DQ7
CHAPTER SEVEN
LEADERSHIP
Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management
Leadership Defined
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.
Theories of Leadership
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
Ohio State University (1940’s), and
Michigan State University (1940’s – 1960’s).
Theories of Leadership
Leadership theories can be loosely organized into one of the following traditions.
Leaders are born and not made
Leadership is behavioral
Leadership is contingency based
Theories of Leadership
Born Leaders
Assumes:
The ability to lead others is based on certain personality traits like the ability to relate to others, communication skills, or charisma.
Leadership is not a learned skill – you either have it or you don’t.
Leadership effectiveness is dependent upon finding a person with the personality type that can work well in a particular working environment.
Theories of Leadership
Born Leaders
This approach was largely discredited when researchers understood the importance of contingencies.
Some leadership ‘personalities’ are more or less effective in certain situations, but situations (contingencies) often change.
Some researchers continue to advocate that personality characteristics are an important element of leadership effectiveness.
Theories of Leadership
Behavioral Theories
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.
The perception of support from management is critical.
Creating a sense of belonging among employees is essential to effective leadership.
Theories of Leadership
Contingency Theories
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.
Theories of Leadership
Contingency Theories
Fiedler’s Contingency Model – the leadership process is constrained by three major situational dimensions.
Leader-member relations
Task structure
Position power
Structured assessments of organizational contingencies enable leaders to identify their most appropriate leadership approach.
Theories of Leadership
Contingency Theories
The application of Fiedler’s Contingency Model in Criminal Justice may be difficult.
Given the nature of promotional selection, it may not be possible to match the right leader to a specific task.
The overall lack of leadership training does not enable leaders to identify how their personality orientations affect leadership outcomes.
Theories of Leadership
Contingency Theories
Path-Goal Theory – the interaction between leader behavior and the situational aspects of the organization is important.
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.
Theories of Leadership
Contingency Theories
Four Leadership Styles (Path-Goal Theory)
Directive
Supportive
Achievement-oriented
Participative
Leaders may adopt various styles depending on;
The needs/desires of the employee,
The nature of the task, and
Environmental conditions.
Theories of Leadership
Contingency Theories
Theories of Leadership
Transformational Leadership
This theory grew from dissatisfaction with trait, behavioral and contingency theories.
Focuses on how leaders transform organizations to produce results using:
Mission and vision statements,
Goal setting, and
Creative solutions to organizational problems.
Leadership Research in Criminal Justice
Police leaders tend to have a preferred (single) leadership style.
Primarily a high task and high relationship style.
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.
Leadership Education
The California Department of Corrections Experience
Invested heavily in leadership development with an emphasis on education rather than training.
Developed essential elements of effective leadership.
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
Criminal Justice Leadership
A Brief Word on Organizational Culture
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
Restricts change in the organizational culture, and
May encourage corruption.
Chapter Summary
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.