Crisis in Criminal Justice- Strategies for Effective Management and Reform

Crisis in Criminal Justice- Strategies for Effective Management and Reform

Issue Identification

The criminal justice system faces various issues that impact organizations within the sector. The main issue in the criminal justice system that has been affecting criminal justice organizations for the past decade is the high rate of incarceration. According to Stroud et al. (2023), there has been an increase in incarceration despite reforms attempting to reduce incarceration by creating awareness of the high cost of incarceration and its ineffectiveness in reducing the crime rate. Incarceration has also been criticized because it disrupts people’s social networks, degrades their humanity, and causes long-term financial and social disadvantage through restricted access to housing, jobs, and education. Therefore, there is a need to implement organizational changes aimed at reducing incarceration rates.

One of the preferred changes is training the people in the criminal justice system to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge and skills required to provide strong arguments that can prevent incarceration. Most people in the justice system have few job skills and education, and many have anger management and behavioral health issues and limited life skills (Lattimore, 2022). Therefore, training individuals involved in the justice system can address the deficits in their skills and help them manage their behavioral health and anger management issues, thus reducing incarceration. The second preferred change is increasing the organization’s involvement in advocating for the changes needed in the justice system. Increasing the organization’s role in advocating for changes in the criminal justice system includes mobilizing employees to identify issues within the criminal justice system and provide their feedback on how the issues can be addressed. The organization also needs to increase its support for local and state efforts to reduce the incarceration rate by collaborating with law enforcement officers in reducing crimes and pushing for justice for people accused of committing various crimes.

Handling Resistance to Change and Barriers to Effective Communication

Resistance to change is common in many organizations, especially because of differences in people’s opinions towards change and its significance to the organization. Resistance to change can impact the success of a change and push the organization to waste and use a lot of resources to implement the change successfully. Therefore, organizations need to handle resistance to change before it impacts the overall change process. However, organizations experience various barriers to handling resistance to change, including barriers to effective communication. One of the key barriers to effective communication is information overload. Information overload in implementing organizational change occurs when people are given too much information about a change and its impact on the organization. The main impact of information overload is misinterpretation of the information shared, which could cause resistance to change.

Organizations also experience a lack of clarity, consistency, and frequency in communication. The lack of clarity, consistency, and frequency is a key barrier to effective communication, especially in the change implementation process. Notably, it leads to miscommunication and speculations that could paint a wrong picture of the proposed change and its impact on the organization and employees, leading to resistance to change. Another key barrier linked to lack of clarity, credibility, and frequency is the lack of source credibility. Lack of credibility of the source of information can derail communication during the change implementation process and cause misunderstandings that could create resistance to change. For example, a lack of clarity on the source of information can lead to the assumption that the information is false, thus delaying the change implementation process and creating room for speculation about the information. For instance, if employees are not clear about the source of information about the change, they may assume that the information is a rumor and ignore following any instructions provided to implement the change, leading to conflict between management and the employees, which is a source of resistance to change.

One of the methods that can be used to improve communication regarding the needed changes is creating a clear communication channel. For example, the organization can create a communication channel that supports transparent communication during the change process to prevent misinterpretation of information and maintain clarity and frequency of the information shared. The second method is ensuring that all communication relating to the change is formal. For instance, the organization can inform all employees of acceptable formal communication channels that can be used to share information about the change, such as email communication, Zoom, and face-to-face meetings. The organization can also create an official communication protocol to prevent miscommunication. For instance, the organization can inform all employees that all communication regarding the change should be face-to-face or via email.

Effective Organizational Management Strategies

Assessing changes after implementation is important because it enables organizations to determine if the change was successful. One of the organizational management strategies that can be used to assess the changes after their implementation is using key performance indicators. Key performance indicators are essential in determining whether the anticipated changes were made successfully and whether the organization’s goals relating to the change were met. Some key performance indicators that can be considered include the impact of the change on employees and the organization. The use of key performance indicators can be considered alongside other organizational management strategies, such as gathering employee feedback about a change and its impact on employees and monitoring the organization’s performance after implementing the change. The organization can use synonymous surveys to get honest employee feedback about the change and request them to suggest improvement areas.

Organizational management during change implementation requires eliminating conflicts that could impact the successful implementation of the change, negotiating with the people involved in the change, and building trust among everyone involved in the change implementation process and those affected by the change. Conflict resolution, trust, and negotiation also influence the plan for organizational change. For instance, conflict can influence the approach used by an organization to introduce a change and implement it. Organizations must ensure that the change is introduced in a manner that does not create conflict between management and employees for successful change implementation. Organizations may also ensure that the approach used to introduce and implement change builds trust between those involved and affected by the change. According to Damawan & Azizah (2020), developing trust during the change implementation process requires minimizing uncertainties and misunderstandings that may prevent employees from being involved in the change process. Organizations can build trust by maintaining open and transparent communication throughout the change process and involving all employees in making decisions relating to the change. Organizations can also use negotiation to understand what employees want from the change and their expectations. Negotiation can also be used to determine the best approach to introduce and implement a change, thus reducing resistance to change. For instance, an organization can negotiate with the employees and convince them to make compromises to ensure that the change is successful and what they require from the organization to make the compromises. Rewards for compromises may include bonuses, additional benefits, and salary increases.

References

Damawan, A. H., & Azizah, S. (2020). Resistance to change: Causes and strategies as an organizational challenge. Proceedings of the 5th ASEAN Conference on Psychology, Counselling, and Humanities (ACPCH 2019). https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200120.010

Lattimore, P. K. (2022). Reflections on criminal justice reform: Challenges and opportunities. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 47(6), 1071–1098. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-022-09713-5

Stroud, H., Eisen, L.-B., & Subramanian, R. (2023, August 14). A proposal to reduce unnecessary incarceration. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/proposal-reduce-unnecessary-incarceration

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Imagine you are a manager of an organization in the criminal justice system that is facing a major crisis and you have been tasked with developing effective strategies on how to address the needed changes.

Crisis in Criminal Justice- Strategies for Effective Management and Reform

Select a contemporary issue affecting one area of the criminal justice system. You may represent any kind of criminal justice organization that aligns with your career goals: law enforcement, courts, corrections, probation/parole, juveniles, etc. You will research the issue and report your findings to leaders from other departments and similar organizations.

Using effective organizational management strategies, write a 1,050-word report that drafts a plan for organizational change to share with other decision-making leaders. Describe to your fellow leaders how you plan to effectively implement the needed changes that address an issue in your organization. There is no specific format for the report as long as ideas are communicated clearly.

Your report should include the following information based on your research:

Identify the issue and why there is a need to implement organizational changes to your organization. Define a preferred change process strategy to deal with the issue.
Explain the handling of resistance to change. Identify key barriers to effective communication. Indicate the methods needed to improve communication regarding the needed changes.
Describe effective organizational management strategies that can be used to assess the changes after they are implemented. Explain how trust, conflict resolution, and negotiation influence the plan for organizational change.