Strategic Leadership in Criminal Justice - Case Study Example

Strategic Leadership in Criminal Justice Introduction Leadership is a complex phenomenon that comes with lots of challenges if one really wants to succeed as a leader. In fact, leadership is not just about heading a group of people but incorporates the complex responsibility of fostering change and bringing out “a purposive process which is inherently value-based” (Austin, 2007). Leaders in the criminal justice setting are not spared the herculean task of leadership especially when it comes to fostering a harnessed human resource to bring about change at the workplace. Most often than not, leaders in the criminal justice setting are faced with several dilemmas when it comes to implementing disciplinary actions that would foster a positive change among subordinates. This paper seeks to analyze one of a typical leadership dilemma in the criminal justice setting. The Leadership Dilemma I am Gary Hart, a leader of a small team of correctional officers at the Undon Correctional Facility. It has come to my attention that one of my team members and subordinates has been engaging in poor work practices. By poor working practice, I mean the team member is reported to be involved in unexplained absenteeism, sleeping on night shift, not making mandatory security checks and so on. Presently, I have undertaken a performance review meeting to outline the work performance concerns with the officer and develop an action plan to improve performance. The performance review meeting involves the team member in question. I am quite nervous of the meeting and issues to be raised by the team member is going to be because based on previous performance review meetings that I have had with the team member, it is likely that the team member will be very defensive about his work performance and will seek to blame management for this behaviour. My real dilemma therefore has to do with choosing one leadership theory and design ways of making this leadership theory in the wake of the current leadership dilemma. Effect of the dilemma to the criminal justice setting The criminal justice setting is an important agency of our national development (Abion, 2001). Exceptionally important is the role played by the various correctional facilities. The Centre for Mindfulness and Justice (2011) notes that “the role of correctional employees is to provide safety for community residents, inmates and employees residing in and working in correctional facilities.” This makes the correctional facility a transformation centre where people are expected to leave with a lot of change of behaviour and character. People are expected to leave the correctional facilities, becoming better people than they entered. For this reason, the duty of employees and staff of correctional facilities are regarded as very important and crucial and one that needs to be exemplary, monitoring, evaluative and free from all blames. Indeed in the absence of these attributes, employees of correctional facilities can hardly leave up to their call of shaping and transforming the lives of people. It therefore becomes very worrying when staff and employees of the correctional facility would put up behaviour and working attitudes that undermine the basic principles of the facility. More especially attitude such as absenteeism and sleeping at night shift is likely to cause impunity among inmates who may be tempted to bring bounds or indulge in other unlawful activities. When the poor working practice of the staff extends to include not making mandatory security checks, the case becomes worsened because this can lead to the invasion of the facility with unlawful and harmful items that has the tendency of breeding hardened criminals instead of corrected and transformed ones. How the dilemma violates the performance management system The Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp (2011) notes that “the goal of a performance management system is to help boost employee performance and, ultimately, the productivity of the business.” At Undon Correctional Facility, a number of performance management systems have been instituted already. The need to institute these performance management systems resulted from previous meetings with members of the team when similar attitudes were reported amongst them. Some of the performance management system instituted in a correctional facility seek to provide “a clear understanding of job expectations, regular feedback about performance, advice and steps for improving performance and rewards for good performance” (Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp, 2011). The ultimate goal for undertaking performance management system has been to enhance work performance to improve productivity. At the correctional facility, productivity is measured in relation to the level of improvement seen in the conduct and moral attitude of inmates (McCarthy, 2010). Since the attitude of the team member in question constantly defeats the goal of enhancing work performance and improving productivity, his attitude constitutes a violation of the performance management system. Overview of leadership approaches in the criminal justice setting The criminal justice setting, particularly the correctional facility implements a number of leadership approaches and theories to ensure that leadership discharged at the facility is the best. Leadership theories and approaches are diverse but the each of them is put to use at one point in time or the other, depending on the situation that arises. Whereas some of the leadership theories and approaches are applied directly on employees and staff, some are applied on inmates of the correctional facility. Even in some cases, leadership theories and approaches are applied in dealing with stakeholders such as government, donor agencies and none governmental agencies. Leaders are always careful to apply the right leadership theory and approach as and when it becomes necessary. There is however a general principle for determining the kind and effect of a particular leadership theory. The principle is that the workability of leadership theories depends on among other things, the traits of leaders involved, the leadership models adapted by leaders and behaviours of leaders in dealing with their subject and stakeholders (Leadersip with you, 2011). The underlining factor therefore is that in the absence of the right and best leadership theory, the expected result of a leadership act will not be achieved. This is why it always becomes a dilemma when an issue such as the one discussed in this case study arises and the leader has to choose a leadership theory to curtail the issue. Using behavioural leadership theory to solve the dilemma Upon careful analysis of the various leadership theories in relation to the case study, the behavioural leadership style was adapted to solve the leadership dilemma of poor working practice among a team member. The basis of the behavioural leadership theory is behavioural psychology or behaviourism. Cherry (2011) explains that “behaviourism, is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning.” In this direction, behavioural leadership theory is defined to be a leadership theory that focuses on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states (Cherry, 2011). This means that in adapting this leadership theory, I shall set myself out as an example for the team to copy or follow. The reason for choosing the behavioural leadership theory and the reason for believing that it will work best is in the fact that through meetings held earlier on, the team member is of the view that management and leaders do not live up to the task and that management and leaders have not put in place enough structures to ensure that staff members are well motivated to work. By motivation, the team member does not mean tangible forms of rewards such as monetary remuneration but means of living exemplary lives for them to copy or follow. Setting up strategic organizational change through behavioural leadership As noted earlier, behavioural leadership theory is going to be adapted for the leadership dilemma of solving the poor working attitude of the team member. Basically, the behavioural leadership theory will permit me as a leader to lead for the team member to follow. This is going to be implemented by following specific strategic organisational change policies. Some of these strategic organisational change policies can be broadly described as: 1. Stationing myself at the very station point of the team member so that I shall become his direct team colleague. This will enable me to monitor his activities and attitude towards work more closely. It will also serve as a monitoring signal for the team member to put up good behaviour, knowing that his movements are under my constant watch. Finally, when we work together, the team member will have the opportunity to learn from my perfect examples. 2. While working together, I shall give the team member an opportunity to lead a lot of activities and operations. This would ensure that the team member will respond to duty more promptly and quickly, knowing that he has mandatory roles to fulfil. 3. Punishment structure shall be drawn to ensure that the team member puts up good behaviour be trying to avoid punishment while doing the right thing. 4. There shall be rewards in place for the team member so that he will be motivated to put up good behaviour. Conclusion and recommendations Selecting the right leadership theory should be done with so much precision so that leaders will not be treating work habit disorders with the wrong approaches. REFERENCE LIST Abion F. G. (2001). The Role of the Criminal Justice Service in National Development. Princeton Publication: Princeton Astin A. W (2007). What is Leadership? Volume IV: What works, what matters, what lasts 1. Project Kaleidoscope. Available on line from http://www.pkal.org/documents/Vol4WhatIsLeadership.cfm Centre for Mindfulness and Justice (2011). Training for Corrections. Retrieved September 15, 2011 from http://www.mindfulnessandjustice.org/mindfulness-services/training-for-corrections/ Cherry K (20211). What is Behaviuorism? Accessed September 15, 2011 from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism.htm Cherry K. (2011). Leadership Theories - 8 Major Leadership Theories. Accessed September 15, 2011 from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/p/leadtheories.htm Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp (2011). Setting Up a Performance Management System. Accessed September 15, 2011 from http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/human-resources/workforce-management/1384-1.html Leadership with you (2011). Theories and Types of Leadership. Accessed September 15, 2011 from http://www.leadership-with-you.com/types-of-leadership.html McCarthy G. (2010). The Correctional Facility and its impact on society. 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