Background
Many nation states reconsider cutting back the level of military that it has in regards to the budget it has allocated to its military. Cutbacks mean that the government rations on its military capability, and this helps to reduce money consumption in the government. Such cutbacks may not have an effect on the level of ability to join the task force, but it is mostly done in a way that does not violate the conditions of the military. The procedure of recruiting takes place in a very organized way, and this is because that is a sensitive department that demands adequate attention especially in knowing who to let go, and who to maintain in the troop (Brien, 2011).
Reduction of troops has been a procedure that has for a long time been taking shape in the police force, and this is also to ensure that the military remains with capable police force that can handle the tasks effectively and ensure that they are fit to work in the military. Reducing troops ensures that the few soldiers left are competitive and keen on achieving the goals and achievements of the army (Pentagon to reduce troops and cut spending , 2012). In such cases, it is easy to carry out planning activities and cater for all the soldiers in every way that they may need. In addition, it will be easier to deal with the various financial incentives and enable other soldiers or men in the army to get promotions and get other additional benefits while serving in the army (Tice, 2011).
Leaders in the police force have a mandate of ensuring that they reduce the troops in order to motivate their fellow workforce so that they can make them feel at ease with their work. Every department in the police force is determined to ensuring that members of the organization receive the right training as well as getting professional advice regarding their job. This is to make them operate in a proficient manner that is required by the police department as well as ensure that they mentor their taskforce. Police get counseled regarding their tasks, and this is to make them feel that their efforts are being appreciated as well as ensure that top managers support the success of their projects (Guina, 2012). Leaders in the police department are expected to be highly educated, possess a high degree of professionalism, as well have the skills necessary to ensure that police officers get adequately motivated, as well as ensure that they are highly equipped to deal with difficult situations. This one thing makes the task force to be reduced because; leaders have the mandate to look at committed members of the troop, and those who are weak, and cannot go on with their tasks in the force. Leaders have to ensure that they generate effective decision-making, communicate effectively with members, as well as make sure that the police departments adequately handle change and innovation. There are several ways of ensuring that troops get comfortable with their reduction rate, and ensuring that they do not cause any problems to the army as general due to facing reduction. This involves generating talks with them to assist them to maintain calmness in their situation.
Formal Mentoring
Formal mentoring is usually a fundamental relationship that involves getting a more experienced individual mentoring and talking to workers on how to improve the performance of the organization. A mentor supports an individual with a problem by being more supportive, offering solutions to problems identified as well as being supportive when challenges arise. Formal mentoring programs have emerged, and they have taken a keen shape in many organizations, which see the need for having mentors act as advisors to people who work in such organizations. Military troops have seen the results of embracing formal mentoring, which promotes success and improving communication strategies among members in the same or different departments.
Formal mentoring provides high competence among members and research has shown that it reduces work related stress among workers, especially the police force. Many workers have positive attitudes towards their duties, and this is because mentors ensure that workers get committed to their duties and their careers in their organizations. Positive performance among workers has been noted because of formal mentoring services, and this makes the task force maintain the will to work as well as make them feel contended with their work (Doughlas, 1997). Formal mentoring programs establish their tasks with the objectives of the organization, where there are specified levels of programs that work for different individuals. Mentoring programs in the military involves mentoring workers in their early days in the military, which is aimed at making police force feel comfortable in their duties. Such mentoring programs are divided in accordance with the sex of individuals, and women receive such training differently from the men. In most military academies, most of the police officers receive mentoring services and most of the mentoring is psychological. Formal mentoring services have been embraced by most organizations, and this is to make the organization produce efficient work through its employees.
Informal Mentoring
In many instances, people find it easy to talk to their friends and relatives other than displaying their problems to other guiding councilors. People talk to their friends who try to make their problems and challenges go away, and this may make their frustrations disappear. Friends are in a more central position, to offer suggestive assistance to their friends with a problem, and this makes such people consider options that may be helpful (Friday, 2002). Many people like to conversations or relationships that supportive, and they provide encouragements to their peers with problems. Many people do not plan to talk to their friends regarding their problems and their talks happen by chance or a mere coincidence. Informal mentoring occurs when there is no sense of a formal discussion among people, and in such cases, discussions take place in an informal manner.
Informal mentoring services does not follow a format or a process, and in most cases, conversations are always unplanned. In informal mentoring services, it does not deal with career guidance as fulfillment of a lifetime goal, but there is more to professionalism and knowing how to deal with situations that can help to encourage and deal with situations. Basic skills are used in informal mentoring services, and executive leadership is used in such circumstances. The best way to handle such a situation is to ensure that a leader understands the necessity of listening to problems that people may have, and especially the police force, which have problems that only affect them. People often choose to get into informal forms of mentoring services, which they feel comfortable with, and this is in the sense that informal mentoring services produces long term benefits to people with problems. Informal mentoring services has been found to have benefits on the task force, and mentoring process demands that an individual be comfortable with the mentor they choose to trust. Potential leaders possess integral components of an effective development programs, and this is to ensure basic skill development, and input the right psychological mentoring services to people who are troubled, especially the police force.
3600 feedback
Mentoring in 3600 involves assessing leaders to make them develop effective skills that help them get the possible leadership qualities. In this sense, it is always necessary to equip leaders with possible skills to make them look at the strengths and weaknesses of their employees, and this is to improve their knowledge of performances. Mentoring using this model includes getting feedbacks that assist in developing a strong rapport between employees. Every mentor should have the right information and skills required to handle and deal with their employees, and this involves having the necessary information to understand workers. Mentors are always equipped with information, to enable them handle and solve their workers’ problems, and this means that developing feedback from the people they mentor.
This form of mentoring boosts the success of an organization, and this is aimed at improving the performances of an organization. In most cases, a mentor had to have the right knowledge to help employees grow especially personally, which leads to adequate development of their personal productivity. There needs to have a positive relationship between employees and their mentors, so that there can be enhanced relationships between these two principles. In most case, this form of mentoring services involves increasing the productivity to increase the turnover of the organization. This form of service provides effective manager-employee relationship, and this includes the relationship that drops down from top managers to the least paid employee. Police force needs this form of relationship, and this is because they need that form of unity to help them in their task. Police force should be united at all times, and they should ensure that they maintain their relationship to the last bit. In this case, police officers need mentoring to enable them to have the right knowledge to curb any form of psychological distress that may be felt among them. When this happens, members of the same force continue sharing similar information, which is vital to their performances, and this has to be initiated by mentors in the department.
Research need
Law enforcers have the mandate of ensuring that they maintain effective leadership among the police force. In such cases, they have to keep up with the hardships that they encounter in their daily tasks, and this includes developing a culture that is suitable and convenient for every police officer. An effective law enforcer needs to ensure that he conducts an analysis of troop members to be retrenched, which is aimed at generating right decisions for task (Bennet, 2010). Leaders in the task force with the mandate of cutting down troops must have the required knowledge on every police force because; without such information and knowledge, he cannot deal with complications that can arise after the retrenchment process. A law enforcing body has to have effective management to ensure proper leadership. There cannot be leadership without having to start at the apex of the pyramid, where leaders ensure that they maintain proper management among them.
Law enforcers are faced with the problem of motivation whereby they do not know ways of motivating members of the police force. In such a case, lack of proper knowledge on how to motivate the workers make them not be in a position, to handle and deal with problems that may arise among them, and this is due to the fact that they are not properly equipped to make their employees have the will to work. This has been seen to have an effect on the drop out of troops from the military, as well as having the military feel like they do not count in the task police force.
Effective leadership involves being in a position to communicate with the enforcers to gain trust among them. There are many organizations that fail to deliver due to terrible communication traits among them where an effective leader should have the will and have the morale, to effectively communicate with their task force. This is in regards to explaining to them the reasons behind their cut down, and when they is effective communication between the two parties, troops can be able to know the reasons behind the drop out decision.
Knowing how to communicate with the members of the police force is a vital strategy, as far as management of law enforcers is concerned, and this is because police force has to have various individuals to communicate to. The military need to be talked to prior to their drop out and this is to prepare them psychologically for the difficult decision that should be made. In such a case, troops need to know the reasons behind their drop out and this is to make them feel comfortable with the decision made by the senior army managers.
The Nature of study
The rationale of the study is to identify the effect of troop reduction in the army, and how these reductions affect the whole army in general. The body needs to have many strategies that can make it stand out from other law making bodies, and this is by looking at the best strategies that can be applied by the army in Washington State to ensure that all possible problems that may arise due to reduction of troops is dwelt with. This will involve ensuring that the law enforcers maintain their tasks and that they work to enhance the performance of their organizations. Establishing best practices that can be applied by law enforcers has to begin with looking at the possible problems that can hinder adequate achievement of goals in the police department especially after the cut down process, and this is to generate solutions to problems that may arise due to this task.
The data collection method will involve the use of questionnaires, which will work as the best method, to collect data. There will be a sample population of 50 participants from the army where they will be anticipated to abide by the instructions in the questionnaire. The questionnaire will have both open and closed queries, which is aimed at giving the participants ample time to express their views regarding the effects of reduction of military troops. The open questions will include giving participants time to express their views, and also give them time to express their views on the matter. People who are familiar with the law enforcing bodies will distribute the questionnaires, and this is to make the task force see the need to answer questions that they are asked by the interviewer.
After the completion of the questionnaires, they will be collected and taken back for analysis, and this will involve checking how many questionnaires were taken for data collection, and how many were returned by participants. The information in the questionnaires will be used for analysis after which they will be used to make recommendations and conclusions, regarding the issue of improving the performance of law enforcers. The study will come up with what should be done in further research, and this should act as guidance on what future researchers should do when they are faced by such a problem.
Definitions
Military reserve force
It is an organization in the military that comprises of citizens of a nation who combine their military powers and roles, and they are mainly used as a tool to mobilize the police force into getting in wars.
Best Practices
This is a method that is used by most organizations, and they are used as a benchmark, to check certain standards that ensure the improvement of an organization’s performances. In most case, organizations demand that department s follow set rules, which are aimed at making certain that the work force remains in line with the organization’s objectives. Organizations use best practice to check quality performances in a company, and this is to ensure the task force follows standards.
Military Force
This refers to members of the law enforcing body that are used to conserve law and order in states. In most cases, they are referred to as police officers or cops. This is a general name that is given to the police force, and they are mostly given their ranks in accordance with their job performances. They mostly deal with criminals and detain people who go against the stated laws alongside other duties.
Psychosocial support
This addresses the problems that people may have which may make them not to deliver in their job performances. They are mostly offered this service when they get distressed by the decision of being cut down from the military, and this is to help them refrain from getting involved in other problems that can hinder the performances of the army. In most cases, professionals offer the support, or a friend or a close relative who can be trusted can do the support.
Leadership development programs
These are programs that help in assisting people to improve their psychosocial development. Such programs are offered in many organizations, and this is to assist workers have a place to air their grievances. In most case, these programs assist to mentor workers, and this is to make them continue offering their quality services in the organization. Leadership development programs try to find ways of improving the performance of its work force, and this is by ensuring that their leaders go through all the mentoring programs that are needed to ensure their survival in the organization.
Assumptions
The research was supported on the basic presumptions that using a questionnaire would help in collecting data, which would be used to identify problems that arise due to military reduction as well as generating ways of promoting effective practices in the organization.
The sample population of Washington Sate was large enough, and information gathered would enable effective collection and data analysis, which would help in analyzing the data and coming up with possible conclusions.
The research would benefit law enforcers in the future in helping them to generate with possible answers to the problems they may encounter, and this will help in solving future problems. The solutions to the identified problems will assist law-enforcing organizations in knowing how to deal with future problems, and knowing how to ensure that no problems arise after troops face a reduction.
Research questions
The research will be directed by a series of questions, which are aimed at making it successful. The questions will address possible areas that are affected by a reduction of troops in the military, and the findings will be used to investigate what can be done to solve such problems in the military. Such questions will include;
1. What are the possible effects of reduction of military troops from the army
2. What can be done to handle issues that may arise due to such a reduction?
3. How can the law enforcers work in line with management, to ensure that their interests are paid much attention to?
4. How can effective leadership development be ensured among the law enforcers to ensure that the military gets fair dismissal?
Methodology
The methodology of the research will include a review of the literature, which will encompass having a look at the past records in the literature that may have useful information, which can guide the study. This will include using the records of law enforcement professionals that reduce the effects of reduction of troops in the military.
The questionnaire will generate its questions from the review of the literature, where the aim is to identify best practices in the law enforcement leadership development that can be applied, by organizations to ensure that troops understand the necessity of their reduction.
50 troops in the Washington state military service will be used, who will act as a sample population and the information gathered from them will be used to generalize. The sample population will be used to generalize information from all other army troops, and the aim is to make the gathered information act as a conclusion to the problems noted.
There will be testing of the questionnaires, to check for validity and reliability of the information in the questionnaires, and this is to check how reliable they can be to come up with generalizations.
Individuals who carry out the research will do issuing of the questionnaires personally, and this will also mean that they will have to be personally collected. These questionnaires will be administered to State Association of Sheriffs and senior armies because; they are the most convenient people to provide the information required.
The questionnaire will be effectively analyzed, where it will involve the use of a professional analysis or a computerized analysis, to come up with adequate data for the results. Information gathered will be stored in a personal computer where the safety of the data will be safeguarded, as well as ensure that no unauthorized information is released to the public. There will also involve backing up the information by storing it in a back up file, and this is to make certain that all the data received is well maintained and that if deleted from the original file, it can be retrieved back. The analysis of the information in the questionnaires will involve descriptive analysis, which is aimed at generating the required information.
All the analysis will be used to form recommendations and possible conclusions for research, and this is because after testing the validity, of the information gathered, the researcher will be in a place, to form conclusions based on the information received. In this case, it is vital that all the information in the questionnaire be effectively analyzed, which will make it easy to come up with generalizations.
Plan for Review of Literature
Key Words
Literature review will encompass identifying various terms that will be used to create meaning to the research. Such terms will include law enforcement leadership, military reduction, leadership development in the military, planning for troop reduction and secession. Defining and finding meaning to these terms will guide the research, and this will act as a basis to identifying the effects of troop reduction in the military.