Sample essay on a research on police leadership styles

Identify a range of police leadership styles and discuss how the choice of each style influences organizational success.

Among the known police leadership styles include autocratic, bureaucratic and democratic.
The autocratic style of leadership is a classic approach where the decision-making authority and power is only in the hand of the manager or the commander. Consultation among staff members is not part of this kind of leadership, while staff should follow every order from the boss without receiving any form of explanation. Leaders depend on punishments and threats to influence his staff. This style of leadership is effective especially in cases where there is new and untrained staff that has no idea which tasks to perform. It is through effective supervision through detailed instructions and orders that make this leadership successful . On the other hand, a bureaucratic style of leadership is managing of subordinates based on policies and procedures. Leaders mandate orders and instructions by the book. If the instructions are not part of the procedures, leaders normally escalate the decision-making process onto the next level. This type of leadership is most effective when staff needs to understand specific policies and procedures. Also, this kind of management is effective during security and safety training. A democratic leadership style is a management method that injects participative approach. Leaders employing this kind of control keep his staff informed about anything that affects the group, their work and distributes problem solving and decision makes responsibilities. Most of the time, leaders encourage their staff to become part of discussions and speak their thoughts. This type of leadership is applicable when implementing operational changes within an organization. This is also effective when his team involves highly skilled and experienced individuals .

Works Cited

Goff, M. H. (2013). Police Leadership: A systematic review of the literature. Policing, 1-13.
Wuestewald, T. (2006, April). The Changing Face of Police Leadership. Retrieved from The Police Chief: http://www. policechiefmagazine. org/magazine/index. cfm? fuseaction= display_arch&article_id= 859&issue_id= 42006