U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Police Leadership as a Transformational Social Process

NCJ Number
197616
Journal
International Journal of Police Science and Management Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: 2002 Pages: 198-212
Author(s)
Edward N. Drodge; Steven A. Murphy
Editor(s)
Ian K. McKenzie
Date Published
2002
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper explores the tranformational models of social processes that account for organizational change and focuses on the shared responsibility of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) leadership in influencing change in social process.
Abstract
Several broad theoretical accounts of leadership with relevance for police leadership are outlined in this article, with a focus on transformational leadership theory. Formally identified leaders, followers, and factors of context in the conduct of police work are identified as comprising or defining "police leadership;" whereas "community policing" is identified as requiring shared leadership by individuals at all levels of a police organization and by community stakeholders making up the social context requiring basic organization change. This transformational model is viewed as the superior theoretical approach to help unify police leadership research and development activities. This conclusion is based on the experience of dramatic transformation from a command-and-control police force to a community policing model within the RCMP. A discussion of contingency and path-goal leadership theories is included focusing on how both are centrally concerned with how leaders work to make their behavior contingent on specific followers or organizational situations. It is emphasized that successful community policing opens the doors of a closed culture to the varied stakeholders, with leadership required at all levels of the police force. References