Executive Summary
Police force leaders have come to realize that the authoritarian styles of leadership are no longer effective in dealing with subordinates. Contemporary police leaders are urged to promote attitudes that facilitate innovative and creative thinking in a bid to form organizations capable of incorporating change in a transforming society. Though transformational style of leadership is recommended for the leaders in police, it is necessary for them to adapt their style to suit the context and this includes being in a position to offer active, directive leadership in certain situations. The traditional ‘leader as commander’ style of pervasive police leadership has been replaced by the recent trend of softer leadership styles. This view is important since it supports the fact that policing needs an approach to leadership that is different from other sectors; an approach that is able to ‘command and control’. Effective leaders of the police force need to stress on the merits of supportive and participation styles, behaviors and competencies.
There are several definitions of leadership that evoke different images for different groups of people. Basically, leadership deals with the capacity to inspire other individuals to work towards the accomplishment of the mission of a specific organization. Thus, leadership may be considered to be one of the main ingredients of effective management. Under usual circumstances, leadership requires the zeal to address the most challenging and difficult tasks that act as a hurdle to the progress of the organization. The best leaders make it a point to learn new skills and abilities and develop their existing ones regularly. Leaders usually tend to demand a lot from those around them, but no less than they demand themselves. Leaders need to possess effective communication skills and they need to promote a certain level of trust within their work groups. They must possess a perspective or vision of the direction in which they want to take the organization. Moreover, good leaders, through the means of mentoring, coaching, serving as role models, teaching, and conceiving and implementing innovative programs, encourage and assist in the development of others. So, quality leaders help in the growth of other successful leaders .
Various styles of police leadership, behaviors and competencies have been found to be potentially effective. The qualities of good police leaders cannot be determined easily and is restricted mostly to the impact of the leaders on subordinates as well as the perceptions of subordinates regarding the effectiveness of their leaders. Leadership behaviors and competencies do not have much of an impact on organizational and operational outcomes. Police leaders generally follow the transformational style of leadership that attempts to inspire, establish a vision, provide intellectual stimulation and appeal to the moral values of the followers. The police leaders must attempt to realize their potential and make positive contributions that will be cement their positions as effective leaders. Leaders have a positive impact on the organizational commitment of the subordinates along with their willingness to exert extra effort and comply with the directives.
Some police leaders rely heavily on punishment and rewards as well as the “management-by-exception” instead of employing transformational behaviors. But this form of leadership, commonly referred to as transactional leadership, has less impact on the subordinates. But, evidence exists to suggest that transactional behaviors may have positive influences under a certain set of circumstances . For instance, subordinates are going to respect supervisors who adopt transactional leadership behavior and styles in order to deal with poor performance and standards. Officers who possess low levels of experience and a lower ranking tend to prefer goal-oriented leaders than those who hold higher ranks within the framework of the police system. Subordinates appreciate role-clarification more when tasks are considered to be unpredictable. Individuals who have a disposition to prefer external control and direction may also express a preference for transactional styles of behaviors and leadership.
Good police leaders have the ability to combine transactional and transformational behaviors that appear to be more effective in comparison to leaders who rely purely on the transformational style of leadership. Leaders who play an active role out in the field can manage to offer a good example and employ strategies for role-modeling for role-modeling. These leaders appear to be more effective at influencing the behavior of subordinates, including the impacting of integrity and the ethical culture of the police force, than leaders with transformational styles who rely mostly on inspirational interventions and motivation like mentoring.
There are police leaders who adopt situational leadership styles as they possess the capacity to modify their behaviors as per the immediate context, including several years of experience, role and rank of their subordinates. This method has more impact than others. Styles of leadership like participative leadership that promote participation in the process of decision making have a positive impact on job satisfaction and the organizational commitment of the subordinates and there is a lot of limited evidence to imply that shared leadership initiatives have the potential for similar influences. Police leaders who usually practice inactive leadership are viewed as less effective throughout their careers. Their behavior may have a negative impact on the willingness of the subordinates to exert some extra amount of effort but exceptions are present amongst the officers with higher ranks .
Policing, in some cases, requires approaches to leadership which are rather unusual in comparison to the jobs in other sectors. Police officers in some parts of the world have been found to possess a greater level of satisfaction with their respective leaders compared to workers involved in industry or business, in spite of evidence to indicate that the police leaders in Australia happen to be less transformational than their business or industry equivalents. Police leaders should have sufficient emotional intelligence since this ability to assess perceive and manage the emotions of a person as well as of other can be related positively to the effectiveness of police leaders when coupled with increased levels of narcissism.
The effectiveness of the police leadership in North America was felt in the 1970s, during the height of the civil rights movement when the social unrest of the past decade coincided with the early development of the policing community. Different leadership theories have been developed over the course of the years and a shift has taken place from trying to identify the “traits” that form a great leader to paying greater amount of attention to overall styles and behaviors that could potentially be learnt and emulated, instead of simply gifted at birth. New styles of police leadership evolved at a time when traditional policing methods were undergoing evolution to meet the current needs of society.
During the early years, an impersonal and autocratic leadership style was preferred by the police officers and this sort of quasi-military leadership and structure were essential in order to help maintain centralized control while officers were provided significant discretion on the ground to ensure rapid mobilization in emergency and crisis situations and to provide the public with more confidence in the legitimacy and accountability of the activities of the police. The early blanket approach to police leadership has been questioned and undermined and the validity of a strictly quasi-military structure of leadership has doubted in order to promote participative and supportive leadership behaviors instead of being completely instrumental .
Police leadership is continually evolving and across every sector, little certainty exists over which behaviors and styles produce the most effective outcomes. The leadership styles of the police are difficult to pinpoint since the standard performance measures of the police is affected by numerous factors which makes it difficult to link outcomes in real-life with leadership. The perceptions of the outcomes of leadership styles and behaviors tend to have more influence tyhan the actual outcomes. The use of various models of leadership and the definitions of behaviors and styles has resulted in a great deal of complexity. In case of strict quasi experimental police leadership behaviors and styles, control or comparison groups cannot be established. The effectiveness of leadership styles of the police may vary but they are dependent upon the job satisfaction of the subordinates, organizational commitment and morale, the improvement of performance, the perceptions of the effectiveness of police leadership and subordinate responsiveness of the leader, force ethics and integrity.
Transformational leadership styles employed by police leaders seem to have a positive impact on the job satisfaction of the subordinates. The contrasting transactional style or ‘leader as commander’ approach to leadership has an adverse effect on the job satisfaction of the subordinates. But in some cases, transactional leadership may produce positive results. Transformational leadership is more effective in encouraging subordinates to exert more effort than transactional style of leadership. Participative and supportive leadership styles are positively associated with the organizational commitment of the subordinates. Officers belonging to some specific ranks who are in charge of performing specific roles often do not respond positively to more transactional leadership behaviors and styles and even less in case of laissez-faire style of management.
In police leadership, transformational leaders are considered to be more effective since they are likely to elicit compliance from their subordinates. But the mixing of transactional and transformational serves the purpose of police leaders the best in having a positive impact on the subordinates. Behaviors and natures of police leaders, who often set a good example for the subordinates, openly discuss ethical values and dilemmas and enforce ethical codes of conduct, have a positive influence on the integrity violations of the subordinates. The effectiveness of police leaders may be influenced by emotional intelligence and personality. Emotional intelligence has mostly been found to benefit the performance of an individual as a leader and the subordinates highly value emotional connections with their leaders and prefer to share those values .
Burtell Jefferson became the first African American to serve as the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. on 13th January, 1978, after almost 30 years of public service. The founder of NOBLE or the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Jefferson served his position in an honourable manner till his retirement in 1981. He has managed to leave an impressive legacy in the form of numerous policing practices and procedures. He encouraged and mentored the development of several young African American officers, along with those of other races, who later gained leadership positions in law enforcement agencies throughout the nation .
In the early stages of his career as a supervisor, the primary challenge of Jefferson was to find practical strategies in order to promote change within the Metropolitan D.C. Police Department. He aimed to transform the department through the dismantling of discriminatory practices and policies and emphasizing equality of opportunity. For this, he had to overcome resistance form white officers in leadership positions within the organization. Jefferson turned to his own deep resolve, sheer determination and dedication to push his objective forward in spite of his segregated surroundings. Jefferson displays the traits of transformational style of leadership in his career. Not only did he find it a challenge to motivate himself constantly in such circumstances, but as he rose in rank, he worked hard to motivate other colored officers to remain productive in spite of their second-class status within the department as well as their extremely limited opportunities for professional development. Jefferson had the ability to perceive his own emotions as well as of others and he managed to assess them in an effective manner. He had to overcome tremendous amount of hardships to eradicate the entrenched pattern of discriminatory and racist practices .
Such kind of practices extended beyond the confines of the precinct houses and police headquarters. They had a direct impact on the African American and other marginalized communities served by the Metropolitan D.C. Police Department. The resulting damage from this sort of discriminatory behavior managed to cut very deeply and left a lasting scar on the psyche of African American citizens and officers. Chief Jefferson used his leadership potential to handle the emotions of the people and his subordinates. His brand of transformational leadership came to his aid and he managed to secure his position and his goals in spite of opposition from different quarters. He lacked formal authority due to his rank and race but he pushed hard to make improvements. He maintained an optimistic view of a time when opportunity would be given to the black police officers and he tirelessly pushed the black people to prepare themselves for the coming of that time. Jefferson had the effective qualities of a leader and he used them in a wise manner due to his high personal standards, his encouragement and generosity of others as well as his positive outlook .
Jefferson’s efforts were not in vain since by the 1970s, opportunities had begun to open up for the black people in the D.C. police department. The careers of many eminent police officers started in the squad during this period. As Jefferson’s position began to increase to more senior levels and finally the position of the chief, the challenge of providing equal chances to the African American officers and other colored officers assumed a greater meaning for him. By leveraging his rank as well as the formal authority and platform that came with it, Jefferson began to broadcast his vision to a widespread audience .
Jefferson promoted the idea of the adoption of a management intern program the police departments. This kind of an arrangement would offer deserving officers, irrespective of gender and race, the chance to be coached, taught and mentored and finally the opportunity to gain the training and experience necessary to function effectively at every level within the framework of the police department. Jefferson consistently emphasized the importance of hard work along with high performance. He facilitated an optimistic outlook that focused on extending opportunities .
Jefferson used his values effectively to gain success in his career as the chief of police. The transformational leadership approach followed by Jefferson helped develop the leaders of the organization for an uncertain future. Burtell Jefferson was able to form a strong support for change and grow other leaders through his mentoring, coaching and commitment to performance and high quality. His professional and personal actions reflected the innovativeness and prescience that are essential for a true leader. He was able to locate opportunities and possibilities that were far on the horizon. Moreover, he was both able and willing to share his perception with other and even encouraged them to position themselves for that new era. This helped to ensure that the new generation of future leaders in the police department would be well-prepared to accept fresh opportunities .
Change in the police organizations are resisted by many factors, including the authoritarian-totalitarian system of organizational structure, the attitudes of the police leadership, their dogma and ideology and finally, leadership styles. The chief of the police department frequently exhibits normative attributes but their behavioral and managerial attributes must be a major area of focus. The manager of the police is an agent of change and must be willing to establish and operate a process of change that is aimed at the welfare of the public and they need to be willing to make changes within themselves. Police chiefs who follow non-traditional leadership styles seem to be much more cosmopolitan in their perceptions and attitudes. They tend to identify more with the notion of professionalism in the abstract and in terms of connections. Traditionalist police administrators enjoy a high level of identification with the community but they execute a highly structured and control approach to leadership. Traditionalist police chiefs showcase attitudes that express strong personal needs to control and structure, thereby indicating non-receptiveness to ideas from subordinates or external sources in determining decisions of policy. Several police administrators and policy makers are primarily traditionalists, usually not really qualified or well-educated, but have simply become leaders since they have outlasted all of the others. They are ingrained with an attitude that is not acceptable to change. Even though most administrators in the police department have been removed from the streets too long to understand the attitudes of society as well as those of the front line, they pass down these attitudes to their subordinates in the lower echelons of the police. Their attitudes are often in sharp contrast to that which is required by a modern police chief, innovative-prone and change-oriented .
In an effort to become an efficient and effective organization, the police service has, in recent times, attempted to move from their conventional artisan role to one of professional status with the help of quality leadership skills. This has been successful in part through the enhancement of service delivery by the importation of strategies of management that was previously adopted in other service organizations. In terms of the police service, the lowest rank often possesses the greatest amount of power as it relates to discretion. Leadership skills and management are required, not just in the hierarchical structure of the organization, by individual officers .
Police leaders have come to realize authoritarian styles of leadership are no longer effective in dealing with subordinates. Through transformational style of leadership is recommended for the leaders of police, it is necessary for them to adapt their style to suit the context and this includes being in a position to offer active, directive leadership in certain situations. The traditional ‘leader as commander’ style of pervasive police leadership has been replaced by the recent trend of softer leadership styles. This view is important since it supports the fact that policing needs an approach to leadership that is different from other sectors; an approach that is able to ‘command and control’. Effective leaders of the police force need to stress on the merits of supportive and participative styles, behaviors and competencies.
Works Cited
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Williams, B. N., & Kellough, J. E. (2006). Leadership with an Enduring Impact: Th e Legacy of Chief Burtell Jeff erson of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. (N. M. Riccucci, Ed.) Public Administration Review, 813-822.
