Before the Orange County Board of Supervisors accepted the Bob Murray paper cut,  all the Sheriff candidates we interviewed  agreed that the OC Sheriff's Department was in need of a culture makeover, the OC District Attorney found the  OCSD's culture lacking, the Orange County Board of Supervisors demanded changes to the OC Sheriff's Department's organizational culture, and the President of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff's Wayne Quint agreed that a culture change was required: In a KOCE interview Monday, May 19, 2008 titled "Deputies Under Fire", Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs president Sgt. Wayne Quint is asked:  "Scandals in the jail, Grand Jury criticism, the supervisors, the media, controversies over pay & benefits. Sheriff Deputies are under fire. What do they have to say?"  Quint agrees that a culture change in the department is needed, "but it starts at the top", he says in the interview, not taking any responsibility for the state of affairs.


When we asked Ralph Martin, for example, "do you agree that the OCSD needs a corporate culture extreme makeover?", his response was: "No question, there needs to be a wholesale change in leadership, much like when a new CEO is appointed to a corporation and makes sweeping changes. The investors want some positive return. In this case, rather than a profit, the residents of OC want public trust restored", whereas Craig Hunter opined that " What the OCSD needs is a new leader with a proven track record in law enforcement who will be a strong role model, lead by example with integrity and provide a new vision of teamwork  and accountability"
 
Just prior to her sworn-in ceremony, we asked Sheriff Hutchens the same question, and pointed out to her that in secret grand jury testimony, an Orange County sheriff's detective described a frat- house culture in the department, yet most OCSD employees remained silent.  She indicated not being familiar with the incident, but expressed a commitment to changing the culture.

During an informal press meeting earlier this week, we asked  Sheriff Hutchens that since she was asserting that the department was now under control, and given calls for a makeover prior to her swearing in, to a) define culture and b) describe the new and improved culture.  She told us that she "had never heard about culture" and then proceeded to describe her vision for the department - not the previous or current culture.  We have asked the Sheriff to clarify her remarks given our previous discussions.

So what exactly is organizational culture?  Organizational culture can be viewed as the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs governing the way employees within an organization think about and act on problems and opportunities. 

Organizational culture is a deeply embedded form of social control, is the  social glue that bonds people together and makes them feel part of the organizational experience and helps employees make sense of the workplace. Observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture include organizational stories and legends, rituals and ceremonies, language, physical structures and symbols.  This implies that the parties involved in defining and maintaining the OCSD culture include in no small measure the OCBOS, the OCDA, the AOCSD and the leadership and employees at the OCSD.  Further, as Rudy Giuliani might say, "if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it"  - seems like the Sherif has not defined a SMART method to manage the culture thing.

But not to worry, everything is OK