RUC to PSNI : a study of radical organisational change

Abstract

This aim of this thesis is explore and explain the process of organisational change which saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary become the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The research approach adopted was process based, longitudinal and multi-method, utilizing a ‘single explanatory case study’ method. In its focus it followed the ‘processual’ approach outlined by Pettigrew (Pettigrew 1990, 1997) in that it was primarily selected as a route to capturing the complexity of organizational change in a situation which has changed over time, and on many levels. The time period spanned by the research stretched from the RUC’s Fundamental Review in 1996, through the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing in 1999 to the retirement of Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan and the appointment of Hugh Orde in 2002.