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Developing Police Leadership
DEVELOPING POLICE LEADERSHIP
By
Paul Hansen
Sergeant
Irondequoit Police Department
Rochester, New York
Effective leadership, or the lack of it, can impact
dramatically on organizations. There have been many instances
when private organizations near bankruptcy, such as the Chrysler
Corporation, have become more efficient, effective organizations
by replacing ineffective administrations with competent, dynamic
leadership. Similarly, successful military leaders have turned
ineffective military units into highly effective, motivated
teams.
Unfortunately, however, police departments often do not
evaluate management practices until a crisis, such as a lawsuit,
serious accident, or public pressure caused by misconduct or
mismanagement, forces them to re-evaluate their positions. This
type of crisis management in police organizations has been
disruptive and costly and has even threatened the existence of
some departments.
The absence of good management practices in police
departments may be due, in some part, to the fact that it is
difficult to measure the effectiveness of police organizations.
However, a lack of measurable standards often allows ineffective
organizations, including police departments, to survive without
much change.
Fortunately, however, the same leadership principles and
skills that turn around private organizations and military units
can be used to change police organizations and motivate
personnel. This article discusses how some of today's
ineffective police practices evolved and what is needed to
change these management practices. Various leadership styles
will also be discussed, as well as how effective disciplinary
measures can be taken when necessary.
POLICE LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
Certain ineffective police leadership practices that exist
today evolved from two sources--the authoritarian military style
of management and management practices used during and after the
Industrial Revolution to control unskilled factory laborers.
These autocratic practices were based on the assumption that
employees were basically lazy, and leaders believed that this
type of management was necessary to gain as much production as
possible from the labor force.
Unethical political influences and corruption were also
factors in the early development of police leadership practices.
A strong chief executive was required to combat these problems.
This, along with the low education level of most officers and
the existence of a structure-oriented society, made the
authoritarian leadership style both appropriate and effective.
However, authoritative leadership practices do not meet the
needs and expectations of today's better educated and more
technically competent police officers.
For the most part, as society evolved, work ethics and
leadership styles changed. Today, police officers are expected
to function effectively in a more sophisticated society, and as
a result, the education and prestige level of officers has
increased significantly. Officers are not willing to accept
autocratic leadership that requires them to follow orders
without question. This autocratic style of management not only
causes poor morale and reduced organizational effectiveness but
it also leads to the loss of quality personnel, who seek
employment elsewhere rather than being subjected to ineffective,
poor leadership.
CHANGING LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
If police leadership is to improve, officials in the
department, from the chief executive down through the chain of
command, must be committed to change poor leadership practices
and values. (1) They must master leadership skills, such as
patience, understanding, fairness, and judgment. (2)
Supervisors must also recognize that leadership is important to
successful management, and that past practices, such as public
criticism, tactlessness, and unfairness, are destructive to
organizations. Instead, leaders should stress the importance of
consideration, caring, and loyalty. Stressing the importance of
these values produces positive results, such as a higher degree
of employee motivation and morale. This, in turn, may result in
more effective organizations.
For example, loyalty, both to the supervisor and to the
employee, is important. Some administrators expect loyalty from
employees; yet, they fail to show loyalty to the employees.
This is often demonstrated through their lack of trust or
confidence in their subordinates. Some supervisors, when they
receive citizen complaints about their officers, automatically
assume the officers are guilty. This seriously undermines
employee confidence in the supervisor's leadership ability. It
also causes confusion and reduced performance in subordinates.
For these reasons, supervisors must presume that employees are
innocent of any wrongdoing until the facts prove otherwise.
An important step in the commitment to change leadership
practices is to identify the various leadership styles and how
they impact on employee performance. Studying leadership styles
also allows supervisors to identify their personal styles of
management and to make necessary changes in their management
styles.
BASIC LEADERSHIP STYLES
There are two basic leadership styles--job-oriented and
employee-oriented. (3) Job-oriented leaders are primarily
concerned with tasks, and they rely on the formal power
structure and close supervision for task accomplishment.
Conversely, the employee-oriented leader is concerned with
maintaining good relations with subordinates. Tasks are
delegated, and the leader is concerned with the employees'
personal growth. Although one leadership style is not clearly
superior over the other, the employee-oriented leader generally
promotes higher morale in subordinates. This results in lower
absenteeism and fewer employee grievances. Employees of
job-oriented leaders generally produce less because they are
closely monitored and are not allowed to participate in
decisionmaking, which results in employee dissatisfaction.
ADDITIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLES
In "The Managerial Grid," authors Blake and Mouton
identified five styles of leadership: Task management, country
club management, impoverished management, middle of the road
management, and team management. (4) The "task management
supervisor" is concerned with achieving production goals by
planning, directing, and controlling subordinates' work, whereas
the "country club" management style stresses the importance of
good employee relations. On the other hand, the "impoverished
management" supervisor attempts to maintain organizational
membership, while the "middle-of-the-road" manager attempts to
maintain both good employee relations and production. And, the
"team manager" maintains a high degree of production through
integration of tasks with subordinate input and decision
participation.
Of these five management styles, "team management" is
considered to be the most effective. Leaders with this style of
management are able to build effective teams, solve problems,
resolve conflicts, and encourage employee development.
Although a leader's basic management style is important, it
is equally important for the leader to adjust that style
according to existing circumstances. This is referred to as
situational leadership.
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP
A good leader must be flexible, must adapt to a variety of
situations, and must have the ability to select the most
effective leadership style for any given situation. While a
particular leadership style may be extremely effective in one
situation, it may be disastrous in another. Other times, a
combination of styles may be necessary to provide the most
effective leadership. The situational leader takes a
commonsense approach to leadership, with the focus on the leader
adapting to the follower's needs.
According to Paul Hersey, author of "The Situational
Leader," a flexible leadership style should be based on the
particular employee's needs. (5) There are four basic styles
that could meet these needs, including telling, selling,
participating, and delegating.
The telling style is high task and low relations oriented.
This style has a greater probability of success when used with
new employees who have low readiness levels because of their
limited abilities and inexperience in performing tasks.
On the other hand, when dealing with experienced,
motivated, or willing employees, leaders will find that the
delegating style has the greatest probability of success. This
allows employees to participate in decisionmaking and gives them
a certain degree of independence.
Correctly analyzing where employees are in terms of
readiness and the ability of leaders to remain flexible are
critical to the success of situational leaders. Leaders should
first evaluate where the employee is in terms of both ability
and willingness to perform tasks. Based on these two factors,
leaders can determine what management style would most likely be
effective.
Hersey further suggests that leaders who work with groups
must also remain flexible. This allows the leader to progress
from group supervisor to group leader as the group's readiness
level increases.
Fillmore Sanford, author of "Authoritarism and Leadership,"
also believes that leadership style should be based on the
employee's level of job maturity--the employee's ability to
perform a task. (6) A new employee often lacks the training or
experience to function without assistance or close supervision.
As the employee matures by gaining experience and training, it
is possible for the leader to move from a task-oriented
management style to an employee-oriented management style.
Eventually, it may be possible for the leader to simply delegate
tasks to the employee.
However, the rate and degree to which employees mature
varies, and not all employees will mature to the level of simply
being delegated tasks. In order to choose the proper management
style, then, the leader needs to assess the employee's level of
maturity. Choosing the wrong management style may result in the
incorrect amount of supervision.
For example, in police organizations, the performance of
new officers must be monitored more closely. They generally
lack self-confidence and need more feedback. Seasoned veterans,
however, view this type of supervision as inappropriate because
they have gained job maturity through experience.
LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS
There are three leadership traits associated with
leadership effectiveness--intelligence, personality, and
ability. (7) Superior intelligence affects the leader's
judgment and decisiveness and allows the manager to make
correct, timely decisions. Additionally, adaptable, creative,
confident leaders with integrity can influence and motivate
employees. Tact and diplomacy are also important to gain
employee cooperation.
Also found consistently in effective leadership are three
leadership dimensions: The assumption of the leadership role,
the closeness of supervision, and being employee-oriented. (8)
To assume the leadership role, effective leaders need to plan,
delegate, communicate, and supervise. However, close control by
the supervisor may result in lower employee productivity. This
lack of employee freedom can prevent necessary decisions being
made at the lowest level possible and creates a lack of employee
ownership.
Additionally, the degree to which a supervisor cares about
subordinates has a significant impact on leadership
effectiveness. If police department organizational practices
and procedures are designed to aid management at the expense of
employee safety, it sends the message that the officers are
expendable. This creates resentment and alienates the officers.
DISCIPLINARY MEASURES
Disciplinary measures are necessary to ensure that
organizational standards of performance and conduct are met.
Both inappropriate discipline and the failure of management to
discipline can lower employee morale and can also lead to the
retention of unqualified or undesirable employees.
Some employees will not respond to positive leadership
practices and motivational techniques. Sound leadership
practices mandate the use of discipline only when all other
reasonable courses of action have failed; however, the negative
effects will be minimal if management is not indiscriminate and
if the administration of punishment is fair. (9) Supervisors
must ensure that employees know what the standards are and that
those standards are not being met. Employees must also be aware
of what disciplinary action will be taken for continued poor
performance. Leaders, however, should ensure that employee
deficiencies are not the result of a lack of training.
When a leader takes disciplinary action, it should be done
quickly and fairly. This is critical in order to ensure that
there is as little adverse effect on organizational morale as
possible. Leaders should always bear in mind that the objective
is to correct performance, not to teach employees to avoid
discipline.
Fairness and proper administration of the disciplinary
process are also critical to avoid legitimate complaints.
Leaders should also avoid the shift of focus from the issue of
performance to the issue of management's fairness.
PROMOTING EMPLOYEES
In some police agencies, administrators fail to implement a
fair promotion system, while in other agencies, administrators
try to circumvent systems already in place in order to promote
the officer of their choice. For example, some administrators
fail to promote from an existing list of qualified officers, and
instead, wait for a new promotion list to be established in the
hopes a particular officer will be promotable.
This type of leadership is demoralizing to the entire
department, and it reduces organizational effectiveness.
Officers soon learn that hard work, education, and good
performance are not the criteria on which promotions are based,
undermining everything leaders hope to accomplish. For this
reason, leaders must set the highest standard of integrity
possible when promoting officers.
CONCLUSION
In many police organizations, especially poorly managed
departments, the leadership philosophy is to control the officer
rather than encourage team building. When this type of
leadership exists within departments, it becomes increasingly
difficult to retain officers. Leaders within police departments
must, therefore, shift their emphasis from employee control to
employee team building, and they must involve officers at every
level in decisionmaking. They must also work to develop the
traits found in effective leaders, and they should study
effective leadership styles.
Sound leadership knowledge and practices are critical to
effective police organizations. Dynamic leadership can lead to
progressive, highly successful, and innovative departments. It
is only through this type of leadership that departments will
meet both the demands of today and the challenges of the future.
FOOTNOTES
(1) James B. Lau and A.B. Shani, "Behavior in
Organizations" (Homewood, Illinois: BPI Irwin, 1988), pp.
16-17.
(2) B.M. Bass and Roger M. Stogdill, "Handbook of
Leadership" (New York, New York: Free Press, 1982).
(3) R. Likert, "New Patterns of Management" (New York, New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1961).
(4) Robert Blake and Jane S. Mouton, "The Managerial Grid"
(Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing, 1964).
(5) Paul Hersey, "The Situational Leader" (New York, New
York: Warner Books).
(6) Fillmore H. Sanford, "Authoritarism and Leadership"
(Philadelphia Institute for Research in Human Relations, 1950).
(7) Supra note 2, pp. 75-76.
(8) David Krech, Richard S. Crutchfield, and Egerton
Ballachy, "Individual and Society" (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1962), pp. 472-473.
(9) James Gibson, John Ivancevich, and James Donnelly,
Jr., "Organizations Behavior Structure Process" (Homewood,
Illinois: BPI Irwin, 1988), pp. 210-211.
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