Introduction
The position of a public information officer working for a police precinct entails a combination of journalism, communication and police work in order to properly disseminate information to the general public which can consist of a variety of important announcements that may impact their safety in the near future.
It is based on this that this paper will examine what is necessary to hold such a position, what its necessary methods of evaluation and what can be done in order to encourage employee performance.
While proper training can create an adequate employee, however, it is methods of organization development that will create a satisfied employee that will do their job spectacularly.
Job Description
The general duty of a public information officer is to communicate information deemed relevant by the department to the general public especially in cases involving special incidents (i.e. natural disasters, terrorism, or a serial killer on the loose).
The following are a list of the general duties associated with this particular type of job:
- Conducts publicity and informational activities (Clapper, 2010)
- Assists with community training and education activities (Clapper, 2010)
- Assists with the coordination of the district’s use of community service volunteers (Intercity, 3)
- Regularly reports to the district manager and fire chief (Clapper, 2010)
- Follows district ordinances and policies
As for the number of hours required for this particular position it must be noted that events never truly stop and that they can happen at any time (Education Portal, N.A.).
Due to this, a public information officer has to be ready to immediately work 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.
On the other hand the job does entail normal working hours (9 to 5) and as such can be considered average in terms of the degree of time pressure levied on people within this particular job type.
History of the career
In terms of the relative “age” of this particular career choice it must be noted that it was only created within the past few decades as a response towards the necessity of interacting with the general public and the media regarding various cases and aspects of police work.
As such, this particular career type is specialized to the extent that its capacity is one where accuracy of the information given must be taken into consideration on a daily basis while at the same time applying sufficient prudence in terms of giving only what’s appropriate (i.e. not starting a panic within the general population).
Recruiting Plan
On average there is approximately 1 public relations officer for each precinct and as such the number of people currently employed in this particular career field can be approximated by the number of police precincts currently in operation within the U.S.
Of particular interest is the fact that various reports examining job growth for this particular type of career path have emphasized that the number of public information officers is expected to grow by at least 24% within the upcoming years and as such is indicative of the relative importance of the position.
When it comes to the qualifications of workers for this particular job it must be noted that there is no precise sex, age, or physical requirement rather individuals who pursue this particular career path merely have to have a bachelors degree in an appropriate field such public relations, journalism or marketing (Frederick, 1).
Thus a recruiting plan for this particular strategy would consist of an initial internal evaluation of officers within a particular precinct in order to determine whether any had previous media related experience or had taken up a journalism/communications/media related course while in college.
If I find that the local precinct lacks candidates an external search of other precincts will be accomplished to see whether they may possess the type of candidate I am look for.
In the instance that such a search yields no viable candidates, it is only then that an external method of recruitment will be implemented wherein the usual ads placed in classifieds or online job listings will be utilized.
In order to get the right kind of candidate for the job the classified ads will specify that only candidates who prior experience in media/public relations will be accepted in conjunction with an education profile that suits the needs of the job.
Furthermore, the job description will indicate the rigors that the candidates will encounter on the job which should help to discourage all but the most adamant workers for the position.
Selection Strategy
The selection strategy will consist of examining which of the applications received show candidates with the right amount of experience and education for this particular type of position.
Ideally the candidate should have 3 years prior experience in public relations/communications or a media related position where they have to process and disseminate important information on a daily basis.
Furthermore the candidate must have a college degree that emphasizes some level of public communication, this can be waived though if the candidate shows that they have accumulated enough relevant experience in public communications to be able to the job as needed.
Once a select group of candidates has been determined from the number of the applications they will all be invited for preliminary interviews in order to determine their overall level of compatibility for the job.
During the interview what will be examined is their communication skills, their ability to properly create detailed explanations with limited data as well as their interpersonal relation skills.
This is to weed out individuals that may have the necessary knowledge and experience to the job but lack the necessary skills to be able to carry it out to the degree that is necessary.
After the preliminary interview has been concluded, the candidates that have passed the first stage will be asked to come in for a test to confirm the skills noted in their resume.
This will consist of a series of written and case based examinations meant to determine how they work under pressure and the methods they would utilize in order to do the job properly.
It is expected that after going through the various interview and testing procedures a viable candidate should emerge that will be able to do the job adequately.
Job Performance Evaluation
One of the bet methods of evaluating an individual’s performance is to utilize solid data and metrics to determine whether they are accomplishing the job in the way that they are meant to.
While a public information specialist position may appear to have relatively few instances where metrics can be applied this is not necessarily so. The first metric to be applied in this particular type of position would be the rate of information dissemination.
This takes the form of how long it takes for information sent to the employee to be edited, reviewed and then sent to the necessary parties in order for the information to be properly communicated.
What you have to understand is that the information that normally passes through this position normally consists of emergency broadcasts, crucial updates, announcements regarding criminals within the vicinity as well as a plethora of other types of information deemed important to the public at large.
The longer the information is retained the more likely that the lives of local residents will be adversely impacted and as such it is important to process and distribute the information as fast as possible. The second metric that will be necessary for this particular position is the overall level of responsiveness of the employee.
This takes the form of his/her ability to be on call during the weekends, being able to get to work on time and ensuring that all work backlogs are completed as necessary.
Without this level of responsiveness to the job it is possible that information backlogs may occur, if this does happen information that is vital towards public safety my not be transmitted at all resulting in possible civilian deaths.
The last metric for this job involves compliance to district ordinances and policies regarding methods of information dissemination.
This is both the easiest yet the most important of the metrics since compliance to the various rules and regulations is an absolute necessity for this particular type of position.
It must be noted though that given the right amount of training this particular type of metric can easily be met.
Training
Necessity of Ethics Training
Aside from ordinary methods of training an employee, it must also be noted that ethics training is an important component in the training solutions implemented by any organization due to the proliferation of decidedly unethical actions within corporations and a variety of organizations.
The article “Ethics Training and Businesspersons’ Perceptions of Organizational Ethics” by Sean Valentine and Gary Fleischman is an investigation into the influences of corporate culture, ethical codes of conduct and ethics training into the level of job satisfaction, performance and ethical practices that employees bring to the workplace (Valentine & Fleischman, 2004).
The researchers were able to present the importance of ethics training as a means of encouraging and facilitating proper ethical practices within the workplace.
Furthermore, they indicated that ethics training allows a workforce to be more aware of the ethical codes of conduct that a company abides by and as a result enables them to be far more likely to conduct themselves in a manner that is in line with the highest standards of moral and ethical behavior (Valentine & Fleischman, 2004).
The main theoretical underpinnings of the study is the concept of ethical training and existing ethics codes being the best way in order to ensure ethical actions among the employees of a company.
Such a theory has been backed by various studies such as those by Craft (2010) which explain that by creating an environment where employees are constantly exposed to ethically progressive ideas, notions and behaviors, eventually they will be influenced in the same fashion (Craft, 2010).
This theory addresses the “social notion” behind working within an organization by creating the impression that since everyone within the company is following and advocating the use of ethical behaviors then as an employee of the company a person should also implement such aspects into the work that he/she does.
Taking the information that has been presented into consideration it is thus necessary to implement some form of ethics training for the individual that will occupy the public information officer position.
This can come in the form of external training sessions that can the employee can be placed in or a variety of digital presentations given in order to highlight the necessity of ethics in everything that he/she does for the organization.
Other methods that can be implemented in this regard would be to provide an employee manual where specific ethical codes of conduct are outline with the express notion that they must be followed at all times within the workplace environment.
Earnings
On average the median salary for being a public information officer is $56,000 per annum. Overall, the salary is not that bad when taking into consideration the fact that the expected output for the job is not that taxing.
On the other hand it must be noted since one aspect of the job is to be on call 24/7 in order to respond to any possible emergency that needs to be relayed properly to the public this job as a result entails a certain degree of stress and lack of sleep given the tumultuous times we live in at the present.
It must be noted though that this job does come with a certain degree of expense due to the fact that establishing proper connections with various members of the journalistic field is necessary in order to gain “allies” so to speak within the private and public sectors to help disseminate news in the manner that is most appropriate.
Employee Training and Development
When it comes to employee retention and performance, job satisfaction is the deciding factor behind such principles of corporate human resource development and as such should be examined from a multilevel perspective in order to ensure employees continue to perform adequately and stay longer within a particular organization.
One method of doing so, based off of Herzberg’s Two Factory Theory, is to implement the concept of continuous training and development as a means of ensuring continued job satisfaction by enabling employees to develop different job skills while at the same time continuing to keep them interested in their job.
When it comes to continuous training development programs, it is interesting to note that researchers indicate that by continuing to develop employees in order for them to accomplish multiple tasks, this actually results in a greater degree of job satisfaction since it takes away factors related to repetitious actions that actually cause job dissatisfaction.
From the perspective of various studies, an employee actually loses satisfaction with their job over time unless some degree of variability is included in order to make the job more interesting.
It is recommended that continuous training development programs which allow employees to assume different job roles as well as sufficiently progress in their career are an optimum method for increasing job satisfaction since this enables them to “reset’ their marginal utility so to speak as they are placed into new roles.
This creates continued interest, the desire to learn and improve which in the end results in high degrees of job satisfaction.
Conclusion
Based on the information provided it can be seen that proper training can create an adequate employee, however, it is methods of organization development that will create a satisfied employee that will do their job spectacularly.
Even if the best employee candidate can be chosen, their ability to succeed at their job is limited by the methods of organizational development employed that are meant to retain their interest and ensure their satisfaction with what they doing.
Reference List
Clapper, C. (2010). Public information officer job description. Web.
Craft, J. L. (2010). Making the case for ongoing and interactive organizational ethics training. Human Resource Development International, 13(5), 599-606.
Education Portal. (N.A.). Glossary of career education programs rss feed subscription glossary of career education programs / communications and journalism / public information officer: Job.. public information officer.
Valentine, S., & Fleischman, G. (2004). Ethics training and businesspersons’ perceptions of organizational ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 52, 381-390.