Leadership and Participative Management - Literature review Example

Name: Course: Institution: Tutor: Date: The following is an analysis of the role of a commander and the qualities, training, skills and experience that underpins effective command. The role of leadership and its importance to command has also been provided. In addition, various command styles have been examined, as well as their competing merits including the effect each may have on the commander as well as those they command. In policing and law enforcement, a commander has various responsibilities, which may vary according to the ranking authority in charge. In Australian police rank, commander is a common title used by the Western Australian, South Australian, Tasmanian, and Victorian police forces. The badge is made up of a crown above three Bath Stars is a triangular arrangement, just like a brigadier’s badge in the army. Commander is junior to the title of assistant commissioner and senior to the title of chief superintendent, except in the Western Australian police force where commander is senior to the title of superintendent. In general, a commander’s role consists of planning, supervision, everyday duties, special operations, as well as personnel of his or her assigned division. The following are the essential functions of a commander (Greene, 2007): Plan, administer and manage personnel and resources so as to provide service; Develop specialized plans and carry out research on assigned projects; Supervise sworn as well as non sworn police staff; Supervise and prepare essential records and reports; Manage and prepare operating and capital improvement budgets; Make public representations and represent the branch in varied community activities; Implement the rules and regulations of the department; create direct liaison with members of the community for the intent of developing the police service and developing department community communications; Hand over priorities to unit mission; Coordinate activities with other sections, agencies and divisions; Represent the police force in demonstrating incessant effort in improving processes, developing work operations, lessening turnaround times, and working together with other ranks to provide quality customer service. For effective command processes, a commander must possess a wide variety of qualities, training, skills and experience. One of the most important areas where he or she should be knowledgeable and have experience in is in the functioning of organizational as well as management practices relevant to the evaluation and analysis of police policies, programs and operational requirements. Another area where a commander is required to be well skilled is in knowing the methods, principles and procedures used in modern policing practices. Effective command also requires operational knowledge of appropriate state, federal, local regulations and ordinances. A commander should also be conversant with using up to date technology related to law enforcement processes in developing and making use of management reports (Mitchell, 2007). A commander should possess various abilities as well. One of these is the demonstrated ability to manage and lead the processes of commissioned along with non-commissioned workforce in a just and respectful way. Another essential ability is in analysing complex problems that counter the police force and coming up with alternative workable solutions, anticipating consequences of proposed actions and putting into practice recommendations to support the established goals. It is also very important for a commander to be able to analyse and transform police service delivery methods so as to promote efficiency at the same time as maintaining good organization. In addition, excellent skills in recruiting, supervising, training and assessing the duties and performance of related staff as well as skills in establishing and maintaining efficient work relationships supervisors, subordinates, peers and the community at large are very important. Lastly, and certainly not least, effective commanders should have brilliant oral and written communication skills (Greene, 2007). For a long time, leadership and participative management are invaluable principles that the corporate world has been developing as they come up with strategies in workplaces that can help improve competitiveness by making the best of the talents, skills and creativity of their workers. In this way, organizational chains of command are flattening as self-sufficient work teams gradually replace management levels. Technical managerial theories are now being dropped as more participative methods gain popularity, for example shared leadership, employee empowerment and job involvement. The benefits of these leadership approaches are now apparent; organizations are now more productive, there is more quality performance and worker satisfaction (Mitchell, 2007). In police organizations, however, these leadership models are present in very limited levels. In the current environment whereby proactive, community oriented strategies to policing and crime reduction are being emphasized, leadership may offer invaluable benefits to command roles. In the paper “The Responsibility of Leadership in Command”, Gen John Michael Loh writes that the selection of commanders involves selecting only those who can create a vision and inspire others toward making the vision a reality. A commander should not just be the head of a unit, but should practice leadership and be accountable for the performance of missions. Leadership and command go together and John Michael asserts that it is only those who are aware of the interdependence of command and leadership, sustaining momentum and recognizing and translating intentions into reality that can offer the most effective command (Loh, 2010). Leadership is of great importance to command because it fosters a strong sense of duty and service and teaches the importance of principles such as creating a vision, instilling pride in team performance, and by combining command and leadership, it is possible to develop an environment throughout the unit that focuses on achieving extraordinary goals and extraordinary levels of performance all the time irrespective of conditions. Leadership also enables commanders to be role models, leading by example, authority and influence. Another important role of leadership to command is that is enables commanders to develop and sustain a positive culture and enables a commander to face challenging conditions (Loh, 2010). It is through leadership principles that a commander can apply discipline fairly and consistently irrespective of factors such as rank, friendship or such related discriminators. According to Peter Villiers in the book: Police and Policing, leadership is underdeveloped in the police force because in today’s policing environment commanders are more familiar with supervision than leadership. However, commanders at all levels are increasingly embracing the important principles of leadership and applying these principles alertly when deployed in various responsibilities around the world. It is such commanders that can be referred to as real leaders, because it is by embracing and implementing these principles on a daily basis that will see their goals achieved (Villiers, 2009). There are various command styles used in policing. The following are the most commonly used styles in policing and their competing merits as well as the effect each style has on the commander and those they command. The traditional command style is based upon the aggressive enforcement of responsibilities, whereby commanders using this style expect insistent enforcement from those they command as opposed to being engaged in community oriented roles or policing roles of minor disorder. Such commanders are more likely to make decisions compared to other commanders, mainly because they are likely to take over encounters with citizens. A unique characteristic of these commanders is that they are highly task oriented and often expect those they command to produce quantifiable results of their roles, together with documentation and paper work. Because they are less inclined towards growing relationships, traditional commanders are more likely to discipline patrollers, and less likely to offer rewards with an ultimate concern of controlling the behaviour of those they command (Ashcroft et al, 2003). The innovative command style is also commonly used; it is characterized by a propensity to develop relationships considering more officers to be friends and are less task oriented compared to traditional style commanders. The reason these commanders are considered innovative is because they encourage their subordinates to adopt and implement new strategies and ideologies of policing. Their definitive element is their expectation for community policing as well as problem solving efforts by those they command. Their goals are focused upon helping those they command implement community policing by coaching, facilitating and mentoring. Compared to traditional style commanders, innovative commanders are less concerned with enforcing rules and practices such as report writing. (Ashcroft et al, 2003). Another commonly used command style is the supportive command style, whereby these commanders support those they command by providing inspirational motivation and by protecting those against disciplinary actions considered ‘unfair’, believing that this enabled their subordinates to work without constant worry of discipline measures for honest mistakes. Supportive commanders believe that supporting their subordinates from unfair punishment and criticism is one of their most important roles, although this can be a problem, given that protecting officers from accountability measures can encourage police misconduct (Ashcroft et al, 2003). Their unique feature is that they often reward those they work with significantly more times compared to other command styles. In addition to these styles is the active command style, which is based upon leading by example. Active commanders, as the name suggests, are focused upon being actively involved in their duties alongside those they command, hence they ultimately perform the roles of a commander and an officer. These commanders try to strike a balance between being in control of the behaviour of those they command and being in the field through direct supervision of functions. They are therefore defined by directive decision making, a high level of supervisory power and highly positive view of those they command. Experts have established that although active commanders believe they have a high level of influence over the decisions of those they work with, compared to other command styles, this command style is not likely to promote mentoring and team building because of the fact that these commanders generally are reluctant to get so involved that they ultimately alienate those they command (Ashcroft et al, 2003). The effects of these command styles to those they command and to the commanders are distinct. In a field such as community policing and problem solving, officers under active commanders will spend more time dealing with problem solving and community policing compared to other officers in other command styles. It is worth noting that officers under innovative style spend the least time in community policing, which suggests that adopting an innovative command style does not essentially mean that there are more innovative activities performed. In carrying out proactive activities, officers under the active command style spend relatively more time dealing with proactive roles. These include roles such as dealing with commander directed activities, administrative activities, general patrol duties, personal business and travelling to a location. In performing administrative activities, active commanders and their subordinates spend the least time per shift on carrying out administrative tasks while those under the traditional style relatively do most administrative duties followed by supportive commanders. (Ashcroft et al, 2003). The use of force is an additional area where the effects of these command styles is demonstrated; officers under the active command style are likely to use force two times more against suspects compared to officers in other styles. Active commanders and their subordinates also use force more often against suspects compared to other officers from other styles, although the mere presence of a commander at a scene was however not influential on the police use of force (Ashcroft et al, 2003).These command styles and these effects strongly propose that commanders are more likely to be effective in achieving departmental goals if they bring them into line with supervisory practice and if they encourage those they command to directly get involved in the roles and duties of their departments. 2. Internal and external factors which may influence the nature of a major event or impact upon the effective command of it. Over the last two decades, the policing field has been endeavouring to adopt and implement the principles of knowledge management and the ideologies of the ‘learning organisation’, which is based on commanders having the access to opportune, accurate and relevant crime management data. It is such information that enables the effective command of diverse activities for example the management of crime and traffic, the deployment of human resource, record management, budget control, statistical analysis, and asset control. The poor management of information is a significant internal factor that greatly impacts the effective command of a major event. When the police force obtain information from their numerous contacts with law abiding as well as non-law abiding members of the public, as well as information collection sources such as personal observations, electronic observations, registered informants, telephone intercepts, email intercepts and information accessed through private and public organizations, this is usually non-structured, tacit sources of insight into the effective command of crime-related events or other events that are not crime related but may require the intervention of the police force (Villiers, 2009). In today’s times with the help of the computer, there is a wide load of information which is now safely stored in information systems and can be accessible to commanders. Although information systems are increasingly being developed to help with managing information, the ability to gain insight from this information is very limited, which ultimately greatly impact the effective command of an event. According to an analysis carried out in Western Australia, this limitation is caused by the every day increasing ability to store information which causes an information overload and leads to difficult responsibilities to analyse and therefore impacting command product outcomes. The analysis established that in one Western Australian police district, for example, between 1999 and 2001, about 28 information reports were developed, a figure which increased to 495 in the following period between 2001 and 2003. A crime analyst reported that after the introduction of Incident Management Systwsem (IMS), the level of information collected has increased many times while the analysis of this information has stagnated, which impacts the outcome and effectiveness of command processes. To transfer data into useful information by means of analysis and filtering calls for recognizing the importance and role of knowledge agents in creating knowledge. In addition, it is not the abundance of information or its accuracy that can make commanders effective in their processes when dealing with an event, but it is how such information is interpreted and turned into knowledge that makes all the difference (Hughes & Jackson, 2004). Hence, to guarantee strategic advantage, it is essential that the force come up with improved methods of analysing and interpreting information to support effective command processes during events. Another significant internal factor that may influence the nature of a major event is the event commanding culture. The commanding culture plays a major role in the effective command of an event; by making the best use of experienced commanders during an event, this can help greatly in developing a command culture because veterans are most knowledgeable in the best processes to be implemented during a major event. Command culture also helps in fostering a no blame environment and is demonstrated through the activities and processes carried out during events and the behaviour of commanders. Active such as prizes, awards and general recognition processes from managers also helps promote effective command systems by facilitating motivation (Hughes & Jackson, 2004). Communication is an internal as well as external factor that is fundamental when in the case of a major event. The effectiveness and occurrence of communication in the force and between industry parties is of particular concern. The policing industry has an open culture and endeavours to promote an environment which encourages and supports communication. The state has been facilitating communication through the use of command initiatives and committees for the communication with the policing force as well as organizing command forums and training forums with the intent to improve communication strategies and sharing of good practice (Hughes & Jackson, 2004).. Government policy is a significant external factor that may influence the nature of a major event. Government policy is recognized as an essential factor that has had a very important impact upon the progression of command processes and the entire police force towards an effective platform such as a successful knowledge management infrastructure. The execution of government policy has great impact upon the nature of a major event and its ultimate effective command, considering the policies and their implementation. A look at the State Government’s policies in regard to crime reduction, roe example, reveals that the principal crime initiative is to make the community feel safe and secure at their homes and surroundings. Although this is a great initiative, the policy’s strategy is rooted upon recruiting more police officers, which raises concerns because scholars have time and again established that the effect of police numbers on curbing crime is not solely determined by their numbers; some scholars have suggested that more police numbers on patrols or events, for example, will not increase the effectiveness of their performance (Hughes & Jackson, 2004). To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of commanding a major event, there has to improved value in the management and use of human resources, physical assets as well as the support needed to deliver high quality service to the public. 3. Application to the New Years Eve The New Year Eve is a significant time celebrated with pomp and colour across the globe. As revellers celebrate usher in the new-year with all manner of styles, the environment encourages a similar big rate of crime and disorderliness, requiring a response from the police. In spite of devoted effort over the years to maintain peace and order during the New Year Eve celebrations, it is evident that not much has been achieved in various communities, as can be revealed by the recent trend in for example Perth Western Australia. According to a report by Chalpat Sonti in the Western Australia Today, the January 2010 New Year celebrations were some of the rowdiest ever recorded in the history of the city; they saw the police in Perth make over 256 arrests and handle more than 2000 incidents. The importance of the presence of the police in the city was demonstrated after they laid about 480 charges against the arrested, with a quarter of them apprehended for alcohol related offences. The total arrests were reported to be 256, which superseded the previous years’ arrests with about 50. Although the number of arrests was more compared to other state capitals, according to Superintendent Andy , this was because a practically more aggressive approach demonstrated to anti-social behaviour by the Western Australian police, in relation to other states (Sonti, 2010). Major events such as the New Year Eve can have unintended social consequences such as bad crowd behaviour, substance abuse and crime activity cases. It is very important to keep in mind that the larger and more high profile an event is, the more potential there is for anti social behaviour to happen, and to develop negative impacts. Major events can also if not effectively managed could go very wrong, considering the tragic death of 96 foot ball fans at the Hillsborough case in 1989, and the death of more than 100 people at a concert in Rhode Island (Bowdin et al, 2006). In aggressively dealing with anti social behaviour, there are various strategies open to a commander in an event such as the New Year Eve that can ensure effective command. Careful planning strategies are fundamental in ensuring the effective command of a NYE event. This is sometimes an evolutionary process which requires a series of modifications and adjustments. Planning strategies include having a prior knowledge of for example the total audience numbers expected in the event and the series of activities expected to be showcased in the event as well as their timing. The benefits of proper prior planning has led to the revolution of ‘predictive policing’, a novel command system that is rapidly gaining popularity. Just as businesses use data analysis to anticipate market trends and develop sales strategies, commanders can use a similar strategy to help make their processes more effective. This ideology involves obtaining information from disparate sources, analysing and then using the results to respond more effectively to potential crime, and has been established as having potential to revolutionalize law enforcement. The New Year Eve is the perfect event where this strategy can be implemented, considering the reported cases of crime and unsocial behaviour every time the celebrations are held. Predictive policing is a proactive strategy that focuses on methods to deploy resources before a crime occurs as opposed to responding to what happened and is highly benefiticial because it enables discovering new patterns and trends (Pearsall, 2010). The success of this strategy has been realized before when it was implemented during Richmond’s New Year Eve celebrations. In the years following the execution of this strategy, police noticed that in every NYE event that occurred at Richmond, Va., there was a recorded increase in random gunfire. The predictive strategy was put in place and police started by searching information regarding the gunfire and according to the information, they could predict the time, location and nature of potential risk during future events. On New Year's Eve 2003, police commanders placed officers at the anticipated locations to respond more effectively. This strategy saw a 47 percent fall in random gunfire cases as well as 246 percent rise in the weapons seized, as well as reported savings in personnel costs, which was reported to be approximately $15,000. It is worth noting that predictive policing is a public safety strategy that must be used legally and ethically, so as to keep at bay the raised concerns concerning the morality behind these strategies considering that is based upon anticipating the potential of people indulging in illegal behaviour (Bowdin et al, 2006).. The fact that the analytic approaches used in the predictive-policing strategy do not categorize particular individuals but are supposed to be implemented to specific times and locations known to be associated with an increased probability for crime makes it an ideal strategy for the New Year’s Eve. Another strategy open to a commander during the NYE is the effective carrying out of joint patrols particularly in the spots that are well known to have anti-social behaviour. Joint patrols have over the years proven to be effective, and should be effectively coordinated between the police and other security forces such as community patrollers to promote a proactive presence in hot spots identified to be of high risk by using offence statistics. An effective way of undertaking such patrols would be following an action plan whereby the patrollers would visit the premises planning to host a NYE party and even during the party so as to promote their presence and relate with the public so as to give them a sense of security. Despite being for the most part proactive, this strategy can deal with antisocial behaviour issues and challenges quickly and firmly (ware port, 2003). In addition to the above strategies, a commander should always remember to consider the already laid out programs that have been successful in response patterns before. A significant program in regard to New Year Eve celebrations is the ‘Party Safe’ programs, which was established to help manage the increasing incidences of public troubles at parties and such related events. The program is fundamental because it provides information to the police force and focuses on ensuring that parties are carried out in a secure and legal manner and helps minimize the potential risk of disturbances caused by intoxicated guests and gate crashers. The program also has invaluable information dealing with topic such as party layout, drink spiking, making decisions –parents and hosts, alcohol and the law, alcohol and parties, liquor licensing, noisy parties, party layout and supplementary strategies to carry out and respond to a party (wareport, 2003). Considering that the major cause of the violence and arrests made by police during the New Year’s Eve is alcohol the implementation of Party Safe and such related programs are fundamental strategies that a commander needs to adopt to ensure effective command and most importantly, to change community perception that New Year’s Eve celebrations are unsafe for the entire family. References Ashcroft, J., Daniels, D. J. & Hart, S. H. (2003) Police Supervisory styles Police Supervisory Styles Retrieved July 5, 2010: Bowdin, G. A. J. Allen, J. & O'Toole, (2006) W. Events management Amsterdam, Netherlands. Greene, J. R. (2007) The encyclopaedia of police science, Volume 1 CRC Press, NJ. Hughes, V. & Jackson, P. (2004) The Influence of Technical, Social and Structural Factors on the Effective use of Information in a Policing Environment, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, Loh, J. M. The responsibility of Leadership in Command 2009 Retrieved July 5, 2010: Mitchell, M. (2007) Police Leadership and Management, John Casey Federation Press, Pearsall, B. (2010) Predictive Policing: The Future of Law Enforcement? | National ... Retrieved July 5, 2010: Read More