Youth Offending Team Tower Hamlets - Research Paper Example

Youth Offending Team Tower Hamlets Report The report will focus on outlining the Training and Recruitment policy that was adopted in the quest to improve the effectiveness Tower Hamlets. This report will also highlight how the policy would be changed and the impacts that will result from the change. Presently, I am volunteering at Tower Hamlets Youth Offending Team where I sit as a Youth Offender Panellist. The organisation has been charged with the responsibilities that entail meeting with offenders and victims all in an attempt to have face to face encounters with them (Boukerma, 2014). This method is instrumental as it allows the offenders to own their mistakes and to a great extent open up to what they feel in regard to the offence committed. The organisation was given the way ahead officially in 2002 by the Youth and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Volunteers, 2014). Additionally, the panel aims at making sure that the offenders and the community panel members act impartiality towards the offenders. This takes place after meetings have been held to discuss the offence, then solutions to the problems are decided on. Muncie (2010) says that contracts need to be drawn in such a way that they explain the details of the offence by the offenders. This organisation is also responsible for drawing contracts that address the issues between the offenders, which may lead to court action upon failure to comply with the contract details (Muncie, 2010). As argued by Newburn (2007), the panel borrows a lot from various sources before designing the final contract. This helps our organisation gain knowledge from contracts drawn earlier so as to come up with comprehensive contracts. I aid the organisation in discussing the incidents that involve the young persons. Moreover, I normally make decisions on whether a young person is on the wrong side of the law, and whether their offence warrants them to be sent back to court for breaching the contract. I also have the task of providing background information and advice to the other panel members so as the best decision can be arrived at. The policy that I researched on is the Training and Recruitment Policy. This policy is vital for Tower Hamlets. From my assessment of Tower Hamlets Youth Offending Team, I realised that the team is extremely disorganized in regard to planning, arranging, training and monitoring (Boukerma, 2014). In regard to cultivating a positive relationship with multi-agencies, the organisation records a great problem. It is this actuality that led to my justification that the policy of training and recruitment would be useful. Training would prove useful as well as recruiting novel staff members with the required skills to suit the Youth Panel. Additionally, quality service provision could be enhanced and improved within Tower Hamlets YOTs by adding satisfactory and effectual practice through the selected policy. However, the policy cannot be implemented without following a set of procedures. In the case of Tower Hamlets YOTs, it is important that the team ensures that there is utmost confidentiality among the stakeholders. This entails the involvement of the young individuals as well as their parents/guardians in utmost confidentiality. This confidentiality may be cultivated among the team members by emphasizing that any form of information discussed in the team’s meetings is not leaked to other people that may interfere with the privacy of the offenders. It is clear that the information may be too personal such as violence in the homes, imprisonment of one’s spouse and death of a loved one (Boukerma, 2014). Ensuring that confidentiality exists is vital as the young persons will feel comfortable sharing their information with the team members. The overall performance of the team will therefore be attained. From another viewpoint, the policy will also be useful if the staff members give details on the procedures to follow to the young persons especially prior to their signing their contracts. The staff members may explain the contract details in the panel meetings. The young persons must be well conversant with the process and procedures when stating their referral orders (Referral orders 2013). This is also required by the Ministry of Justice (2012) referral order. In regard to the recruitment process, the team members need to go through the CBR check. This involves commitment on the part of the volunteer who needs to sign a 12 month contract with the organisation. The Training and Recruitment Policy needs to be changed. This is in regard to the verity that despite adopting the policy with the aim of reducing the issues of the organisation, the organisation still experiences numerous problems that actually risk the success and existence of the panel. As a panellist in the organisation, I have no option but to advocate for change in the organisation. One of the failures is that the training and recruitment policy did not succeed in collecting funds to fund the development of projects and training programs. Up to date, the Youth Offending Team at Tower Hamlets does not have the required funds and resources to develop projects and training programs. The training program was also derailed by the 30% less budgetary cuts from the government (Boukerma, 2014). Even with the implementation of the policy, Tower Hamlets still experiences issues to do with inadequate staffing levels as some trained volunteers do not return and this causes lack of personnel. This means the remaining volunteers will have a higher volume of work unlike before, which leads to inefficiency in the organisation. Additionally, the volunteers lack full knowledge about the procedures within Youth Offending Team. This hinders their efficiency in the organisation’s role. This means that the staff still has minimal skills and expertise in regard to the strategies of the organisation. Therefore, the services provided by the team members are still poor and if nothing is done immediately, the organisation might collapse. Despite the trained volunteers signing an agreement to volunteer at least 12 months, retention is still an issue even after the policy implementation. A great percentage of the volunteers still leave earlier after securing full-time employment in other places. Some still leave this job with the claim of shifting to other areas. This has continually impacted negatively on service delivery of the organisation. Several volunteers who have left or who are not available have often been absent for the designated number of hours. Since the staff involves volunteers, the YOTs still does not adhere to the National Standards at all times; what has reflected poorly on quarterly returns and figures. The YOT’s rating and funding is also uncertain. Worse still, some of the volunteers are unreliable as they offer free services. Unsatisfactory work is, therefore, a characteristic of this organisation even with the existence of the policy. The staff also has issues delivering complex information relating to justice and legal matters. Since this organisation deals with legal issues, the staff seems to have inadequate training on the same. The staff can also not meet the unrealistic expectations from volunteers on the side of social workers and other qualified staff (Boukerma, 2014). In relation to recruitment, the Training and Recruitment Policy seems not to have designed an approach that would help the organisation select the best volunteers that would help the organisation meet its set targets. Probably YOT simply recruited individuals but did not recruit ability to meet the targets. The organisation may fail as it cannot verbally force the volunteers not to leave as the organisation considers the YOT volunteers as simple volunteers that and that they have the right to move to other jobs if they wish to do so (Boukerma, 2014). This is actually happening and has adversely impacted on service delivery and effective use of resources in the organisation. The organisation has been tolerating feedback that the volunteers have been presenting. This means that despite the recruitment policy adopted, the human resource managers seem to find this trend in the organisation compelling as opposed to what such an organisation should present through meeting targets. The HR managers still cannot prevent the continuous failure of the volunteers to rebrand the organisation. Even with the policy, the recruitment policies still have much to present in the organisation. Rebranding of the organisation is lacking and the blame is put on the HR department. In this case, it is arguable to say that the organisation’s management is simply marketing the organisation, but nothing much can be seen to be a product of this organisation. The target audience-the offenders- seem not to gain much from the services of the youth panel. The recruitment system fails to recognise the fact that the volunteers selected should have the character and the ability to stick to the contract signed as well as work within the designated timelines despite the complexities of the job. In the case of Tower Hamlets, the HR seems not to collect data on the history of the organisation and the factors that have led to the failure of the organisation over time. This interprets that the HR probably did not dig deeper on the information and the character of the volunteers as most of them are quick to breach the set contract. Possibly the volunteers were hopeful of a job opening in the long run, but most of them. The Human Resource Managers can then be said not to be accountable of the selection process, what can be regarded to as the main cause for the failure. This department would be the best placed to explain the happenings in the organisation. It is frustrating that these challenges are still being reported even after the implementation of the Training and Recruitment Policy. In terms of the agency’s effectiveness, the management’s implementation of the policies is questionable. Provision of guidance on the roles and responsibilities for information management across staffing groups is failing. The management is also not taking responsibility for ensuring good quality case recording and all the staff should are seemingly not aware of their roles and responsibility for information management within the YOTs (Boukerma, 2014). The case records are not being used efficiently by administrators and practitioners to review service users, recognize their desires and risks, plan the organisation’s work and interventions with the victims (Boukerma, 2014). The case records are not well utilized to examine the practitioner and victims contribution in the case, as well as the expected outcome for service delivery. These issues have not been well addressed despite the adoption of the Training and Recruitment Policy. The issues have impacted service delivery of the agency. The agency’s effectiveness is still not appealing. The case of the Tower Hamlets can borrow a lot from the Weber’s theory of bureaucracy as the organisation can be said not to be bureaucratic. From the theory’s principle of hierarchical structure, the Tower Hamlets’ organisation is far below attaining this hierarchical structure. Merz (2013) indicates that the levels in the organisation must be controlled by the ones over it. For Tower Hamlets, this is not the case. Central planning is a key issue during decision making in an organisation (Merz, 2013). For Tower Hamlets organisation, planning cannot be said to be centralised. From the conflicts in the organisation has clearly not reflected the basics of the Weber’s theory of bureaucracy. In addition, the inputs of the organisation do not reflect proper output of the system. The feedback from the organisation also does not convey that the organisation works as a system. One would actually question whether the organisation embraces the significance of central planning and centralized decision making. The survival of the entire organisation is at stake, as the hierarchies are indeed not dependent on each other. The management seems not have proper relations that have created an enabling environment to generate responses that will portray commitment to the organisation. As borrowed from the Weber’s theory of bureaucracy, management by rules is yet another principle of organisation (Merz, 2013). However, the organisation has not enforced its authority by controlling the organisation through tough rules; thus, inconsistent execution by all the lower levels in the organisation. With this poor management and running of the organisation, the training and recruitment policy failed. The staff are said to have minimal skills and expertise in regards to the strategies of the organisation. This explains why the services provided by the team members are poor, yet a system needs to have a learning culture that allows the members to be efficient in their roles through learning. Weber’s theory of bureaucracy also argues that organisations need to function by specialty (Merz, 2013). Nevertheless, the same does not occur for the Tower Hamlets organisation. In the organisation, the staff entails volunteers who simply sign an agreement to volunteer at least 12 months. Some of them may be indicated to not having the required skills for this type of work. This explains the volunteers’ lack of commitment that leads to their not complying with the agreement; thus, failure of the system. Most of the volunteers leave earlier after securing full-time employment or shifting to other areas. The service delivery or the system is questionable as the volunteers who have left or who are not available for the designated number of hours. The Scientific Management theory proposed by Taylor would prove useful for Tower Hamlets organisation. This theory indicates that organisations can organise tasks in such a manner that they accrue maximum benefits with minimal efforts and resources (Taylor, 2007). This means that the organisation has to ensure that its staff is well trained to embrace the changes in the structural component of the organisation. Taylor also indicated that the staff will mostly do the tasks that suit them best (Taylor, 2007). With this in mind, it is arguable that the Tower Hamlets managers would train its staff on the need for working on tasks that they feel comfortable with. This will also work effectively for the Human Resource managers who recruit the volunteers. In the course of selection, they need to highlight the tasks at hand, then select persons who can do those tasks comfortably. For the case of Tower Hamlets, training and recruitment of the staff policy could be changed or improved by streamlining the coordinating and managing aspects of the organisation through allowing the volunteers work in their areas of comfort. Based on the Weber’s theory of bureaucracy and Scientific Management theory, it is clear that Tower Hamlets has a long way to be effective despite adoption of the Training and recruitment policy. First the organisation needs to lead the volunteers towards cooperating towards making the right decision especially in terms of commitment to the organisation. In this case, the decision arrived at will be difficult to reverse as the organisation members will have participated in the decision making process. The leaders of the panel and the volunteers will also have a rapport as they volunteers have been accorded an opening to take part in the decision making process. The autocratic decision will be implemented as the organisation adopted an autocratic approach. Secondly, the organisation management needs to be changed. This is because the leadership needs to be in the right direction. The leaders need to adapt to the situation. The case of the Tower Hamlets’ management needs to adapt to the fact that the volunteers feel that their work is not paid and that they can leave when they want to. In this case, the management needs to develop leader-volunteer relationships that will lead to the volunteers accepting the processes of the organisation readily. The Tower Hamlets Organisation will also benefit if the task structure of the organisation is clearly outlined. For an organisation to be successful as a structure the projects in question need to be outlined clearly and the consequences of not adhering to the task structure guidelines. For instance, the organisation needs to specify what needs to be done for volunteers who fail to stay in the organisation within the set timeline in the organisation. This will lead to commitment from the volunteers who are expected to fulfil the terms of the job. If this is successful, this will determine if the manager has achieved imposing his authority on the organisation. In terms of recruitment, the Tower Hamlets Organisation needs to determine the ideal target while recruiting the volunteers. Probably, the interviewers might focus on the experience level of the volunteers prior to employment. This will lead to the HR picking out the best volunteers from the interviewees. This means that the HR will manage to identify if the right target of hiring has been achieved. The employment system for the employers will automatically be rebranded. If this happens there will be consistency in the flow of talents in the organisation. The organisation will then be a perfect place for target setting and meeting. The HR would also find it useful having referees for the applicants prior to employment. This will allow the HR to decide if the selected persons have passion for the job, in this case the volunteers. Conclusively, the policy could be changed or improved by the entire management changing its way of doing things. Proper training needs to be conducted so as the volunteers can be well conversant with the process of the work, the job descriptions and the pressures that come with the job. It is also important the management improve on the interpersonal skills of the organisation members so as the morale of the staff can be boosted. As required of the Weber’s theory of bureaucracy and Scientific Management theory, it is evident that the entire organisation should change the way in which it deals with the staff. This can only happen if the entire management system changes its culture and fashions a new unit that will influence the target audience positively. Performance measures need to be enacted since the volunteers work as if they are on their way to leave the organisation. The budgetary allocation for the organisational processes need to be clearly defined so as the existence of the organisation can be justified through acquisition of funds for its management. With the adoption of change in the organisation, a lot of impacts will be experienced in the organisation. It is evident that positive results will be yielded as the organisation has for a long time experienced and recorded negatives since its establishment. First the staff will be more enlightened on what is expected of them from the entire organisation. Since the change will involve the volunteers understand the seriousness of the contract, the system will be more effective as the absenteeism is expected to be minimal as well as breaching of the set contract. The organisation will also be effective as the management will be tough on the volunteers who breach the employment contract. Performance issues will be a key priority for the Tower Hamlets organisation that aims to reform. The engagement will also rely on the policies set to deal with the issues that will rise touching on the employee- employer relations. Communication in the organisation will improve. It is evident that lack of communication between the agencies and Tower Hamlets Youth Offending Team, is possibly causing lack of finding accords to finding the suitable needs for the young people as well as improving the system so as help and sustain young people (Boukerma, 2014). Their families are also expected to benefit from the funding. The breakdown in communication has also led to failure in achieving goals. Several workers find themselves performing the same role due to the communication failure in Tower Hamlets. The services provided are also not efficient as the task is duplicates and done hurriedly. Resources have been wasted as a result. With the recommended changes put in place, the communication process will be streamlined; thus, creation of a system that appreciates the contributions of its volunteers. Despite the changes, several aspects will take time to change. Some will however be achieved within a short period of time. The size of the budget will improve with time if the management focuses in critical issues. For instance, if the Youth Tower Hamlets management does not tolerate unnecessary costs, but focuses on the costs that steer the organisation forward, then the funding issue will be solved with immediacy. The organisational structure will automatically change with the implementation of the changes. This is from the fact that the manager will focus on integrating the established processes and control them harmoniously. As opposed to the previous times when the management could barely control the existing operations, after implementation of the policy, all the holdups in the organisation will be highlighted such as the communication and commitment issues. The information required will be presented within the expected timeframe. This will also help in meeting the deadlines and targets set with minimal costs. This is also from the fact that the effective control mechanisms will have been put in place that will help assess what is necessary and what is not. Savings will be made in such a system as the benefits will outweigh the expected costs. Minimal conflicts will also be expected in the organisation. This is because the system put in place are effective and accurate so as to ensure that all likely conflicts are minimised through provision of factual information to the volunteers. For instance the cases of duplicated work will be reduced as all volunteers will be conversant with their expected work plans and output. Smooth flow of work will also be experienced in this case. With the management presenting a simple and comprehensive novel policy, the question of efficiency is not an issue The overall impact for the staff, clients and/or organisation will change for the best. Since the organisation will have a clear defined vision and priorities, this will translate to achievement of goals of the organisation as the employee morale will be boosted. Since issues dealing with communication, staff trainer time and funding will be dealt with, the clients will benefit greatly from the services offered. They will understand more on the issues touching on the contracts and their role as clients. The services offered to the clients will also see an improvement to the families of the clients who are also a crucial part of the organisation’s work. The self-esteem of the volunteers will also be greatly boosted as they will serve the clients through established processes. These processes allow for smooth operation of the organisation; thus, minimal cases of the volunteers quitting their job or having numerous claims of having new places to reside. Evidently, the volunteers will at all time feel as though they are being afforded the time and input that they require and are entitled to perform their roles successfully. The confidence levels of the staff will be boosted, team work will also be experienced; thus, a successful organisation. Focusing on the reputation of the organisation, with the changes in place, it is evident that the organisation will indeed have a good one especially if the clients spread the good word of the organisation. The policies enacted will automatically lead to the clients advertising the good customer service from the organisation. This will also have a positive impact on the administration and the staff who will need the satisfaction if being identified with winners. Eventually, it is palpable that the team will have rebranded itself to what the management has always looked for. Complains of lack of service will be reduced, what will set this organisation on a higher bar as opposed to others. If the management emphasizes on a team work strategy and ownership of the job, it is possible that the organisation will continually have a sense of uniqueness that will create a, “on the move” spirit from the volunteers. It is obvious that the staff and in this case, the volunteers that can always satisfy their clients are ones that will also feel good about themselves. The working environment will without a doubt be one that makes the volunteers feel good about what they do, as they feel that their contribution to the organisation is being considered. References Boukerma, V., 2014. Youth Offending Team Tower Hamlets. Referral Order Coordinator/ Volunteer Coordinator. Merz, F., 2013. Max Weber’ ́s Theory of Bureaucracy and Its Negative Consequences. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Ministry of Justice, 2012. Referral Orders and Youth Offender Panels. Available at: www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/youth-justice/referral-orders/referral-order-guidance.pdf [Accessed 25/05/2013] Muncie, J., 2010. Youth and Crime. 3rd ed. London: Sage Publication. Newburn, T., 2007. Criminology. ed. Cullompton: Devon. Referral orders, 2013. Available at: http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk [Accessed 12/03/13] Taylor, F., 2007. The Principles of Scientific Management. London: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC. Volunteers, 2014. Referral Panels. Available at: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?Youth_Offending_Team/23289[Accessed 28/04/2014]. Read More