Leadership is an important facet in the running of any organization. It comes with many responsibilities and challenges. People are different and so are the leadership styles. It is difficult to determine the best leadership style because of the difference in leadership environment. This paper shall discuss on one type of leadership (the transformative leadership), and its difference from other types of leadership. It will also discuss on some of the issues involved in implementing transformational leadership into criminal justice system.
Transformational leadership is about creating a positive work culture via effective communication. This is unlike the autocratic leadership style, whereby the leader coughs out orders and expect the juniors to execute the orders promptly (Alderson, 2003). It is also unlike the laissez faire leadership whereby the leader allows everyone to do as they wish without much communication. It is also different from the transactional leadership, which is result oriented and focuses on rewards. In transformational leadership, the leader is charismatic. This is unlike in most leadership styles. A transformational leader tends to attract the people they lead towards them and are lovable by most people, including their followers. On the other hand, a transactional leader is not charismatic (Alderson, 2003). A transactional leader focuses on work and performance. Poor performance could lead to punishment. They implement their punishment without fear of being loved or hated by the people they lead. The laissez faire leader I also not charismatic and hype. They actually don’t care whether you love the leader or not. The autocratic type of leadership is harsher than the autocratic leadership. An autocratic leader commands and expects immediate response from the juniors (Bass, 2000). Autocratic leader commands the juniors without expecting any compassion from them. This is unlike the transformational leader. Transformational leadership inspires workers to think critically. The transformational leader allows people to think on their own and is flexible to different ideas form co-workers as long as the ideas are in line with the organization’s goals (Bass, 2000). This is unlike the autocratic leadership style, whereby the leader is the sole decision maker and the rest of the workers should only take orders form the decision maker without questioning (Bass, 2000). Unlike the transformational leader, the autocratic leader does not create space for co-workers to air their ideas, or even criticize his or her decision. In transformational leadership, the leader is often a cheerleader and inspires the workers to perform. The leader utilizes different methods to motivate the co-workers. This includes positive reviews, rewards, promotion, to name but a few (Alderson, 2003). This is close to the transactional leadership which rewards good performance, in order to motivate the juniors. It is however different from the autocratic leadership and laissez faire leaderships which do not reward. The implementation of transformational leadership in the criminal justice system is a tough task which is faced by a number of challenges. To begin with, the criminal justice system is a series of agencies which are under different management. They include the police sector, the court, the law sector and the rehabilitation sector. In the police/investigative sector, it is difficult to implement transformational leadership from time in memorial. In this area, the orders always come from above and the police boss always has the final say. This is because their training demands so. In the law/ court sector, it is also very difficult to implement the transformational leadership. The judge will always make the final decision on the ruling. Allowing other people’s opinion could lead to biasness and victimization of few individuals (Alderson, 2003). Similarly, in the prisons and rehabilitation centers, command has to come from one end and the rest of the people implement what the boss says. Generally speaking, transformational leadership is termed as one of the best method of leadership. However, it is not possible to implement it in all leadership environments. A good leader is capable of adapting and implementing different styles of leadership. Leadership styles in most case tend to correlate with the personality of an individual.
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References
Alderson, J. (2003). Police Leadership: A Search for Principles in R. Adlam and P. Villiers (eds)
Police Leadership in the Twenty First Century: Philosophy, Doctrine and Developments Hook, Hampshire, Waterside Press: 56-67.
Bass, B. (2000). Bass and Stodgill’s Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial
Applications ( 3rd ed.). New York: The Free Press.
