Servant Leadership and the Police Organization

Servant Leadership and the Police Organization
Student’s Name
Institution
Abstract
Leadership can be understood from an individual perspective as to how one chooses to lead their life or from an organizational perspective to denote the influence of applying authority to others. A leader possesses some traits that can be used to evaluate their effectiveness as well as classify the leadership paradigm they are accustomed to. Servant leadership, a leadership style that seeks to put the interest of others first and with a rich history, mostly applied in the Holy Bible, has come under the great influence in recent decades. Its application in the police organization has become a subject of discussion in the recent past, bearing in mind the benefits that the police organization gains from incorporating the traits and principles of servant leadership into the service. The police service is configured to respond to autocratic leadership style and might be difficult to incorporate change into the new leadership paradigm. However, with a well-laid plan, the traits of servant leadership can be effectively incorporated into the police organization.
Keywords: Leadership, servant leadership, traits, police organization.
Servant Leadership and the Police Organization
Introduction
The term leadership has often been a subject of discussion in many disciplines, yet most people have failed to understand the whole concept of the term. Leadership is one of the most influential factors in determining the success or failure of an organization and even an individual. From an organizational point of view, leadership can be understood as influencing others or exercising authority over followers to achieve a particular organizational goal (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018). From an individual perspective, leadership can be viewed as how one chooses to lead their life, considering the different aspects of human living. Regardless of the varied interpretation of the term leadership, some commonalities run across all leadership literature. The shared opinion is that leadership is an important concept in almost every aspect of human living as well as in the corporate world. It can be devastating to the organization or the society when leadership ceases to exist or becomes ineffective (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018). Therefore, regardless of the leadership style that they have adopted, leaders have some particular traits that are common among all leaders.
Major Traits of a Leader
Any leader in any leadership position must possess some traits or characteristics to be regarded as an effective leader. Individuals in the highest ranks of influence, often termed as level five leaders (Collins, 2009), possess some of the qualities, practices, concepts, and principles that can be associated with leaders of such high positions
One of the fundamental traits of a leader is the capability to exhibit self-efficacy. Self-efficacy can be viewed as a broad term to imply the ability of a leader to undertake all the necessary steps expected of them and behave in a manner that is desired of a leader. Self-efficacy also involves the ability to have confidence in one’s ability to make swift decisions, motivating others, and consequently creating an impa...