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Law Enforcement Executive Forum
Article Details
| Article |
Leadership Versus Management-Their Role in Increasing Accountability Through Mentoring and Empowerment
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| Page | 1 | Total Pages 9 | ||||
| Author(s) | Chief Thomas J. Piotrowski | |||||
| Issue | October 2004 | |||||
| Categories (Click a category to see similiar articles) |
Leadership |
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| Abstract | Entering a police department as a new chief or becoming a new chief from within the organization has both bona fide challenges and unique opportunities. The chief has the role of a leader and a manager, ultimately determining the goals, vision, mission, and direction of the agency. The chief can change things through the use of written policy and procedure or the alteration of the employees level of accountability.Chiefs styles of leadership and management can run an enormous range among a wide spectrum, with many combinations and permutations. Chiefs have different ideas and perspectives of what is acceptable for their respective employees. Some chiefs allow employees to make decisions at the lowest level of the agency if possible, while some would like to have the final say in all decisions, regardless of complexity. There are also various ways to harvest accountability through the use of empowerment and mentoring. Agency culture can be changed or created, by using different leadership and management styles. An entire agency can be transformed by empowering staff with challenging assignments, developing and training new employees, and using mentoring to establish the desired agency culture.There are many different styles of leadership. Some incorporate small characteristics of multiple styles for a distinctive new style of leadership. It is imperative to determine which type of leadership and management is conducive to fostering positive employee growth and which type may have detrimental effects on employee participation and growth. As stated by Sanow (2003), As chief or sheriff, you know your first responsibility is to lead. Not to manage, not to supervise: lead (p. 5). Chiefs can be good managers and poor leaders or poor managers and good leaders. As different challenges are created for chiefs of police, they need to be able to adapt to change and overcome potentially problematic situations. As stated by retired Army General Colin Powell (2001), Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.The first type of leadership style is that of the autocratic leader. This is the type of leader that uses power to gain compliance. The types of power range from coercive to reward. For example, discipline may be utilized if employees fail to perform in a preferred manner or if rewards, such as letters of commendation are not given out in a consistent manner. | |||||
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