Transcript Document 7137310

Chapter Seven – Leadership
 Comprehend the complexities of leadership
in criminal justice organizations.
 Understand the many theories of leadership.
 Know the limitations of leadership research
in criminal justice organizations.
 Explain the importance of leadership
development in criminal justice
organizations.
 Leadership is a process that effectively
accomplishes organizational goals and is
related to effectiveness.
 Administrators can learn leadership
skills.
 Leadership is a group process.
 Leadership in public bureaucracies is
inherently political.
 Leadership research is a relatively
new area of scholarly attention.
 Most of what we know about
leadership theory comes from the
groundbreaking studies conducted
at
o Ohio State University (1940’s), and
o Michigan State University (1940’s – 1960’s).
 Leadership theories can be
loosely organized into one of
the following traditions.
o Leaders are born and not made
o Leadership is behavioral
o Leadership is contingency based
 Assumes:
o The ability to lead others is based on certain
personality traits like the ability to relate to
others, communication skills, or charisma.
o Leadership is not a learned skill – you either
have it or you don’t.
o Leadership effectiveness is dependent upon
finding a person with the personality type that
can work well in a particular working
environment.
 This approach was largely discredited
when researchers understood the
importance of contingencies.
o Some leadership ‘personalities’ are more or less
effective in certain situations, but situations
(contingencies) often change.
o Some researchers continue to advocate that
personality characteristics are an important
element of leadership effectiveness.
 Focus is on how leaders behave.
 Effectiveness depends on how leaders
interact with their subordinates to
accomplish tasks (initiating structures).
 This approach is also concerned with how
workers achieve both organizational and
personal goals simultaneously.
o The perception of support from management is critical.
o Creating a sense of belonging among employees is
essential to effective leadership.
 Emphasis is on how situational factors
present in the workplace affect
leadership.
 Leadership effectiveness is determined
by whether the leader responds
appropriately to these situational
factors (contingencies).
 There are two principal approaches.
 Fiedler’s Contingency Model – the
leadership process is constrained by three
major situational dimensions.
o Leader-member relations
o Task structure
o Position power
 Structured assessments of organizational
contingencies enable leaders to identify their most
appropriate leadership approach.
 The application of Fiedler’s
Contingency Model in Criminal Justice
may be difficult.
o Given the nature of promotional selection it may
not be possible to match the right leader to a
specific task.
o The overall lack of leadership training does not
enable leaders to identify how their personality
orientations affect leadership outcomes.
 Path-Goal Theory – the interaction
between leader behavior and the situational
aspects of the organization is important.
o This particular theory is linked to the expectancy theory
of human motivation.
 Effective leadership is situational and does not
depend on a single style of leadership.
 The effectiveness of a leadership style is based on
the degree of direction and guidance the leader
provides.
 Four Leadership Styles (Path-Goal Theory)
o
o
o
o
Directive
Supportive
Achievement-oriented
Participative
 Leaders may adopt various styles depending on;
o The needs/desires of the employee,
o The nature of the task, and
o Environmental conditions.
 This theory grew from dissatisfaction
with trait, behavioral and contingency
theories.
 Focuses on how leaders transform
organizations to produce results using:
o Mission and vision statements,
o Goal setting, and
o Creative solutions to organizational problems.
 Police leaders tend to have a preferred (single)
leadership style.
o Primarily a high task and high relationship style.
o Strong communications skills.
 Research on leadership in correctional agencies is
very limited.
 There is a substantial need for research on
leadership throughout all parts of the criminal
justice system.
 Invested heavily in leadership development with
an emphasis on education rather than training.
 Developed essential elements of effective
leadership.
o
o
o
o
o
Proactive traits (communication, honesty, knowledge)
Building relationships with employees
Balancing employee and organizational needs
Transform the culture when necessary
Able to use appropriate (contingency based) leadership
tools as needed
 Most criminal justice leaders either ‘come up
through the ranks’ or are elected.
 Leaders are a product of the organizational
culture.
 The tendency to promote leaders from within
o Restricts change in the organizational culture, and
o May encourage corruption.
 Leadership in criminal justice must be understood in a
political context.
 Poor leadership might be caused by a lack of
understanding about political realities and complexities.
 There are numerous theories that help us understand how
leadership works.
 There are benefits to applying various leadership models
in criminal justice, however, not much testing of these
models had occurred.
 Our knowledge of how leadership models affect criminal
justice agencies is limited.
 Young people entering the policing profession
today are part of the Generation Y and Millenial
cohorts.
 These generational cohorts are broadly
characterized as culturally liberal, electronically
savvy, motivated by rewards (“Trophy Kids”), and
less likely remain employed by the same
organization throughout their professional life.
 Given what you have learned about leadership,
what would be the most useful model for this
generational cohort, and why?