Managing Criminal Justice Organizations
Officer Joe is suffering from low self esteem that is most likely resultant from stress. To compensate for this the officer has turned to the noted behavior as a form of cover up for their problems. This behavior portrayed by Officer Joe leads to lack of motivation in their job, which consequently means that they do not feel obliged to follow any orders and hence their lack of co-operation. The stressor in this case may be Joe’s family or even something at the workplace. The probability of the stressor being at the work place is high based on Joe’s attitude to his other employees. The fact that Joe is disrespectful to his employees show that they may be part of the problem or in a way affiliated to the stressor which in that case would be work related. In this case the stress might be because Joe feels unappreciated at work either because of low pay, constant criticism by workmates, or even failure to be promoted over a long period of time (Britt & Jex, 2008, p. 105).
Officer Joe’s behavior can have dire consequences on the police organization. This is mainly because the police organization is among the disciplined force which requires strict obedience unlike the behavior that Joe is exhibiting (Klofas, Kalinich & Stan, 2007, p. 58). His behavior could lead to him harassing suspects in an unconstitutional way and this could result in the police organization being sued for human rights violation. Officer Joe’s behavior also affects the importance of the chain of command in the police organization. This is mainly significant because the orders given by Joe’s superiors need to be followed to avoid fatalities in some situations (Davis & Kania, 2011, p. 194). For example when a superior orders Joe to report to a certain location, and Joe refuses it may result in deaths or injuries if the person was in an emergency situation.
In such a situation my management priorities are to ensure that Officer Joe gets back to their usual selves. I would initiate therapy for the officer and at the same time try to talk to the officer to try and establish what is stressing them. In doing so I would seek to try and contain Joe’s negative behavior and avoid him getting on other people’s nerves. I would also make it a management priority to communicate to other officers through informal communication channels that they should be more tolerant with Officer Joe. This is to ensure that the other officers do not get irritated by Joe’s behavior and probably even start behaving like him. I also believe this would be necessary as direct confrontation between Joe and the other officers for his behavior would only aggravate his resilience and other negative behavior he has taken up lately.
As a manager I have the option of suspending Joe for his behavior which is not in line with the police organization’s requirements. I would however only use this option as a last resort after exhausting more diplomatic approaches. In my managerial position I also have the option of referring Officer Joe to mandatory counseling. As I had pointed out earlier counseling is needed to understand what Joe is going through and also to be able to help him get over it. However, I would allow mandatory counseling only after exhausting all other diplomatic avenues of having Officer Joe commit to counseling. As a manager I also have the option of demoting Officer Joe due to their bad behavior. This option may however be interpreted as lack of support for my team members when they facing emotional strife like Joe is undergoing. This is why I would not choose this option despite the fact that it is available to me as a manager.
Among the solutions I propose for this problem in my department is behavior modeling through positive reinforcement for Officer Joe and other officers that may behave this way in future. This will help in creating a framework and workable solution that can be implemented in case of a repeat of a situation similar to Joe’s. The reinforcements that can be used here include a one week leave from work for Officer Joe so that he may sort out whatever is troubling him. Another solution to this problem is through delegating all the work Officer Joe is supposed to do to other officers while still maintaining his presence in the office. In this second solution, Joe will be not assigned field tasks requiring strict adherence to police organization rules such as raids but will only get to go for regular field check ups or simple traffic control. I would opt for the second solution as it allows the manager the opportunity to keep track of Joe’s behavior hence allowing for supervision and addition of roles as Joe’s condition gets better. The latter will help create a smooth transition between Joe’s current behavior at work and their expected one.
REFERENCES
Davis, R. & Kania, R. (2011). Managing Criminal Justice Organizations. Ohio: Anderson.
Klofas, J., Kalinich, D. & Stan, S. (2007). Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and
Management. Kentucky: Wadsworth Publishing.
Britt, T. & Jex, S. (2008). Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach. New
York: Wiley.
