Compare and Contrast leadership and consultation

Running Head : Leadership and Consultation

Leadership and Consultation in Law Enforcement

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Shared leadership is a method of delegating work and authority to other people who may have a different rank in the unit . This method is still not yet being practiced even though the trend is now shifting towards this kind of leadership . It has three levels , namely suggestion involvement , job , and high involvement

Consultation is the process of gathering information and opinions before making a decision . The parties involved in the

consultation should have an open mind to whatever will be the result of the talks

Leadership and Consultation in Law Enforcement

Leadership in the Police Force

Long ago , leadership in the police force was centered on having one head responsible for directing and supervising their constituents . Now the trend is shifting towards involving other people or units and not just one man directing traffic . This is called shared leadership (Wuestewald Steinheider , 2006

Shared leadership is a management method of delegating work to other individuals who have an inferior position in the agency . While most law enforcement trends are headed towards the direction of shared responsibility , this concept is still not being followed by law enforcement agencies . Shared leadership can be divided into three levels namely suggestion , job and high involvement (Wuestewald Steinheider 2006

The Levels of Leadership

In suggestion involvement , the power to decide remains within the superior offers so there is no responsibility sharing . This paves the way for transparency as there will be open lines of communication and easy response to any command requiring immediate action . The advantage of this is that it can encourage the employee to become creative satisfied with their work , and minimize absences . Still , this is easier said than done (Wuestewald Steinheider , 2006

However , the disadvantage of suggestion involvement is that people in the department are not accustomed to this kind of leadership . Shifting from individual leadership to shared responsibility may be difficult (Wuestewald Steinheider , 2006

With job involvement , the members of the police force are given independence over their day-to-day jobs . This kind of leadership has shown to produce outstanding results . The authority to decide is restricted by rules established by the managing department . By allowing employees to manage their own affairs , they would feel a certain degree of ownership which could lead to increased communication , innovation and motivation . Likewise , it would give them an overview of how their decisions and conditions will affect other units . This kind of leadership can best be applied at the unit level where members decide on equipment , training , problem solving , and planning their strategy (Wuestewald Steinheider , 2006

In the case of high involvement , this is a combination of both job and suggestion involvement . While the first two levels of leadership involve minimum risks , high involvement has the highest factor of risk . This level of leadership involves sharing of power and information , complex personnel development practices , and frequently requires strategic planning from task forces and policy groups . The main advantage of...