Challenges of Managing Groups or Teams in a Criminal Justice Organization - Coursework Example

Challenges of Managing Groups or Teams in a Criminal Justice Organization Introduction “Crime and the fear of crime touch many lives and divide many communities. One out of every twenty-seven Americans over the age of twelve is the victim of a violent crime each year. One out of every four households suffers a property crime each year” (Challenges for the Criminal Justice Process in the South) Terrorism, violence and criminal activities are shaking the world at present. No country seems to be free from the threats of terrorists. Most of the criminal activities have international dimensions and roots which create more obstacles in the path of the criminal justice organizations which try to counter the violent activities. It is not possible to tackle terrorism or criminal activities by a country alone. Collective efforts are required to remove or tackle terrorism effectively. Organizational behaviour is constantly undergoing changes in order to meet the requirements of the current challenging world. Organizations are continually under pressure to find new ways of operating in the quest for higher productivity, total quality and service, customer satisfaction, and better quality of working life. Changes are essential in criminal justice organizations also in order to tackle the threats from terrorists and criminals. It is not easy for an individual officer to investigate a crime effectively because of the various dimensions attached with most of the crimes. Investigating teams or groups are essential for most of the enquiries of criminal activities. This paper briefly analyses the challenges faced by Criminal Justice Organizations in managing groups or teams at present and the possible challenges they may face in the next 5 years. Managing groups or teams in a criminal justice organization Group and team are entirely different though many people unknowingly use these terms interchangeably. Most of the organizations encourage team building rather than group building. “A teams strength depends on the commonality of purpose and interconnectivity between individual members, whereas a groups strength may come from sheer volume or willingness to carry out a single leaders commands” (What is the Difference Between a Team and a Group?) It is easy to form a group rather than a team because of the commonality in the functioning areas. For example, in a criminal investigation group, police officers with identical background will be included where as in an investigating team, apart from the police officers, police assistants, forensic experts, etc will be there based on the nature of the crime. In other words, in a criminal investigation team, apart from police officers other experts will also be there. Members of the team selected for their complementary skills rather than the individual brilliance. A brilliant police officer may be a good choice as a group member where as he may not be fit for the selection of a team member. So the formation of a team is difficult compared to a group. A group always performs under the guidance from the group leader where as a team member has much more freedom in his functioning compared to a group member. A group is a collection of two or more people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals. In a true group, members (1) are mutually dependent on one another to achieve common goals and (2) interact regularly with one another to pursue those goals over a sustained period of time. A member of the group or team cannot function individually. They must always function as part of the group. The group leader assigns duties and responsibilities to each team member. For example, quiet often groups or teams will be formulated in order to investigate criminal activities like the recent Mumbai terrorist attack. The group leader assigns the duty to the group members. One of them may investigate how these terrorists reached Mumbai, another may investigate the weapons used in the attack, third person may investigate whether somebody in India has helped them in executing their mission etc. All the group members will give their reports to the group leader and the group leader will take the final decision. On the other hand, if the same group member functions as a team member in the above case (Mumbai terrorist attack) his functions will be entirely different. All the team members will share their information opinion and ideas about the case, and then they will reach a consensus among them about the methods of investigation and other procedures at first. The conclusions also reached after a thorough discussion between the team members with the help of the information they gathered as a team. While functioning as groups, the success and failures of each member is considered as the success and failures of the group. Individuals and their achievements are insignificant while performing as a group member. While functioning as part of a team, each member will assist others in their duties and the thus the complexity level of the duties will be reduced. The team members can function under stress free conditions since they have always the confidence that somebody is there to help them out in their missions. The main drawback of group functioning is social loafing, also known as the Ringlemann effect. It is the tendency of people to work less hard in a group than they would individually Some of the group members may develop a negative attitude in which they may feel that hard work is not necessary while functioning as a group. Such people may think that the credit and benefit is going towards the group even if they work hard and it is not necessary to work hard. The group leader must be a smart person who is capable of motivating the group members. Since the individual benefits are less compared to the group benefits, the group members may feel that they can survive within the group with fewer efforts, as the blame for non-productivity comes on the entire group rather than an individual in the group. The group leaders must formulate strategies for motivating each member. The leader must define the role of each group member quiet clearly and should raise the accountability by making individual performance expectations clear and identifiable. Moreover, individual rewards must be incorporated within the group for outstanding performances. In groups and teams, new and old members alike need to know what others expect of them and what they can expect from others. Role ambiguity, role overloads and role conflict are some of the drawbacks while functioning as a team or a group. For example, while functioning as part of an investigating team, a junior officer may often be confused about how far he can go deep into the roots of the crime. Probable challenges criminal justice leaders may face for the next 5 years Criminals are using underage children for executing their missions in order to escape from punishments. The term human right is not properly defined yet and the criminals are using every effort to utilize this topic in order to escape from the punishments. For example, the accused terrorist who captured live from the Mumbai attack case is currently using the human right issues to escape from the punishment. His counsel has argued that Kasab, the accused, has not completed the age required to consider him as a normal adult criminal. The advocate argues that Kasab should be given the consideration of being a victim of terrorists who make use of children to execute their missions. The rights of the accused and the rights of the victim have not been properly defined yet which may become another challenge in future. Different countries have different rules as far as law and order are concerned and the criminals are utilising it. Unification of law and order is essential especially under the globalized environment. Apart from the threats caused by globalization, the growing diversity of life in United Sates may also cause major problems to the criminal justice organizations. United States is a secular democratic country which welcomes all types of people from all over the world irrespective of their gender, race, religion or community. But some of these immigrating people, because of their religious or personal beliefs can act against the interests of US which may become another problem in the future. Knowledge explosion or technological advancement is another problem which may face by criminal justice organizations in future. At the time of writing this paper, some reports show that some of the suspected internet hackers from North Korea have succeeded in stopping some of the major internet sites operating from United States. Most of the technological developments have the scope for misuse and the criminals are utilizing it effectively. Another problem for criminal justice system in future is with respect to the exchange of criminals. Political co-operation between countries is essential for countering the criminal activities effectively. It is an accepted fact that a person who commits crime in India or America can stay safely in a Muslim country like Pakistan or Middle East countries. There is no agreement between most of these countries with India or America like countries, regarding the exchange of criminals. Criminals know this fact well and they are escaping to these countries or safe countries after their missions in other countries. The co-operation between international criminal investigation agencies is essential for countering the criminal activities in future because of the international dimensions of crimes. For example, Al-Qaida and Taliban were supposed to be fighting against the Americans because of America’s alleged policies against the Muslim community. But at present these organizations are fighting against India and even against the Pakistan who has given shelter to these criminal groups. Criminal investigation agencies in these countries must fight against such fundamental forces collectively in order to get the proper results. Financial challenges are another matter of concern. The actions against the criminals or the terrorists are an expensive exercise which requires money and power. It is not possible for a nation to devote its entire attention towards the fight against the criminals alone. Economic growth also should be considered by nations which prevented them from allocating more funds for the war on terror. Conclusions Criminal justice organizations are facing a stiff challenge in countering the criminal activities because of the increased volume of it. Moreover, criminals adopt innovative strategies which may not be even in the distant dreams of the Criminal justice organizations. Groups and teams are currently used by organizations in order to manage complicated tasks. Group and teams are entirely different from each other in functioning. Team development is encouraged in every organization in order to improve the productivity and also to make the complex tasks easier. Technological developments, growing diversity of life in United States, lack of agreements between countries in sharing information about criminals etc are some of the future challenges, the criminal justice organizations in United States may face in future. Works Cited 1. “What is the Difference Between a Team and a Group?”. 22 July 2009. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-team-and-a-group.htm 2. “Challenges for the Criminal Justice Process in the South”. 22 July 2009. Read More