MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN POLICE HIERARCHY: TESTING COMPETING VALUES FRAMEWORK IN SLOVENIAN POLICE

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to examine the "Competing Values Framework" among managers at different organizational levels in the Slovenian Police. The main research question was: What is importance of personal skills, interpersonal skills, and group skills at different hierarchical levels in Slovenian Police? Design/Methods/Approach: The study took a quantitative approach to test the Competing Values Framework of management and leadership skills (Cameron & Quinn, 2006; Whetten & Cameron, 2007). Respondents ranked the importance of three clusters or categories of skills for their managerial position. Survey respondents included police managers at local (290), regional (122), and state (74) levels of the Slovenian Police. Findings: There are differences in the importance of management and leadership skills at different organizational levels. Police managers at the local level moat highly ranked the category of interpersonal skills while managers at regional levels also highly ranked categories of interpersonal skills and group skills, and managers at the state level highly ranked categories of group skills. Each managerial group prefers different skills as the most important: building relationships by communicating supportively (local level), motivating others (regional level), and building effective teams and teamwork (state level). Research limitations/implications: Gaining power and influence skills were ranked very low by all three managerial groups. Focus group interviews conducted following this study revealed a negative connotation of the words "gaining power" in the Slovenian Police culture. Participants associated "gaining power" with "gaining control" and "micromanagement". Practical implications: The results indicate which management and leadership skills are important for police managers at different organizational levels and can be useful input for police leadership training and development processes. Originality/Value: This study contributes to leadership literature and extends understanding of the importance of using the Competing Values Framework skills in police organizations.