Exploring the managerial effectiveness of strategic performance management in a United Arab Emirates organisational context

This thesis investigated the possible application of different performance management techniques to the context of a modern police force using the Abu Dhabi Police Service as a case-study organisation. The study reviewed the available literature on performance management and interviewing a cross-section of managers and employees within the Abu Dhabi Police Service to examine the current performance management situation in the Service and attempt to determine how it might be improved. This qualitative study was performed by conducting interviews for purposes of collecting primary data. These interview results were then examined in detail. At the end of this process, findings were presented as to how performance management in the Abu Dhabi Service might be improved. The results of analysis of the data using Nvivo yielded themes that were structured along the four major themes with reference to the improvement in managerial effectiveness of performance management in ADP; (1) Experience of performance management, (2) Change management, (3) Implications of performance management for practice, and (4) Opportunities for improving performance management practice. The ultimate goal was to present police management and policymakers with some of the ways in which the institution may take advantage of the ideas gained from this study, thus enabling it to reach its full potential competitiveness among global police forces.