because these two ranks will actually go farther up, and those would be the appropriate ranks. But if you ask, ‘How about sending an inspector?’ Probably not, because the experience, the skill, the exposure required would be way beyond his ability at the time. (pp.
13-14)
Judging from the participants’ lived experience, it is clear that leadership development is a complex learning process that involves the notion of social learning.
The very many different sources of learning can each have a noticeable effect, both singly and jointly, on the learning outcome. Figure 1 is a synoptic diagram that illustrates how the contributing elements of this process are integrated together.
Hence, it is fair to say that the debate over which learning method is most effective is unnecessary. Indeed, as Brown and Posner (2001) note, ‘[P]eople who use a variety of learning tactics will be best able to learn from their experiences and will consequently be more effective in the workplace‘ (p. 275). Kouzes and Posner (1995) reinforce their comment and observe that formal education/training, trial and error, and observation are the three most important sources of learning to leaders.
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Figure 1 - An integrated model of social learning of strategic leadership
Civic mindedness
Learning from family activities Learning from leading young siblings
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5.4 Summary
This chapter details the data analysis results. Analysing the participants’
leadership experience produces a deeper understanding of the notion of strategic leadership, including its major properties and their practical meaning. Furthermore, analysing the participants’ leadership development processes clarifies the many sources of leadership learning and their interactive relationships. Armed with this deeper understanding of the notion of strategic leadership and a clearer idea of its development, I seek to answer the research questions in the next chapter.
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Chapter 6
Findings and Discussion
6.1 Introduction
This chapter reports the study’s findings, i.e., the answers to the research questions set out in Section 4.2, and discusses their practical and theoretical implications. Bearing in mind that the research questions were not put directly to the participants, the answers provided in this chapter can only be considered as ‘analytic constructions’ jointly produced by the participants and me through a process of abstraction and systematisation (Bogner and Menz, 2009, p. 53). The participants selected details of their learning experiences from their streams of consciousness to clarify their leadership development processes (Seidman, 1998). I selected details of their shared learning experiences from the interview transcripts, which consisted of 253,687 words, to clarify those processes to readers. As Charmaz (2009) argues, the findings presented in this chapter should more appropriately be considered as views rather than hard facts.
The research questions are recapped as follows.
What is the role of a strategic leader on the Force? In what significant ways is this leadership role different from those at lower levels?
What kind of knowledge and skills are required of senior police officers? From where did the senior police commanders acquire these knowledge and skills?
What kinds of knowledge/skills have the senior commanders acquired through classroom-based training/development programmes?
What meanings have they ascribed to their learning experiences in the
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classroom-based leadership training/development programmes?
What factors have facilitated/hindered their acquisition of the necessary knowledge/skills from the classroom-based training/development programmes?
6.2 Findings
6.2.1 What is the role of a strategic leader on the Force?
This study shows that, as strategic leaders, the participants had two primary roles:
leader and strategist. In their role as leader, their task was to lead other members of the Force to achieve organisational goals. In this connection, they were required to be technically knowledgeable and visionary and able to influence their followers through communication (see Sections 5.2.1.2, 5.2.1.5 and 5.2.1.6). The following example explains the challenges associated with this leadership role. In this example, the Force had to prepare itself for the imminent enactment of a piece of new legislation that would have far-reaching ramifications on its operational effectiveness.
Participant 1: In many ways it was challenging. First, there was the timing of the project. We were working on a really tight schedule. The effect of the legislation on the operational effectiveness of the Force was far-reaching. It involved the protection of human rights issues, which were really dynamic and quite new to the Hong Kong Police at the time when we were doing the exercise. [Second], there was the volume of research work. We had to commit ourselves because there was a lot of overseas experience and literature you had to go into. [Third], there was the complexity of the procedure that we had to work out and the political difficulties. It affected not only the police force, but also a few other discipline services [that] had their own operational modes, objectives and ambitions they wanted to achieve through different means.
And then you got this Security Bureau involvement, the DOJ (Department of Justice) involvement. In the legislation it was proposed that we
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should set up an oversight body, a judicial oversight body – that meant you got to involve the judiciary as well. You would need to brief officers on the interim measure and also on the final outcome, because once the legislation came into effect, the whole [new] regime needed to be in place, all the procedures had to be there, and all of the people had to change to the new regime overnight. A lot of briefing packages and briefing sessions [were required] to ensure it would be complied with. (pp. 5-6)
The participants’ lived experience informed them that being modest, empathic and positive in their thinking contributed positively to their effective performance in this leadership role (see Sections 5.2.1.1, 5.2.1.3 and 5.2.1.4). These findings are in line with many current leadership theories including transformational/charismatic leadership, authentic leadership and servant theories that emphasise the interactive relationship between leaders and followers (Bass and Avolio, 1994; Kouzes and Posner, 1995; Bennis and Nanus, 1997; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Gardner et al., 2005; Barbuto and Wheeler, 2006; McCallum and O’Connell, 2009).
In their second role as strategist, the participants determined the direction of the Force in terms of its strategic issues. In this connection, they needed to be politically sensitive, think creatively and plan over the long term to help the organisation grow from strength to strength (see Sections 5.2.2.1, 5.2.2.2 and 5.2.2.3). Participant 8 explained how directions were set in practice using the Force’s relationship with the Public Security Bureau (PSB) in mainland China as an example.
Participant 8: I have one very simple example: the Force’s relationship with the PSB on the mainland. What is the direction? We are now one country, although we operate under two systems. The direction is clear.
For the Force, it is to keep Hong Kong safe. Of course, the mainland PSB is responsible for law and order on the mainland. So it’s very clear that the two organisations must work together. Nobody would dispute
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that. Our relationship with the mainland PSB involves working together to ensure the stability and safety of society and the people.
When it comes to strategies, there can be many strategies. One of the strategies I worked out was to improve our training with the mainland in terms of making them learn from us and vice versa. So the strategy was to exchange in training with the mainland PSB. That was our strategy.
And the tactics [were to] organise various courses, train the mainland trainers, and eventually encourage the mainland PSB people to train their own counterparts. According to our relationship with the mainland, we must work together for the goodness of the country. One of the strategies to achieve that direction was exchange in training. The tactic was to arrange courses. Tactics can be changed from time to time.
Strategies must be reviewed from time to time. Directions should be set clearly. Unless there is a major change in circumstances, the direction should be consistent. (pp. 14-15)
In general, the participants’ combined role as strategic leader (i.e., leader and strategist) is in line with the strategic leadership literature, which emphasises leading an organisation rather than leading within the organisation (Beatty and Quinn, 2002;
Boal and Hooijberg, 2000). Their lived experience is compatible with the findings of other research studies of strategic leadership that emphasise that determining a strategic direction is an important part of the role of strategic leader (Hagen et al., 1998; Hitt et al., 1998) and that ‘long-term vision’ and ‘strategic changes’ comprise the essence of the concept of strategic leadership (Covin and Slevin, 2002; Hagen et al., 1998; Ireland and Hitt, 1999; McCallum and O’Connell, 2009; Mintzberg, 1994;
Rowold and Laukamp, 2009).
6.2.2 In what significant ways is this leadership role different from those at lower levels?
Participant 6 observed the following about the difference between the participants’ leadership role and those at the lower levels. It summarises the views
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of the other participants.
Participant 6: I think the higher you go, the more issues you should get