Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

THE CASE FOR CHANGE
wrong, the organisational response is to indulge in the blame culture, then
innovation and initiative are discouraged and the organisation will stagnate.
The blame culture
8.71 We fully endorse this statement from the IPCC: “People who never make mistakes
never make anything. We discourage a blame culture amongst the police where even
appropriate and carefully managed risks are avoided. ‘What can we learn?’ is often a more
useful question than ‘who is to blame?’”
8.72 The Deputy Commissioner told us that getting rid of the blame culture was
“the absolute centrepiece of the Commissioner’s Leadership Programme.” We have been
told that 600 of the MPS’ senior staff have been through this programme.
8.73 We are concerned, however, that, according to several witnesses, there
continues to be “a blame culture within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) affecting all
officers … As we have said there is a blame culture that pervades the service particularly
around the area of internal investigations.”
(Submission from the Metropolitan Police Federation.)
8.74 The changes we have recommended to the discipline and grievance systems
should give greater scope to managers to manage officers and staff effectively. We
are confident that line managers throughout the MPS have the ability to do this, if
they are provided with the right leadership, back-up and support.
8.75 In the words of one officer during our visit to one of the MPS’ central London
buildings, the MPS needs “to engender a learning culture in the organisation as opposed
to a blame culture. We need to empower first line supervisors to deal with situations and
challenge risk aversion.”
An open culture
8.76 We have already dealt with the systems that are needed for effective
communication but communication is also a cultural issue. If the culture in the
workplace is an open one, with staff encouraged to give their views in the
knowledge that they will be listened to, disputes are far less likely to arise.
8.77 In the absence of effective communication, disputes can so often spiral out of
control because the parties are unable to talk to each other.
“If management took the opportunity to explain the rationale for the decisions they have
taken in selection or how this appraisal was arrived at, where was their evidence; if they had
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