Police leadership: expectations and impact

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Police leadership:

expectations and impact

Home Office Online Report 20/04

John DobbyJane Anscombe

Rachel Tuffin

Theviews expressedinthis report arethoseof theauthors, not necessarily thoseof theHomeOffice(nor do theyreflect Government policy).


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Police leadership: expectations and impact

John DobbyJane AnscombeRachel Tuffin

Online Report 20/04


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Acknowledgements

We should like to thank all of the police officers and police staff who gave up their time to support thisresearch, whether by allowing themselves to be interviewed, completing questionnaires, or acting as

force liaison officers and arranging the interviews and questionnaire distribution. We should also liketo thank Dr Robert Adlam and Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe for providing advice on the design ofthe project, and Professor Maureen Pope and Pam Denicolo for providing training in repertory gridtechnique. Finally, we should like to thank the Police Leadership Development Board and DrLawrence Singer at the Home Office who provided valuable support to us throughout the project.

The authors

J ohn Dobby, J ane Anscombe and Rachel Tuffin are members of the Home Office Research,Development and Statistics Directorate.


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Contents

Acknowledgements ii

Executive summary v1. Introduction 1

Leadership, employee attitudes and customer satisfaction 1The police service context 1Aims and objectives 2

2. Design and methodology of the elements of the research programme 5Design and methodology of the interview study of police officers 5Design and methodology of the questionnaire study of police authorities 9Design and methodology of the questionnaire study of police officers 10and police staff

3. What is regarded as effect ive police leadership by police off icers and 13police author ity members?

Effective leadership: the police officer perspective 13Effective leadership: the police authority perspective 15Effective leadership: the qualities required by BCU Commanders 17Effective leadership: comparing authority and officer perspectives 18Effective leadership: relating the police officer perspective to 18transformational leadership

4. What is the impact of police leadership on staff in the service? 21

5. How can police leadership improve? 25Key findings 25Conclusions 25

References 28

Appendices

A Police leadership development 30

B The categories into which the leadership constructs elicited from police off icers fell 31

C Full verbatim list of the constr ucts, split into positive and negative behaviours, 33by category and targetrank

D Effective leadership constructs elicited from gay and lesbian police off icers 60

E Answers to psychological outcom e questions by rank/role of line manager 63


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List of tables

2.1 Numbers of officers taking part in the main repertory grid study, broken down 7by theinterviewee's rank and the rank under consideration during their interview

2.2 Numbers of officers taking part in the supplementary repertory grid study, 8broken down by interviewees rank and rank considered during interview

2.3 Numbers of officers returning completed questionnaires and bio sheets, 11broken down by their rank and by the rank/role of their line manager

2.4 Views on the relevance of the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire 12to police leadership, broken down by rank/role (n=839)

3.1 Numbers and percentages of constructs falling in each of the four main categories 13

respectively, broken down by target rank under consideration

3.2 Numbers and percentages of constructs falling in each of the four main categories 14respectively, broken down by rank of interviewee in relation to target rank

3.3 Selection of the constructs elicited from officers for the target rank of sergeant 15

3.4 What police authority members look for from Chief Officers (percentages of 16responses falling into the various categories) N = 62

3.5 Range of responses from police authority members as to chief officer qualities for 17

which they feel they have the least adequate evidence during the selection process

3.6 Comparison of the views of police officers and police authority members on 18what makes a good police leader

3.7 Comparison of the 14 dimensions of transformational leadership with the 19constructs used by police officers to describe effective leadership behaviours

4.1 Mean scores for transformational leadership by rank/role 21

4.2 Numbers of officers overall who agreed or disagreed with particular statements 23about the effect their line managers behaviour had on them (N = 1066)

Figure

4.1 Distribution of transformational leadership scores for 1066 police officers 22


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Executive summary

Leadership is generally regarded as key to performance, and improving police leadership is a centralplank in the police reform agenda. To date, no research evidence has been provided to show a clearlink between particular styles of police leadership and police effectiveness. Whenever police

performance has been criticised and police leadership has fallen under scrutiny as a result, there hasbeen no generally accepted leadership theory against which practice could be tested, and no clarityabout how police leadership might need to change. A further consequence of the lack of evidence hasbeen that forces have not felt able to specify what kind of leadership their officers should provide andstyles have differed from leader to leader. It seems highly likely that some of the styles in use will bemore effective than others. This research was therefore designed to assist the Police LeadershipDevelopment Board to identify ways in which police leadership needs to change, in order to meet therequirements of the modernisation and police reform agendas and the National Policing Plan 2003-6.

Methods

The research was undertaken through three inter-linked studies:

An interview study of 150 police officers drawn from across the rank structure to discover whatthey regarded as effective police leadership. These interviews were carried out using the repertorygrid technique to ensure that officers were able to describe effective leadership in their ownwords, without being influenced by the interviewers.

A postal questionnaire survey of police authorities to discover what they regarded as effectivepolice leadership for senior police officers.

A postal questionnaire study of 1066 police officers and police staff to discover what kind ofleadership they were experiencing and what impact it was having on their attitudes to work.

Findings

In broad terms, the study found that police officers want their leaders to make them feel proud ofthe service being provided and of their contribution. The behaviours identified by those interviewedas linked to effective leadership could be categorised into four groups as follows:

Being committed to achieving a high quality service to the community and supporting staff toachieve this.

Displaying high personal and professional standards and challenging poor behaviour. Enabling, valuing and developing staff. Having relevant knowledge and skills.

Within these categories, 53 specific behaviours were identified as being related to effectiveleadership, of which 50 were found to match closely with a style of leadership known astransformational. Police leaders who displayed these transformational behaviours were found,

in the officers and staff questionnaire study, to have a wide range of positive effects on theirsubordinates' attitudes to their work, for example increasing their job satisfaction and theircommitment to the organisation.

The remaining three types of effective leadership behaviour which did not match transformationalleadership definitions can be described as professional competence, competent in both strategicand tactical modes and committed to achieving a high quality service, serving the community well,ensuring a good image for policing in the community and seeking continuous improvement. Theseaspects of leadership were regarded as important by subordinates because they did not wish tohave to follow orders which they regarded as wrong from either a tactical or an ethical standpoint.These are not part of the transformational framework because of its emphasis on supportingeffective decision-making by grass roots workers, rather than on following orders.

Alongside positive examples of leadership behaviour, the repertory grid study generated a largenumber of negative examples, such as being lazy, moody, unethical and not dealing with poor or


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unacceptable performance. Many of these tended to occur together in the same leaders; most ofthe 150 interviewees described at least one leader who displayed multiple negative behaviours.

Police authority members regarded staff morale and motivation as key to delivery and looked tochief officers to have a positive impact in this area. However, these were alsothe qualitieswhichpolice authority members said were most difficult to assess reliably in candidates for seniorleadership roles.

The questionnaire survey of police officers and police staff found that, for each positive impactwhich line managers could potentially have on their subordinates, between a quarter and a third ofline managers were not having this positive impact.

In conjunction with the growing evidence, from other service sectors, that the way a worker feelsthey are treated by the organisation can affect their performance and impact on customersatisfaction and organisational performance, these findings suggest a link between certain policeleadership behaviours and police organisational performance, which could be tested further.

Recommendations

Key stakeholders, including members of the Police Leadership Development Board (PLDB), thenew justice sector skills organisation Skills for J ustice and the National Police Leadership Centreat Centrex should begin to develop an evidence-based model, detailing the key elements ofeffective police leadership.

The PLDB has already endorsed the need for transformational leadership throughout the serviceand has commissioned learning and development packages from Centrex, for all staff up to ChiefOfficer and equivalent grades, which take into account the principles of transformationalleadership. These training designs and leadership development processes should be installedboth locally and nationally as soon as possible.

All recruitment and selection processes for the service, from constable to chief officer and fromCID to community beat, need to be able to distinguish those candidates who are able to have a

positive impact on subordinates through the kind of leadership they provide. The PLDB should develop a strategic plan for ensuring appropriate police leadership standards

throughout the service. This plan should detail how to tackle poor leadership and use positive rolemodels to best advantage.


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1. Introduction

Leadership, employee attitudes and customer satisfaction

Professional consensus, in both the public and private sectors, is that leadership is key toperformance. However, whenever there are concerns about performance within the publicsector, and leadership comes under the microscope, there is no generally accepted theoryagainst which practice can be tested. The lack of a definitive theory, and the lack of evidenceas to the impact of particular styles of leadership were noted in the recent reportStrengthening Leadership in the Public Sector (Cabinet Office 2001):

Britains public services face unprecedented challenges at the start of the 21st century.They include: demands to modernise public services and orient them more closely to theneeds and wishes of customers [and] higher expectations on the part of the generalpublic [] However, [t]here is little shared understanding of the qualities required foreffective leadership in todays public services. Leadership theory is riven by conflictinginterpretations, in a full spectrum from those who emphasise the primary importance of

personal qualities to those who say that systems are all-important. Leaders themselvesoften do not understand the reasons for their own effectiveness[] Fundamental toimproved leadership is a clearer shared understanding of what leadership behaviourswork in delivering today's public services [T]here are many leadership developmentinitiatives, and new leadership colleges are being set up. But there is little evidence so faras to their effectiveness.

A small number of studies have shown that if the employees providing a service are happywith the way they are treated by the organisation, then their customers tend to be happier withthe service they receive (Adsit et al.,1996, Rucci et al.,1998, Barber et al.,1999) and one ofthe factors which clearly ought to have a positive impact on employees attitudes to their workis the kind of leadership they experience. In other parts of the UK public sector and in theprivate sector, a strong link has been found between a leader demonstrating dimensions of a

style of leadership known as transformational and their subordinates having a wide range ofpositive attitudes towards their work (Bass 1998, Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe 2000b).

Transformational leaders try to motivate by supporting and empowering subordinates to takeon more challenging and intrinsically interesting work. This approach can be compared with amore traditional transactional model, where the leader tries to motivate through providingextrinsic rewards and punishments. According to its advocates, transformational leadershipis required because most organisations are now operating in a context of rapid andunpredictable change in which leaders must ensure that their subordinates are appropriatelydeveloped, supported and empowered to enable them to take sound decisions for themselvesin the course of their everyday work at the front line.

Transformational leaders have been shown to be more effective and satisfying as leaders

than transactional leaders (Bass and Avolio 1994, Hinkin and Tracey 1994) in the long termas well as in the short term (Geyer and Steyrer 1998), and more successful in generatingsubordinate extra effort and commitment (Bass 1998 op cit; Bass 1985; Hater and Bass 1988;Howell and Avolio 1991), due in part to their ability to inspire self-confidence, to stimulatelearning experiences, to transmit a sense of mission and to arouse new ways of thinking.Transformational leadership has also been associated with the effective implementation ofchange in a variety of settings (Bass 1985 op cit, Hater and Bass 1988 op cit).

The police service context

The National Policing Plan for 2003-6 (Home Office 2002) stated that [s]trong policeleadership [was] central to delivering improvements in police performance and therefore to

reducing crime and the fear of crime whilst the Police Reform White Paper (Home Office2001) noted that Improved training, leadership and professionalism [were] required at every


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level of the police service [] to take on the challenge of a more varied and more satisfyingapproach to modern policing.

Owing to concerns about police performance, police leadership has come under criticism inrecent years (e.g. Condon 1997, HMIC 1999a, HMIC 1999b, Home Office 1999, Vick 2000)and many attempts have been made to try to improve its quality. Tripartite bodies have been

established at the national level to try to address the issue, the most recent of these being thePolice Leadership Development Board (PLDB), which was established in early 2001.

The various leadership models and theories which have been applied within the police servicehave been reviewed by several authors (e.g. Adair 1983, Bass 1990, Yukl 1994), but theevidence that any particular form of police leadership leads to improved individual ororganisational performance is weak.

The Police Integrated Competency Framework and National Occupational Standards is arecent initiative which aims to put such issues as selection, assessment, development andpromotion on a sounder and more standardised footing. The framework defines the tasksinvolved in carrying out the various roles within the police service and the knowledge andskills needed to accomplish these tasks competently. It also lists 12 generic behaviours which

underpin all police work and four of these behaviours are identified as relating to leadership.Thus, there has been some attempt, within the framework, to specify leadership requirementsand the Police Standards and Skills Organisation, which has taken over responsibility for theframework, is now producing related occupational standards for police work. However, theevidence base for this work has consisted principally of professional judgement.

There is some evidence within the policing context (MPS and Scotland) to suggest aconnection between officers morale and officers performance and for the positive or negativeimpact of supervisors on morale (Lester, 2000, Sinclair, 2000, Burbeck, 1987). In addition,initial discussions with officers at various ranks in forces around the country beforecommencing this research, suggested that leadership behaviours regarded by officers asinappropriate, might not be altogether uncommon and that individual motivation andperformance might be suffering to a significant degree as a result.

The situation for policing is similar, therefore, to elsewhere in the public sector. Whilst policeleadership has fallen under regular criticism, owing to perceived failings in policeperformance, it has never been clear precisely how police leadership needed to change.Transformational leadership became of increasing interest to the PLDB, over the course ofthe work reported here, but although there was evidence of its impact elsewhere in the publicsector, there was no corresponding information available specifically for the police serviceand many people argued that leadership within the police service was unique to a greater orlesser degree.

Aims and objectives

The principal aim of the research programme was to assist the Police LeadershipDevelopment Board to identify ways in which police leadership might need to change, in orderto meet the requirements of the modernisation and police reform agendas and the NationalPolicing Plan 2003-6.

The ultimate focus for leadership is to bring about improved performance and since thisperformance has to be delivered through subordinates, leadership has to achieve its successthrough influencing subordinates to perform better. This research programme thereforeassumed that the fundamental purpose of a leader is to enhance the current and futureperformance of their subordinates. Any behaviour of a manager which impacts eithernegatively or positively on the work of staff would be regarded as a leadership behaviour.

Key factors which needed to be taken on board in deciding the direction of the research were:


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Although police leadership had often been criticised in recent years, there had been nogenerally accepted model of police leadership against which current practice could betested, and towards which it could be advised to move.

There was a view that leadership which was appropriate in one policing context might beinappropriate in another, for example in a public order setting as compared with thesupervision of routine patrol.

Possibly because of the above factors, forces did not specify what kind of leadershiptheir officers should provide and styles differed from leader to leader.

It seemed likely that some of the styles in use would be more effective than others. The impact of leadership would be felt throughout the rank structure. Police staff, as well as sworn officers, held positions as leaders and could be led by or

lead officers.

The customer perspective on police leadership had rarely been explored.The main objectives of the research were:

to examine leadership at all officer ranks and amongst police staff; to obtain the perspectives of the led (officers and police staff) and those representing

the customer locally (police authorities) on what kinds of leadership they regarded aseffective; and

to gather evidence on the impact of particular styles of leadership.In this context, the three key research questions are set out below, followed by a briefdescription of the methods used to respond to each. A more detailed description of themethodologies is set out in Chapter 2.

What is regarded as effective police leadership by police officers and police authoritymembers?

One hundred and fifty police officers were interviewed individually to discover what leadershipbehaviours they regarded as effective and ineffective respectively. They were allowed tointroduce their own descriptions of leadership and to define effectiveness in their own termsso as to avoid researcher-introduced bias. The terms in which police officers defined effectiveleadership were then examined. As the kind of leadership which NHS and local governmentmanagers regarded as appropriate and effective in their context had already been establishedin other research (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe 2000a), it was not thought essential toinclude police staff in this particular study.

Since the specific duties of police authorities included appointing force chief officers andmonitoring force performance, all police authorities were invited to take part in a postalquestionnaire survey, which asked them to describe, in their own words, what they expectedof the chief officer role and what qualities they looked for in chief officers. From theirresponses, the researchers were able to draw out what kind of leadership they regarded aseffective in achieving performance. The respective perspectives were then compared, toexamine the extent of agreement as to what constitutes effective leadership.

What is the impact of police leadership on staff in the service?

The evidence here came from a questionnaire survey in which officers and police staffdescribed the leadership behaviours of their current line manager and reported the positive ornegative effects which these were having on the respondent, in terms of psychologicaloutcomes. In conjunction with the growing evidence from other service sectors, that the way aworker feels they are treated by the organisation can affect their performance and impact on

customer satisfaction and organisational performance, this provided evidence to build a


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testable model of the link between certain police leadership behaviours and policeorganisational performance.

How can police leadership improve?

The response to this question drew on findings from all three studies.


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2. Design and methodology of the elements of theresearch programme

Three data collection exercises were proposed:

An interview study of police officers

A questionnaire study of police authorities

A questionnaire study of police officers and police staff

The methodologies of these respective exercises are described below.

Design and methodology of the interview study of police officers

Since the aim of leadership is to have a positive impact on subordinates, the aim of theinterview study was to discover what styles of leadership police officers see as most effective.

To this end, it was decided to carry out a series of individual interviews with around 150officers drawn from across the rank structure, and from forces across the country, in order toascertain what they saw as effective leadership at each respective rank. Each interview wouldbe focused on leadership at one of five target ranks (Constable, Sergeant, Inspector,Superintendent, and ACPO) and each target rank would be considered by samples of officersat ranks above, below, and at the target rank. Thus, samples of Constables, Sergeants,Inspectors and Superintendents would all be invited to provide views on what kind ofleadership should be provided at the target rank of Sergeant, for example.

In September 2001, all 43 forces were contacted and asked if they would be willing toparticipate in the overall leadership research programme. Of the 30 who were interested, tenwere eventually selected to take part in the first part of the research programme (the interviewstudy of officers). These represented a good geographical spread and included both rural andurban forces. Each was allocated a particular week between February and April 2002, andasked to arrange 15 interviews with officers ranging from Constables to Chief Officers, duringthe week concerned.

Repertory grid methodology

In order to reduce interviewer bias in these interviews, and to ensure a focus on issues whichwere real for the interviewee, the repertory grid approach was chosen. This technique hasbeen used in a wide variety of research contexts, but particularly where it is important to get apicture of the interviewee's personal construct system (Kelly, 1955). Both researchers tooktheoretical and practical training in repertory grid technique during November/December 2001and the specific repertory grid design was formulated, piloted in two forces, and finalised

during J anuary 2002. The method contained the following stages:

The interviewee called to mind six officers at the target rank chosen for their interviewwho they had encountered during their career. Some identifier for each was written ontoan index card, and at the head of one of the columns 1 to 6 in the grid (see Appendix Afor the grid form used). The six officers were referred to using labels which kept theiridentity hidden from the interviewer but enabled the interviewee to recall and distinguishbetween them easily.

The six index cards were shuffled and the interviewee was presented with three andasked if they could see any similarity between two of these officers, in how they exercisedleadership at that rank, which was not shared by the third officer.

Once the interviewee had clarified the similarity in their mind they wrote a description ofthis in the left-hand side of the grid in the first row. In the right-hand side of the grid, and inthe same row, they wrote a description of how the third officer contrasted with the other


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two. Each construct was thus bi-polar as it consisted of a behaviour observed in two ofthe three officers and the contrasting behaviour of the third officer.

The interviewee then gave all six officers a rating between one (if they were seen asbeing at one pole of the construct) and five (if they were seen as being at the other).

After a number of constructs had been elicited and scored in this way, the intervieweewas invited to say if there were any other constructs which they saw as important foreffectiveness in that rank, and these constructs were added and scored.

All six officers were then given scores between one and five for their perceived overalleffectiveness as a leader in the rank concerned. By comparing the rankings given for therespective individual constructs with the rankings given for overall effectiveness, it waspossible to identify which constructs the interviewee judged as most closely related toperceived effectiveness in the rank concerned.

The interviewees were asked to define what they saw as the 'ideal' position between oneand five for each construct, by completing the column headed ID. In some cases, theinterviewee identified the 'ideal' position on the scale as being close to but not at the endof the poles (i.e. they scored the ideal as a 2 or as a 4 rather than as a 1 or as a 5). In afew cases, the ideal position was actually seen as being at the mid-point of the scale,

which usually reflected their recognition of the competing tensions operating in thesituations they described.

Finally, they were asked to place a tick against the descriptions of behaviour which theyfelt were the most important in defining effective leadership at the rank concerned.

Most found completing the grid a thought-provoking and meaningful experience. Some foundit a particularly revealing and insightful process and two asked if they could take away copiesof their own grid. The majority of interviews took less than 90 minutes. As well as completingthe grid, there was an opportunity, within the above time-scale, for each interviewee todiscuss the aims of the project, and for them to say something about their own experiences ofpolice leadership.

The initial sample

Twelve officers who had originally been programmed to be interviewed were unable to attenddue to urgent duties elsewhere. However, between February and April 2002, 138 policeofficers out of the intended sample of 150, drawn from ten different forces and from acrossthe rank structure, were interviewed about police leadership using the repertory gridtechnique. Each officer was interviewed about leadership either at their own rank or at one ofthe ranks above or below them, as shown in Table 2.1.


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Table 2.1: Numbers of officers taking part in the main repertory grid study, brokendown by theinterviewees rank and the rank under consideration during their interview

Target Rank considered during the interview

ChiefOfficer

Superintendent Inspector Sergeant Constable Grand total

Interviewee Rank

Chief Constable 3 2 1 6

DCC 2 3 1 6

ACC 5 5 2 12

Area Commander 2 2

ChiefSuperintendent

1 1 3 1 6

D ChiefSuperintendent

1 1

Superintendent 6 4 4 2 16

Chief Inspector 1 3 1 3 8

D Chief Inspector 1 2 3

Inspector 7 4 5 6 22D Inspector 1 1 1 3

Sergeant 1 7 8 6 22

D Sergeant 1 1 2

Constable 9 11 7 27

D Constable 1 1

Police Staff 1 1

Grand Total 22 30 34 32 20 138

The intention was to interview the same number of officers in each of the respective ranks(Constable, Sergeant, Inspector, Superintendent, and ACPO) and to have some of thesecomment on leadership in their own rank and some on leadership at other ranks.

For the first of the ten forces, the two researchers who were carrying out the interviewingshared the task between them with each taking turns to interview or observe. This helped toestablish consistency in the interviewing process. The remaining forces were divided betweenthe two researchers.

Sifting and categorisation of the constructs elicited

A total of 1500 leadership constructs were elicited from the 138 officers who completed grids.Each construct consisted of a positive behaviour and a contrasting negative behaviour andwas typed into a spreadsheet along with the respective ratings given to each of the sixofficers called to mind in completing the grid, and together with an indicator of whether or not

the interviewee had seen the construct as important in defining effectiveness at the rankconcerned. The rank of the interviewee, and the target rank which was the subject of theinterview, were also entered in the spreadsheet. Constructs not seen as important in definingeffectiveness, or ones for which the ratings given by the interviewee were not sufficientlystrongly related to the ratings given for effectiveness, were then sifted out. This left 978effective leadership constructs.

The next step was to ignore the rank which had been under consideration and find a way togroup and categorise all of these 978 constructs. A cyclical process was followed in which,after reading through all the constructs, a category system was proposed and appliedindependently by each of the researchers. Differences in coding were then discussed, and thesystem was refined, before being applied again independently. All 978 constructs werecategorised into one of four main categories, eight sub-categories and 53 sub-sub-categories,

after this process had been repeated three times and the resulting categorisation was highlyreliable at even the most detailed level. The categories which emerged are shown in


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Appendix B. There were inevitably other valid ways in which these constructs might havebeen categorised but the categories used served the purpose of being both reliable andmeaningful.

The supplementary study

At the Police Leadership Development Board meeting in J une 2002, a draft interim report onthe results of the 138 repertory grid interviews carried out with police officers was presented.The 138 officers included both male and female officers and both white and minority ethnicofficers, but it was not known whether the sample included any gay or lesbian police officers.In order to ensure a representative sample of views was included in this survey, it wasdecided that a supplementary sample of officers nominated by the Lesbian and Gay PoliceAssociation (LAGPA) would be interviewed and the results compared with the former results.

With the assistance of a number of national and local LAGPA officers, a series of 12interviews (three in each of four different forces) were organised and carried out duringAugust 2002. Seven of the interviewees were male and one of these was minority ethnic. Aswell as ensuring that gay and lesbian officers were included in the study, this brought the totalnumber of interviews overall up to the original target of 150. Table 2.2 shows the ranks of the

12 interviewees, and the rank which was the subject of their respective interviews. Notice thatno chief officers were included in the supplementary sample and nor was the target rank ofchief officer used in any of the 12 interviews. The aim was to achieve at least one interview ateach of the other ranks.

Table 2.2: Numbers of officers taking part in the supplementary repertory grid study,broken down byinterviewees rank and rank considered during interview

Rank under consideration during interview

PC Sgt Insp Sup Total

PC 1 2 3

Sgt 3 1 4Insp 2 2 4

Sup 1 1

Rank ofinterviewee

Total 1 5 3 3 12

One hundred and twenty bi-polar constructs were obtained in the interviews. When theconstructs which the interviewee did not see as being related to effective leadership in therank concerned were removed, a total of 80 remained. This attrition rate very closely matchedthe one in the original study (for which 1500 constructs were reduced to 978). The 80remaining constructs were easily categorised into the broad groups used in the original study.

The generalisability of the results

As the evidence assembled in the two repertory grid studies was essentially a collation ofpersonal constructs, the main sampling consideration was that a sufficiently wide range ofofficers should be included in the study, so that all or most of the constructs being used bypolice officers nationally were likely to have been elicited in the course of the interviews. Thiswas done by carrying out a total of 150 interviews (138 in the main study and 12 in thesupplementary study) across the five main ranks and across a total of 14 different forces,representing a range of geographical settings. If the elicited constructs covered most of theconstructs in use nationally, then we could be sure that all constructs in use throughout thepolice service would fit into the defined categories. Also, if the proportions of constructs fallingin the respective categories were broadly similar from one target rank to another, from oneinterviewee rank to another, or between the initial and supplementary samples, this wouldprovide some reassurance that these proportions might apply more widely.


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Since the constructs elicited from any particular officer depended to some extent on the sixofficers they decided to use in completing their grid and the thoroughness of the interview,and since judging which of these were most strongly related to effectiveness requiredarbitrary standard thresholds to be set, it was not valid to deduce that if a construct was notincluded amongst the effectiveness constructs elicited from a particular officer then that officerdid not use that construct as an effectiveness construct. Both for this reason and the fact that

the officers were not chosen randomly, it was not relevant to calculate what percentage ofofficers used effectiveness constructs in all four main categories.

Design and methodology of the questionnaire study of police authorities

The aim of the police authority members survey was to provide a customer perspective onwhat kind of leadership was appropriate in the police service by asking how police authoritiescarried out their selection of senior officers.

The police authority members survey was designed in conjunction with the Association ofPolice Authorities and posted out from the Association to all police authorities in early

September 2002. Each authority was invited to provide up to four separate responses to thesurvey questions and the Chair of the Authority was asked to nominate either individualmembers of the Authority, or groups of members, to make these responses on behalf of theAuthority. Twenty-nine authorities (67.4%) responded, all but one of whom had nominatedone or more individual members to respond on their behalf. The remaining authoritydelegated a committee of four of its members to make a group response. A total of 62responses were received representing a total of 65 authority members. The 65 membersincluded 42 male, 22 female, and one who did not give their gender. Sixty-two of therespondents were white, two were from minority ethnic backgrounds, and one did not givetheir ethnic origin.

Although the same questions were asked of each respondent, the questions were open-ended and not pre-coded, and so were answered in the respondents own words and

according to what was uppermost in their own minds. If 70 per cent mentioned a specificaspect of policing, we could conclude that at least 70 per cent of the respondents would agreethat this aspect was important, since even more might have agreed if prompted. The surveyincluded the following questions:

1. What do you see as the main role of chief officers?2. What would you regard as the main qualities which chief officers must possess?3. What evidence is usually available to you to enable you to assess the presence of these

particular qualities in a candidate?4. For which qualities does this evidence tend to be least adequate for enabling you to make

a confident assessment?5. What would you see as the main qualities which a BCU Commander must possess and

why?

For each question in turn, the first step in the analysis was to make a list of all the differentresponses and create categories which would allow them to be grouped together. Thecategories were chosen to be easily interpretable and reliable (so that different judges wouldplace responses in the same category). Responses were then coded so that, for eachquestion, counts of the numbers of answers fitting into particular categories could be given.

Because of the size of the sample, the range of responses to any particular question wouldprobably give a reasonable guide to the likely range of responses which would be obtainedfrom police authority members in general. Also, any response to questions 1, 2, and 5 wouldhave some legitimacy as a potential leadership performance measure. Since the number ofrespondents making any particular response would be likely to underestimate the number ofrespondents who would agree with the sentiment expressed in the response, and since the

sample of respondents was not drawn randomly, the proportion of our sample who made a


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particular response might not necessarily provide a guide to the proportion of police authoritymembers in general who would agree with the sentiment.

Design and methodology of the questionnaire study of police officers and police

staff

The aim of the questionnaire survey of police officers and police staff was to discover whetherthe leadership behaviours thought effective or ineffective by officers were being observed inpractice and what effect these had on subordinates.

The repertory grid exercise gave a very clear picture of what kinds of leadership behaviourwere valued and thought effective by officers. As we shall see in the next chapter, whichreports the results of the repertory grid study, there was a good correspondence between 50of the 53 sub-sub categories of constructs which officers used to describe effective leadershipand the 14 dimensions of a style of leadership known as Transformational Leadership. Itwas therefore decided to discover whether transformational leadership was being providedwithin the police service and what effect experiencing or not experiencing such leadership

had on subordinates.

The main aims of the survey were, therefore, to:

investigate which aspects of transformational leadership were currently being provided bypolice leaders; and

investigate the relationship between particular aspects of transformational leadership andparticular self-reported psychological outcomes for the people being led.

As an instrument called the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ) was already inexistence, had been developed and extensively validated (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2000b op cit; Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2001), and had already been

used widely within the UK public sector (in the NHS, local government and the PrisonService), it was decided to use this instrument in the study. A sample of officers drawn fromacross all ranks was, therefore, asked to complete a copy of the TLQ (direct report version)together with a short biographical sheet giving such details as their rank and the rank of theirline manager (but no names).

The TLQ (direct report version) consists of 111 statements about line managers leadershipbehaviours and the respondent has to say how strongly they either agree or disagree thateach statement in turn applies to their line manager (e.g. Is consistent in her/his behaviour,rather than being moody or unpredictable - to be answered as either Strongly Disagree,Disagree, Slightly Disagree, Slightly Agree, Agree, Strongly Agree, Dont Know, or NotRelevant). Answers to the 111 individual questions are combined into scores (for the linemanager) on each of the 14 dimensions of transformational leadership. In addition, there areten other questions interspaced throughout the TLQ which are answered in a similar way, butwhich ask about the impact these behaviours have on the respondent (e.g. Behaves in a waythat raises my motivation to achieve).

As well as addressing the above aims, this study would provide an opportunity both to test outthe feasibility of using the instrument with a policing population and to assess the reliabilitiesand validities of the scales, with such a population. If the TLQ proved to be reliable and validthen it could provide a possible diagnostic tool to help take transformational leadershipforwards within the police service.

The sample

All 43 forces were invited to take part in the survey and 36 (84%) agreed to providerespondents. The survey took place during August/September 2002 and a total of 2160survey packs were distributed to officers by their force liaison officers (60 packs were sent to


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each force liaison officer). A total of 1066 questionnaires and biographical sheets werereturned, representing 49 per cent of the packs which had been distributed to officers. Returnrates for individual forces ranged from 18 per cent to 72 per cent.

According to the instruction letter to liaison officers, the 60 packs sent to each force were tobe distributed to five officers in each of the 12 categories shown in Table 2.3. The numbers of

officers in each category from whom completed questionnaires were received is also shownin this table (the intended number in each category was 180).

Table 2.3: Numbers of of fi cers returning completed questionnaires and bio sheets,brokendown by their rank and by the rank/role of their line manager

Numbersreturned

Probationary police officers under the guidance of tutor constables 49Uniformed police officers led by police sergeants leading operational functions 100Uniformed or police support staff led by police sergeants leading support functions 30Uniformed police officers led by police inspectors leading operational functions 112Uniformed or police support staff led by police inspectors leading support functions 59

Uniformed police officers led by police superintendents leading operational functions 92Uniformed or police support staff led by police superintendents leading supportfunctions

61

Uniformed police officers led by chief officers leading operational functions 60Uniformed or police support staff led by chief officers leading support functions 43Uniformed or police support staff led by police support staff junior managers 11Uniformed or police support staff led by police support staff middle managers 40Uniformed or police support staff led by police support staff senior managers 128Category not clear or not as above 281Total 1066

The respondents were drawn from across the rank structure, and 84 per cent of the policeforces in England and Wales were represented, including metropolitan, urban and ruralforces. In addition, the sample was found to include a full range of staff, from those who sawtheir line manager as strongly transformational to those who identified no such qualities intheir manager. Since the sample was not drawn randomly, however, it is possible that thoseresults which are expressed in terms of percentages of officers may not be strictly applicableto police officers in general.

Officers views of the questionnaire

Of the 1066 officers who completed questionnaires and biographical sheets, 99 per cent didthis in under an hour and 85 per cent in half an hour or less, whilst 94 per cent of respondentssaid the instructions were easy to follow.

Respondents were asked, How relevant was the questionnaire for assessing the leadershipeffectiveness of the individual you rated? Thirty-five per cent of respondents said thequestionnaire was very relevant and a further 56 per cent that it was relevant in part. Therewere 71 respondents who said the questions were Not very relevant including 19 per cent ofthe constables who completed the questionnaire and ten per cent of the police staff juniormanagers. Table 2.4 shows what percentage of the officers at each rank felt thequestionnaire was very relevant, relevant in part, and not very relevant respectively forassessing the leadership effectiveness of their line manager. Notice that 170 respondents hadnot completed the section on relevance at the end of the questionnaire and a few had notgiven their own rank, so the table is based on the 839 respondents for whom there wascomplete data. A substantial majority of all ranks felt the questions were either Very Relevantor Relevant in part and, for six of the ten ranks (viz. inspector, chief inspector,superintendent, chief superintendent, police staff middle manager, and police staff senior

manager), at least 42 per cent of the respondents felt the questionnaire was Very relevantfor assessing the leadership effectiveness of their line manager.


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Table 2.4: Views on the relevance of the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire topoliceleadership, broken down by rank/role (n=839)

Relevance of questionnaire (percentages making respective responses)

Very relevant Relevant in part Not very relevant Total

Constable 18 64 19 100Sergeant 29 65 6 100Inspector 42 53 5 100Chief Inspector 48 49 4 100Superintendent 50 43 8 100ChiefSuperintendent

48 48 5 100

Police Staff

Junior Manager28 62 10 100

Police Staff

MiddleManager

51 44 5 100

Percentage

within rank/role

Police Staff

Senior Manager49 51 100

Percentage of all ranks 36 56 9 100

Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents were male and 32 per cent female. There was nodifference in the perceived relevance of the questions between male and female respondents.As ninety-seven per cent of respondents were white, it was not possible to make any usefulcomparisons in terms of ethnicity.

It was found that nearly one in four respondents had been supervised by their line managerfor less than six months whilst at the other extreme one in four had known their line managerfor two years or more. As well as marking the statements as ones with which they stronglyagreed, agreed, slightly agreed, slightly disagreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed, therespondents had the option of saying dont know or not relevant. The total number of dont

know responses which a respondent made increased (quite naturally) the shorter the lengthof time they had known their line manager. Respondents who had known their line managerfor less than six months made an average of 13 dont know responses (out of a possible121) compared to an average of four dont know responses for respondents who had knowntheir line manager for four years or more. Forty-two per cent of respondents did not make anydont know responses. Also, 70 per cent of respondents did not mark any of the questions asbeing not relevant. The highest number of not relevant responses made by any onerespondent was 39 (out of 121).

Eighty-eight per cent of respondents saw their line manager either daily or several times aweek. This would seem to suggest ample opportunity for leaders to increase job satisfactionfor, and add value to the work of, their subordinates, although two per cent said they only sawtheir line manager at most once every few months.

At the end of the questionnaire, respondents were invited to write in any Other comments.One hundred and seventy one respondents provided feedback in this way and this consistedmainly of detailed comments on the questionnaire and its usefulness in this context.


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3. What is regarded as effective police leadershipby police officers and police authority members?

This chapter draws on findings from two sources:

The police officer face-to-face interview study, on what officers regard as effectiveleadership.

The police authority members postal survey, on what police authority members regard aseffective leadership.

Effective leadership: the police officer perspective

In the main officer interview study, 978 descriptions of leadership behaviour or constructswere elicited through a process of asking officers to compare and contrast leaders they hadworked with and then separating out those which the interviewee associated with effective

leadership (see Chapter 2 for a full description of the process and Appendix C for a fullverbatim list of the constructs, split into positive and negative behaviours, by category andtarget rank). The four main categories into which all of these effective leadership constructsfell were:

Being committed to achieving a high quality service to the community and tosupporting staff to achieve this (11% of the constructs fell into this category).

Displaying high personal and professional standards and challenging poor behaviour(19% of the constructs).

Enabling, valuing and developing staff (44%). Having relevant knowledge and skills (26%).Table 3.1 shows how many of the descriptions fell within each of the four main categories,broken down by the rank being considered during the interview. There were minor differencesin the proportions falling in the respective categories from one rank to another, but the fourbroad categories of leadership constructs were found to be associated with effectiveness inall five ranks and the categories were ranked in almost identical order by size (as measuredby the number of constructs they contained) for each rank.

Table 3.1: Numbers and percentages of constructs fall ing in each of the four maincategoriesrespectively, broken down by target rank under consideration

Broad Category Target Rank considered during the interv iew

ChiefOfficer

Superintendent Inspector Sergeant Constable GrandTotal

Being committed toachieving a high qualityservice to the communityand to supporting staff toachieve this

1410%

2613%

3112%

2812%

96%

10811%

Displaying high personaland professionalstandards andchallenging poor behavior

1813%

3416%

4819%

4620%

4229%

18819%

Enabling, valuing anddeveloping staff

6849%

9847%

11947%

9441%

5337%

43244%

Having relevantknowledge and skills

4029%

5024%

5622%

6327%

4128%

25026%

Total 140

100%

208

100%

254

100%

231

100%

145

100%

978

100%


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Table 3.2 gives a breakdown of the constructs according to whether the officer interviewedwas at the same rank or was above or below the rank they were consideringduring theinterview. Those at the same rank or below were less likely to mention constructs related toDisplaying high personal and professional standards and challenging poor behaviour thaninterviewees above the rank. However, there was a substantial measure of agreement

irrespective of whether the commentator was above, below or at the same rank. In essence,what officers see as effective leadership, irrespective of rank, is that which enables them tofeel proud of the service being provided and their contribution to its delivery.

Table 3.2: Numbers and percentages of constructs fall ing in each of the four maincategoriesrespectively, broken down by rank of i nterviewee in relation to target rank

Subcategory Higher rank Lower rank Same rank Grand total

Being committed to achieving a high quality service tothe community and to supporting staff to achieve this

9% 14% 11% 11%

Displaying high personal and professional standardsand challenging poor behavior

27% 15% 16% 19%

Enabling, valuing and developing staff 37% 48% 48% 44%

Having relevant knowledge and skills 27% 23% 26% 25%

Grand total 100% 100% 100% 100%

Results from the supplementary sample of lesbian and gay officers were very similar to thosefrom the main sample. Enabling, valuing and developing staff was slightly more stronglyrepresented in the supplementary sample than in the original sample whilst having relevantknowledge and skills was slightly less strongly represented, but all of the constructs elicitedparalleled ones found in the main sample. See Appendix D for a full list of these constructsbroken down by target rank.

Many interviewees mentioned that it was rare for an officer to be told clearly what kind ofleadership they would be expected to provide when they came into a new leadership role. Nordid most forces appear to have lists of acceptable and unacceptable leadership behaviours.The result of this was that officers evolved their own styles of leading with little guidance or

control exercised by the force. Whereas this can lead to valued leadership being provided (asevidenced by the lists of positive behaviours reported in the repertory grids study) it is clearlynot always the case (as is evidenced by the negative behaviours in the same lists). Below isan extract from some of the behaviours relating to sergeants which the officers recorded intheir grids in their own words and which illustrates the variety in more detail. These are allfrom within the category Displaying high personal and professional standards andchallenging poor behaviour.


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Table 3.3: Selection of the constructs elicited from officers for the target rank ofsergeant

Sergeants

Positive pole Negative pole

Ethical and professional Unethical

Won't stand for any nonsense Buries head in the sandAppropriately and sensitively challenges and dealswith poor/unacceptable performance

Don't effectively challenge or deal withpoor/unacceptable performance

High personal integrity giving rise to high standards Low integrity giving rise to low standards

No personal agendas Create pressure to conform to their personalagendas

Behaves appropriately Undermining through inappropriate use of humour

Enthusiastic, positive attitude Defensive/negative attitude and behaviour

Hard working and competent Lazy

Interest in work Apathy to role

Enthusiastic and committed to job J ust a job

Take responsibility Stands back

Willingness to identify problems and tackle them Ignore problems unless presented to themAble to implement and follow through actions Not able to implement and ensure action is taken

Taking ownership for and are reliable for taskidentification and completion

Does the bare minimum to survive w/outattracting negative appraisal/comment evidence

Always fair and impartial Prone to unreasonable/unfair treatment

Personal honesty Bull shitting

Someone I felt I could confide in and was loyal toall

Wouldn't trust them 'as far as I could throw them'

Treated all staff with fairness Favouritism in team/staff

Consistent behaviour towards staff Moody, unpredictable

A focus on sergeants is appropriate as they are the main supporters for officers at the front

line and it is vital that they support and add value to the work of those officers. However,exactly parallel examples of motivating or de-motivating behaviour were found to exist at allother ranks, from constable up to chief officer.

Effective leadership: the police authority perspective

A picture of what police authority members looked for from chief officers was built up from anamalgam of their answers to the two questions What do you see as the main role of chiefofficers? and What would you regard as the main qualities which chief officers mustpossess?. The responses fell under four broad heading: gaining support for delivery,ensuring an appropriate strategy to address identified priorities, delivering, and beingaware. Table 3.4 shows the percentage of police authority members who made responses

which fell in the respective categories. Whilst police authority members focused onperformance in terms of success criteria, they recognised that chief officers had to deliverthrough other people. Thus 95 per cent of police authority members mentioned at least onecriterion which suggested that a chief officer had to be skilled in gaining support for deliveryand 47 per cent specifically mentioned that they needed to gain the respect of other officersand motivate them to perform.


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Table 3.4: What police authority members look for from Chief Officers (percentages ofresponses fall ing i nto the various categories) N = 62

Gaining support for delivery ( 95%)

Communicates internally and externally so as to maximise co-operation, politically astute 58

Gives clear direction and focus 58

Gains trust, respect, confidence of community, markets force well, handles media, good PR 50

Gains trust, respect, confidence of staff, motivates, raises morale 47

Treats people fairly sensitively 31

Has integrity honesty 24

Is articulate, a good public speaker, has positive presence 11

Enables staff to achieve their full potential, fully supportive of staff development 3Ensuring an appropriate strategy to address identified priorities (79%)

Arrives at right strategy to meet needs, skilled in planning 35

Quick grasp of essentials, analytical, innovative, flexible 32

Takes responsibility for meeting needs, committed, sincere 26

Has long-term vision, anticipates future needs accurately 18

Decisive, firm, consistent 10Deliver ing (58%)

Delegates, challenges, sets standards, monitors, evaluates, drives continuous improvement 26Manages resources effectively and efficiently, good organisation, effective use of officers 26

Committed, dedicated, determined, thorough, resilient, tenacious, prepared to tackle crime 19

Builds and leads effective teams, works effectively with partners 16

Effectively delivers necessary change 6Being aware (39%) %

Listens to the community, empathises, values input from others 18

Good operational policing knowledge and experience 11

Visible approachable open 10

Aware, knows what is going on 10

Open to criticism, responds positively 3

Which chief officer qualities are the most difficult to assess?

Police authority members participate in the selection of senior officers. A representativesample of their verbatim responses to the question For which qualities does the evidencetend to be leastadequate for enabling you to make a confident assessment? are given inTable 3.5, broken down by the four main qualities looked for in senior officers as shown in thetable above. These examples cover the full range of responses to this question. Many of theinter-personal qualities which officers see as being important for their leaders to possess areapparently seen as difficult to assess at the time of selection and most of the qualities founddifficult to assess fall in the area of Gaining support for delivery.

Some respondents also commented that candidates were readily able to manipulate answersso as to cover up facts and show their good side. One said Many people can pass exams,tests. Few can do the job required and it is often too late when you discover it. Another saidA confident assessment is not an easy task. In most cases, one can only judge on "facevalue". Yet another, in answer to the question what evidence is available?, replied Verylittle and added the present appointments procedure provides little opportunity to probe.


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Table 3.5: Range of responses from police author ity members as to chief of fi cerquali ties for which they feel theyhave the least adequate evidence during the selectionprocess

Gaining support for delivery

Integrity and commitmentCommitment and motivationintegrity, courage, sensitivityThere is little or no evidence available to Police Authorities that allows them to assess integrity andpersonal voice (training jargon etc. tends to encourage standardised responses). The lack of systemsof appraisal for Chief Officers means that Police Authorities may remain ignorant about qualities, suchas the ability to create shared meanings, long after their appointmentThe ability to inspire confidence in subordinatesI do not see chief officers when they are dealing with officers or staff..the respect of subordinates is much more difficult to gauge. It is only by casual conversations withPCs at ground level that this will truly be assessedAbility to motivate staffMotivation and actual leadership, plus humanityDifficult to know how junior officers will respond to a chief officer (a 360 degree appraisal would be

useful)Attitude to training and staff development. Diversity issuesFairnessConsistent fairness/ man-managementCaringHuman relations within force and with community and mediaReassurance of the publicPersonal qualities/interpersonal skillsThe more intangible qualities like leadership, judgement, ability to motivate and inspire, ability tocomplement and work with existing senior executive teamEnsuring an appropriate strategy to address identified priorities

Ability to make good judgementsFlair, vision, flexibilityThere is little evidence of how individuals have dealt with strategic issuesDelivering

The other quality which is only evidenced on paper is how the officer reacts under extreme stress Ability to take responsibility and to make right judgements in crisesBeing aware

Political awareness and approachabilityArrogance, mistrustCommunicationis it always defensive?The ability to accept fair criticism and to be willing to change without loss of self-confidence

Effective leadership: the qualities required by BCU Commanders

Police authority members were also asked about the main qualities required by BCUcommanders. Several made reference to the context of local delivery, the need to inspire andmonitor officers, and the need to have good relationships with HQ (e.g. Understanding of thebalance between corporacy and devolved responsibility). Most of the qualities mentionedwere qualities which had also been mentioned for chief officers, and a substantial minority ofrespondents (27%) said the requirements for a BCU Commander were actually eitheridentical or much the same as for chief officers. Most of these latter respondents defendedthis view in some way, rather than simply stating it baldly. One said All of the above (referringto the requirements for chief officers) tempered by the need to adjust to the requirementsimposed by senior officers. This provides further evidence that leadership requirements donot change in essence as one moves through the hierarchy.


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Effective leadership: comparing authority and officer perspectives

Table 3.6 compares the evidence on what police authority members look for from chiefofficers with the evidence on what police officers look for from their leaders (as derived fromthe repertory grid studies). We can see, from this table, that 44 per cent of the constructswhich police officers used to describe effective leadership were concerned with enabling,

valuing and developing staff, and this was the category most frequently mentioned byofficers. Although police authority members tended to define force success in terms ofperformance, 95 per cent of them saw Gaining support for delivery as a crucial quality for achief officer and 47 per cent specifically mentioned gaining the trust, respect, and confidenceof staff, motivating, raising morale. This fits with the officers perspective as it recognises thatchief officers need to achieve performance through others. Furthermore, 16 per cent ofauthority members felt that staff morale, motivation was one of the areas where forces werecurrently falling down. Other similarities are displayed in the table. The important thing to notehere is that the results are all based on either officers or police authority members ownwords rather than on their ticking of researcher-provided options:

Table 3.6: Comparison of the views of police officers and police authority members onwhat makes a good pol ice leader

Police off icers Police authorit y members44% of the qualities thought by police officersto be related to effective leadership wererelated to enabling, valuing and developingstaff

47% of police authority members felt gainingthe trust, respect, and confidence of staff,motivating, raising morale was important forChief Officers.

10% of the qualities thought by police officersto be related to effective leadership wererelated to being committed to achieving ahigh quality service

26% of police authority members mentionedTakes responsibility for meeting needs,committed, sincere and 19% mentionedCommitted, dedicated, determined,thorough, resilient, tenacious, prepared totackle crime

20% of the qualities thought by police officersto be related to effective leadership were

related to displaying high personal andprofessional standards and challenging poorbehaviour

31% of police authority members mentionedTreats people fairly, sensitively, 24%

mentioned Has integrity, honesty, and 26%mentioned Delegates, challenges, setsstandards, monitors, evaluates, drivescontinuous improvement

25% of the qualities thought by police officersto be related to effective leadership wererelated to having relevant knowledge andskills

35% of police authority members mentionedArrives at right strategy to meet needs,skilled in planning, 50% mentioned Gainstrust, respect, confidence of community,markets force well, handles media, good PR,and 25% mentioned Manages resourceseffectively and efficiently, good organisation,effective use of officers

Effective leadership: relating the police officer perspective to transformationalleadership

Table 3.7 shows there was a good correspondence between 50 of the 53 sub-sub-categoriesof constructs which officers used to describe effective leadership and the 14 dimensions of astyle of leadership known as Transformational Leadership.


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Table 3.7: Comparison of the 14 dimensions of transformational leadership with theconstructsused by police officers to describe effective leadership behaviours

TransformationalLeadership

Effective leadership behaviours as defined by officers

Genuine concern for otherswell-being and their

development

Takes account of staff welfare issues/compassionate and understandingTakes account of staff welfare in deploying staff

Shows active interest in supporting front-line policing/gets involved and takescontrol when appropriateCaring/having appropriate priorities/puts other interests before ownProvides physical and psychological back-up in difficult situationsRepresents staff concerns to higher authorityAvoids making unreasonable demands on staffDisplays consistently high professional standards/does not use bullying/sets agood example to staffDevelops individuals/guides/coaches/mentors/uses PDR effectively

Empowers, delegates,develops potential

Knows and utilises the skills of staff, uses effective delegation, trusts staff,encourages initiativeValues and develops staff/team player/displays humilityShows interest in and acknowledges the work of staff, shows respect forindividuals

Transparency, honesty,consistency Setting and maintaining standardsChallenges poor performanceChallenges inappropriate behaviorBeing consistently fairConsistent no favouritesConsistent no mood swingsDisplays consistently high personal standards/sets a good example to staff

Integrity and openness toideas and advice

Open and honestConsultative/encourages participation/listens to others' views/accepts negativefeedback/values contributions

Accessible, approachable Maintains visibility/interacts with staff/stays accessibleApproachable on any topic

Inspirational communicator,networker and achiever

Generates support from community and from within police service using effectivenetworkingAble to communicate effectively with all ranks and members of the public. Hasthe common touchDisplays enthusiasm and energy for tasks/has a positive 'can do'attitude/prepared to take the initiative and give a lead when appropriate/pro-active approachDemonstrates follow-through, determined, persevering, reliable, meets deadlines

Unites through a joint vision Provides clear direction/ensures common purposeDevelops effective team-workingDisseminates information effectively and appropriately

Clarifies individual andteam direction, prioritiesand purposes

Provides adequate stability/not blowing in the windProvides effective communicationProvides effective and timely decisions when requestedProvides useful guidance when requestedOrganised. Effectively manages time. Prioritises effectivelyInspires confidence in command and control situations

Creates a supportivelearning and self-development environment

Fosters a learning non-blaming environmentSupporting and encouraging staff/creates positive comfortable workingenvironment/helps staff to provide effective high quality serviceAccepts responsibility for staff, tasks and outcomes

Manages changesensitively and skilfully

Effective negotiating style - internal and external

Charismatic, in-touch Able to motivate through personal qualities/has charisma/presencePersonal qualitiesGood knowledge and skills base/sufficient breadth and depth of experience/hasthe confidence and respect of colleagues/credible in role/seen as operationallycompetent

Encourages questioningand critical and strategicthinking

Flexible. Receptive to new ideas. Adaptable. Confident to challenge tradition

Analytical and creativethinker

High intellectual capacity. Can deal with complexityVisionary/innovative/creative


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Decisive/risk-taking Committed to supporting the achievement of organisational objectives/takesconsidered risks for the good of the organisationHas courage of own convictions. Stands up for beliefsHas courage in the face of conflict. Prepared to deal with anything. Calm underpressureMakes effective assessment of problems and solutions/politically aware/seeswider issues/takes broader view/has sound judgement

The three sub-categories of constructs which did not match up with TransformationalLeadership qualities were Professional competence, Competent in both strategic andtactical modes and Committed to achieving a high quality service, serving the communitywell, and ensuring a good image for policing in the community/seeks continuousimprovement. Basically, these were seen as important by subordinates as they did not wishto have to follow orders which they regarded as wrong from either a tactical or an ethicalstandpoint. As the emphasis of transformational leadership is on empowerment rather thanobeying orders it is not surprising that these (important) aspects are not covered.

All of the constructs from which the 53 categories were formed basically arose from subjectiveassessments which officers had made of other officers. Although the assessments weresubjective they were strongly believed by the assessors, will certainly have influenced theirworking relationship with the person being assessed, and may well coincide with otherofficers' views of the same person. However, one further difference between the 50categories which were linked to transformational qualities and the three which were not is thatthe former assessments tended to refer to more specific behaviours and ones which might bemore easily evidenced. Thus, the former provided a detailed breakdown of all the specificways in which the person being assessed had interacted with the assessor. By contrast, thelatter provided just a global assessment of either the person's 'competence' or their'commitment' and the implicit criteria for these might be more likely to vary from assessor toassessor. These categories were clearly regarded as important, however, and so it might beuseful to try to break these down into more objectively observable behaviours so that they canbe included amongst the requirements for police leadership in a more useful form.


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4. What is the impact of police leadership on staffin the service?

The previous chapter showed that the major part of what officers regarded as effective

leadership corresponded closely with a form of leadership known as transformationalleadership. A sample of 1066 police officers and staff were subsequently asked to completea questionnaire on transformational leadership, which showed the numbers of staffrespectively experiencing or not experiencing particular positive psychological impacts as aresult of their line managers approach to leadership, and the relationship between the linemanager's style of leadership and these psychological impacts.

The questionnaire responses enabled each respondents line manager to be given a score oneach of the 14 scales of transformational leadership, such as Genuine concern for otherswell-being and their development. As the responses to the individual questions making upeach scale were found to be highly correlated with each other, it was possible to make veryreliable estimates of each line manager's transformational qualities.

The 14 scale scores correlated with each other to a significant degree, suggesting that a linemanager who displays one aspect of transformational leadership is also likely to display allthe others. As the scale scores were so highly correlated an analysis was carried out to findthe best single overall score for summarising each managers transformational leadershipskills as a whole. This score, referred to as transf was simply a weighted combination of the14 scale scores and was scaled so that the distribution of summary scores had a mean of 100and a standard deviation of 15. This simply put the scores on a standard scale so that theycould be interpreted in a standard way (e.g. 100 means 'average').

Significant differences were found between line managers at the respective ranks, in terms oftheir overall transf scores, as can be seen from Table 4.1. The table shows that TutorConstables are (by far) the closest to exhibiting transformational leadership behaviours, with

police staff junior managers being the furthest away. Sergeants, Superintendents, and ChiefSuperintendents, all score slightly above average amongst policing groups, with Inspectorsbeing the lowest scoring uniformed ranks. Tutor Constables already have a well identifiednurturing and developing role (which is a large part of what transformational leadership isabout), and probationers are perhaps particularly susceptible to such influence, but it is clearthat the need for such leadership exists at all levels in the service and not just amongstprobationers.

Table 4.1: Mean scores for transformational leadership by rank/role

Mean Std. deviation N

Tutor Constable 111 8 46

Chief Superintendent 103 12 85

Sergeant 102 15 148Superintendent 102 13 132

Chief Inspector 100 13 63

Police Staff SeniorManager

100 16 165

Chief Officer 99 14 129

Inspector 97 16 152

Police Staff MiddleManager

94 17 81

Police Staff J uniorManager

91 18 21

Total 100 15 1022


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Figure 4.1 shows the number of officers making each transf score. The maximum possiblescore (when the respondent strongly agreed that all 111 positive behaviour statements in thequestionnaire applied to their line manager) was 124. The minimum possible score (when therespondent strongly disagreed that any of the 111 positive behaviours in the questionnaireapplied to their line manager) was 44.

Figure 4.1: Distribution of transformational leadership scores for 1066 police officers

Transform ational Leadersh ip (Standardised First Factor Scores)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 116 120 124

Transformational Leadership Score

NumberofOfficers

This distribution shows quite a long tail with scores down as low as 44. Roughly one in sevenofficers score less than 85 (or less than one standard deviation below the mean), whilstaround one in eleven scored more than 115 (or more than one standard deviation above themean). The psychological outcome variables in the questionnaire help to decipher what thismeans in practice.

As mentioned earlier, ten of the questions in the officer/staff questionnaire survey were aboutthe self-reported psychological outcomes on the member of staff of the line managers style ofleadership. These outcomes included, for example, raising the staff members motivation toachieve, having a positive effect on their commitment to the job, increasing their satisfactionand enabling them to achieve beyond their expectations. The officers were asked to saywhether they strongly agreed, agreed, slightly agreed, slightly disagreed, disagreed, or

strongly disagreed that the positive outcome applied to them. Table 4.2 shows, for eachpsychological outcome in turn, the numbers of line managers for whom these respectiveresponses were given. Those ticking dont know are omitted from the table.


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Table 4.2: Numbers of officers overall who agreed or disagreed with particularstatements about the effect their li ne managers behaviour had on them (N = 1066)

For those who slightly disagreed, their response might simply be regarded as indicating thelack of a potential positive benefit. For those who disagreed or strongly disagreed, the linemanager may, in fact, be having the opposite effect in the area concerned. The pattern ofresponses, when broken down by line managers rank and role was similar to the findings foroverall transformational leadership score, with Tutor Constables tending to have the mostpositive impact (see Appendix E for details).

Some of the key evidence on how police leadership impacts on performance comes from therelationship between particular leadership behaviours and particular psychological outcomesfor subordinates. There were very high correlations between the scale scores and theanswers to the psychological impact questions, ranging from .63 to .88. This means that thescale scores were all very good predictors of the psychological outcomes.

The scale score which had the strongest relationship to the psychological outcomes wasGenuine concern for others well-being and development. Scores on this scale correlatedabove 0.85 for seven of the ten psychological outcomes. This means that if a line managerscores very highly on Genuine concern for others well-being and development then theirdirect reports are very likely to agree that he/she:

behaves in a manner which has a positive effect on my commitment to do the job; behaves in a manner which has a positive effect on my self-confidence; behaves in a manner which raises my sense of fulfillment for my job; leads and behaves in such a way that increases my job satisfaction; manages and behaves in a manner that increases my self-esteem; has a leadership style that increases my commitment to the organisation; and acts in a manner that enables me to achieve beyond my expectations.Of course the reverse is also true - if a line manager does not show Genuine concern forothers well-being and development then their direct reports are very likely to disagree that

these statements apply to their line manager.

Slightly

agree

Agree Strongly

agree

Acts in a manner that enables me to achieve

beyond my expectations

Strongly

disagree

Disagree Slightly

disagree

Reduces my job-related stress by his/her

approach to leadership

Leads and behaves in such a way that

increases my job satisfaction

Manages and behaves in a manner that

increases my self-esteem

Has a leadership style that increases my

commitment to the organisation

Manages and leads in a way which I find very

satisfying

Behaves in a manner which has a positive

effect on my commitment to do the job

Behaves in a manner which has a positive

effect on my self-confidence

Behaves in a manner which raises my sense

of fulfilment for my job

27119010064

331 143

96285

85 107 143 226

2491339668

339 145

149344

82 104 149 224

255175109102

340 160

116278

75 72 152 248

113 247 376 192

6076

65 64

209376199132

128 204 338 203

Behaves in a way that raises my motivation to

achieve

73 101 108 218 364 197

85 106


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These results show clear links between leadership style and various important impacts on thestaff being managed. Another outcome (subtly different from the ones listed above)whichmight have been worth recording would have been whether officers agreed that their linemanager added value to their attempts to meet organisational objectives.

Some of the officers who gave low ratings for their line managers behaviour or impact may

themselves have been poor performers and have been rating their line manager unfairly.However, the repertory grid interviews showed that officers were generally looking for leaderswho challenged poor behaviour and performance, rather than ones who gave them an easytime. If an initially positive attitude had deteriorated over time then this might, in itself, beregarded as a failure of leadership. Certainly, if their responses accurately reflect what theofficers thought about their line managers, then they are relevant, since it is on the basis ofthese beliefs that the officer will respond to their line manager and these feelings could affecttheir morale and job performance.

The high correlations between the scale scores and the answers to the psychological impactquestions show that the scores which officers achieve on these scales can be used toconfidently predict what impact these officer will be having on their subordinates. In otherwords, the scale scores have important meanings for police officers and police staff.


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5. How can police leadership improve?

Key findings

The research evidence collated and presented in this report has provided information on theleadership sought by staff and police authorities and the impact of current police leadershipon staff, and has set out possible links to customer satisfaction and organisational outcomes.The key findings are as follows:

Whilst leadership is widely believed and expected to have an important impact onemployee attitudes towards their work and on motivation and performance, a clear sharedunderstanding of what leadership behaviours are effective in the police service and henceof how leadership can be improved, has been lacking.

In broad terms, officers saw effective leadership as consisting of Being committed toachieving a high quality service to the community and to supporting staff to achieve this,Displaying high personal and professional standards and challenging poor behaviour,Enabling, valuing and developing staff and Having relevant knowledge and skills.

Fifty-three different behaviours were identified by police officers as being related toeffective leadership. Fifty of these behaviours were found to match closely with a style ofleadership known as transformational leadership.

Leaders who displayed transformational leadership behaviours had a number of positiveeffects on their subordinates' attitudes to their work.

Police authority members regard staff morale and motivation as key to delivery and lookto chief officers to have a positive impact in this area.

Many of the qualities which police authority members said were most difficult to assessreliably in candidates for senior leadership roles can be identified as transformationalqualities, such as the ability to relate to, and motivate their subordinates.

The repertory grid study generated reports of a l

Police leadership: expectations and impact

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