Supervisors and Managers, Being an Effective Leader

Society as a whole is made up of values and norms that must be followed to ensure a proper life for each individual. Similarly, humans, in general, live by certain rules and laws that keep us in check. The purpose of these regulations is not to limit our freedom but rather to create an organization within the society. Therefore, in any organization a leader, an able one, in fact, is needed to not only ensure smooth running, but an upwards thrive in matters. For every successful company, nation or even a World Cup winning team, there has always been a prominent figure most likely at the head of things. Be it Steve Jobs, Alexander the Great and even Winston Churchill the world has had its fair share of exceptional leaders whose effects we still feel today. 

So what is leadership? Or better yet what makes a good an effective leader? Harvey and Foster (2006) succinctly yet efficiently describe leadership as the art of influencing human behavior toward organizational goals. When put that way a head, in this case, is necessarily not a person in charge but one who sways people through other means so as to get objectives done. However, in the modern world leadership entails taking charge and giving directives when in crises. Leadership comes in many forms but inside law enforcement which is the primary workplace described in this paper, a robust approach is often needed (Schroeder and Lombardo, 2013). The purpose of this article is to holistically evaluate leadership especially among supervisors and managers within the law enforcement agencies. As such various topics and subtopics such as principles of leadership, traits of leadership and effective decision making will be discussed. 

Principles of Leadership

When it comes to governance, the ideologies of governance are a frequently researched aspect. There are many leadership principles each varying from one individual to another. Nonetheless, there are eleven universal principles set by the United States army in 1983. The principles are as follows:

Proficiency

A leader needs to be proficient; this means he/she must be competent in their job by having the necessary skills or being generally good at what they do. Also, in addition, a leader should know the ability of his/her workers so as to manage them in the most convenient manner.

Developing Responsibility

For any supervisor or manager responsibility should be of utmost importance. This also entails developing a sense of responsibility and other admirable character traits that will add value to their work.

Comprehensibility

Furthermore, any leader should know what he or she wants and be able to actually articulate it to subjects. This implies that a supervisor/manager should communicate efficiently what he/she wants and when he/she wants it done. This will help avoid any ambiguities among staff. 

Keeping Workers Informed

A good supervisor or manager irrespective of the field should be adequate in keeping employees informed of their duties and various changes. A leader should not only focus on junior staff but also be in communication with senior staff. 

Goodwill

Amanchukwu, Stanley, and Ololube (2015) insist that a leader should be well conversant with the primary human nature and acknowledge the significance of honestly caring for ones employees It sounds so simple, but such things go a long way in being a leader especially in law enforcement.

Self-consciousness

Any manager should be well aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses. This helps one in knowing when to seek help and also it aids in engaging in self-advancement activities (Dobre, 2013). If a leader knows and acts on his weaknesses, it will prompt other members of staff to do the same thereby making a better workplace 

Sound Decision Making 

A supervisor/manager should be well equipped in decision making tools and approaches. In a field such as law enforcement where some decisions may mean life and death for others a good leader should be capable of making the toughest decisions under the most difficult circumstances (Schroeder and Lombardo, 2013).

Taking Responsibility 

Sometimes things do not go as planned but as a leader, one should be able to take responsibility for his/her actions. At times this means taking the fall for other workers’ mistakes. 

Setting an example

Additionally, leaders need to act as role models for their employees. According to Harvey and Foster (2006), “the foundation of Followership is 1. Do the job; 2. Do it well; 3. Do it the way the organization wants it done; and, 4. Innovate from a solid foundation.” Therefore, for leaders to have a loyal workforce they must exemplify what they expect from their junior employees.

Training as a Team 

A leader should cultivate a culture of team mentality within the workers under his/her supervision. Therefore, a leader should not aim at improving only a certain individuals but the whole workforce as a unit. As such employees should learn to work and succeed as a team.

Maximizing the Full Capabilities of the Organization

Through creating a team spirit among employees a supervisor/manager should be able to utilize the full potential of his/her employees thus creating a formidable workforce (Harvey and Foster, 2007). This will enable the organization to reach its goal much easier. The principles mentioned above set the standard for what leadership should look like. Honestly if one follows full all the principles he/she will be termed a good leader but what makes an efficient and even perhaps an exceptional leader? Times have changed since 1983 hence there are other things an effective leader should be aware of. 

Leadership Traits

For Schroeder and Lombardo following the principles is simply not enough to be competent as a leader in a highly competitive world especially if one is leading in a law enforcement agency (2013). As such leaders need to create naturalistic traits within them to aid in overcoming the daily challenges that face them. Various impeccable leaders have portrayed most if not all of the leadership qualities below:

Emotional Stability

It can be argued that as a leader one deals with the most stressing of issues each and every day. As such it is imperative for a supervisor to be psychologically mature to deal with matters on a clear and open mind. If a leader fails to be emotionally stable, then he/she may make rash decisions as a result of bias rather than experience or wisdom.

Dominance

Good leaders over the years have been mainly dominance and aggressive in handling issues. Looking at examples from Genghis Khan, a man who conquered the whole of Asia, he managed to be on top of things despite having a massive army and empire (Dobre, 2013). In brief, a leader needs to show assertiveness and unwillingness to be led by others when they are in charge. 

Enthusiasm 

Shrewd and able leaders are often enthusiastic and energetic about their work. Taking Steve Jobs, for example, he was very passionate about the technology he hoped the world would see and appreciate. He once said,” We’re enthusiastic that’s what we do” (Dobre, 2013). The purpose of enthusiasm in a good leader is to keep going even when things seem impossible. This also goes a long way in motivating employees down the line.

Tough-mindedness

Moreover, exceptional leaders have low sentimental attachments. This is to imply that they can handle criticism comfortably and are usually insensitive to struggles and hardships. To survive in a competitive and/or demanding position a leader needs a tough mindset that will get the job done in the most difficult of times. 

Social Awareness

Borrowing from the likes of Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi most leaders over the ages have had real social skills. Being a leader just means convincing a person that you can point them to greater things. In order to persuade someone to follow you, one needs to be good at interacting. In the business world today social interaction among investors, shareholders and employees have been both a vital factor to the rise and detriment to companies. 

On top, these traits a leader more so in a law enforcement post needs to employ other features. A supervisor/manager need be charismatic; in that, they perceive life and work in an optimistic way. Leaders who possess high charisma are able to raise emotions among employees which help in motivating them and at the same time making them susceptible to following directives. Also, intuitiveness serves as an essential tool for any real leader (Amanchukwu, Stanley & Ololube, 2015). The world today is rapidly changing, and an individual cannot always rely on the old rules hence a leader must learn to follow his/her gut. Yes at times it may lead to some serious trouble but more often than not good things arise from going for what a person believes in. There are well over hundreds of traits linked with good leadership, however, at the end of the day, it all comes down to what issue is being dealt with and how it will be handled. 

Employee Motivation and Performance

The human mind is rather a subtle one; we do not do tiresome or difficult things simply but only when there is some sort of reward at the end. Each and every manager, supervisor and leader can testify that a huge proportion of employees work well when motivated and extremely if that is not the case. So what is motivation? According to Chowdhury, Alam, and Ahmed (2014), motivation refers to as “the innermost force that drives persons to achieve organizational and individual goals. Many scholars and researchers have necessitated the importance of motivation towards performance. There exist different theories that tend to explain how people and more specifically employees are motivated. These approaches include:

There is Maslow’s theory which suggests that employees or humans, in general, have five degrees of wants; i.e. social, physiological, ego, security and self-actualization (Chowdhury, Alam & Ahmed, 2014). Maslow deduced that each lower level required being satisfied first before tending to the other and then could employees be motivated. Herzberg categorized motivation into two; motivators and hygiene. Motivators being the factors that produce job satisfaction while hygiene do the opposite.

Furthermore, there is the Vroom theory that suggests an employee’s effort lead to performance and that performance, whether it is good or bad, earns the employee positive or negative rewards. The higher the premium, the greater the effort; and thus, the higher performance. Lastly, Skinner’s theory which suggests that employee’s behaviors which are beneficial will be repeated whereas negative employee behaviors will rarely be repeated. Chowdhury, Alam and Ahmed (2014) establish that the managements need to support workers’ conducts that resulted in constructive performances. Various factors come into play that affects the level of motivation that an employer has. These factors can be differentiated into two; monetary and non - monetary factors. 

Monetary Factors

There are few financial factors; however, money is the most persuasive of all tools to a large part of people. Monetary factors include salaries, wages, bonuses, incentives and at times expensive prizes. Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube (2015) articulate that if salaries are paid on time and equitably regarding the amount and expertise of work done then most employees would be well motivated to continue performing well at work. Nevertheless, there are times where money does not serve well as a motivator. Such instances include bonuses or incentives to senior/high income employees or when one feels that the pay is not equitable to other workers in the same position. 

Non-monetary Factors

Non-monetary factors include all other motivators that do not involve money. They include job title, recognition, authority delegation, job security, working condition and others (Amanchukwu, Stanley, and Ololube, 2015). Unlike monetary factors, non-monetary factors do not produce direct results i.e. one can be given recognition, but it remains a mystery if he/she is motivated enough. But that should not be the reason for a person in charge to neglect non-monetary factors as they are pivotal in raising the spirits in the workplace. 

There is enough evidence regarding the importance of motivation with regard to motivation. As a supervisor or manager, one should be ready to use all resources at his/her disposal to ensure that workers are energetic and optimistic towards work. Since the leaders in question are those working in the law enforcement fields then influencing, monetary factors may be rather challenging. In most occasions, the government dictates salaries, bonuses and other financial factors (Amanchukwu, Stanley, and Ololube, 2015). Nonetheless, every leader should aim at making the office a better workplace by employing non-monetary factors to ensure that employees are sufficiently motivated to perform any task at top notch quality.

Effective Decision Making

Decision making is one of the most pivotal aspects that make a good leader. Decisions are the things that make or break a leader. For Nura and Osman (2012), “A manager is only called a manager if he/she is capable of making effective decisions.” Decision making simply put is the process of making decisions especially ones that are pivotal. Each and every one of us makes decisions during every second of their lives. Whether to eat or not to eat, whether to go to school or stay at home these are just some of the infinite decisions that people have to make. Decisions can be categorized into conscious and sub-conscious ones. Conscious ones are the ones that people make while they are aware such as choosing A or B on a test while sub-conscious are the ones that our mind makes due to habits and lack of choice.

Types of Decision Making

There are four different categories when it comes to decision making:

Routine Choices and Judgments

This is the most primitive form of decision making. It involves making decisions off habits. The judgments in this category have no real consequences and embody what a person needs rather than what others think. As such no consultation is necessary. An example is picking a brand of milk or cereal for breakfast. 

Influencing Outcomes

In this category, individuals make decisions that they have influence over but only to some extent. A good amount of optimism is required to make these decisions fortunate ones. For example, when one decides to move to a particular country instead of another; he/she may end up finding the country attractive if he/she tries to adapt however they cannot control laws or political unrest in the stated country should they occur.

Competitive bets

Chowdhury, Alam and Ahmed (2014) show that in competitive bets an individual makes a decision over which they have no control over. A good example is either sports betting or investing in stocks. A person can do research and seek consultation in determining which stakes to take or which team to bet on nevertheless at the end of the day he/she is helpless in whatever happens to the selected stock or match betted on.

Strategic decisions

In these last categories, individuals make decisions not only for themselves but other people. Here leaders can actively influence outcomes of their decisions through organizing and motivating employees. For business executives, it is not as simple as buying milk. Therefore, a shrewd leader should be well adept in this fourth category to ensure the survival of his/her organization (Chowdhury, Alam & Ahmed, 2014)

As stated we all make decisions, but some people’s decisions have greater consequences than others. For instance, the decision of deploying a nuclear bomb lies in the hands of the president; should he make that decision many lives will be lost. Therefore, a good leader should make prudent decisions after seeking proper clarification from the people that will be affected. Decisions within an office come in the form of setting goals and targets; what should we aim to achieve? What should we do if the objectives are not realized? And who should be blamed in case of failure such are the questions whose answers should come from a leader’s decisions. Decision making is the most important role of any manager or supervisor in every field not only in law enforcement as such a good leader should not take the matter lightly.

Conclusion 

The law enforcement field is rather a tough and demanding one. With the increase in the hierarchy in any law enforcement agency, there come greater responsibilities and difficulties. As such an effective leader is needed as a supervisor or a manager. The principles of leadership stated above serve well as guidelines for any person willing to be a leader in this field. However, outstanding leadership comes from within and can be cultivated through discipline and perseverance. Therefore, even though some great leaders were born, leadership is made by an individual. 

References

Amanchukwu, R., Stanley, G., & Ololube, N. (2015). A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their Relevance to Educational Management. Management, 5 (1), 6-15. 

Chowdhury, S. M., Alam, Z. & Ahmed, S. (2014). Understanding Employee Motivation: the Case of Non-teaching Staff of a Public University. British Journal of Marketing Studies , 2(6), 17-24.

Dobre, O. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of Applied Socio- Economic Research, 5 (1), 58-60. 

Harvey, A. & Foster, R., (2007). Leadership: Texas Hold ‘Em Style .  Create Space Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-4196743-8-9.  

Nura, A. & Osman, N. (2012). A Toolkit on Effective Decision Making Measurement in Organizations. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2 (4), 298-303. 

Schroeder, D. & Lombardo, F. (2013).  Management and Supervision of Law Enforcement Personnel. (5th Ed.).  Charlottesville, VA: LexisNexis-Gould Publications. ISBN: 9781422491515.