant assigns sworn officers to pre-
employment tasks (e.g., oral boards and physical
agility tests).
Quarterly or when
authorized by the
Chief of Police.
3
Organizational leaders will create a department
mentoring program to address effective goal setting
and succession planning.
Monthly 2
Administrative Captain removes organizational
policies and procedures that centralize the recruiting
and hiring process.
Annual policy
review
1
Encouraging

Command staff will convene to discuss removing
organizational policies and procedures that inhibit
sworn officer participation in the hiring and
recruiting process.
Bi-annual 1
Organizational newsletter highlighting recruitment
and retention efforts and gains.
Monthly 2
Rewarding

Police Chief publicly thanks the sworn officer cadre
for their assistance in meeting staffing goals.
Quarterly 2,3
Sworn officers recognized for attending recruiting
fairs and hiring seminars.
Quarterly or when
authorized by the
Chief of Police.
2
Monitoring

Background sergeant will track the number of sworn
officers assigned to assist with the background pre-
employment process.
Quarterly or when
authorized by the
Chief of Police.
2,3

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Organizational Support
According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) organizations that implement a blended
evaluation approach realize the benefits of connecting the levels and typically experience greater
success toward achieving organizational goals. Organizational support to the stakeholder group
will enhance organizational settings, such as shared governance, culture of trust, and partnership
toward stakeholder goal attainment. Organizational leadership support should also be offered in
the form of creating working groups that mandate sworn officers’ inclusion in the decision-
making process for hiring. Organizational leadership can further support sworn officers by
periodically emphasizing the need for assistance in the pre-employment process via frequent
communications (e.g., briefings, newsletter, Chief’s messaging) and placing equal emphasis for
participation in the recruiting and hiring process as with patrol staffing needs. The organization
can routinely assign sworn officers to training courses that instruct sworn officers on the laws
and regulations for onboarding sworn officer candidates. Lastly, organizational leaders can
support sworn officers by removing policies and procedures (e.g., confidentiality) that inhibit
sworn officers from participating in the pre-employment process.
Level 2: Learning
According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), Level 2: Learning focuses on the
degree to which participants acquire new knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and
commitment based on their level of engagement in the learning event. Learning components such
as, knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment ingrain participants’ overall learning
via the application of methods and activities (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2016).

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Learning Goals
The following learning goals are recommended solutions based on the required knowledge,
skills, motivation, and organizational influences. Upon implementing the recommendations
PCUPD sworn officers shall be able to meet the below listed goals:
1. Generate a list of training opportunities for hiring procedures (P)
2. Plan to participate in the hiring process (P)
3. Generate a list of local recruiting fairs to attend (P)
4. Explain the reasons for remaining employed with the organization (M)
5. Be confident they can be active recruiters of sworn officer candidates (Self-Efficacy)
6. Attribute their success in recruiting and hiring to their own efforts (Attribution)
Program
Maintaining operational sustainability within learning organizations such as law
enforcement organizations is dependent upon their response to dynamic and rapidly evolving
environments, whereby the accumulation and subsequent dissemination of new knowledge is
made actionable via easily assimilated learning programs. Due to the uniqueness of the work
environment the learning program has been designed to support sworn officers through formal
learning and training (e.g., background/hiring course) and informal or tactile learning and
training (e.g., oral board participation). A program incorporating tactile learning/training will
enable sworn officers to engage in the learning process in a dynamic setting during ongoing
hiring cycles.
During the beginning of the fiscal year (July), sworn officers will be given the
organization’s current staffing projection for review and a list of potential hiring cycles (e.g.,
three) requiring support from the sworn officer cadre. Based on the Chief of Police’s approval to

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initiate a hiring cycle, available sworn officers will be scheduled to the written test, the physical
agility test, the oral boards, and provided with instructional documents outlining the hiring
procedures. Sworn officers having previous hiring experience (e.g., former background
investigators, field training officers, detectives) will be assigned to each event and will supervise
and instruct less experienced sworn officers.
During the time between hiring cycles, sworn officers will be assigned to the Police
Officer Standards and Training (POST) background course held quarterly to instruct on the
procedures for recruiting and hiring of sworn officer candidates. Sworn officers assigned to
training assignments (e.g., field training) will be first to attend the training. Upon the completion
of training, sworn officers will be assigned to mentor new hires (i.e., entry, pre-service, pre-
academy, and lateral officers) on organizational procedures, protocol, and employee retention
advantages.
At the conclusion of a hiring cycle a list of local recruiting fairs will be compiled to
assign sworn officers to. Sworn officers will be given the opportunity to discuss their reasons for
joining and remaining with the organization. The background and training sergeant will monitor
the results of sworn officers participating in the recruitment process and provide periodic
feedback and support.
Evaluation of the Components of Learning
PCUPD sworn officers should exit the hiring and recruiting process with the knowledge,
skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment required to achieve their goal. Table 16 illustrates
the evaluation of components via methods, activities, and timing of events associated with the
hiring and recruiting process.

136

Table 16
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”

Knowledge checks to confirm hiring procedures are
understood.
Beginning of hiring cycle.
Conversation with Coach or Mentor assessing what was
learned and how it will be applied.
Beginning of hiring cycle.
Pair sharing During the hiring cycle.
Pre-tests and post-tests. Beginning and end of the
hiring cycle.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”

Self-assessed checklist of skills. During the hiring cycle.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”

Discussion with supervisor on career opportunities and
goals.
Beginning of recruitment fairs.
Discussion of value and importance. Beginning of recruitment fairs.
Observation of participation by supervisor. During the hiring cycle and
recruitment fairs.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”

Team discussions of issues, concerns, and barriers with the
process.
During the hiring cycle.
Check-ins with supervisors. During the hiring cycle.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”

Discussion with peers. During the hiring cycle.
Self-reports on knowledge learned. Beginning of recruitment fairs.
Personal action plan gauging progress against results. Conclusion of recruitment
fairs.

Level 1: Reaction
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) stated that Level:2 Reaction of the New Kirkpatrick
Evaluation Model refers to the reaction of training by participants in regards to the degree of
satisfaction, perceived relevance, and engagement experienced. The authors assert that level one
is the level most familiar to learning professionals, but it is also arguably the least significant as
well. Table 17 depicts the components used to measure (i.e., engagement, relevance, customer
satisfaction) sworn officers’ reaction to the program.

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Table 17
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement

Participation in the process During the hiring cycle
Volunteering for assignment(s) Beginning and during the hiring
cycle
Asking clarifying questions Beginning and during the hiring
cycle
Problem solving recruiting barriers (e.g.,
compensation)
Beginning and during the hiring
cycle
Relevance

Pulse check via discussion During the hiring cycle
Customer Satisfaction

Department surveys Annual

Evaluation Tools
Evaluation tools should be customized to the program, organization, and most importantly
the personnel to focus on learner-centered items (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The authors
assert that learner-centered items allow greater self-reflection by participants via the sharing of
personal viewpoints and experiences. Evaluation tools customized toward learner-centered shifts
enhances open and honest feedback from participants while increasing participant’s confidence
and comfort in the program (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Moreover, evaluation tools can

138

be structured to be formative and summative and include evaluation methods such as, surveys,
questionnaires, action learning, skill observations, knowledge tests, and teach backs (Kirkpatrick
& Kirkpatrick, 2016). The uniqueness of the learning environment for this stakeholder requires
the implementation of formative and summative programs to address engagement and overall
involvement in the program. Thus, formative evaluations (e.g., checklist of skills) will be
assessed at the beginning and during the program implementation with a summative evaluation
(delayed) after the program has been implemented.
During the Program Implementation
According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) formative evaluation occurs during the
program and can be used to enhance participant engagement, satisfaction, and feedback via
adjusting the teaching approach and or program content to meet learner needs. The evaluation
approach for levels one and level two focuses on the application of formative evaluation methods
for assessing program effectiveness and supports immediate trainer feedback. The evaluation
approach will include a survey administered to participating sworn officers at the beginning of a
hiring cycle administered by the Background and Training sergeant. Appendix A illustrates an
evaluation instrument for level one and two for the purpose of gauging sworn officer knowledge
of hiring laws and procedures. The evaluation instrument allows real time assessment by coaches
and mentors in determining the efficiency of the program and aid in the attainment of
stakeholder and organizational goals by supporting critical behaviors.
Delayed After Program Implementation
According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) the primary focus in delayed evaluation
should be on how training graduates have applied new knowledge and how the required drivers
in the work environment aid toward expected outcomes. The authors explained that

139

consideration in reference to determining what information will be useful to trainers and relevant
to stakeholders at all four levels is important. With that said, Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016)
recommended evaluation tools be blended, thereby integrating multiple levels from numerous
perspectives in an effort to maximize data while minimizing strain on training units and
participants. A blended evaluation assessing participant’s new knowledge (level two), participant
satisfaction (level one), and the presence of critical behaviors exercised by participants in the
work environment (level three), will be incorporated via checklist items (survey) and through
dialogue (interviews) with coaches and mentors (see Appendix B). This will enable coaches and
mentors the ability to accumulate evaluation data from multiple perspectives on the effectiveness
of the program and make recommendations for program augmentation prior to the next hiring
cycle. Due to the infrequent and spontaneous manner in which hiring cycles are manifested, the
annual departmental survey typically used to gauge employee satisfaction with departmental
measures will be used to evaluate existing connections between performance and leading
indicators (level four).
The timing selected for a delayed evaluation of the program will be six months after the
completion of the inaugural hiring cycle and conducted by the Background and Training
sergeant. Hiring cycles routinely last for approximately two to four months and typically flow
into the onset of a new hiring cycle. Due to the needs of the organization in reference to
soliciting sworn officer candidate types (e.g., new hires or laterals), on-the-job training
opportunities such as the pre-academy may be limited based on hiring criteria. In addition,
historically low sworn officer staffing within the organization may cause delayed participant
entry into the program thus delaying evaluation of the program.

140

Data Analysis and Reporting
Sharing training outcomes is an integral component in contributing to program
effectiveness and maximizing outcomes (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The authors
continued by stating a thoroughly analyzed and aggregated report demonstrating the value of the
program via easy-to-understand data analysis is what stakeholders view as important to them and
the organization. A report presented to decision-makers will be utilized to influence the course of
on-the-job performance in the attainment of the stakeholder and organizational goals. Realized
expected outcomes supported by systematic data analysis will be communicated early and will
aid in increasing present program success while leveraging success factors in future programs
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). For example, expected outcomes are heavily dependent upon
sworn officer staffing availability. A report demonstrating goals achieved when sworn officers
remain engaged in the hiring cycle could be utilized to augment budgetary assignments toward
future support of the program. Figure 2 depicts a graph included within the report detailing the
manner in which the information will be presented to stakeholders.
Figure 2
Participant Feedback on Evaluation Tool Enabling Learning Outcomes

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Summary
The application of the New World Kirkpatrick Model provides trainers, coaches, and
mentors a proven method of evaluating training programs for sworn officers toward their desired
goal of becoming active participants in PCUPD’s hiring process. Organizations provide training
to its members for numerous reasons (e.g., avoidance of legal exposure, regulatory requirements,
succession planning, etc.) due to decision-makers believing the organization will benefit from the
acquisition and subsequent application of new skills (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). True
organizational benefits are actualized by participants who have acquired new knowledge and
believe they have the ability and organizational support to demonstrate skills in the work
environment. In effect, training value and impact is realized only when new knowledge and skills
become actionable and ultimately positively affect work performance (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Limitations and Delimitations
An examination of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences impeding
PCUPO’s ability to recruit sworn officer candidates from the campus community was at the
forefront of this research. This research study was not entirely absolved of anticipated limitations
and delimitations. Delimitations were introduced by the researcher via identifying participants
within the population size that matched specific criterion. Years of tenure with the organization
(5), years of field experience (3), and current employment at PCUPD created delimitations. The
assignment of the Clark and Estes (2008) framework as the framework for the study by the
doctoral program administrator presented a delimitation as well. This required a strict adherence
to knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences as they pertained to the stakeholders
achieving their goal. The scope of the research study was also delimitated to the organization,

142

PCUPD. The selection of a relatively small law enforcement agency (PCUPD) as the lone study
site for a problem affecting the profession at large proved to be a delimitation.
A particular limitation of the study was in reference to the number of participants (10)
selected. The researcher expected that arriving at the intended number of participants considered
representative of the size population to be challenging, due to a historical reluctancy by
participants to share organizational information with outsiders. Fortunately, this was not an issue
due to participants’ eagerness to contribute to the study. In addition, there was no assured way to
guarantee that individuals who agreed to participate would be at the intended number. There was
also no way to guarantee that participants would respond truthfully to the researcher’s questions.
This was exacerbated due to the researcher requiring the use of a proxy (co-researcher) due to the
researcher’s positional authority within the organization. The time limitation to collect the data
was another limitation due to program restrictions. Typically, in-depth research studies are
allotted years to recover, analyze, and tabulate data. The researcher was initially skeptical if the
appropriate data could be retrieved and, if so allowed, documented by University and
organizational leaders. According to Merriam and Tisdell (2018), accounting for researcher bias
is imperative for maintaining the credibility of the data. Therefore, the most important limitation
was the personal biases and preconceived opinions and thoughts of the researcher and
participants affecting the integrity of the data.
Implications for Practice
The researcher’s selection of an improvement model for this study was intentional in
design. Findings from this study revealed implications for practice that can be utilized to
improve sworn officer staffing for law enforcement organizations by identifying organizational
influences and designing learning programs that impact recruiting efforts by sworn officers. The

143

implications for practice are specifically relevant for college and university law enforcement
organizations having limited resources, but applicable for municipal, state, and federal law
enforcement organizations as well.
One implication supports that law enforcement leaders need to ensure that sworn officers
are provided with the knowledge and skills to engage in active recruiting of sworn officer
candidates. Training programs, including on-the-job training sessions, should be routinely sought
out for sworn officers. Another implication supports the creation of organizational structures that
enhance participative management through valuing sworn officers’ efforts and ideas toward
solving organizational goals. Actively engaging in trusting and sincere relationships via
following through with organizational initiatives and concepts is an implication for practice
essential for sustaining sworn officer recruiting programs. This implication is further supported
via addressing law enforcement leaders’ acclimation toward developing collaborative and
supportive cultural settings for onboarding and valuating sworn officers from the millennial
workforce. Leadership should reflect on intangible assets (e.g., core values) currently
implemented through organizational cultural settings and properly support those considered
critical for sustaining recruitment and retention efforts.
Lastly, a final implication for practice supports the development of organizational
cultural settings that support sworn officers engaging in active recruitment via providing sworn
officers with professional growth and development opportunities. Sworn officer growth and
development opportunities should be sought out and encouraged by department mentors and
supervisors. If implemented, the implications for practice would enhance sworn officers’
participation in solving organizational problems via resources from their campus community.

144

Future Research
This study touches only on the more prevalent issues in reference to sworn officer
understaffing in United States’ law enforcement organizations, yet there are many facets as to
why this phenomenon is occurring. First, chapter one identified elements within modern day law
enforcement that perpetuate a lack of diverse representation within law enforcement ranking
structure. Elements such as ecological dynamics, racial diversification schemes, and
traditionalism were viewed as enablers in establishing legitimate relationships with multicultural
community members. For instance, the evidence supports that traditionalism within the
profession has not kept pace with the value system of incoming generational workers, thus
alienating them from the profession (Brunson & Gau, 2011). Moreover, organizational
indoctrination processes based on the value systems of previous generations have created barriers
for diverse representation in law enforcement (Michelson, 2006). Research directed toward the
benefits of changing the hiring and training process in relationship to meeting the staffing
challenges of law enforcement organizations should be sought.
Second, Chapter Two discussed the possible influences on the problem and touched
briefly on sworn officer retention and the effects of leadership on sworn officer understaffing.
The latter being associated with how federal, state, and municipal law enforcement organizations
operate within fluctuating local political and social climates, whereby complicated relationships
between law enforcement’s internal leadership and the community must be managed. The data
from the literature review revealed that each entity has a unique and biased perception regarding
how and or if problems should be addressed and how resource allocation should occur (Wilson
& Weiss, 2013). The misalignment of goals supported via social and political agendas create a
situation nuanced by competing priorities. Thus, misaligned agendas between internal leadership

145

and external stakeholders have created conflicting views regarding the mission of law
enforcement that are frequently publicized. As a result, potential candidates may experience
significant confusion regarding the mission and legitimacy of the profession. In turn, this is
followed by a reluctance to consider the profession as a viable form of employment. Meaningful
and unbiased efforts by political and law enforcement leaders should be directed toward publicly
identifying and supporting law enforcement’s role in society. Solidifying alliances with local,
state, and federal agencies should be sought out in development of a unified message.
Sworn officer retention has become a major dilemma for today’s law enforcement leaders
to negotiate due to public sentiment, the current national recession, and generational attitudes
relating to the legitimacy of its existence (Wilson & Grammich, 2009). The present social justice
initiative (2020) has spawned several philosophies in reference to the true purpose and perceived
value of the profession. Research targeted toward the long-lasting effects on sworn officers’
psyche from being inundated with public ridicule and devaluation of the profession should be
considered, as well as how the public’s outward expression of disdain for the profession affects
succession planning. Future research aimed toward identifying legitimate retention strategies for
supporting sworn officer retention should be undertaken as well.
Lastly, there are opportunities to further explore the comments made during participants’
interviews in Chapter Four. For example, assumptions in reference to perceived organizational
trust, follow-through, and employee valuation should be considered for research into further
understanding the psychological and social undertakings that sustain and enhance sworn officer
motivation from a retention perspective. Therefore, an understanding of systemic organizational
inhibitors deserves deeper analysis.

146

Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to better understand the components that enable sworn
officers’ abilities at PCUPD to decrease sworn officer understaffing. Utilizing the Clark and
Estes (2008) conceptual framework, the research focused on the knowledge, motivation, and
organization needs that influence sworn officers at PCUPD to proactively engage in sworn
officer recruitment. The findings revealed that although lacking in appropriate knowledge and
skills, sworn officers were motivated to engage in the active recruitment of sworn officer
candidates. Unfortunately, organizational influencers were identified as having a profound effect
on sworn officers’ ability to engage in active sworn officer recruitment. The research identified
organizational follow-through, trust, and employee valuation as impediments to creating cultural
settings in support of active recruiting by sworn officers.
The proposed solution to these findings as discussed in Chapter Five is the creation of
learning programs designed to support sworn officers through both formal learning and training
(e.g., background/hiring course) and informal (e.g., oral board participation). In combination
with a program incorporating tactile learning that will enable sworn officers to engage in the
learning process in real-time settings, engaging drivers to reinforce, monitor, encourage, and
reward performance enhances accountable support systems that reinforce the knowledge and
skills attained during training. This study’s research and findings indicate a strong relationship
exists between organizational support of sworn officers in becoming active recruiters and sworn
officer understaffing at PCUPD.

147

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Appendix A
INFORMATION SHEET FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Waite Phillips Hall
3470 Trousdale Parkway Los Angeles, CA 90089

STUDY TITLE: Examining sworn officer understaffing at Pacific Coast University Police
Department.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Gawin D. Gibson

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This document
explains information about this study. You should ask questions about anything that is unclear to
you.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to examine the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
attributing to the understaffing of sworn officers at Pacific Coast University Police Department.
As of result of this study, I hope to learn ways to increase sworn officer staffing. You are invited
as a possible participant because you have been identified as a currently employed sworn officer
at Pacific Coast University Police Department, with a minimum of five years tenure and three
years of field (patrol) experience.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you agree to participate in this study, you will be asked to participate in a one-on-one
interview with the researcher, which will last approximately one hour. You do not have to
answer any questions you do not want to.

For accuracy in the data collection and analysis process, you will be asked to be audio recorded.
Your full identity (name and specific title) will NOT be disclosed in the recorded dialogue. If
you choose not to be audio recorded, your responses will be hand-written or transcribed on a
laptop by the researcher. A full transcript of the interview can be provided to you if you wish to
review it for clarity and feedback.

CONFIDENTIALITY
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California Institutional
Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used. Any identifiable information obtained in connection with this study
will remain confidential. Your responses will be coded with a false name (pseudonym) and
maintained separately. Only your demographical profile (profession and employment status) will

159

be used in the study. Data will be stored on a password-protected computer in the researcher’s
office for two years after the study has been completed and then removed.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact Gawin D. Gibson at
gdgibson@usc.edu or 323-382-2845.

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

160

Appendix B
Interview Protocol
Moderator Interview Script
Audio Recorded Introduction

• Welcome. Thank you for taking part in this interview.
• My name is Stephanie Kashima and I will be facilitating the interview.
• The interview will take about an hour or less.
• I would like to record this interview using several audio devices. Please be assured that
any statements you share with me will remain confidential, as my goal is to identify the
understanding, awareness, attitudes, and perceptions as it relates to PCUPD sworn
officers recruiting from within their campus community to increase sworn officer staffing
to 100% by June 2021. The recording allows me focus on our conversation vs. having to
take copious notes. Do you have any concerns about being recorded?
• I may ask follow-up questions. I am also willing to provide clarifications on any question,
as needed.
• My goal is to make you feel comfortable and I encourage you to share your thoughts and
opinions openly.
• I will be taking a few hand-written notes, mainly so that I can remember follow up
questions.
• Might I answer any questions you have about the study or today’s conversation?

ASK: Do I have your consent to participate in this interview process, in accordance with what
has been shared? Please respond Yes or No. (Wait for a response, if “yes”, proceed to next
question. If “no”, end the interview.)

ASK: Do I have your permission to audio record?
Please respond Yes or No. (Wait for a response, if “yes”, start audio recorder. If “no”, end the
interview.)

Administer Informed Consent Form
ASK: At this time, please thoroughly read and understand the Information Sheet.
STATE: You may, at any time, choose to not respond to any question, for any reason. You may
also choose to skip a question for any reason. As a reminder, your participation in the interview
is strictly voluntary and you may opt out of the interview at any point without explanation. Your
name and identifying information will remain completely confidential, so I would appreciate you
being completely honest. Nonetheless, since demographics are a part of the data analysis phase
for this study, please provide a response to the following questions:
• Please indicate whether you are currently employed with Pacific Coast University Police
Department.

161

• How long have you been employed at Pacific Coast University Police Department?
• What is your current assignment?
• How many years of field experience do you have at Pacific Coast University Police
Department?
Thank you. Next, we will move to the interview questions.
Interview Questions
I would like to begin by discussing the recruiting process at PCUPD.
1. I’m wondering if you could share a little about why you joined the organization and what
was it that drew you to PCUPD?
2. In your perspective, what is the value or importance of the recruitment process for the
organization? (K-metacognitive)
3. As you probably know, PCUPD is currently understaffed by at least 10 sworn officers.
Some would say sworn officers in the organization should help in recruiting sworn
officers. What would you say to this? (M-self-efficacy)
4. Why is recruiting sworn officers important to the organization? (K-metacognitive)
5. Why is recruiting sworn officers important to you? (K-metacognitive)
6. Can you describe the characteristics of the local population who are potential candidates
to serve on the police department? (K-declarative)
7. What do you think would motivate a Generation Z student to consider joining the police
department? (K-declarative)
8. What differences might there be, if any, between how you would approach recruiting
someone who is Generation Z as compared to a Millennial? (K-declarative)
9. Please describe what you think sworn officers’ roles should be in representing PCUPD as
sworn officer recruiters? (K-metacognitive)
10. What is your understanding of the recruiting process (K-procedural)
11. What role, if any, do you play in the recruitment process at PCUPD? (K-metacognitive)
12. What role do sworn officers play in the recruiting process? (K-metacognitive)
13. How would you [or do you] apply your own background and skills toward recruiting
sworn officers? (K-procedural)
14. What are the qualifications required to be a recruiter of sworn officers? (K-declarative)
15. How would you rate your current ability to be a recruiter of sworn officers? (M-self-
efficacy)
16. What do you believe you need to do to become qualified to recruit sworn officers for the
organization? (K-metacognitive)
17. Please tell me how becoming a qualified recruiter improves recruiting at the
organization? (K-declarative)
18. Why do you remain employed with the organization? (K-metacognitive)
19. How would you describe your degree of satisfaction with the organization?
20. What have you done to enhance your satisfaction with the organization? (M-
attributions)

162

The remaining questions will focus on your thoughts on organizational culture and ways the
organization may or may not prepare and support sworn officers in becoming active recruiters.

21. How would you describe your agency’s organizational culture as it relates to creating an
environment where sworn officers feel empowered to recruit sworn officers? (O-Model
1)
22. Please describe the organization’s willingness to involve sworn officers in the recruiting
process? (O-Model 1)
23. How does the organization’s current policies and procedures support sworn officers in
becoming recruiters? (O-Setting 2)
24. To what extent do you believe the organization values the ideas and concepts sworn
officers may have toward addressing recruiting sworn officers? (O-Model 2)
25. Do you believe if provided with ideas and strategies for recruiting sworn officers, the
organization would evaluate them for implementation? (O-Setting 1)
26. How would you characterize your level of trust in your organization’s ability to increase
the recruitment of sworn officers? (O-Setting 2)

In conclusion, is there anything you would like add to our conversation today that you believe
pertinent to this study?

Thank you

163

Appendix C
Document Analysis Protocol
PCUPD policies, procedures, and SOP’s for recruiting sworn officers:
1. What are the qualifications to become a sworn officer recruiter?
2. What are the policies and procedures in reference to recruiting sworn officers?
3. What are the laws pertaining to recruiting sworn officers?
4. Can PCUPD’s recruitment process be decentralized?

164

Appendix D
Evaluation Survey During Hiring Cycle

Rating: For questions 1-5 please use the
following scale.

Strongly disagree Strongly agree
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. I took responsibility for being fully
present and engaged in this program.
Comments:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. The pre-test aided in enhancing my
knowledge of hiring laws and
procedures.
Comments:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. Conversations with coaches and
mentors aided in my learning.
Comments:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. The skills checklist enhanced my
ability to apply new knowledge.
Comments:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. Check-ins with supervisor(s)
increased my confidence in applying
new skills.
Comments:

165

Instructions
· For questions 6-8 please provide a comment.:
6. How is this training important to the organization?
7. How will the post-test aid in your ability to apply new skills on the job?
8. Please share any additional comments you may have.

166

Appendix E
Evaluation Survey After Hiring Cycle

Instructions: Thinking about the course you completed 6 months ago, please indicate to
what degree you agree with each statement using this rating scale:

1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly Agree N/A

The course itself:

1. I was clear about the purpose of the course before I attended: 1 2 3 4 (N/A)

2. I was clear about what was expected of me after taking the course: 1 2 3 4 (N/A)

Comments:

________________________________________________________________________________________

Practical application

3. I am successfully applying what I learned in the course: 1 2
3 4 (N/A)

Comments:

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

4. If you answered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” to Question 3, what are the most
significant reason(s) (Check all that apply)

___My past experience

___The course itself

167

___Extra help from course instructors

___Help from my co-workers

___Help from my immediate supervisor

___A good system of accountability

___Formal or informal recognition for my efforts

___My own efforts and discipline to apply what I learned

___Referring back to the course materials

5. If you answered “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” to Question 3, what are the main
reasons? (check all that are true)

___What I learned is not useful for my job

___I have been told not to use it

___I don’t remember what I learned

___I have too many other things to do

___I got stuck and did not know how to find help

___It is too difficult to apply

___I have not been encouraged to apply it

___There are no incentives for me to apply it

Comments:__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________

168

Overall:

6. The course was a worthwhile use of my time
1 2 3 4 N/A
7. I am already seeing positive results from this course 1 2 3 4 N/A
8. I am expecting positive results from this course in the future 1 2 3 4 N/A
Comments:__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Despite progress made toward addressing sworn officer staffing shortages, sworn officers have not been made legitimate partners in reducing systemic sworn officer staffing shortages via recruitment from a diverse campus community. The purpose of this study was to reveal the knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO) influences that contribute to sworn officer understaffing at a relatively large southern California university police department. This study applies the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework to examine the performance gaps of sworn officers in achieving their goal of recruiting sworn officer candidates from the campus community. The stakeholder group for this qualitative study are currently employed sworn officers who hold various ranks (e.g., officer, sergeant, lieutenant) from a large university police department. The methodology applied by the researcher to investigate influences included interviews and document analysis. This study provides recommendations developed by utilizing the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The recommendations may assist organizational decision-makers with the implementation of recruitment strategies aimed at reducing sworn officer staffing shortages, via recruitment from a diverse campus community.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Gibson, Gawin Don (author)

Core Title Pacific Coast University Police Department sworn officer staffing shortages: a gap analysis

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 01/20/2021

Defense Date 11/16/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,sworn officer staffing

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Phillips, Jennifer (committee chair), Greenstein, Nancy (committee member), Seli, Helena (committee member)

Creator Email gdgibson@usc.edu,gibson@ucpd.ucla.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-416899

Unique identifier UC11673320

Identifier etd-GibsonGawi-9238.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-416899 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-GibsonGawi-9238.pdf

Dmrecord 416899

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Gibson, Gawin Don

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA