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Police Leadership Styles

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Leadership is a crucial element in successfully managing a company. Police officers of all ranks function as leaders when they attempt to obtain compliance or cooperation from other persons when performing a task, solving a problem, or accomplishing a goal. Patrol officers, investigators, and other personnel act as leaders when dealing with victims, suspects, informers, witnesses and often when they are involved in community policing and problem solving. Supervisors, managers and executives function as leaders when they organize, plan and evaluate police activities and motivating employees. In this essay the five types of leadership autocratic, bureaucratic, diplomatic, participative and free-rein will be discussed as well as their effectiveness …show more content…

In organizations, leaders organize individual behavior toward a common purpose. Leaders are trained to understand individual and group needs, as well as the factors that will motivate individuals to produce results. They encourage, praise, punish, teach and reward individuals and groups in a complex process of influencing behavior. When dealing with employees each team member is different and has a different work ethic and different response to the critics and praise given by the leader. In police settings, often times the leader is formally charged to conduct the leadership role or they assume the role informally. Leaders have the authority to lead, they have been granted that right and they have the power to exercise their authority while performing their duty. This is the mission statement designed for police chiefs. “Authority is the legitimate right to lead and influence people, while “power” is the capacity to lead. Power and authority are like sisters. Individuals are granted legitimacy to the power of the force to guide their actions. Without this, power dissolves or it must be continually exercised in order to gain compliance. Often times, police leaders seek out legitimate authority in police settings. Leadership styles are determined based on the needs of the police departments as well as how effective the style will be. Leadership styles that work well in the day to …show more content…

Leadership roles can vary based on the leader. In policing, the leadership roles may vary daily depending on the demands of the department. Autocratic leadership is a “by the books” a “my way or the highway” leader. Research has proven this to be the least effective leadership style. Bureaucratic leaders lead by example and encourage employees to have an opinion on the day to day operations. In policing, this is the most effective leadership style. Diplomatic, participative and free-rein leaders are more relaxed leaders. They considered their employees to be “family” and treated them equally as if they are a leader also. These types of leadership have both positive and negative consequences depending on the situation and the effectiveness of the

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There are four main executive styles that police executives employ in the execution of their roles. They include the administrator, the top cop, the politician, and the statesman. All these executive styles are dependent upon the particular external and internal roles and their time allocation for these responsibilities. In the two cases studies, both the new chief executives employ different executive styles in their attempts to reform their police departments. Captain Ed Davis employs the statesman style in running the Lowell Police Department (LPD) while Chief Ken Fortier uses the administrator style in his governance of the Riverside Police Department (RPD) which bear certain similarities and differences.

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At the top of the organizational chart, we have the Chief of Police and under him, the assistant Chief of Police; at which point, the chart further divides into other areas with lesser ranked individuals in charge of each of them. This provides a clear example of how “authority flows downward in the organization”. (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2012, p. 221). One interesting item of note is that, although the officers in the pictures are wearing military-style rank, they are using alternative titles vice the traditional ones for example, officers wearing the traditional insignia of a First Lieutenant are called Managers or Commanders as described in Figure 6.3 of our textbook. (Swanson et al, 2012, p.

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Also, both styles expressed what is necessary for police improvement. Furthermore, although, the effect on external relations is harder to predict in top cop, both styles will experience a certain degree of backlash if they exclude the external sources and interfere with the relationships of the officers and the community. The two styles differ for the reasons the administrator emphasizes the managing aspect s and manifestations of that role; but, top cop focuses more on leading than on managing. The administrator concentrates on the police organization (planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling), while the top cop is heavily involved in police operation (giving out orders and being in the spotlight on the more high profile investigations). Top cops are more likely than administrators to be liked and respected by police employees, depending heavily on their operational abilities, however in the case of Chief Davis and Chief Fortier it was the opposite.

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The desire for power is one of the fundamental aspects of human nature. Power can be expressed in many ways both for good and for evil. Being a leader takes tremendous responsibilities and if misused, can have a lasting effect on the people governed. Dee Houk once said, “Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership.” Jack believes leadership is about management and control.

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Leadership can be executed in many different methods. However, the best form of leadership comes when serving is the first priority amongst all others. Within an organization, leadership roles exist at all levels, providing endless opportunities for employees to affect change. The Federal Bureau of Prisons offers many leadership positions amongst its ranks, though not all individuals are meant to lead.

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A leader must be willing and ready to not only give orders but receive them. The group cannot thrive with a leader who does not adore what they do. The leader must be devoted and excited about what they do. A leader can have respect from every single member of the group but without the

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In the United States of America, law enforcement agencies are at times concerned with developing the leadership capabilities they need to become an effective leader. Researchers stated that interpersonal skills in law enforcement agencies is important because police officers are taught to treat all individuals with respect, courtesy, and sensitivity (Leadership Core Competencies, n.d.). People from different backgrounds responds differently, so it is important to learn how to receive and give feedbacks in order to create positive situation. If a police officer does not have the skills to develop interpersonal skills, they should work on speaking skills as well as work with personal relationships such as relatives, coworkers, and the community.

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As a child, I had always valued my education and loved learning. My father jokingly called me the brains of the family. I did not know how much of an impact these words would have on me. Attending a low-income school was challenging, though it sparked a desire for change in me. Throughout my life, my teachers were not advocates for my education.

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The organizational factors include: flexibility, responsibility, standards, rewards, clarity, and commitment. The research shows that the coercive and pacesetting styles have a negative correlations on organizational climate while the other four styles have a positive impact. Thus, except for unusual circumstances where coercive and pacesetting styles might be appropriate, leaders should normally use a combination of the authoritative, affiliative, democratic and coaching styles to achieve success. The best leaders will sense from their emotional intelligence when to use each of these styles. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to get to the next level of leadership excellence, Goleman’s article is a great primer on how to effectively use different leadership

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Leadership has been defined in a variety of ways, there are multiple authors and theorists who have tried to define and understand leadership, all leading to varying theories and conclusions, but one thing that is universally understood is the importance of effective leadership and how someone with good leadership skills can impact so many people around them. (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 1999; Yukl, 2002; Northouse,2013) The main components that have been identified to play a role in leadership are relations between leader and subordinates, interaction form between leader and followers, the influence that the leader has, the way in which the leader behaves and finally a leader’s traits. (Yukl, 2002) These elements that make up a leader, are then used as building blocks to identify the way in which each specific leader deals with its followers.

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Mosadeghard (2003) had pointed out different styles of leadership. These styles are: autocratic, bureaucratic, laissez-faire, charismatic, democratic, participative, situational, transactional, and transformational leadership. Aioanei (2006) explained that in autocratic leadership style, organization is highly centralized. Leaders are more concerned with the tasks to be performed rather than developing relations. In this type of leadership employees are less involved and most of the decisions are made by the management.

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In today's world, the citizen has experienced bad or good leaders. The role of the leader has the extensive knowledge of understanding the leadership situation and influence other complete tasks. The important factor of the leader is to gain power. Power referred as the individuals capacity to move others, to entice others, to persuade and encourage others to attain specific goals or to engage in the specific behavior. Leader power is the capacity to influence and motivate others ().

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" Leadership is the ability of a superior to influence the behavior of subordinates and persuade them to follow a particular course of action." - Chester Barnard Max Weber 's Theory: Types of Leadership In Max Weber 's theory, he wrote about three types of leaderships: Bureaucratic, Charismatic, and Traditional. Weber was one of the first of the theorists to recognize that leadership itself was situational in nature, and that effective individuals needed to move dynamically from one type of leadership style to another to remain successful. 1] Bureaucratic Leadership "Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge." Bureaucratic leadership is based upon fixed official duties under a hierarchy of authority, applying a system of rules for management and decision-making.

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‘Organizations provide its managers with legitimate authority to lead, but there is no assurance that they will be able to lead effectively’ (Lunenburg, 2011). Organizational success usually requires a combination of both management and leadership. In today’s dynamic work environment, leaders are expected to challenge the present state of affairs, and to motivate and convince organization members. Managers are needed to assist in creating and maintaining a positive and well-functioning workplace. ‘Leadership and management are often considered practically overlapping concepts’ (Bohoris and Vorria, 2007, p. 1).

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