Influence of Supervisor Leadership Style and Conflict Handling on Subordinates: A Case Study of Taoyuan Police Department

Abstract

This study explores the influence of supervisor police officers’ leadership styles and conflict handling on their work and their relationship with subordinates. A two-stage data analysis method is adopted. In the first stage, in-depth interviews are conducted to analyse local police chiefs’ views on leadership styles and conflict handling. In the second stage, questionnaires describing leadership and conflicts are distributed to subordinate police officers for statistical analysis. Conflicts emerge in the operation of government agencies because members within the organisations have different views on their respective positions, responsibilities and goals, mostly for reasons related to the leadership style of their direct supervisors. The study results reveal that transformational and transactional leadership styles positively influence subordinate police officers and negatively influence several sub-dimensions of leadership styles, consistent with cross-comparison findings. Furthermore, the results indicate that conflict handling has an insignificant influence, which significantly differs from the leaders’ perceptions of handling as found in their interviews. Accordingly, the findings of cross-analysis are reasonable. The study results can be used as a reference for future supervisors to handle and manage practical conflicts. JEL classification numbers: C12, D74. Keywords: Police, Transformational leadership (TFL), Transactional leadership (TSL), Leadership effectiveness, Conflict handling.