Leadership
Introduction
It can be complicating for people to distinguish the difference that exists between leadership and management, both as concepts and practice. Indeed, as it was revealed by Stacey (2012), most people use the concepts interchangeably. While this is the case, leadership and management are entirely different. The present paper seeks to assist the reader with understanding and delineating the two concepts. Additionally, the paper will attempt to determine two concepts in the practice of the administration of criminal justice agencies. To fulfill this particular purpose, the research report will explore the dynamics that make up the two concepts and based on the insights gained, complete the criminal justice part.
Leadership
Several definitions of leadership have been established. Bringing these definitions together, a common description is advanced. As such, leadership can be acknowledged as the activity of leading a community of people or an organization. It involves four essential aspects. Foremost is devising a clear vision. In line with Avolio and Yammarino (2013)’s thoughts, this is to say that a leader is mandated with the responsibility of setting the direction of an organization. As such, leaders have to identify where they want their organizations to be in a certain period into the future. Secondly is the sharing of that vision with others to ensure that they follow it in a willing manner. A person serving in the leadership position has to ensure
Leadership in law enforcement is unlike leadership in any other profession. There are a few similarities in which can be compared to other professions, this is the case as law enforcements leadership has consequences on a scale that can not only damage public trust and support, it may well also violate or restrict the rights that American citizens value.
The criminal justice system is one of the most important components in the public service system. Since it is a system that citizens encounter daily it would be most beneficial for those who are employed to behave as ethical leaders. Leadership skills and ethical behavior are both parts of the duties of any officer serving the law. Often employees are placed in quick decision situations that can have fatal outcomes if not handled properly. By ensuring that all officers of the law have a set of functioning ethical leadership skills can not only develop a well-rounded individual, but also builds the relationship between the community they serve to protect. The police and other officers of the law have great discretion and power over an individual which makes having responsible, ethically behaving persons on the front lines even more important. With the right training and education, ethical officers can set the bar and improve the quality of life of the community they serve as well as other officers.
“Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.” (Peter Drucker) An effective manager can be the difference between a successful law enforcement organization or its failure. There are several theories on effective management in law enforcement and the business world alike. Some of those theories can cross over and be helpful for a law enforcement manager. A manager can have the knowledge of all theory relative to law enforcement management, but without understanding several key concepts, the manager will in turn not be effective. An effective law enforcement manager is responsible for far more than just managing employees, unlike the business world. Effective law enforcement managers’ decisions likely impact the safety of the citizens within the jurisdiction, and that is the greatest responsibility. There are several components that will allow a law enforcement manager to be effective. Out of those components there are three primaries that are of upmost concern. Those three components are effective communication, organizational skills, and empowerment.
When we hear the word leadership or leader, the first thing some people imagine is a great military commander or king standing in front of his people and issuing orders. If we think about it more closely, we will realize that leadership is not only a creation of ancient history but we deal with it on a regular basis. To find a leader we don’t need to look far, presidents, politicians, business managers, sport stars and even every day people possess leadership qualities. Although the meaning of leadership may seem at first easy to define, but
When looking at the leadership of law enforcement departments in our local communities is one that can advance the or decline the connection between the law enforcement agencies and their communities that they serve (Abegbile, 2017). We see that the leaderships of law enforcement departments must be able to not only evaluate that concerns as leaders of the department, but also of that of the frontline staff of the department, and the concerns of the citizens that they serve and
Given the state of the leadership roles and research conducted in both the police and correctional organizations, the authors recommend that the issues be addressed by future researchers. They were able to come up with a few solutions researchers could probably use. First there needs to be additional research on how criminal justice administrators actually lead their organizations (Stojkovic, Kalinich, Klofas 2015 p.211). Second, the contemporary models of leadership offered by organizational behavior theory need to be examined. The Contingency approaches should also be examined in relation to criminal justice organizations, along with refinement of instruments, which is able to test these theories in the criminal justice environment (Stojkovic, Kalinich, Klofas 2015 p.211). Third, there needs to be use of methodologies to look at the intricacies associated with the leadership process, in order to fully understand the leadership phenomenon in criminal justice (Stojkovic, Kalinich, Klofas 2015 p.211). Lastly, the focus of the expectations from our
In addressing the question as to which approach to the organization of criminal justice functions more efficiently, first one must consider how organization is defined. Organization is basically defined as social units devoted primarily to the attainment of specific goals. A system for the administration of criminal justice, whether it is confrontational or inquisitorial, should include certain key elements with communications between a large number of personnel; whose roles are very defined, who are required to follow specific rules, and who share a obligation in a common goal and take in consideration environmental influences. Weber has characterized the major components of all organizations as: a continuous organization of official
“Organizational perspectives on leadership from fields outside of criminal justice are not relevant to criminal-justice practitioners because criminal-justice leaders face scenarios that are not comparable with scenarios that occur in other fields” (South University Online, 2016, para 1).
Leadership is about people and people are messy. Each person has their own career aspirations, personal life issues, and motivators. It is incumbent on a leader to bring the individuals together, focus their efforts on a clear objective, provide them with the necessary training and equipment to achieve the objective, and coach them along the way as needed. The hard part is motivating each individual to want to reach the objective you have laid out for them. My definition of leadership is motivating others to accomplish common objectives.
Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.
Today, however intuition and innate skills still play a crucial role, the practice of leadership exertion has become more complex and it relies on more specific theoretical models and frameworks. At a generic level, leadership is understood as the act of leading people in a specific direction, with the scope of attaining a pre-established objective. At its core, leadership revolves around the creation and spreading of a vision for development and improvement at the level of the community; leadership is motivational and inspirational.
In today’s vibrant and difficult environment, upcoming business models are surfacing and an important aspect of all these new models is leadership. Leadership has never been emphasized so much as before more than ever leadership is recognized as central to determine the success or failure of any organization. (Sadler 2003) According to Achua and Lussier, “Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organization objective through changes”. With this growth in importance of leaders, the numbers of theories about leadership has increase as well. With these new theories and ideas about
Leadership, according to Bryman (1992), is “purpose-driven action that brings about change or transformation based on values, ideals, vision, symbols, and emotional exchanges”.
In today’s society the concept of leadership provides a structure for decisions to be made within teams, organizations, and businesses. The notion that only leaders should be credited for the success or failure carried out by their teams has been instilled in our minds since we first understood the concept of hierarchies. The fact that most business schools even posses a required leadership course proves the significance of this concept within today’s society. While it is astounding how essential the idea of leadership has become, it is important for us to begin looking at leadership under a new light: leadership does not exist without followers because the followers themselves are the true leaders.
When we hear the word leadership or leader, the first thing some people imagine is a great military commander or king standing in front of his people and issuing orders. If we think about it more closely, we will realize that leadership is not only a creation of ancient history but we deal with it on a regular basis. To find a leader we don’t need to look far, presidents, politicians, business managers, sport stars and even every day people possess leadership qualities. Although the meaning of leadership may seem at first easy to define,