Leadership in Criminal Justice Organizations



Leadership in Criminal Justice Organizations

Introduction

Leadership

The term leadership can be described as an individual's ability to influence other people's behavior and guide them to a path that ultimately leads to the accomplishment of the desired objectives (Northouse, 2010). Over the years, a considerable amount of work has been done for studying the effectiveness of various characteristics and styles of leadership. A notable theorist, Fred Fielder, proposed a model of that helps to understand one's leadership skills.

Fiedler's Model of Leadership

Proposed by Fred Fielder in the year 1967, the Contingency Model of leadership asserts that an individual's style and effectiveness of leadership is dependent on the characteristics of a situation. Fiedler was the first management theorist who kept the varying situational factors into considered while explaining the concepts of leadership (Bolden, 2003).

According to Fiedler, there is no defined criterion for ideal leadership behavior. Leaders who are task-oriented and those who are relationship-oriented, both can be efficient, provided the situational factors complement their orientation, which is also termed as favorability. This favorability is usually determined by the leader's nature of relationship with his subordinates (Leader-Member Relations), the degree to which the responsibilities and performance of the subordinates can be structured and measured (Task Structure), and the leader's control over his subordinates' rewards (Leader Position Power).

Cognitive Resource Theory

In the year 1987, Fiedler in collaboration with Garcia, modified his assumptions and formed the Cognitive Resource Theory. This theory additionally focuses on the variable of stress in the work setting. Furthermore, it suggests that a leader's ability to deal with a stressful situation is determined by his intellectual level and his related prior experiences. However, these two characteristics become irrelevant when the task to be accomplished is relatively simpler (Fiedler, & Garcia, 1987).

One significant contribution that this theory made is that it helps in predicting if a person with a distinct set of characteristics would be able to lead efficiently in a particular situation. In case of incidents with a high level of stress, the leadership characteristic that helps in overcoming the issues is a leader's prior experiences of a similar nature. Whereas, on encountering incidents with a low level of stress, the aspect that aids more is a leader's intelligence and his ability to think strategically. However, a leader's thinking abilities become more effective when his leadership style is comparatively more organized, planned and authoritarian.

Stress at work has a direct effect on a leader's intelligence and his decision making abilities. In times of low stress, a person's intellectual level remains fully functional and does not hinder his ability to make optimal contributions. Whereas, when there is a high level of stress, an adverse effect is produced on a leader's ability to think rationally. Therefore, in such cases one's past experiences help greatly in dealing with such challenging situations, without having to rethink cautiously about it (Fiedler, McGuire & Richardson, 1989).

Deputy Patrol officers and other Inspectors/ Detectives, in general, get to encounter a wide variety of stressful situations that need to be dealt ...