Proposal
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Introduction
A police officer’s ability to make quick, life-changing decisions can determine his or her
survival. Whether the officer is directing traffic or facing a homicide suspect, an officer’s
decision could end in tragedy. Tulsa Police Officers complete months of training before ever
working patrol situations. This training provides the officer with the skills and knowledge to
make the most appropriate, safest decision available. Often, an officer’s actions are debated in
court. The officer and his or her employer may be held liable for their actions.
Recent events, such as the active shooters at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, provide examples of just how law enforcements’
ability or inability to decide a course of action can result in lives saved or lost. Although officers
participate in a considerable amount of training, there have been few studies to determine if the
training and education an officer possesses helps that officer make effective decisions.
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
Mike Hulderman Ph.D. (2003) studied the decision-making styles of police officers in
2003. Dr. Hulderman considered how the concept of Community Policing placed officers into
more direct contact with the community. Since officers were in such frequent contact with their
community, he wondered if an officer’s decision-making style would affect their ability to
employ the concepts of community policing. Dr. Hulderman sought to discover how officers
made their decisions. Dr. Hulderman stated, “For community policing to be successful, the
police will need to comprehensively embrace new ideas and new ways of learning to be dynamic
decision makers when approaching problem-solving situations” (p. 1).
The purpose of Dr. Hulderman’s (2003) study was to, “describe the decision-making
styles and learning strategies of full-time police officers in the context of the current era of
Proposal
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community policing” (p. 20). To examine how officers “embrace new ideas and new ways of
learning to be dynamic decision makers” Dr. Hulderman considered the theories of decisionmaking, adult learning, learning strategies and learning styles.
Decision Making Styles
People usually revert to a dominant process by which they arrive at a decision. This
process is known as a decision-making style. “Decision making style has been defined as ‘a
habitual pattern individuals use in decision making’ (Driver, 1979) or individuals’ characteristic
mode of perceiving and responding to decision-making tasks” (Harren 1979). Scott and Bruce
(1995) defined decision-making style as, “the learned, habitual response pattern exhibited by an
individual when confronted with a decision situation.” “Driver, Brousseau and Hunsaker (1990)
posited that decision-making style is defined by the amount of information gathered and the
number of alternatives considered when making a decision, although others suggests that it refers
to differences in the way individuals make sense of the data they gather” (Scott, Bruce).
Vincent Harren, considered the creator of the decision-making styles model, studied the
process college students use to decide which career to choose. This became known as the model
of career decision-making style. Harren identified three styles of decision-making: dependent,
rational and intuitive. The people with the dependent style seemed to prefer to make their
decision based on information from another source. In other words, their decision was
“dependent” upon additional information, other people, and other factors (Hulderman, 2003, p.
4).
The rational style indicated that the decision maker tended to take a logical approach.
These people may use tools such as a T-chart or some other method of logically determining a
Proposal
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decision. The intuitive style indicated that these decision makers relied upon feelings or intuition.
They thought that making decisions based on a “gut” feeling was appropriate.
Many other models have been used since but the one that this author will examine is the
one developed by Dr. Hulderman. Dr. Hulderman studied the decision-making styles of police
officers. He used the survey created by Harren, the General Decision Making Styles (GDMS).
Using a series of cluster analyses, Hulderman discovered four, rather than three, distinct clusters.
Rather than offer behaviorally descriptive names of the clusters, Hulderman named the four
styles after four fictional law enforcement officers: Marshall Matt Dillon, Lieutenant Columbo,
Sheriff Andy Taylor, and Sergeant Joe Friday.
The decision-making characteristics of the Marshall Dillon style were, “police officers
who believe impulsive decisions are occasionally okay but postponing decision making should
be avoided” (Hulderman, p. 144). Those possessing Columbo’s decision-making style could be
described as those who believe that, “impulsive decisions are occasionally okay and postponing
decision making may sometimes be necessary” (Hulderman, p. 144). The Sheriff Andy Taylor
style seemed to believe that impulsive decisions should be avoided and trusting one’s inner
feelings and instincts is good” (Hulderman, p. 144). The style of those with the Sergeant Joe
Friday style would be an officer who believed that “impulsive decisions should be avoided and
trusting their inner feeling and instincts should be avoided” (Hulderman, p. 145).
Proposal
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Diagram of the Hulderman Model of Decision Making:
Impulsive Decisions
Should be Avoided
Are Occasionally
Okay if Inner Feelings
Tell Me to Go With
Them
Postponing
Decision Making
Should be Avoided
Marshall Dillon
May Sometimes
Be Necessary
Trusting Your
Inner Feelings
and Instincts
Lieutenant
Columbo
Is Generally Good
in Decision Making
Modified from Hulderman’s
Dissertation, Decision-making Styles
and Learning Strategies of Police
Officers: Implications for Community
Policing (2003).
Sheriff Andy
Taylor
Should Generally
be Avoided
Sergeant Joe
Friday
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Adult Learning
The concept of andragogy is the idea that adults continue their learning throughout their
lifetime. The idea has been debated by many philosophers of education. Malcolm Knowles
coined the phrase and determined that it is education beyond the formal college education.
Grubbs (1981) stated, “It has come to mean an educational mode in which the teacher is viewed
as a facilitator of learning. Students are perceived to be self-directed. The relationship between
teacher and student is personal and trusting. The climate for learning is informal and
collaborative” (pp. 5-6).
Central to the idea of andragogy is the focus on the learner. Knowles (1970) stated, “the
behavior of the teacher probably influences the character of the learning climate more than any
other single factor” (p.42). Conti and Kolody (1999) wrote:
Contributing factors that govern this learning may be the student’s past experiences,
content meaningful to the individual learner, willingness to become involved with the
subject matter, and the set of “tools” that the student possesses to enhance learning.
Therefore, to facilitate a truly successful adult learning experience, a teacher must
skillfully direct the focus away from the role instructor and toward that of the learner” (p.
5).
Learning Strategies and Styles
Conti and Kolody (1999) issued the “Guide for Using ATLAS” as a model of assessing
the learning strategies of adults. These authors write extensively about learning strategies and
learning styles. Quoting Keefe (1982), “Learning styles are cognitive, affective, and
physiological traits that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact
with, and respond to the learning environment” (p. 7). Conti and Kolody (1999) go on to define
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learning strategies as, “the techniques or skills that an individual elects to use in order to
accomplish a learning task. They differ from learning style in that they are techniques rather than
stable traits and they are selected for a specific task” (pp. 7-8).
Transfer of Training
According to the article by Yarmnill and McLean (2001), Theories Supporting Transfer of
Training, three components must be present for learning to translate into behavior or
performance:
1. One must be motivated to transfer or change,
2. There must be an appropriate design of the transfer, and;
3. There must be an organizational climate that is conducive to creating transfer.
Burke and Hutchins (2007) updated and expanded upon the transfer model. In this model,
there are several factors that affect both learning and transfer of knowledge and/or skills from
training. Transfer leads to performance change. Change that hopefully reflects the desired
training outcomes.
Proposal
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Lim and Morris (2007) state,
From a comprehensive review of literature, Baldwin and Ford developed a
training transfer construct composed of trainees’ characteristics (ability and
aptitudes, personality, and motivation) and work environment variables
(supportive organizational climate, discussion with supervisor, opportunity to use
knowledge and skills, and posttraining goal setting and feedback) that may
support transfer of training. This model explains the transfer process in three
phases: (1) training input factors, (2) training outcomes, and (3) conditions of
transfer. Training input factors include training design, trainee characteristics, and
work environment characteristics. Training outcomes refer to the amount of
original learning that occurs during a training program and the retention of the
learning after the training program is completed. In conditions of transfer, both
Proposal
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the generalization of learning to the job context and maintenance of the learned
material over a period of time on the job influence the transfer process.
Statement of the Problem
The Hulderman study of the decision-making styles of police officers involved surveying
150 police officers from in and around the area of southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas,
northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. The officers were all attending a continuing
education course titled, “Law Enforcement Ethics and Professionalism.” “The sample consisted
of 150 full-time police officers” (Hulderman, 2003, p. 98). This is a very small sample to
establish validity.
The study did not compare the decision-making styles according to level of education or
experience of the officer. Without this knowledge, it is impossible to determine if the decisionmaking styles of the 150 participants corresponded to education level, length of service, or any
other demographic factor.
This study will survey police officers employed by the Tulsa Police Department. Many of
the officers surveyed have completed the Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) course.
These officers hold a variety of positions within the department. In order to attend this training,
the officers must be Field Training Officers or supervisors. These are positions, which have
authority over others and, therefore, are called upon to lead.
Epistemology
Crotty (1998) defines the objectivist epistemology as one, “that holds meaning, and
therefore meaningful reality, exists as such apart from the operation of any consciousness” (p. 8).
One of the view’s of the objectivist epistemology is known as Post-positivism. Post-positivism
contends that the truth exists but it may be impossible to rule out all other influences on the truth.
Proposal
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The post-positive research does not pretend to find absolute truth; rather, it seeks to find the
probability of truth. Since the post-positive study seeks the probability of truth, it lends itself to
surveying a large enough number of participants to determine statistical significance. This
quantifiable research provides a large enough sample and sufficient analysis of factors, that one
could draw the conclusion that there is a significant probability of influence. This means that the
survey method of research is necessary for this particular post-positive research. These opinions
provide the data, which provide the probability.