Abstract
Organizational cynicism is a disparaging mistrust of the organization, and work cynicism is a disparaging mistrust of law enforcement and police services. Merton postulated a five-fold paradigm on the adaptation of societal elements to cultural goals and institutional means of obtaining those goals. These adaptation modes are conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. For this study, a scale to measure both organizational and work cynicism was developed through accepted reliability and validity procedures. A total of 418 police officers from 19 randomly selected New York City precincts were administered the scale in 1979 and 1980. Rank and length of service affected organizational and work cynicism in different ways. Preference for detail, work complexity, rotating shifts, and command assignments were associated with work cynicism but not organizational cynicism. Various combinations of the degree of the two forms of cynicism were good predictors of three of the five modes of adaptation: conformity, retreatism, and rebellion. This link could be useful in studying people's behavior in organizations. 4 tables, appended cynicism scale, and 21 references.
