Ellen Schall and the Department of Juvenile Justice - Essay Example

Assignment 2: Ellen Schall and the Department of Juvenile Justice Identify and discuss the organization’s key formal and informal mandates. Use Bryson’s Mandate Analysis Framework to examine the mandates. Mandates have been defined as what an organization is formally or informally required to do by external parties (Lecture/Notes, 2011, p. 1). In this regard, after reviewing the facts of the case, the key formal mandates, “codified in laws, regulations, ordinances, articles of incorporation, charters” (Bryson 97) affecting the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) are as follows: (1) the New York City Charter’s explicitly defining two duties for DJJ to operate the facilities as well as to develop and supervise the programs, in general; (2) to detain 7 to 15 year old children between arrest and adjudication; (3) to abide by the Mayor’s advice to the newly appointed Schall as Commissioner (“Don’t’ let any of them get out” and “Do as much as you can for them” (Varley 4); and the (4) adoption of the NY’s Juvenile Offender Act (Varley 6). These formal mandates form and define the direction that DJJ needs to pursue and achieve. On the other hand, the informal mandates are: (1) children placed in the facilities who were status offenders were apparently housed together with those you committed serious crimes; (2) alliance of the central administrative staff with the white city government machine contributes to the uptown/downtown split; (3) line staff comprised of 74% black and 16% Hispanic; (4) DJJ staff represented by 13 unions particularly the Juvenile Center Employees; (5) half of the 20 administrators at DJJ were white; and (6) NSD staff were handpicked from departments of the Human Resources Administration (HRA) (Varley 8). These informal mandates have been ingrained in DJJ’s organizational history and form a major part of their operation and performance. 2. Identify and discuss the organization’s major strategic issues. Use Bryson’s framework for discussing the issues. The major strategic issue facing the DJJ and Schall was designing a strategic plan to determine and steer the organization in the direction it needs to achieve. Using Bryson’s framework stakeholder analysis, Schall must design strategies that should address the concerns of various stakeholders who influence the performance and operations of the DJJ. In this regard, the major strategic issues are: (1) to clearly define the mission, vision, values or goals of the DJJ, whether in the short-run or long-term; (2) to create an environment of committed care for the children under their jurisdiction and custody with the ultimate aim of rehabilitating them and imbibing the lesson of preventing them from recidivism; (3) to fill in required vacancies with competent and qualified people; (4) to unify the human resources governing the facilities at Spofford and NDS and review the operations of various agencies; and (5) to determine the most appropriate course of action with regard to either replace Spofford, renovate, or build a new juvenile facility. Using Bryson’s Power versus Interest Grid, Schall must identify which stakeholders are most crucial in terms in possessing high interest and high power. In DJJ’s case, the players are the elected officials, the Mayor, and regulators who have direct involvement, commitment and interest in governing the direction of DJJ. The context setters are people with high power but less interest, such as some elected state officials and regulators who oversee funds allocated for the DJJ but would not care less which programs and strategies are developed and implemented by Schall. The subjects are the people with high interest but little or no power, including the children, who were initially identified as the most important stakeholder, the employees, and those who will govern the operations of various agencies and facilities. And finally, the crowd are the taxpayers and the general public who are spectators and observers with low interest and low power. Using Bryson’s Bases of Power – Directions of Interest Paradigm, after clearly identifying the player (the federal government), all plans enumerated and envisioned by Schall encompass the following elements: what they see; direction of interest; available sanctions; support mechanisms and the impact of the proposed plans to their overall mandates. Using the Policy Implementation Grid, the most successful strategies are those that the players find most attractive and align with the capabilities for implementation. As proven in one scenario, “working through the deputy mayor’s Office of Operations, Schall succeeded in convincing Koch to authorize her to undertake a Facilities Development Project, to assess the condition of Spofford and to consider the possibility either of repairing it or of constructing new facilities” (Varley 14). The least successful strategy was to wait for the employees to be empathetic and supportive of all the ideals and plans envisioned by Schall. Despite the hostility and antagonism manifested by most of the older guard employees who misinterpreted her strategies that she did not care about her staff (Varley 15). 3. Assume you could only implement three strategies to address the issues facing the organization, which three would you implement? Why? If one could only implement three strategies to address the issues facing DJJ, the three most important are: (1) to clearly define the mission, vision, values or goals of the DJJ, whether in the short-run or long-term; (2) to create an environment of committed care for the children under their jurisdiction and custody with the ultimate aim of rehabilitating them and imbibing the lesson of preventing them from recidivism; and (3) to address the human resources concerns including staffing, maintenance and development of current and future employees. These activities would give the appropriate direction and thrust of the DJJ and having defined the most crucial stakeholder, the players could be encouraged to focus on these strategies that would greatly contribute to the achievement of their formal mandates. 4. Based upon the three strategies you identified in above, identify and discuss the most important performance measures the organization should be tracking to assess the success of the strategies. Discuss why you think the selected measures are the most important. The most important performance measure for DJJ in tracking the success of the strategies is the reaction and response of the majority of the stakeholders towards the strategic plan and the extent to which these identified strategies would be effective in addressing the current dilemmas. If the players, the government, particularly the Mayor, who has high interest and high power, has positively accepted the strategies in totality and has given Schall the complete discretion and jurisdiction for implementation, then, at all counts, the strategies proposed are deemed successful. Further, if the children and employees who are the subjects most affected by proposed strategies would receive the strategies favorably, then, these are considered successful. Part II 1. Identify and discuss the one mandate (formal or informal) that in your opinion has the biggest impact on the organization. The mandate that has the biggest impact on the organization is the formal mandate stipulated in the New York City Charter that explicitly define two duties for DJJ, to wit: “operate secure or non-secure facilities for the temporary care and maintenance away from their homes of children held for or at the direction of” the courts pending disposition of their cases or transfer to facilities to which placed or sentenced by the courts; also, to “develop, conduct, and supervise programs, including diversion and Aftercare, for previously detained juveniles for the prevention of juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime” (Varley 1). This is the most important because it defines the law governing the basic existence of the DJJ. Any subsequent plans and strategies should be designed with this mandate is the jurisdictional focus. 2. Identify and discuss the one most important strategic issue facing the organization. This is based upon your opinion and analysis of the case. From one’s personal opinion and analysis of the case, the most important strategic issue facing the organization is clearly defining the mission, vision, values or goals. Upon Schall’s entry, there was virtually no organizational planning and she identified the crucial areas that needed to be prioritized to improve the condition of DJJ. In every organizational endeavor, aside from the formal mandate, the organization needs to explicitly and clearly define a mission statement to guide the leaders into their designing appropriate strategies towards that achievement of this thrust. For Schall and DJJ, she should emphasize the need to focus on creating an environment of committed care for the children under their jurisdiction and custody with the ultimate aim of rehabilitating them and imbibing the lesson of preventing them from recidivism. All human and organizational resources and strategies would be driven towards this mission. 3. Identify and discuss the one most important strategy you would implement and the one outcome measure you would use to measure the success of the strategy. The most important strategy therefore is to focus on the human resources who would be tasked to comply and adhere to their respective job responsibilities to achieve the defined mission and goal. There is the crucial need to fill in all vacant positions with qualified and competent personnel and leaders tasked to be committed towards DJJ’s plans and goals. To measure the effectiveness of the strategy, the most awaited outcome is the elimination of the uptown and downtown split, the racial and class tension and the turf wars between facilities. Through uniting the facilities and ensuring a more motivated and committed human resources, could DJJ’s performance and success be eminently achieved. Works Cited Bryson, J. What to do when stakeholders matter. Public Management Review, Volume 6, Issue 1, 21-53. 2004. Print. Varley, Pamela. "Ellen Schall and the Department of Juvenile Justice." President and Fellows of Harvard College (1987): 1-16. Read More