The perceptions of crime intelligence manager's on the organisational structure of the crime intelligence division of the South African Police Service.
Loading...
Date
2006
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The term' intelligence failure' has been coined in light of the so called '911' terrorist
attack on the United States of America. The general view of security experts is that
this catastrophe could have been prevented had there been an effective and
efficient homeland intelligence structure. This has subsequently led to a major
drive to reform the intelligence service in that country. This line of thought is now
beginning to manifest in South Africa with regard to the crime situation. In order to
combat crime effectively the police must be able to access qualitative expertise,
knowledge and an effective intelligence gathering capability, so that any challenge
or contingency may be addressed in an appropriate manner. The continual
availability or relevant and accurate crime intelligence is a crucial factor in
augmenting the effectiveness of the South African Police Service in executing and
fulfilling its functions and obligations. This has prompted the researcher to
investigate the perceptions that exist around the organizational structure of the
police's intelligence capability. The South African Police Services is organized into
a number of divisions that have been categorized along the principles of work
specialization. A survey based study was undertaken on the SAPS Crime
Intelligence Division. The main objective of the research project was to study the perceptions of Crime Intelligence Manager's on the organizational structure of Crime Intelligence with regard to the organizational strategy, authority relationships, co-ordination and control, resource utilization and training and skills
development, in respect of the matrix and divisional organizational structure. The
units of analysis were the forty three Area Heads of the Crime Intelligence
structure that have a countrywide spread. Two research question need to be
answered in this project. The first question attempted to determine what are the
perceptions of the Area heads with regard to the organizational structure
dimensions in respect of the matrix and divisional structure? The second question
related to whether there was a relationship between the biographical data and the
organizational structure dimensions? A total of thirty seven respondents comprised
the sample. A thirty eight item, questionnaire was used as the research instrument.
Category analysis by frequencies and percentages was conducted on the collected
data to establish common themes and trends. The results indicated that there is
overwhelming support for the divisional organizational structure. The matrix
structure was found to be the source of dysfunctions such as role conflict,
management confusion and frustration, conflicting authority relationships and poor
co-ordination and control processes. The cross tabulation of the biographical data
against the organizational structure dimensions and not reveal any significant
relationships between them, that could possibly underpin the choice of the
divisional organizational structure. The reasons advanced for this by the
researcher is largely centered on the homogeneous culture that pervades the organization. This culture has been postulated as the main determinant of the perceptions that are held by the Area heads on most fundamental issues, such as organizational structure. The researcher, nonetheless, recommends that this view be explored further in a future study.
Description
Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.
Keywords
Police administration--South Africa., Theses--Business administration.