Background: Many of the same forces that have reshaped America's industrial sector are now forcing public organizations through a similar transformation. To help them adapt to a changing environment, corporations used (and invented) concepts like reengineering, socio-technical systems redesign, lean production, strategic planning, and total quality management. However, because of the complex environments in which public organizations exist, many of these strategies cannot be easily adapted under real life conditions.

Purpose and Method: This course aims to help students understand how and why theories of organizational change may, or may not, be transferable from the private sector to public organizations. The focus of the course is on one large public institution--the Los Angeles Police Department--which is navigating its way through wrenching changes. Students will learn how the LAPD exists as part of a larger system that makes it difficult to implement piecemeal efforts at change. Through readings, classroom discussion, interviews, and briefings by top LAPD officials and former LAPD Chiefs, students will begin to develop a systems perspective of organizational change. Meetings with key stakeholders (members of the Mayor's Office, City Council members, and members of the Police Commission) will help students understand how the LAPD exists in interdependent relationships with other parts of the larger system. By analyzing how changes in the environment affect the LAPD's operations, and how the LAPD's operation in turn affect its environment, students will begin to construct their own "systems theory" of organizational change.

Requirements: Students will be required to attend each of ten class meetings held at UCLA or in the field (off-campus meeting places will be announced at the first class meeting) and will be expected to participate in class discussions. Students will also be required to make final presentations that draw on readings, experiences in the class, and their own past experiences, on a "systems theory" of organizational change. Official Negligence, by Lou Cannon (Times Books, Random House, 1998), will be required as general background reading.

1. Introduction (April 7, 1998):

In the first class meeting after introductions, Professor Wilms and Chief Gascon will provide an overview of the course, describe plans for the quarter, and explain course requirements. Chief Gascon will provide a general briefing on the LAPD and its history. We will also finalize the issues around which the discussions will revolve during the following weeks.

2. The Los Angeles Police Department and its Environment

(April 14, 1998):

The second class will meet at the LAPD's Headquarters at Parker Center for a detailed briefing on the LAPD. Briefings will cover the Department's history, core work processes, organizational structure, culture, and its management style. Briefings will also describe the Department's environment, key stakeholders, and how their demands affect the Department. We will also discuss the Department's recent attempt at strategic planning and its result. Former Chief Daryl Gates will join us for a discussion of his years with the Department.

Reading: Lou Cannon, Official Negligence, 1998, (pp 1-120)

Independent Commission, 1991 (pp 1-27, 95-106, 181- 228)

Los Angeles Police Department, Major Cities Chiefs' Conference, February 1998

Commitment to Action, LAPD, 1995

Guest: Daryl Gates, Former Chief, LAPD

3. From Practice to Theory: Building a Framework to Understand the LAPD and its Environment (April 21, 1998):

The third meeting, at UCLA, will begin with a discussion of students' experiences to date, and their perceptions of the LAPD and how a complex public organization interprets its environment and adapts. Commander Zimmon, who managed the Department's efforts at strategic planning and community policing, will provide students with insights about how this planning and implementation actually unfolded. Chief Gascon will continue the class briefing on the Department and its most recent goal-setting. Later in the class, Professor Wilms will help students develop a theoretical framework with which to interpret experiences and personalities of actors. Students will select topics for presentations.

Reading: Official Negligence, (pp. 121-526)

Draper L. Kauffman, Jr., "What is a System," Systems One, Future Systems, 1980

Wellford Wilms, Restoring Prosperity, Times Books, Random House, New York (1996), Chapters 2 and 15.

Guest: Commander Garrett Zimmon, Transit Group

4. Changes in the Environment: The Christopher

Commission and the Riots of 1992 (April 28, 1998)

This session will help students understand the complexity of public environments and how stakeholders (many with conflicting interests) shape public policy. Through reading chapters of Official Negligence, the Christopher Commission Report, discussions with invited guests, and LAPD officials, students will understand how environmental changes affect public policy, and how changes in policy alter the operation of a large public agency like the LAPD. Students will also come to understand the powerful role played by the media in shaping public opinion in the policy-making, and policy-implementing processes.

Reading: Independent Commission, 1991 (pp. 29-91)

Guests: Merrick Bobb, former staff member of the Christopher Commission

Jim Newton, reporter, Los Angeles Times

Stanley Sheinbaum, former president, Los Angeles Police

Commission

5. Transforming the LAPD (May 5, 1998)

This session, necessarily out of chronological sequence, will examine changes in the Department since the appointment of Chief Bernard Parks, including the "fast track" crime tracking system, the reorganization, and their budgetary implications. Discussion with Chief Parks will allow students to understand how this Chief interprets the environment, including the Christopher Commission recommendations, and his own beliefs and assumptions about how change is actually effected.

Reading: Bernard Parks, "The State of Community Policing," Management Paper No. 1, Los Angeles Police Department, October 15, 1997

John E. Eck, "Helpful Hints for the Tradition-Bound Chief," Police Executive Research Forum, June 1992

Guest: Bernard Parks, Chief, LAPD

6. Curbing the Use of Excessive Force (May 12, 1998)

In this session we will trace the impact of the Christopher Commission through the Police Commission into the operation of the Department itself. Students will see how public policy, expressed through the City Charter and the Christopher Commission, is translated within the organization and how conflicts are resolved. The class will discuss issues of civilian oversight, charter reform, and the role of the media.

Reading: Independent Commission, (pp: 29-94)

George L. Kelling, "How to Run a Police Department," City Journal, Fall, 1995, pp.-34-45

Guest: Edith Perez, President, Los Angeles Police Commission

7. The Politics of Community Policing (May 19, 1998)

One of the Christopher Commission findings was that the Department needed to undergo a fundamental transformation from a traditional style of policing, to one that is more responsive to its community and citizens' perceived needs. This session will trace the impact of this recommendation by following key issues surrounding community policing through the Mayor's office, City Council and Police Commission.

Reading: Dennis P. Rosenbaum and Arthur J. Lurigio, "An Inside Look at Community Policing Reforms," Crime and

Delinquency, Vol. 40, No. 3, July 1994 (pp. 299-314)

Official Negligence, (pp. 527-606)

Guest: Joe Gunn, Los Angeles Mayor's Office

8. Implementing Community Policing (May 26, 1998)

This session will examine the impact of the policy changes on the Department as Chief Willie Williams took over from Daryl Gates in June, 1992. Chief Williams will describe his interpretation of the policy mandate for community policing, steps he took to implement it, and responses from policy leaders and the Department itself.

Reading: Willie L. Williams, Taking Back Our Streets, Scribner, New

York (1996), pp. 207-274.

Guest: Willie L. Williams, former Chief, LAPD

9. Transforming Policies into Practice (June 2, 1998)

We will travel to the Hollenbeck Area (2111 E. First Street, Los Angeles) where students will have the chance to meet with commanding officer, Captain Tom Moselle, supervisors and patrol officers in a heavily Latino, low-income area, with a large number of gangs but low crime rates. Professor Wilms, and his partner USC Professor Warren Schmidt, will report on their interim findings on the LAPD.

Reading: In the Course of Change: The Los Angeles Police Department Five Years after the Christopher Commission, Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, May 30, 1996

Wellford Wilms and Warren Schmidt, Community Policing in the LAPD, Interim Report to the National Institute of Justice, 1997 (forthcoming)

Guests: Captain Tom Moselle, Commanding Officer, Hollenbeck Area

Professor Warren Schmidt, School of Public Administration, USC

10. Discussion and Synthesis (June 9, 1998)

This final session will be set aside to debrief about the experiences from the past nine weeks and to analyze and synthesize what we have learned. In this last session we will return to the original theme of the course to examine concepts and theories that may apply to public organizations in a changing environment.

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