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From Data to Knowledge. Police and Military Special Operations Forces in Systemic Perspective
Abstract
Special operations forces regularly take part in strenuous trainings and operations. In the following article and geared toward the German situation, we identify knowledge as the central resource and challenge for furthering the development of police and military special operations forces. While the complex requirements of deployment and training create a strong need for knowledge, the reference of special operations forces to science not only provides solutions but also poses potential problems. By presenting proposals for medium-and long-term solutions for organizational knowledge management, this article provides orientation for the further development for (inter-)national special operations forces in the police and military sector.
... As such, the knowledge of police officers-in this case trainers-forms the basis of the filter that new knowledge is selected through. This is a mechanism that has also been evidenced for knowledge in the context of police special forces (Koerner and Staller, 2021). The sub-system within the police system, e.g., police trainers or special forces, create their own system's logic through which new information is evaluated, discarded, or selected, stabilizing the logic of the system. ...
... However, it is essential that these structural couplings are functional as it relates to the knowledge transfer and ultimately what is learnt by of individuals within the organization. This is an aspect that cannot be taken for granted (Goode and Lumsden, 2016;Koerner and Staller, 2021). ...
... What is needed on duty does not reflect what is trained (Rajakaruna et al., 2017;Henriksen and Kruke, 2021;LaFrance, 2021;Staller et al., 2022a). A solution in this instance may lie in the structural coupling of a systematic mapping of demands on duty with the alignment and reevaluation of what is actually trained (Koerner and Staller, 2021). While science has mapped the deficit or challenge, practice still struggles to overcome this problem, indicating the challenge that has to be addressed. ...
For professional policing, learning is key. Since learning can be viewed as a complex process between the individual and information, learning takes place both within and outside the police system as well as during and before employment. The current conceptual analysis delineates different areas of (non-)learning related to policing and argues for the management of learning as a key issue for the police’s professionalization. According to this assumption a Police Learning Management Framework is presented, in which the relevant areas of learning as well as the related challenges for police learning on an individual and organizational level are specified. The proposed model calls for a more focused view on police learning which is a prerequisite for professionally coping with the pressing challenges of contemporary policing.
... As knowledge can do nothing but continue to grow in the coming decades as a genuine source of wealth and development through competitive or strategic advantage, given the present and future world economy and geopolitical turnarounds (Maule and Prusak, 2011;Fraszin, 2021;Koerner and Staller, 2021), the concurrence of the future military management models and knowledge management is indisputable both in the medium and long term. McIntyre et al. (2003, p. 37) describe a full knowledge management cycle within the military institutions, a system that encompasses three major subdivisions: the management itself and its DOI: 10.2478/9788366675889-088, pp. ...
... As knowledge can do nothing but continue to grow in the coming decades as a genuine source of wealth and development through competitive or strategic advantage, given the present and future world economy and geopolitical turnarounds (Maule and Prusak, 2011;Fraszin, 2021;Koerner and Staller, 2021), a future junction of the military management and knowledge management is indisputable both in the medium and long term. ...
... A person can reflect-and still not broaden one's perspective (if reflection is done exclusively at level 1). A police officer can follow up and reflect on a conflict situation-without broadening one's perspective and opening up alternative action options by questioning one's assumptions; a police organization can be reflective and willing to learn-but just not at a higher level (Christopher, 2015;Koerner and Staller, 2021a). On the other hand, there is also the possibility that higher levels of reflection and learning will be sought out in contexts where level 1 reflection is more purposeful and more important in a specific context (Tosey et al., 2012). ...
... Overall, the use of the four different lenses for reflection showed a distinct pattern concerning the system of policing: Generally, perspectives from inside the systemcolleagues and own experiences-were engaged with more easily and adopted less critically than perspectives from outside the system. While this pattern has been regularly observed in the context of German policing (Frevel, 2018;Jasch, 2019;Koerner and Staller, 2021a), this proves to be problematic when information from outside the system (e.g., scientific knowledge, other perspectives) are crucial for implementing change within the system . The closeness of the system of policing increases the likelihood of self-referential perspectives on actions and assumptions. ...
Reflection is an important component of professional practice in thefield of policing.While reflection goes beyond a mere evaluation of officer behavior in police-citizeninteraction based on legitimacy and functionality, deeper levels of reflections, whereunderlying assumptions are challenged do not automatically take place within the systemof policing. In the current paper, we describe and reflect on a case example of teachingreflective practice to police students at a German University of Applied Sciences. Westart by describing a structure of reflection on three levels, each of which is linked todifferent core questions. While on a low-threshold level reflection focuses on thequestion of correct action, reflection on a higher level revolves around uncovering one’saction-guiding assumptions that (in)consciously influence one’s actions, as well as thepossibility of adopting other perspectives. Building on Brookfield’s work of critical re-flective practice we designed a seminar series in a psychology course introducing theconcept of reflective practice and four different lenses that aim at uncovering action-guiding assumptions of our learners. Our reflection shows that receptivity of the differentlenses was different for perspectives from within the system of police to the perspectivefrom outside the police.
... Schade, 2022;Schade & Wimmer, 2022;Zwingmann et al., 2021). Gleichzeitig lässt sich aber auch beobachten, dass die Geschlossenheit des Systems der Spezialeinheiten eine Barriere für das Management und die Aufnahme wissenschaftlichen Wissens darstellt (Koerner & Staller, 2021;Körner & Staller, 2019). ...
Der Beitrag analysiert, wie polizeiliche Spezialeinheiten und die Wissenschaft miteinander in Beziehung stehen. In systemtheoretischer Perspektive wird deutlich, dass beide Systeme nach je eigenen Leitcodes operieren, die nicht direkt ineinander überführbar sind. Praktisch erschwert dies den direkten Wissenstransfer. Die Bezugnahme erfolgt vielmehr selektiv und jeweils gefiltert durch den eigenen Leitcode. Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse werden aus Sicht der Spezialeinheiten somit zunächst als Daten beobachtet, nach internen Relevanzkriterien gefiltert und, wenn passend, in anwendungsorientiertes Wissen transformiert. Es ergeben sich Spannungsfelder durch die Spezialisierung der Wissenschaft, den Wunsch von Spezialeinheiten nach finalisiertem Wissen sowie systemische Immunreaktionen gegenüber neuen wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen. Ob Irritationen durch wissenschaftliches Wissen in Spezialeinheiten zu Lernprozessen führen, hängt von den im jeweiligen System gepflegten Erwartungsstilen ab. Während eine normativer Erwartungsstil auf Abwehr und Erhalt ausgerichtet ist, ermöglicht ein kognitiver Erwartungsstil die konstruktive Nutzung wissenschaftlicher Impulse für die Weiterentwicklung von Spezialeinheiten.
... Die Wissenschaft verrechnet Daten eben anders als die Polizei. Was dann als Wissen im jeweiligen System ankommt, ist dann ein anderes (Koerner & Staller, 2021;Staller et al., 2023). ...
Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht polizeiliche Einflusssemantiken aus einer systemtheoretischen Perspektive. Ausgangspunkt unserer Überlegungen ist die Beobachtung, dass polizeiliche Führung sowohl Personen als auch Strukturen zugeschrieben werden kann. Unter Verwendung von Luhmanns Theorie der Einflussgeneralisierung analysieren wir drei polizeiliche Führungssemantiken: Tradition, Best Practice und evidenzbasierte Praxis. Unsere Analyse zeigt, dass Begründungssemantiken primär Semantiken sind. Sie sind funktional, insofern sie die Einflusserwartung generalisieren können. Die tatsächliche Stichhaltigkeit eines Arguments spielt dabei eine untergeordnete Rolle. Es geht vorrangig um Einfluss. Die Einsicht in diese Mechanismen ermöglicht eine Steuerung auf der Ebene der Führung. Eine "Führung der Führung" ermöglicht Einsichten zum Einflussanspruch der Begründungssemantiken und macht damit Alternativen denkbar.
... Researchers [30][31] [32] described that military training tends to be specific development of soldiers' physical, mental, and cognitive preparedness to accomplish military operations. In addition, how soldiers are trained with the theory and application of military training determines the performance of soldiers during real military operations involving an environment with physical exertion, cognitive overload, sleep restriction, and caloric deprivation [33]. The characteristics of a complex operations environment demand the performance of soldiers to overcome with technique, tactic, and procedure learning from military training. ...
The paper aims to gain a deeper insight into the concept of Thinking Soldier as advocated by militaries around the world. The Malaysian Army in its capability development plan (Army4nextG) suggests the need to develop its human resources to be thinkers of their own in facing an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous operating environment. The Thinking Soldier concept is thought to be able to revolutionise the strategic decision-making capacities of military personnel by equipping them with appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities to face and perform complex functions. The Army development plan provides a framework for improving human resource development as part of an Objective Force by aligning the organisation's goals, system-level requirements, organisational programs, and military training. The literature review provides explanations as to why this concept is vital in the modernisation of a military force. The study also provides a better understanding of the thinking soldier concept and how it relates to military training, transfer of training, and cognitive readiness of military personnel. Finally, it aids academics and practitioners to keep in stride with the increasing interest in the human dimension of soldiering.
... Interessant erscheint hier auch der Befund, dass stark autoritäre Menschen nach der Erinnerung an die eigene Sterblichkeit eine verstärkte Verteidigung der eigenen Weltanschauung haben (Greenberg et al., 1990). Eine Erfahrung, die sich mit unseren ethnografischen Studien zum Wissensmanagement in Spezialeinheiten unter der Annahme deckt, dass hier a) besonders mortalitätssaliente Stimuli vorliegen und (b) hier tendenziell autoritäre Menschen ihren Dienst verrichten (Koerner & Staller, 2021;Körner & Staller, 2019;Staller & Koerner, 2021f). ...
... Nichtlineare Pädagogik, das ist uns klar geworden, ist nichts was das Einsatztraining einfach so wird übernehmen können (Koerner & Staller, 2021b) -sie ist mehr als eine neue Mode auf dem Markt didaktischer Innovation und weniger als eine Allzweckwaffe gegen Langeweile im Training und für polizeilichen Kompetenzgewinn. Sie bietet keinen alternativen Vermittlungsstil nach dem Motto "mal was Neues, mal was Anderes". ...
Nichtlineare Pädagogik argumentiert mit Fakten. Das Leben, die Menschen, das Lehren und das Lernen – das alles folgt einer nichtlinearen Organisation. In diesem Beitrag berichten wir von unserem Aufbruch, als Forscher und Trainer im Doppelpack den „Geist“ der Nichtlinearen Pädagogik in das Einsatztraining der Polizeien von Bund und Ländern zu bringen. Wir berichten von den Gründen, warum die Nichtlineare Pädagogik ausgezeichnet zu den Anforderungen eines Trainings passt, das Polizist*innen auf den Einsatz vorbereiten möchte. Und wir berichten von den Gründen, warum es gegenwärtig noch nicht passt und was zu tun wäre, um dies zu ändern. Eine Nichtlineare Pädagogik des Einsatztrainings, so unsere Prognose, bedarf eines reflexiven Reformstils innerhalb der Polizei, der die Bereitschaft zur Veränderung der Bedingungen zur Veränderung einschließt. Systematischem Einsatzwissen kommt dabei eine Schlüsselrolle zu.
Based on social systems theory, this chapter focuses on the observation of key narratives and codes of contemporary police conflict management. On the level of systemic self-reference, the danger and the fighting narrative as well as the code of badassness are identified as key mechanisms of police self-control. By controlling violence with reactive violence, danger narratives as well as the related filter code of badassness can be observed as functional solutions originating within the police system. However, when observed from outside the system, this solution comes with problems. Police danger narratives and the preferred value of “badassness” reproduce semantics and structures that prevent the system from critically reflecting and adapting in an ever-changing social environment.
Redefining Security: Transforming Aggression through Communication and Training
Aggression has become an alarming problem-solving method in our society. Instances of violence and excessive force by professionals, such as law enforcement, military, and security agencies, have been regularly reported in news and social media. As we witness social and political changes impacted by technology and social media addiction, the essence of human communication and respect seems to be diminishing.
This dissertation is based on five years of comprehensive studies in Bcs Security Risk Management together with over 24 years of international experience in training security, and contact combat. As well as experience in executive management as well in international trade, and business development logistics, delves into the relationship between aggressive behaviour, communication skills, body language awareness, and the implications for law enforcement training.
Communication Skills and Body Language Awareness
Effective communication is a powerful tool in preventing and de-escalating aggression. My research explores how improved communication skills and body language awareness with a basic knowledge of combat skills can positively impact interactions between law enforcement officials and the public, resulting in improved outcomes for both parties. Case studies and practical examples are included.
The Role of Training in Mitigating Aggression
Law enforcement officers undergo rigorous training, but this chapter investigates how incorporating communication techniques and de-escalation strategies can significantly enhance their responses to various situations. We discuss the importance of ongoing education and the integration of these new approaches into existing training programs.
Breaking the Cycle of Violence
Drawing on global case studies and close interaction with students from different agencies, in this work I explore how one act of violence can lead to a chain reaction. The document emphasizes the significance of adopting different law enforcement responses to disrupt this cycle and prevent further conflicts.
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication as a Catalyst for Change
In this crucial section, I showcase the transformative power of verbal and nonverbal communication in mitigating aggression. Offering practical techniques and scenarios to improve interactions and build trust between law enforcement officials and the communities they serve. I include examples based on my own trainings and workshops in Shadow Krav Maga, combined with experience with Israeli military and international law enforcement services. Also included is a survey of over 40 law enforcement professionals across 3 continents and multiple countries- US, Canada, Europe and Israel to emerging economies such as Kenya.
Conclusion: Towards a Safer Future
Summing up our findings, I reiterate the importance of effective communication and training in curbing aggression. By fostering understanding, respect, and empathy, we can rebuild trust between law enforcement and society. The path to a safer future lies in embracing new approaches and continuous dialogue.
As an experienced professional offering training and seminars worldwide, I am promoting open discussions and collaborative research to tackle the issue of aggression. Let's work together to create a safer and more harmonious world for all.
Feel free to reach out for further research and engagements on this critical topic.
Yuly Grosman
Zusammenfassung
Ausgehend von der Funktionsbestimmung der Polizei als Organisation zur Kontrolle von Gewalt identifiziert der Beitrag mit Hilfe der Luhmannschen Systemtheorie die besondere Herausforderung bei der Behandlung von Gewalt im System der Polizei: Weil die Polizei auf der Ebene basaler Selbstreferenz mit einem strukturell eingebauten Gewaltpotenzial ausgestattet ist, bedarf polizeiliche Gewaltanwendung in sehr grundsätzlicher Weise der eigenen Reflexion und Kontrolle . Während Reflexion illegitime Gewalt gegen die Polizei als allgegenwärtige Gefahr und polizeiliche Gewalt als legitim voraussetzt, sichern reflexive Mechanismen auf einer weiteren Ebene der Systembildung genau das ab – und zwar auch in jenen Fällen, in denen polizeiliche Gewalt den legitimen Rahmen verlassen hat und zur brauchbaren Illegalität geworden ist. Reflexion und Reflexivität im System der Polizei wirken somit gewaltverstärkend. In Anbetracht dieser Lage stellen Kontingenzbeobachtungen vor allem der Wissenschaft das Potential bereit, bestehende Selbstbeschreibungen und Kontrollmechanismen der Polizei sowie auch das Polizieren selbst als auch ‚anders möglich‘ zu begreifen.
Vaksin PICKids yang diperkenalkan oleh Menteri Kesihatan, Khairy Jamaluddin adalah vaksin
yang dibuat untuk kanak-kanak berumur 5 hingga 11 tahun. PICKids ini hanya merangkumi satu
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ibu bapa atau penjaga diterima dan angka ini menunjukkan sebanyak 28% kanak-kanak telah
mendaftar daripada jumlah populasi mereka seramai 3.6 juta. Suatu kajian secara temubual yang
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An Digitalität führt kein Weg vorbei. Dies gilt auch für die Polizei und das polizeiliche Einsatztraining. Dieser Beitrag behandelt das Verhältnis von polizeilichem Einsatztraining und Digitalität in drei Relationen: (1) Einsatztraining für die digitale, (2) mit der digitalen und (3) in der digitalen Welt. Im Durchgang der Analyse wird deutlich, dass die Bezugnahme der Polizei bzw. des Einsatztrainings auf das Digitale bestehenden Eigenlogiken folgt und damit auch bestehende Probleme fortsetzt. Um diese nicht weiter zu vernebeln, plädieren wir im Fazit für einen kontrollierten Umgang mit Digitalität. Die Kontrolle ermöglicht dabei nicht die Technologie selbst, sondern Einsicht als Beobachtung 2. Ordnung.
Zusammenfassung
Verbundmodelle von Schule und Spitzensport wie die NRW-Sportschule sind als Netzwerke mit vielfältigen Akteuren und Erwartungen zu beobachten, in denen programmatische Zielvorstellungen in die Gestaltung und Durchführung von Maßnahmen und die Arbeit diverser Organisationen und Personen übertragen werden sollen. Die Herausforderung für eine zielgerichtete Steuerung des Netzwerks liegt deshalb in der Koordination des Handelns einzelner Personen und der Entwicklung systemischen Wissens sowie der Ermöglichung des Lernens des Netzwerks. Der Beitrag präzisiert das Problem der Steuerung im Verbund aus der Perspektive von Netzwerktheorie und Wissensmanagement. Empirische Erkenntnisse aus der Evaluation der NRW-Sportschule dienen als Anwendungsbeispiele der (möglichen) Bearbeitung dieser Herausforderung. Zugleich ist die Evaluation selbst als Steuerungsversuch des Netzwerks kritisch einzuordnen.
Innerhalb der Polizei existieren reflexionswürdige organisationskulturelle Wissensbestände, die über zwei miteinander verbundene Narrative transportiert werden. Das polizeiliche Gefahrennarrativ beschreibt eine immerwährende und ansteigende Gefahr für Polizistys, wohingegen das Kampfnarrativ polizeiliche Arbeit primär als Kampf gegen das Böse konzeptionalisiert. Unter der Perspektive der Terror Management Theorie sind beide Narrative geeignet, die Gedanken an die eigene individuelle Sterblichkeit zu aktualisieren und verschiedene Abwehrmechanismen zu fördern. Die Abwehrmechanismen produzieren wiederum gesellschaftlich dysfunktionale Verhaltensweisen von Polizistys, die individuell als funktional betrachtet werden können.
Kognitive Verzerrungen (KV) sind im polizeilichen Interaktionsverhalten ein Problem und stellen die Polizei vor große Herausforderungen. Diese Herausforderungen ergeben sich aus der Art der KV, ihren Quellen und Fehlannahmen, die Polizistys 1 in ihrem Denken über sie fehlleiten. Auf der Grundlage eines Rahmenmodells, das KV und Fehlannahmen über ihre Zuschreibungsroutinen zueinander in Beziehung setzt, argumentieren wir, dass diese Fehlannahmen Bemühungen zur Abschwächung von KV im Kontext polizeilichen Interaktionsverhaltens untergraben. Basierend auf einem systemischen Verständnis von KV und ihrer schädlichen Auswirkungen kommen wir zu dem Schluss, dass die Implementierung reflexiver Strukturen innerhalb der Polizei eine notwendige Voraussetzung dafür ist, externe Einflüsse effektiv zu reflektieren und die Entfaltung von KV und entsprechenden Fehlannahmen in einer selbstreferentiellen Schleife zu verhindern.
Das polizeiliche Schießen gehört zu den Kernkompetenzen der Polizei im Allgemeinen und der polizeilichen Spezialeinheiten im Besonderen. Insbesondere das Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK) ist für die Bekämpfung von gefährlichen und vor allem bewaffneten Täter*innen vorgesehen. Hierfür stehen den Einsatzkräften unterschiedliche Waffensysteme zur Verfügung. Zum Zwecke des passiven Schutzes trägt die Einsatzkraft eine ballistische Schutzausrüstung unter anderem bestehend aus Helm und Plattenträger. Bei Täterkontakt muss die Einsatzkraft unter Lebensgefahr und Hochstress in der Situationsdynamik vom Gegenüber ausgehende Gefahrenmomente wahrnehmen und einschätzen, bewusst oder unbewusst über Reaktionen entscheiden und dementsprechend gemäß Verhältnismäßigkeit handeln. Das Zusammenspiel der perzeptuell-kognitiven Prozesse (Wahrnehmung, Aufmerksamkeit, Gedächtnis, Denken, Urteilen, Entscheiden) und der Bewegungsabläufe (Waffen- und Magazinwechsel, Zielen, Schießen, Laufen) muss in diesen dynamischen Einsatzsituationen hinreichend funktional bleiben. Um die Einsatzkräfte optimal auf ihr Einsatzgeschehen vorzubereiten, stellt sich die Frage, wie das Schieß- und Einsatztraining zu gestalten ist, um maximalen Lerneffekt zu erzielen. Der „ecological dynamics“-Ansatz fordert dazu, die Einsatzanforderungen möglichst repräsentativ im Training abzubilden. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wollen wir eine aktuelle Schießübung der SEK Rheinland-Pfalz vor dem Hintergrund der Repräsentativität des Lerndesigns analysieren. Im Sinne einer Ist-Soll-Analyse sollen aus der Perspektive des „ecological dynamics“-Ansatzes Herausforderungen und Probleme hinsichtlich der einsatzrepräsentativen Gestaltung von Trainingsumgebungen diskutiert werden. Unsere Hoffnung besteht darin, den Mut zur kritischen Reflexion eigener Trainingsgestaltung zu stärken.
Der professionelle Umgang mit dem im Polizeiberuf vorhandenen Gewaltpotenzial gehört zum Arbeitsalltag von Polizist*innen. Das in Ausbildung und Praxis verankerte Konzept der Eigensicherung bietet hierfür die zentrale Orientierung. Der Beitrag plädiert aus der Perspektive der ökologischen Dynamik für ein umfassendes Verständnis: Das Mittel der Eigensicherung ist Kommunikation, der Mitteleinsatz kontextabhängig. Gewaltkommunikation kann zum Zwecke polizeilicher Eigensicherung situativ ebenso erforderlich sein wie Deeskalation, Nähe ebenso wie Distanz. Das persönliche Selbst-, Welt- und Rollenverständnis von Polizist*innen bildet das zentrale Nadelöhr reflektierter Eigensicherung.
Zusammenfassung
Verbundmodelle von Schule und Spitzensport wie die NRW-Sportschule sind als Netzwerke mit vielfältigen Akteuren und Erwartungen zu beobachten, in denen programmatische Zielvorstellungen in die Gestaltung und Durchführung von Maßnahmen und die Arbeit diverser Organisationen und Personen übertragen werden sollen. Die Herausforderung für eine zielgerichtete Steuerung des Netzwerks liegt deshalb in der Koordination des Handelns einzelner Personen und der Entwicklung systemischen Wissens sowie der Ermöglichung des Lernens des Netzwerks. Der Beitrag präzisiert das Problem der Steuerung im Verbund aus der Perspektive von Netzwerktheorie und Wissensmanagement. Empirische Erkenntnisse aus der Evaluation der NRW-Sportschule dienen als Anwendungsbeispiele der (möglichen) Bearbeitung dieser Herausforderung. Zugleich ist die Evaluation selbst als Steuerungsversuch des Netzwerks kritisch einzuordnen.
Verbundmodelle von Schule und Spitzensport wie die NRW-Sportschule sind als Netzwerke mit vielfältigen Akteuren und Erwartungen zu beobachten, in denen programmatische Zielvorstellungen in die Gestaltung und Durchführung von Maßnahmen und die Arbeit diverser Organisationen und Personen übertragen werden sollen. Die Herausforderung für eine zielgerichtete Steuerung des Netzwerks liegt deshalb in der Koordination des Handelns einzelner Personen und der Entwicklung systemischen Wissens sowie der Ermöglichung des Lernens des Netzwerks. Der Beitrag präzisiert das Problem der Steuerung im Verbund aus der Perspektive von Netzwerktheorie und Wissensmanagement. Empirische Erkenntnisse aus der Evaluation der NRW-Sportschule dienen als Anwendungsbeispiele der (möglichen) Bearbeitung dieser Herausforderung. Zugleich ist die Evaluation selbst als Steuerungsversuch des Netzwerks kritisch einzuordnen.
Being a police officer bears the inherent risk of encountering violent conflicts while on duty. Federal reports on violence against German police officers document an increase in registered acts since 2011. However, apart from statistical data, little is known about the qualitive specifics of violent encounters within police operations. At the same time, national and international data point to problems of transfer between training and the field. Against this background, the following study presents the expert views of 29 German Federal police officers which have been interviewed about qualitative specifics of conflict dynamics they had experienced during operations and the extent to which they felt prepared for these situations by means of professional training. Results of the study reveal that violent encounters are perceived as complex, dynamic and ambiguous in nature, in turn demanding high standards of police officers’ awareness, decision-making and interaction skills, ranging from de-escalation to fighting. Moreover, the majority of police officers reported that police training lacked adequate preparation. The findings are discussed through the lenses of professional policing and police training in Germany. For the further empowerment of police organisations, police trainers and police trainer education, we argue that a solid and methodically controlled knowledge base on situational parameters of violent encounters is key.
In their recent article, Bennell et al. (2021) address the ongoing series of critical incidents within law enforcement across the globe and the amplified public debate that ensured. The team of renowned international police scholars and practitioners intend to ‘provide insights into the fundamental issues related to police use of force’ (Bennell et al., 2021, p. 1) and work out what they perceive to be ‘urgent issues and prospects (p. 1)’. Since the author's proposal is likely to influence future debates, we feel warrants that foremost the issue on how the issue of urgency is handled in the paper at hand deserves scientific attention. While Bennell et al. (2021) emphasize the importance of evidence‐based policing for the further professionalization of policing, we advocate for reflexivity in modern police practice and research. Reflexivity calls for the analysis on preconditions and consequences of scientific perspectives themselves, thus touching issues of evidence of evidence.
Police training and learning settings focusing on physical conflict management skills regularly comprise at least two parties: on the one side the individuals learning and developing their conflict management skills and on the other side the individuals in charge of planning and delivering the training sessions. While the first category refers to learners, the latter category is referred to, among others, as instructor, trainer, coach, sifu or professor, depending on contextual constraints. While it seems arbitrary to use different terms for describing the learner's counterpart in a learning setting, we argue for a sensible consideration of manifest and latent implications of how these individuals are referred to-and how they perceive their role. Drawing from autoeth-nographic data in various conflict management training settings, we identify functional, dysfunc-tional and irritating aspects of different terms used. By reflecting through the lenses of functio-nality from a systemic perspective, we aim at providing insights towards a more nuanced understanding of contextual constraints and reflexive use of these terms.
With their recent article Bennell at al. (2021) intend to “provide insights into
fundamental issues related to police use of force” (p. 1). In a total of ten short
commentaries, internationally leading police scholars and practitioners lay out what
they perceive as “urgent issues and prospects” (p. 1), thereby setting up a future
agenda for police use of force research and practice. Since the author´s proposal is
likely to influence future debates, we feel warrants that foremost the issue on how the
issue of urgency is handled in the paper at hand deserves scientific attention. While
Bennell et al. (2021) emphasize the importance of evidence-based policing for the
further professionalization of policing, we advocate for reflexivity in modern police
practice and research. Reflexivity calls for the analysis on preconditions and
consequences of scientific perspectives themselves, thus touching issues of evidence
of evidence.
Cognitive biases have been identified as drivers of excessive use of force, which has determined current affairs across the globe. In this article, we argue that police is facing serious challenges in combating these biases. These challenges stem from the nature of cognitive biases, their sources, and the fallacies that mislead police professionals in the way they think about them. Based on a framework of expert decision- making fallacies and biases, we argue that these fallacies limit the impact of efforts to mitigate cognitive biases in police conflict management. In order to achieve a systemic understanding of cognitive biases and their detrimental effects, the article concludes that implementing reflexive structures within the police is a crucial prerequisite to effectively reflect on external influences and to limit bias and fallacies from further unfolding in a self-referential loop.
To optimally prepare for their demanding tasks, knowledge is a crucial resource for special operation forces (SOF). However, the closeness of the SOF system provides barriers for managing and adopting scientific knowledge. The current paper provides a case example of immunizing strategies used to combat unwarranted knowledge in the context of pedagogical approaches to training in a German SOF. Viewed through the lens of social systems theory, we identify and describe strategies used to prevent knowledge from unfolding impact within the system. We discuss these mechanisms based on their functionality related to stabilizing the internal system versus fulfilling professionally mandated tasks.
Wissenschaft ist eine Art des Denkens. Als „Kerze in der Finsternis“ strebt sie auf systematische Art und Weise nach gerechtfertigtem, „wahrem“ Wissen und bildet damit normativ die Grundlage für Entscheidungen und Urteile polizeilicher Praxis. Wissenschaftliches Denken nimmt dabei reflexiv die eigenen Erkenntnisgewinnungs- und Entscheidungsprozesse in den Blick. Im vorliegenden Beitrag verorten wir eine wissenschaftliche Denkweise als Leitstern professioneller polizeilicher Praxis. An teilweise autoethnographischen Schlaglichtern verdeutlichen wir im Anschluss, dass im Hinblick auf die Verinnerlichung dieser Grundeinstellung noch Optimierungsbedarf besteht. Als problematisch sehen wir in dieser Hinsicht (a) die Verwendung des Begriffs der Wissenschaft als Werbelabel – ohne den damit einhergehenden Anspruch an Systematizität der Wissensgenerierung Rechnung zu tragen, (b) die strukturelle Schließung polizeilicher (Sub-)Systeme sowie eine damit einhergehende (c) Vermeidung von sachlichem Konflikt und (d) das Vernachlässigen von Reflexivität auf die eigenen Wissensgenerierungsprozesse.
An Digitalität führt kein Weg vorbei. Dies gilt auch für die Polizei und das polizeiliche Einsatztraining. Der Beitrag behandelt das Verhältnis von polizeilichem Einsatztraining und Digitalität in drei Relationen: Einsatztraining für die digitale, (b) mit der digitalen und (c) in der digitalen Welt. Im Durchgang der Analyse wird deutlich, dass die Bezugnahme der Polizei bzw. des Einsatztrainings auf das Digitale bestehenden Eigenlogiken folgt und damit auch bestehende Probleme fortsetzt. Um diese nicht weiter zu vernebeln, plädieren wir im Fazit für einen kontrollierten Umgang mit Digitalität. Die Kontrolle ermöglicht dabei nicht die Technologie selbst, sondern Einsicht als Beobachtung 2. Ordnung.
This paper comments on a recent article by Koziarski and Huey (2021) in which the authors argue for the adoption of an evidence-based approach within policing. While we generally agree with the argument that police reform is an ongoing need of professional policing, we disagree that solely “evidence-based policing” is the solution within this approach. In our commentary we argue, that police reform should be underpinned and driven by reflexivity. As the key component of professional policing reflexivity accounts for the underlying assumptions of policy and practice on an individual and organizational level. Taken from a reflexive stance towards evidence-based policing, reflexive policing sheds light on its very assumptions and, by doing so, provides police officers and police organizations with alternatives for the professional management of police-citizen interactions.
For professional policing learning is key. Since learning can be viewed as a complex process between the individual and information, learning takes place within and outside the police system as well as during and before employment. The current conceptual analysis delineates different areas of (non-)learning related to policing and argues for the management of learning as a key issue for the police's professionalization. According to this assumption a Police Learning Management Framework is presented, in which the relevant areas of learning as well as the related challenges for police learning on an individual and organizational level are specified. The proposed model calls for a more focused view on police learning which is prerequisite for professionally coping with the pressing challenges of contemporary policing.
Police and military special forces are regularly part of a nations repertoire to deal with internal and external threats (Fröhling, 2008; Fuchs & Sackmann, 2019; Haischmacher, 1990; Turnley et al., 2017). In order to fulfil their tasks and to optimally prepare for it, knowledge is a crucial resource for police and military special units (Körner & Staller, 2020). However, the closeness of the system of special operation forces provides barriers for managing and adopting scientific knowledge (Koerner & Staller, 2021; Staller & Koerner, 2021).
The current paper provides a case example of immunizing strategies used to combat unwarranted knowledge in the context of pedagogical approaches to training. We provide and authoethnographic account of our involvement in professionalization efforts of German Special Operation Forces. Focusing on a distinct case, we identify and describe strategies used to prevent knowledge from unfolding impact within the system. We discuss these mechanisms based on their functionality related to different aspects: specifically stabilizing the internal system versus fulfilling professionally mandated tasks.
Reflection and reflexivity are important components of professional practice in the field of policing. While reflexivity goes beyond a mere evaluation of officer behavior in police-citizen interaction based on legitimacy and functionality, deeper levels of reflections, where underlying assumptions are challenged do not automatically take place within the system of policing. In the current paper, we describe and reflect on a case example of teaching reflective practice to police students at a German University of Applied Sciences. We start by describing a structure of reflection on three levels, each of which is linked to different core questions. While on a low-threshold level reflection focuses on the question of correct action, reflection on a higher level revolves around uncovering one's action-guiding assumptions that (in)consciously influence one's actions, as well as the possibility of adopting other perspectives. Building on Brookfield’s work of critical reflective practice we designed a seminar series in a psychology course introducing the concept of reflective practice and four different lenses that aim at uncovering action-guiding assumptions of our learners. Our reflection shows that receptivity of the different lenses was different for perspectives from within the system of police to the perspective from outside the police. However, the design of the seminar series allowed for trespassing of information from outside the system, through receptive students to students that were more receptive towards colleagues than outside information.
Reflection and reflexivity are important components of professional practice in the field of policing. This paper argues that reflexivity goes beyond a mere evaluation of officer behavior in police-citizen interaction on the basis of legitimacy and functionality. We describe a structure of reflection on three levels, each of which is linked to different core questions. While on a low-threshold level reflection focuses on the question of correct action, reflection on a higher level revolves around uncovering one's own action-guiding assumptions that (in)consciously influence one's actions, as well as the possibility of adopting other perspectives. Both are a necessary prerequisite for the reflective practitioner-both in conflict management in police-citizen interactions and in police training.
Cognitive biases have been identified as drivers of excessive use of force, which has determined current affairs across the globe. In this article, we argue that police is facing serious challenges in combating these biases. These challenges stem from the nature of cognitive biases, their sources, and the fallacies that mislead police professionals in the way they think about them. Based on a framework of expert decision-making fallacies and biases, we argue that these fallacies limit the impact of efforts to mitigate cognitive biases in police conflict management. In order to achieve a systemic understanding of cognitive biases and their detrimental effects, the article concludes that implementing reflexive structures within the police is a crucial prerequisite to effectively reflect on external influences and to limit bias and fallacies from further unfolding in a self-referential loop.
Der professionelle Umgang mit dem im Polizeiberuf vorhandenen Gewaltpotenzial gehört zum Arbeitsalltag von Polizist*innen. Das in Ausbildung und Praxis verankerte Konzept der Eigensicherung bietet hierfür die zentrale Orientierung. Der Beitrag plädiert aus der Perspektive der ökologischen Dynamik für ein umfassendes Verständnis: Das Mittel der Eigensicherung ist Kommunikation, der Mitteleinsatz kontextabhängig. Gewaltkommunikation kann zum Zweck polizeilicher Eigensicherung situativ ebenso erforderlich sein wie Deeskalation, Nähe ebenso wie Distanz. Das persönliche Selbst-, Welt- und Rollenverständnis von Polizist*innen bildet das zentrale Nadelöhr reflektierter Eigensicherung
While operational actions place high demands on police officers, conflict training aims to prepare them for the demands of deployment and thus forms the central hinge between professional practice and education. However, international data suggest a problem: the transfer of competence between training and deployment must be improved. The following article identifies pedagogical design and practice as the key factors in making this leap. To illustrate this point, the evidence-based constraints-led approach (CLA) is introduced. By dealing with key concepts as well as the practical implications of the CLA for conflict training in police, the article provides an orientation for police trainers and their practice as well as for the further professionalization of police training.
Purpose:
The study compares the impact of two different pedagogical approaches in police training by assessing the knife defense performance of German police recruits against different types of knife attacks. Linear or nonlinear-which pedagogical approach leads to more efficient knife defense performance?
Design:
20 German state police recruits (w = 5, m = 15) were assigned to linear and nonlinear group. The linear and nonlinear groups' performance on knife defense was assessed on a pretest, after a 3-week training intervention, on a posttest and 8 weeks thereafter on a retention test, utilizing a mixed method design (Sendall et al., 2018).
Findings:
Quantitative data on knife defense performance suggest a lastingly better performance of the nonlinear group: On retention test, participants of the nonlinear group were hit less (p = .029), solved the attack faster (p = .044) and more often (81,8%) than participants of the linear group (55,6%). In contrast, qualitative data reveal that, despite of evidences for a high level of perceived competence, the nonlinear teaching of knife defense skills has been accompanied by considerable uncertainties, effected by the lack of techniques and the focus on principles and operational parameters only.
Originality:
It is the first study assessing the impact of different pedagogical approaches in police training. For the practice of police trainers, the results provide empirical orientations for an evidence-based planning of and reflection on pedagogical demands within their training (Mitchell and Lewis, 2017).
This article discusses the apparent lack of a well-functioning combat mindset evident in the Norwegian Police Force during the terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011. We describe what a well-functioning combat mindset is and then continue to discuss challenges linked to the current mindset in the Norwegian Police Force. We then elaborate upon how the experience of an acute stress reaction may affect one’s ability to solve a mission. Then we describe how to cope with stress and the importance of a well-functioning combat mindset, and we then discuss techniques in order to build a well-functioning combat mindset. Furthermore, we describe how coping with an extreme cognitive load and a well-functioning combat mindset are related. Finally, we suggest a method for practicing combat mindset (CM-training). The combat mindset training needs to include both realistic training and systematic reflection in order to a better ability to deal with sudden and unforeseen events.
Einsatztraining verfolgt das Ziel, Polizist*innen effektiv auf den Einsatz vorzubereiten. Dass dieses Ziel erreicht wird, liegt im allgemeinen öffentlichen Interesse, im Interesse des Dienstherrn und nicht zuletzt der Polizist*innen selbst. Von Seiten der Polizeiwissenschaft erfährt das Einsatz- bzw. Polizeitraining1 dabei bislang wenig praxisrelevante Unterstützung. Der zentralen Scharnierfunktion des Einsatztrainings zwischen beruflicher Praxis und Aus- bzw. Fortbildung wird diese Abstinenz kaum gerecht. Den Möglichkeiten der Wissenschaft ebenso wenig. Der erste von zwei Beiträgen setzt hier an und resümiert ausgewählte Ergebnisse aus einer ersten, knapp dreijährigen Forschungsphase der Autoren zum Einsatztraining. Im Ausgang einer funktionalen Bestimmung des Einsatztrainings als zentralem integrativem Mechanismus zwischen polizeilicher Aus- bzw. Fortbildung und Berufspraxis (I) liegt das Hauptaugenmerk auf der Mikroebene der Trainingsprozesse. Wie wird die zur Verfügung stehende Trainingszeit genutzt? (II) Was wird trainiert (III), und wie wird das zu Trainierende vermittelt (IV)? Welche Rolle spielen pädagogisch-didaktische Aspekte? (V) Wer wird warum Einsatztrainer*in? (VI) Die aus den Forschungsergebnissen abgeleiteten Orientierungen und Empfehlungen (VII) bilden eine Grundlage für evidenzbasierte Entscheidungen im Dienst einer weiteren Professionalisierung des Einsatztrainings in Deutschland. Der Beitrag richtet sich an Praktiker*innen und weitere verantwortliche Akteure auf der Steuerungsebene des Einsatztrainings und bildet die Basis für einen zweiten Beitrag der Autoren in der nächsten Ausgabe.
In combat sports, athletes continuously co-adapt their behavior to that of the opponent. We consider this interactive aspect of combat to be at the heart of skilled performance, yet combat sports research often neglects or limits interaction between combatants. To promote a more interactive approach, the aim of this paper is to understand combat sports from the combined perspective of ecological psychology and dynamic systems. Accordingly, combat athletes are driven by perception of affordances to attack and defend. Two combatants in a fight self-organize into one interpersonal synergy, where the perceptions and actions of both athletes are coupled. To be successful in combat, performers need to manipulate and take advantage of the (in)stability of the system. Skilled performance in combat sports therefore requires brinkmanship: combatants need to be aware of their action boundaries and purposefully act in meta-stable regions on the limits of their capabilities. We review the experimental literature to provide initial support for a synergetic approach to combat sports. Expert combatants seem able to accurately perceive action boundaries for themselves and their opponent. Local-level behavior of individual combatants has been found to lead to spatiotemporal synchronization at the global level of a fight. Yet, a formal understanding of combat as a dynamic system starting with the identification of order and control parameters is still lacking. We conclude that the ecological dynamics perspective offers a promising approach to further our understanding of skilled performance in combat sports, as well as to assist coaches and athletes to promote optimal training and learning.
The recent upsurge in “brain training and perceptual-cognitive training,” proposing to improve isolated processes, such as brain function, visual perception, and decision-making, has created significant interest in elite sports practitioners, seeking to create an “edge” for athletes. The claims of these related “performance-enhancing industries” can be considered together as part of a process training approach proposing enhanced cognitive and perceptual skills and brain capacity to support performance in everyday life activities, including sport. For example, the “process training industry” promotes the idea that playing games not only makes you a better player but also makes you smarter, more alert, and a faster learner. In this position paper, we critically evaluate the effectiveness of both types of process training programmes in generalizing transfer to sport performance. These issues are addressed in three stages. First, we evaluate empirical evidence in support of perceptual-cognitive process training and its application to enhancing sport performance. Second, we critically review putative modularized mechanisms underpinning this kind of training, addressing limitations and subsequent problems. Specifically, we consider merits of this highly specific form of training, which focuses on training of isolated processes such as cognitive processes (attention, memory, thinking) and visual perception processes, separately from performance behaviors and actions. We conclude that these approaches may, at best, provide some “general transfer” of underlying processes to specific sport environments, but lack “specificity of transfer” to contextualize actual performance behaviors. A major weakness of process training methods is their focus on enhancing the performance in body “modules” (e.g., eye, brain, memory, anticipatory sub-systems). What is lacking is evidence on how these isolated components are modified and subsequently interact with other process “modules,” which are considered to underlie sport performance. Finally, we propose how an ecological dynamics approach, aligned with an embodied framework of cognition undermines the rationale that modularized processes can enhance performance in competitive sport. An ecological dynamics perspective proposes that the body is a complex adaptive system, interacting with performance environments in a functionally integrated manner, emphasizing that the inter-relation between motor processes, cognitive and perceptual functions, and the constraints of a sport task is best understood at the performer-environment scale of analysis.
Background: The constraints-led approach was first proposed to capture how movement solutions are shaped and organised without being prescribed. It has since been extended as a suitable framework for informing coaching practice. The contemporary view of the role of the coach in the constraints-led approach characterises them as a monitor and manipulator of constraints on the learner. In essence, the coach is a designer whose role is to shape constraints such that practice consistently improves the learner’s capabilities to perform in a range of different contexts. This objective reflects what the coach aims to establish with the learner – an increased capability to adapt to new circumstances, such as improved performance in a competition or better learning in a training camp. Even if constraints manipulation performed by a coach is not necessarily prescriptive, this viewpoint suggests the effective coach acts as a change agent, who, through constraint manipulation, can orchestrate the learning process. Arguably, the conceptualisation of the coach as a constraints manipulator, has typically been misinterpreted as meaning that they are relatively disengaged (and at worst absented) in the learning process where their primary role is the gate keeper to variability in constraints and behaviour.
Aims: Our aim is to re-emphasise the role of the coach in the constraints-led approach by exploring the idea that the coach and the learner(s) together, situated in a learning environment, constitute a learning system. Here, the coach forms a co-adaptive relationship with the learner, making adjustments to constraints on practice based on emergent relation dependent information, where the learner and coach mutually constrain each other’s behaviour. In doing so, the coach and athlete form temporary couplings from which new information and opportunities for action, learning, and creative behaviours can form. An important consequence of this reconceptualisation is that emergent, adaptive, and creative actions are somehow distributed across the coach–athlete social system.
Implications: It is neither the learner nor the coach, but, the processes shaping their interactions that should be at the heart of applying the constraints-led approach. For effective coaching, it is essential that the coach is tuned in to the learner’s current capabilities and skill level and adapts practice accordingly. In doing so, setting up constraints to interact in a manner informed by representative design facilitates opportunities to learn to adapt skills that can support performance and learning. Hence, representative task design is not only crucial for athletes’ learning, but for the coach’s learning as well.
There has been an exponential growth in research examining the neurological basis of human cognition and learning. Little is known, however, about the extent to which sports coaches are aware of these advances. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of pseudoscientific ideas among British and Irish sports coaches. In total, 545 coaches from the United Kingdom and Ireland completed a measure that included questions about how evidence-based theories of the brain might enhance coaching and learning, how they were exposed to these different theories, and their awareness of neuromyths. Results revealed that the coaches believed that an enhanced understanding of the brain helped with their planning and delivery of sports sessions. Goal-setting was the most frequently used strategy. Interestingly, 41.6% of the coaches agreed with statements that promoted neuromyths. The most prevalent neuromyth was “individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (e.g., auditory, visual, or kinesthetic),” which 62% of coaches believed. It is apparent that a relatively large percentage of coaches base aspects of their coaching practice on neuromyths and other pseudoscientific ideas. Strategies for addressing this situation are briefly discussed and include changing the content of coach education programs.
Within public and academic spheres, the question of how civilians and police officers can effectively deal with violent assaults is discussed above all as a question of the “right self-defense system.” In the current paper, we advocate for a change from questions of system to questions of pedagogy. Based on the paradigm of nonlinear pedagogy and the underlying theories of complex dynamic systems, we present a model of representative learning design, whose analytical and practical use is presented. We conclude with a discussion of the role of nonlinear pedagogy for the professionalization of self-defense training in the civilian and law enforcement domains.
Physical assaults are an inherent problem of modern society. One strategy available to try to prevent violence is to strengthen one’s personal capacities to defend oneself. This is the scope of various self-defence programs and systems within the civil domain. While training in self-defence facilitates the use of self-protective strategies in real life situations, it is important to ascertain whether individuals learn the skills taught in self-defence classes and whether they are able to perform the skills when these are required. In order to test the effectiveness of self-defence skills in an ethically acceptable way, instructors and scholars have to design environments in which valid and practically relevant results about the performance of the learner can be obtained. The imprecise nature and the multidimensional use of terms like ‘realism’ and ‘reality-based’ leads to difficulties
in designing such environments. In this article, we argue for the need to shift the emphasis from ‘realistic’ to ‘representative’ design in testing and learning environments, with the aim of developing transferable self-defence skills within the civil domain. The Trade- Off Model of Simulation Design that we propose is intended to help instructors and scholars to make more informed decisions when designing tasks for testing or training.
Expert decision-making can be directly assessed, if sport action is understood as an expression of embedded and embodied cognition. Here, we discuss evidence for this claim, starting with a critical review of research literature on the perceptual-cognitive basis for expertise. In reviewing how performance and underlying processes are conceived and captured in extant sport psychology, we evaluate arguments in favour of a key role for actions in decision-making, situated in a performance environment. Key assumptions of an ecological dynamics perspective are also presented, highlighting how behaviours emerge from the continuous interactions in the performer-environment system. Perception is of affordances; and action, as an expression of cognition, is the realisation of an affordance and emerges under constraints. We also discuss the role of knowledge and consciousness in decision-making behaviour. Finally, we elaborate on the specificities of investigating and understanding decision-making in sport. Specifically, decision-making concerns the choice of action modes when perceiving an affordance during a course of action, as well as the selection of a particular affordance, amongst many that exist in a landscape in a sport performance environment. We conclude by pointing to some applications for the practice of sport psychology and coaching and identifying avenues for future research. © 2017
This paper focuses on the role of ecological dynamics as a theoretical framework for analysing performance of athletes and sports teams as complex adaptive systems. It combines key concepts from ecological psychology and nonlinear dynamical system theory, seeking to enhance understanding of performance and learning contexts in sport, to aid the acquisition and transfer of adaptive human behaviours. In ecological psychology the continuous regulation of human behaviour is predicated on the role of information that emerges from the individual–environment system to guide activity. The information sources that constrain performance behaviours are affordances, which provide invitations for action offered by each individual’s perception of functional relations with a performance environment. This information-based approach has been enhanced with the integration of tools and concepts from nonlinear dynamics to explain how information is cyclically related to the dynamics of a performance environment. Dynamical systems theory addresses the emergence of coordination tendencies that exist between and within components and levels of complex neurobiological systems. Ecological dynamics identifies key properties of expertise in sport predicated on the performer–environment relationship as the appropriate scale of analysis. This paper introduces the key properties of expert movement systems that include multi- and meta-stability, the functional role of adaptive movement variability, redundancy, degeneracy and the attunement to affordances. Additionally, we discuss the concept of representative design, which in an ecological dynamics framework underpins the organisation of experimental and learning environments so that observations and acquired skills can be linked to emergent functional behaviours in a specific performance context.
Professions that include the risk of life-threatening emergency situations ready individuals for such extreme events through training to develop a broad range of positive psychological skills, well known in sport psychology as mental toughness. Given the relatively little attention devoted to the study of performance psychology in this area, the aim of this investigation was to provide first-person perspectives on the training of soldiers with experience in the life-threatening circumstances of hand-to-hand combat (HHC). The results of phenomenological interviews with 17 soldiers revealed four themes that characterized the participant’s experience of HHC training: “warrior mindset,” “confidence,” “repetition,” and “realistic.” It was concluded the HHC training experiences of these soldiers (a) fostered mental qualities viewed as important for performance in life-threatening settings, (b) consisted of extensive practice, and (c) were aimed at replicating the physical and psychological demands of the expected combat environment. Taken together the results are consistent with sport psychology mental toughness research and provide a number of suggestions for instructors and mental skills trainers working with soldiers and other emergency situation professions.
Zusammenfassung
Als zentrales Problem der qualitativen Sozialforschung erscheint die Frage nach der Konstitution von Bedeutungen. Sowohl Biographieforschung als auch Ethnomethodologie bieten methodische Antworten an, denen zufolge Bedeutungen über immer schon vorhandene Ordnungsstrukturen entschlüsselt werden. In diesem Beitrag wird der Versuch unternommen, eine qualitative Methodologie zu entwickeln, die sich für die Entstehung von Ordnung interessiert. Mit dieser systemtheoretischen Reformulierung einer Methodologie der qualitativen Sozialforschung können dann bekannte Argumentationsfiguren (Narration bzw. kommunikative Kompetenz, Authentizität bzw. recipient design, Prozessstrukturen bzw. Indexikalität) neu gelesen werden, und zwar als Versuch zur Ausschaltung von Kontingenz über die Installation von Gültigkeitskriterien, von zuverlässig interpretierenden Adressaten und von zeitbindenden Speichermedien. Als Resultat dieser Argumentation ergibt sich die Forderung danach, in qualitativen Forschungen Kontingenz selbst zum Thema zu machen, anstatt mit Hilfe von Methoden eine immer schon vorausgesetzte Ordnung zu entdecken. Diese Methodologie wird am Beispiel der Untersuchung von Todesbildern illustriert.
The chief aim of this study was to obtain in-depth descriptions of soldiers’ first-person experiences of hand-to-hand combat during wartime operations using a stress and coping framework (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The results of phenomenological interviews revealed 4 major themes which, based on several participants’ own words, were labeled “immediate threat,” “flip the switch,” “fast,” and “adrenaline.” It was concluded that the hand-to-hand combat experiences of these soldiers (a) imposed stressors from a variety of sources, (b) required coping responses comprising a swift and accurate interpretation of environmental conditions and rapid deployment of problem focused strategies, and (c) evoked a constellation of powerful physiological and psychological reactions. Implications of this study for military personnel include the importance of “expecting the unexpected” in seemingly routine yet potentially hazardous combat operations, an emphasis on developing
highly automated, problem-focused coping strategies and physical fighting skills, and the need for training in variable and unpredictable environments that demand rapid skill adaptations to context specific stressors.
Tactical operators are required to carry loads as part of their occupations. Carriage of these loads have been associated with causing physical injuries to the carrier and impairing their ability to perform occupational tasks. One potential means of negating these risks associated with load carriage tasks is through physically conditioning the carrier. Through use of the Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type (F.I.T.T.) formula this review explored the literature to determine the optimal conditioning stimulus to enhance the resilience of tactical operators required to perform load carriage tasks. It was determined that a conditioning stimulus of one load carriage session every 7 to 14 days is required. While the intensity of the load carriage session (load weight, speed of march, terrain grade and type) has the potential to provide a greater training effect than the length of the session (time), both parameters must progress to meet occupational requirements. In general, load carriage-specific training is preferred, with the training effect increased by field exercises that included load carriage tasks. Furthermore, a combined approach of progressive resistance training (especially for the upper body) and aerobic conditioning three times per week is of value. The outcome of this review provides the tactical strength and conditioning coach with an optimal training dose for load carriage conditioning.
In recent times, psychologists have attempted to relate individual differences in intelligence either to differences in a subject's ability to divide attention or to differences in the speed with which they process the information offered by the environment. Because these approaches are not mutually exclusive and, indeed, have some important features in common, it was decided to examine the relationship between speed of processing and intelligence under conditions requiring divided attention. To this end, the Ravens Standard Progressive Matrices Test was administered to 48 subjects who subsequently performed a card-sorting task of varying information content under both single- and competing-task conditions. The obtained results point strongly to a more central role for complexity in speed of processing models of intelligence.
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a popular form of inter-personal skill and communication training. Originating in the 1970s, the technique made specific claims about the ways in which individuals processed the world about them, and quickly established itself, not only as an aid to communication, but as a form of psychotherapy in its own right. Today, NLP is big business with large numbers of training courses, personal development programmes, therapeutic and educational interventions purporting to be based on the principles of NLP. This paper explores what NLP is, the evidence for it, and issues related to its use. It concludes that after three decades, there is still no credible theoretical basis for NLP, researchers having failed to establish any evidence for its efficacy that is not anecdotal.
This article argues that military organizations display a more rigorous form of collective sensemaking than ordinary bureaucratic organizations. Military organizing is predicated on the rigorous modes of thinking and acting that follow from the particular military propensity to impose order on chaos. This trait is antithetical to modern notions of “the learning organization,” in which exploring variety and experimenting and testing out unproven methods are central. We identify two sets of structural conditions that constitute the sociocognitive landscape of military organizations and discuss how the military logic of action might be enacted in different sociocultural contexts. Our framework is brought to bear on recent research on international military missions, and in the concluding section, we summarize our arguments and discuss their wider implications in terms of trade-offs between adaptability and other capabilities in the design of military forces.
Background: There are deeply relevant questions concerning how to integrate and organise various nonlinear pedagogical strategies and methods in order to structure training in the professional development of Physical Education (PE) teachers and sport coaches. To promote the emergence and development of innovative and adaptive performance behaviours in sport, nonlinear pedagogy advocates the methodology of constraints manipulation to facilitate learning. Sport pedagogues have to manage and apply different constraint manipulations at varying times in practice contexts, that is, while planning before/following a learning session (i.e. designing the micro-structure of practice) and in interactions during the session. In nonlinear pedagogy, the design of practice micro-structure is predicated on the continuous, intertwined relationships between decision-making, action, perception and cognition in sport performance and learning contexts.
Purpose: Here, we present an analysis of the activities that pedagogues engage in to facilitate learning and performance in sport (i.e. the micro-structure of practice) during practical interventions in sport and exercise contexts, based on the use of a Constraints-led approach by PE teachers and coaches.
Method: Based on data from illustrative studies on performance analysis and constraints manipulation, we exemplify some of the main principles and assumptions of nonlinear pedagogy. This synthesis, framed in a nonlinear pedagogy, aims to reveal how adopting a constraint led approach can straightforwardly enhance learning designs of sport practitioners.
Conclusions: This article shares insights from a nonlinear pedagogy that can frame the micro-structure of practice during interventions, compared to utilization of traditional pedagogical practices. It is proposed that PE teachers and coaches are designers of learning environments and that both learning and performance improvement are seen as emerging from the interaction of key constraints (related to task, learner and environment).
Das Handbuch Sport und Sportwissenschaft bietet im Band Grundlagen einen kompletten Ein- und Überblick. Es ersetzt alle bisherigen Lexika und Handbücher zum Sport. Die Texte sind kompetent auf aktuellstem wissenschaftlichem Stand verfasst, verständlich formuliert und anschaulich aufbereitet.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that police research has reached a level of acceptance such that executive management has an ethical obligation to their communities to use evidence-based practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) framework the authors apply an ethical-based decision-making model to policing decisions. EBM does not allow physicians to ignore research when giving guidance to patients. The authors compare the two professional approaches to decision making and argue policing has reached a level of research that if ignored, just like medicine, should be considered unethical. Police interventions can potentially be harmful. Rather than do no harm, the authors argue that police managers should implement practices that are the least harmful based on the current research.
Findings
The authors found policing has a substantial amount of research showing what works, what does not, and what looks promising to allow police executives to make decisions based on evidence rather than tradition, culture, or best practice. There is a deep enough fund of knowledge to enable law enforcement leadership to evaluate policies on how well the policies and procedures they enforce prevent crime with a minimum of harm to the communities they are sworn to protect and serve.
Originality/value
Policing has yet to view community interventions as potentially harmful. Realigning police ethics from a lying, cheating, stealing, lens to a “doing the least harm” lens can alter the practitioner’s view of why evidence-based policing is important. Viewing executive decision from an evidence-based ethical platform is the future of evaluating police executive decisions.
Context:
Police academy training must physically prepare cadets for the rigors of their occupational tasks to prevent injury and allow them to adequately perform their duties.
Objective:
To compare the effects of 2 physical training programs on multiple fitness measures in police cadets.
Design:
Cohort study.
Setting:
Police training academy.
Patients or other participants:
We collected data from 70 male (age = 27.4 ± 5.9 years, body weight = 85.4 ± 11.8 kg) and 20 female (age = 30.5 ± 5.8 years, weight = 62.8 ± 11.0 kg) police cadets and analyzed data from 61 male cadets (age = 27.5 ± 5.5 years, body weight = 87.7 ± 13.2 kg).
Intervention(s):
Participants completed one of two 6-month training programs. The randomized training group (RTG; n = 50), comprising 4 separate and sequential groups (n = 13, n = 11, n = 13, n = 13), completed a randomized training program that incorporated various strength and endurance exercises chosen on the day of training. The periodized group (PG; n = 11) completed a periodized training program that alternated specific phases of training.
Main outcome measure(s):
Anthropometric fitness measures were body weight, fat mass, and lean body mass. Muscular and metabolic fitness measures were 1-repetition maximum bench press, push-up and sit-up repetitions performed in 1 minute, vertical jump, 300-m sprint, and 2.4-km run.
Results:
The RTG demonstrated improvements in all outcome measures between pretraining and posttraining; however, the improvements varied among the 4 individual RTGs. Conversely, the PG displayed improvements in only 3 outcome measures (push-ups, sit-ups, and 300-m sprint) but approached the level of significance set for this study (P < .01) in body weight, fat mass, and 1-repetition maximum bench press.
Conclusions:
Regardless of format, physical training programs can improve the fitness of tactical athletes. In general, physical fitness measures appeared to improve more in the RTG than in the PG. However, this observation varied among groups, and injury rates were not compared.
Es mag erstaunen, mögliche Perspektiven der Soziologie im 21. Jahrhundert skizzieren zu wollen und mit jenem Konzept zu beginnen, das mit Fug und Recht als das dienstälteste sozial- und gesellschaftstheoretische Konzept gelten kann, mit dem die Soziologie als Selbstbeschreibung der modernen Gesellschaft reüssiert hat, mit der Differenzierungstheorie. Letztlich kommt keine gesellschaftstheoretische Perspektive an der grundlegenden Einsicht vorbei, dass es sich bei der modernen Gesellschaft um eine differenzierte Einheit handelt. Und darin scheint sich durchaus eine grundlegende Erfahrung mit Modernität auszudrücken: dass sich gesellschaftliche Teilbereiche einerseits zunehmend verselbständigen, andererseits aber hochgradig aufeinander bezogen und voneinander abhängig sind. Es war diese Einsicht, die die Gesellschaftstheorien von Spencer und Durkheim, von Weber und Simmel, von Parsons und Eisenstadt, von Alexander und Münch und von Luhmann und Habermas verbindet. Schon dieses Kabinett großmeisterlicher Namen müsste eigentlich genügen, um eine Erbschaft in das neue Jahrhundert annehmbar zu machen, zumal einige der Debatten durchaus aktuell sind — etwa die Auseinandersetzung um die Luhmannsche Gesellschaftstheorie vornehmlich in Deutschland oder aber die Rekonstruktion des Parsonsschen Programms durch Jeffrey Alexander als Neofunktionalismus in den Vereinigten Staaten (vgl. Alexander 1985, 1990).2
A problem central to qualitative research appears to be the question about how meaning is constituted. According to ethnomethodology as well as biographical research, meaning has to be decoded in terms of existing structures of order. This paper attempts to develop a methodology of qualitative research which focuses on the formation of order. By means of a reformulation of qualitative research based on system theory well-known topics (narration or communicative competence, authenticity or recipient design, processual structures or indexicality) can be seen in a new context, i.e. as an attempt to eliminate contingency via the installation of criteria of validity, of addressees reliably interpreting and time-binding storage media. As a result, we claim that qualitative research should focus explicitly on contingency instead of only discovering an assumed order. The methodological argumentation is illustrated by examples from a study about images of death.
A growing body of research suggests that killing during military combat is closely associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as a number of other adverse mental health related conditions (e.g., dissociative experiences, violent behavior, functional impairment). This article provides first-person perspectives on the experiences and impact of killing by service members with the goal of expanding our understanding of the impact of taking a life during war. In audio-recorded phenomenological interviews, 9 service members described their experiences and the subsequent impact of killing during hand-to-hand combat. A description, supported by participant quotations, was constructed to represent the participants' experiences. Results suggest the experience and aftermath of taking a life in hand-to-hand combat was disturbing, psychologically stressful, and necessitated some form of coping after the event. Service members who killed in hand-to-hand combat viewed their actions as necessary to preserve their life and that killing in hand-to-hand combat was more emotionally taxing than killing by shooting. Our findings may help to improve providers' understanding of service members' first-person experiences of killing in hand-to-hand combat and thus provide the basis for the development of a connected and genuine relationship with such military clients.
Previous research demonstrating that specific performance outcome goals can be achieved in different ways is functionally significant for springboard divers whose performance environment can vary extensively. This body of work raises questions about the traditional approach of balking (terminating the takeoff) by elite divers aiming to perform only identical, invariant movement patterns during practice.
A 12-week training program (2 times per day; 6.5 hr per day) was implemented with 4 elite female springboard divers to encourage them to adapt movement patterns under variable takeoff conditions and complete intended dives, rather than balk.
Intraindividual analyses revealed small increases in variability in the board-work component of each diver's pretraining and posttraining program reverse-dive takeoffs. No topological differences were observed between movement patterns of dives completed pretraining and posttraining. Differences were noted in the amount of movement variability under different training conditions (evidenced by higher normalized root mean square error indexes posttraining). An increase in the number of completed dives (from 78.91%-86.84% to 95.59%-99.29%) and a decrease in the frequency of balked takeoffs (from 13.16%-19.41% to 0.63%-4.41%) showed that the elite athletes were able to adapt their behaviors during the training program. These findings coincided with greater consistency in the divers' performance during practice as scored by qualified judges.
Results suggested that on completion of training, athletes were capable of successfully adapting their movement patterns under more varied takeoff conditions to achieve greater consistency and stability of performance outcomes.
The concept of collective mind is developed to explain organizational performance in situations requiring nearly continuous operational reliability. Collective mind is conceptualized as a pattern of heedful interrelations of actions in a social system. Actors in the system construct their actions (contributions), understanding that the system consists of connected actions by themselves and others (representation), and interrelate their actions within the system (subordination). Ongoing variation in the heed with which individual contributions, representations, and subordinations are interrelated influences comprehension of unfolding events and the incidence of errors. As heedful interrelating and mindful comprehension increase, organizational errors decrease. Flight operations on aircraft carriers exemplify the constructs presented. Implications for organization theory and practice are drawn.
This essay examines elements of a theory of organizational knowledge creation. To this end, a model for the management of the dynamic aspects of organizational knowledge is offered, using hands-on research and practical experience of Japanese firms. Two dimensions are examined to assess the importance of knowledge management: tacit and explicit knowledge. Four modes of knowledge creation through the interaction of tacit and explicit knowledge are presented: 1) socialization; 2) externalization; 3) internalization; and 4) combination. The process of organizational knowledge creation is also described in a corporate organizational setting. The model helps to explain how the knowledge of individuals, organizations, and societies can be enriched through the amplification of tacit and explicit knowledge of each. The key to this process is a joint creation of knowledge by both individuals and organizations. Organizations play an important role in mobilizing the tacit knowledge that individuals possess, as well as providing forums for knowledge creation through socialization, combination, externalization, and internalization. The concept of organizational knowledge creation allows for the development of a perspective that reaches beyond straightforward notions of organizational learning. Practical proposals, such as hypertext and middle-up-down management, are offered as modes of implementing more effective knowledge creation. (CBS)
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Ecological cognition: Expert decision-making behaviour in sport
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