The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 24, Number 9 | Page 17

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | December 2018
Wrestling with Command: the Leadership versus Management Conflict
Jim Gale, MA, PhD, Police Superintendent, Devon and Cornwall Police
The pendulum has swung too far towards embracing ‘leadership’ as a must-have doctrine, and
has, as a result of ignoring ‘management’, created an environment which is hostile to the con-
tinuing evolution of a high functioning police or emergency services organisation. A refocus is
urgently required in order to successfully meet the challenges of the future.
The interplay between ‘leadership' and ‘management’ is difficult to describe. Kotter says the
key is to understand the difference between management and leadership; he fears that too
often, employers use the terms synonymously. Ratcliffe (2013) quotes him as saying:
"Management is a set of processes that keep an organisation functioning. They make it work today – they make it
hit this quarter's numbers. The processes are about planning, budgeting, staffing, clarifying jobs, measuring per-
formance, and problem-solving when results did not go to plan. [Leadership] is about aligning people to the vision
that means buy-in and communication, motivation and inspiration. Churchill is a great example of a leader, but he is
not a manager. He is not beloved because he made the bureaucracy function."
Bennis (1992) said:
“Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right. Both roles are crucial, and
they differ profoundly.”
The below figure is an adaptation of Covey’s consolidated position on the differences:
Leadership Management
People Things
Spontaneity Structure
Release, empowerment Control
Programmer Program
Investment Expense
Principles Technique
Transformation Transaction
Principle-centred power Utility
Discernment Measurement
Doing the right things Doing things right
Direction Speed
Top line Bottom line
Purposes Methods
Principles Practices
On the systems In the systems
“Is the ladder against the wall?” Climbing the ladder fast
Figure 1: Summary of differences, leadership versus management (Covey 2006)
The effective running of a police organisation, including the execution of all its functions and processes, cannot
depend entirely on leadership; the asymmetric focus on ‘leadership’ is inimical to the fully effective delivery of
policing services, and in fact becomes self-defeating: leadership needs space within which to operate, and the only
way to achieve this is to re-focus on management.
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