New Directions in Police Leadership ‘Entrepreneurial Policing’ and ‘Entrepreneurial Leadership’

1. New Directions in Police Leadership‘Entrepreneurial Policing’ and ‘Entrepreneurial Leadership’ Dr Robert Smith SIPR Lecturer in Leadership

2. OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION • Police Leadership – a resume of styles. • Entrepreneurial Policing Articulated • Entrepreneurial Leadership Explained • What does it mean for the Police Service • How can it be contextualised within existing police ideology • The ‘Humble Police Leader’

3. POLICE LEADERSHIP STYLES • Leadership / Management / Supervision – a difficult trinity to master • Militaristic • Hierarchical • Bureaucratic / Corporatism • Autocratic • Charismatic (Great Men Thesis) • Laissez-Fair ??? • Transactional versus Transformational

4. THEMES IN POLICE LEADERSHIP • New Public Management (Osbourne & Gaebler, 1998) – But the Police Service is the most resistant of all Public Services • Performance Indicator Culture – Drive for Efficiency but at what cost • National Intelligence Model – Leadership is now enacted within tasking Group Culture • Political Interference – versus the Doctrine of Constabulary Independence • The search for New Doctrine • New Entrepreneurialism – in the public services • Entrepreneurial Policing ???????

5. ENTREPRENEURIAL POLICING ??? • The policing – entrepreneurship nexus is an underdeveloped phenomenon • Was first mentioned in America in relation to sponsorship on Police Vehicles • But it has more than fiscal implications for the Police Service • It has Organisational and Operational implications • As used in the context of this argument it refers to a ‘loose style of Leadership and Managerialist Ideology’ (Smith, 2009)

6. WHY SO? • Entrepreneurship is a life theme (Bolton & Thompson, 2000) therefore it pervades society • Entrants to the Police Service often have prior entrepreneurial experience which they must unlearn to fit in with Police Culture • Entrepreneurship is a doctrine or method of operating. At its most basic narrative level it is all about the ‘Poor Boy Making Good’ and about rising from ‘Humble Beginnings’ • So theoretically there should be no reason why entrepreneurship theory does not resonate with the Ideology of Policing and with the concept of Meritocracy

7. ENTREPRENEURIAL POLICING • Emerged as a concept in the late 1990’s in Academia and in Government and has spread throughout the last decade. • It is used by Academics, Politicians and a few Enlightened Chief Officers • At present it is a loose, floating concept which means different things to different people • It has yet to gain currency in the lexicon of policing ! • But is it merely another pseudo-managerial fad?

8. POLICE ENTREPRENEURIALISM – An emerging literature • The Entrepreneurial Detective (Hobbs, 1987, 2001 : Mars, 2000) • Police Patrol Officers as Entrepreneurs (Various) • Remaking the Entrepreneurial Officer (Palmer, 2005) • The Entrepreneurial Detective and Collator (Fletcher, 2006) • Team Entrepreneurship – as a particular strength of policing (Smith, 2008) • Call for entrepreneurial policing and end of risk aversion (Flanagan, 2008)

9. A REALITY CHECK • The Police Service with its hierarchical rank structure is anti-entrepreneurial • It is not a free market system therefore there is a misfit with many facets of entrepreneurship theory – You cannot start your own Police Force or set up in competition • However,Corporate Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship; and Managerial entrepreneurshipare serious options worthy of exploration • The Entrepreneur-Bureaucrat – A Paradox

10. ENTREPRENEURIALISM– A HEALTH WARNING • Hisrich & Peters (1992) sum up the guiding principle of corporate culture as ‘follow instructions given, do not make any mistakes, do not fail, do not take the initiative, but wait for instructions, stay within your turf, and protect your backside’ This restrictive environment is of course not conducive to creativity, flexibility, independence, and risk taking - the jargon of intrapreneurs’ • Likewise, Kirby (2003) argues ‘large organisations often see enterprising individuals as loners (not team players), eccentrics, interested in pet projects, cynics, rebels, free spirits, responsible for sloppy work’

11. DARING TO BE DIFFERENTEesley (2006) barriers to ‘Intrapreneurial Activity’ :- • Punish risk taking, new ideas and mistakes • Sidelining new and good ideas • Failing to sanction, promote or encourage difference • Promulgating politics and infighting or with holding cooperation • Poor communication within organisational silos • Discouraging staff to take the initiative / seize opportunities • Setting unclear organisational missions, priorities and objectives • Withhold Management Support • Fail to reward risk taking • Fail to allow inadequate time or resources for staff to achieve

12. HEIRARCHICAL LADDERhelp or hindrance ?Where is the entrepreneur on this scale?

13. WHO ARE THE POLICE ENTREPRENEURS ? • Enlightened Chief Officers (Richard Brunstrom, Mike Fuller, Sir Robert Mark and Sir John Alderson are all excellent examples) • Any police employee including the Questioning Constable because entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial proclivity knows not the bounds of rank – this poses problems in hierarchical organisation • External Academics or Experts particularly when working in conjunction with police forces on real policing issues. This resonates with Australian experience • It is paradoxical that quite often the individual capable of leading an organisation is to be found at its margins.

14. ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP • Because autonomyof action and the superintendence of resources in its widest sense in a police setting require the individual to hold rank it stands that the majority of Police Entrepreneurs must be those who hold a managerial rank • This brings the notion of Entrepreneurial Leadership very much in to play • BUT entrepreneurs emerge from a system and cannot simply be appointed • A very Real Dilemma for Command

15. ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP EXPLAINED • Leadership is a function associated with entrepreneurship (McGrath & MacMillan, 2000) • Casson (2000) we are socially programmed to exalt leaders and entrepreneurs gain power and legitimacy from twin levels of social approval – from being a leader and an entrepreneur • Entrepreneurial leadership is associated with charisma and communicational ability • But beware the Maverick Label

16. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE POLICE SERVICE ? • Entrepreneurial Policing is very much about changing the present Blame Culture in Policing and in particular in relation to the prevailing aversion tocontrolled risk taking • It is about the Empowerment of Staff and building in freedom to fail on occasion • It is about renegotiating the boundaries of trust • It is about changing the Rank = Legitimacy Paradigm • NO EASY TASK

17. RE CONTEXTUALISING ENTREPRENEURIAL POLICING • Entrepreneurship is a life theme therefore it does not entail learning new tricks – merely unlearning old restrictive ways of doing things • Nor does it necessarily entail sweeping changes to organisational or operational procedures • It does not require the implementation of expensive training courses • It merely requires a willingness to embrace change and to value and reward creative difference in a genuine problem solving environment

18. Above all else it requires the implementation of a variety of LEADERSHIP STYLES appropriate to the situation • No one leadership style fits every situation and so it is with Entrepreneurial Leadership and Entrepreneurial Policing • Neither are panaceas for all the ills in contemporary policing • There will be costly mistakes along the way in the new era of devolved budgets but future leaders would do well to learn best from the mistakes of others.

19. The Entrepreneurial Organisation is a Learning Organisation • What constitutes Entrepreneurial Policing in one police force may not be applicable to another • The Art of Entrepreneurial Leadership lies in having the confidence to work towards a realistic and achievable vision of the future. Not as it is but as it could and should be. • It entails having the courage to let go of existing restrictive philosophies and step boldly into the future

20. CONCLUDING REMARKS • Embracing change requires humility of leadership alien to existing models of Police Leadership • Humble Leadership ???? Worthy of exploration • Remember Entrepreneurial Leadership and Entrepreneurial Policing are only two of many possible leadership styles. To be of utility in a policing context they will have to survive on merit • Policing as a family business? Police Families? • Most police entrepreneurs emerge from non police families (Panzerella, 2004) • Entrepreneurialism as the doctrine of collective individualism?

21. In this presentation I have only touched upon a fraction of the possible applications and outcomes of Entrepreneurial Policing • It is a subject worthy of serious academic and practitioner debate • To join the debate email me on r.smith-a@rgu.ac.uk to contribute • THANK YOU !