The Police Journal/2008, Volume 81/Issue 2, June/Articles/Linking Police Culture, Leadership and Partnership-Working - PJ 81 2 (111) Police Journal PJ 81 2 (111) 1 June 2008 Linking Police Culture, Leadership and Partnership-Working Geoff Coliandris Former Police Inspector; Lecturer in Police Sciences, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd Colin Rogers Senior Lecturer, Centre for Police Sciences, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd © Vathek Publishing, 2008 The police organisation is undergoing substantial change to satisfy the diverse demands placed upon it. In order for it to be successful in implementing these changes, police leaders need to understand that this change will take place within a police culture and that this complex entity will inevitably have an impact on working relations with partner organisations. Exploring and understanding concepts such as the police organisational culture, the difference between multi- and inter-agency partnership working, and how leadership is affected by and also affects these concepts is an important area if change is to be successfully introduced. Keywords: culture; leadership; partnerships; police Introduction The Police Leadership Qualities Framework (PLQF) document 'Leading for Those We Serve' observes: Leaders need to build and shape an organisational culture in which rank-and-file officers are not left feeling alienated by the conflict of objectives that their work may impose. (Centrex, 2006: 11) It also highlights the demanding nature of modern policing and the complexities of multi-agency approaches to community safety. For the PLQF, it is vital that police leadership understands that police work takes place within particular contexts, be they constitutional, legal, the public sector, the nature of police work itself or the psychological and ethical context. For Morgan (1986), 'Organizations are mini-societies that have their own distinctive patterns of culture and subculture' (121). This reinforces the idea of uniqueness and the need to situate any understanding of culture within particular social, historical and other contexts. A number of commentators on contemporary policing highlight the changing contexts of policing in what might be termed late-modern societies such as the UK. 'Old certainties' are seen to be swept away as 'the global' and 'the local' come together, sometimes in uncertain and unpredictable ways, producing a demand for new kinds of services and fresh outlooks on emerging problems. Page 1