Shots Fired! Switching Between Practices in Police Work

Fast-response organizations are under increased scrutiny as to their ability to mount a timely and coordinated response to unexpected events. Our inductive study focuses on a high profile murder that occurred in Amsterdam in 2011 where a large multidisciplinary police team faced major coordination c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organization science (Providence, R.I.) R.I.), 2016-03, Vol.27 (2), p.391-410
Main Authors: Schakel, Jan-Kees, van Fenema, Paul C., Faraj, Samer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambiguity
Anxiety
Business enterprises
Challenges
Communications technology
Coordination
fast-response organizing
Interdisciplinary aspects
Murders & murder attempts
Police
practice theory
qualitative research
routines
Safety and security measures
Scrutiny
sensemaking
Surveillance
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Summary:Fast-response organizations are under increased scrutiny as to their ability to mount a timely and coordinated response to unexpected events. Our inductive study focuses on a high profile murder that occurred in Amsterdam in 2011 where a large multidisciplinary police team faced major coordination challenges and was unsuccessful in switching from the practice of surveillance to that of apprehension when their target was suddenly gunned down. Our analysis suggests that challenges related to relational ambiguity, knowledge flows, communications technology, team composition, and field obstructions, hindered the switching between practices under conditions of surprise and fast response. The paper offers a theoretical framework toward a greater understanding of the persistent coordination challenges that arise when a sudden switch from one practice to another becomes necessary. Our study contributes toward a greater understanding of practice performance and the social and material challenges related to switching between practices.
ISSN:1047-7039
1526-5455
DOI:10.1287/orsc.2016.1048