A good fraction of prisons in the United States are privately run (National Institute of Justice, n.d.). Because of the growing concern for the privatization of prisons, the National Institute of Justice run a cost and performance analyses in 2007, and was termed the Taft Studies. The two-edged sword of a privately run criminal justice organizations is it has to comply with a certain standard set by the private funder. While BOP-operated prisons trust their program review. No one can tell whichever is better, but until a single standard is created, we cannot say for sure which is better – a private or BOP-operated organization.
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e-Corporation is a means by which the assets and capabilities of the criminal justice system is maximized or optimized (Moore &Trojanowicz, 1988). They further argue that to be effective, they have to “have vision, judgment, and imagination, as well as disciplined analytical capabilities (Moore &Trojanowicz, 1988)”. To display this competence, they also have to be up to date. Organizations must display improvisation and innovation to be more powerful and to attract support from the public. It makes organizations look more contemporary and more people rely on contemporary, updated things. It also helps them to gain ground and coverage on various locations in the country. Our criminal justice organizations are not lagging behind community expectations when these items are considered.
Development of Organizational Theories and Its Implications
Frederick Taylor is the iconic scholar who developed the scientific management theory that is often referred to as Taylorism (Taylor, 1917). His method devised finding the right combinations of factors that will meet optimal yield in case of production. While it was largely celebrated and accepted in the early 1900s due to its effectiveness and efficiency, it has not sustained reception in eras that came.
In 1940s, another name surfaced who developed Taylor’s claims. It was Max Weber who introduced the bureaucratic theory that put hierarchy as a paramount concern. What sets it apart from Taylor’s theory is the acknowledgement of specialization and the importance of human interaction (Jain, 2004).
Another classical theory is the administrative theory of Mooney and Reiley (Denhardt&Catlaw, 2015). It posited that there can be a universal management approach that suits all kind of organizations.
Today, however, new developments designed to validate or challenge these classical tenets. A shift in focus is required to gain better understanding of the evolution. Only then can the theories be useful to organizations (McKinley, 2010).
Weber’s bureaucratic theory has affected a wide range of audience. The implication of this theory in the criminal justice organizations at present is seen with the valuation of specialization which may be brought about by diversity in human capital. According to Barlow and Barlow (1993), cultural diversity awareness in criminal justice organizations had been seen as an urgent need. They further discussed it by arguing, “Cultural diversity, cultural sensitivity, or race relations training is a central component of many recent proposals to reform police-community relations (Barlow & Barlow, 1993)”. The value placed in human capital is evident with how it is extremely prioritized. Proactive criminal justice organizations gain wide acceptance and praises because of initiatives like this.
Motivation
Motivation is defined by Bartol and Martine (1998) as a “power that strengthens behaviour, gives route to behaviour, and triggers the tendency to continue (Fard, et al, 2010, as cited by Manzoor, 2011). Manzoor (2011) further states that organizational effectiveness is measured when it accomplishes the goals it sets. Therefore, we can infer that any organization is affected by its (or its members’) motivation simply because it affirms the organization’s existence by letting it meet its goals.
One of the most common concerns of a Criminal Justice Organization are criminals and what motivates them to do the crime. Having substantial knowledge of the motives of criminals potentially gives the organization an advantage and leverage in their field, most especially in the prevention, control, and treatment of crime. The theories of motivation greatly help in understanding the motives that drive a person to commit a crime. From this, the organization may be able to derive patterns and predict behaviour. Having said that, the organization will be able to map out plans and courses of action more efficiently.
One of the motivational theories is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is composed of the 5-level pyramid: Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. Maslow posits that the basic need (physiological) must be satisfied first before getting to the next strata. The effect of this theory to the criminal justice is it gives them guidance where to start investigating or focusing their attention when investigating. It provides them understanding why a person has done something and what course of action they need to undertake. It may be to satisfy a basic need. Although our laws do not make a lot of exemptions when there is a wrongdoing, it also makes room for the human appeal. We must also take into consideration that while this is a widely accepted theory, there are also critiques to it.
References
Barlow, D. E. & M. H. Barlow. (1993). Cultural Diversity Training in Criminal Justice: A
Progressive or Conservative Reform. Social Justice, 20(3-4). 69-84.
Bartol, K. M. & D.C. Martin. (1998). Management (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill, 381-
409.
Denhardt, R. & T. Catlaw. (2015). Theories of public organization (7th ed.). USA:
Stamford CT.
Fard, H. D., Ghatari, A. R., & Hasiri, A., (2010). Employees morale in public sector: Is
organizational trust an important factor. European Journal of Scientific research, 46 (3),
378-390.
Jain, A. (2004). Using the lens of Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy to examine e-government
research. HICSS ’04 Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii
International Conference on System Sciences. ISBN: 0-7695-2056-1
McKinley, W. (2010). Organizational theory development: Displacement of ends.
Organizational Studies, 31(1). 47-68. DOI 10.1177/0170840609347055.
Moore, M.H. & R.C. Trojanowicz. (1988). Corporate strategies for policing. National Institute
of Justice. Harvard University. Retrieved at
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/114215.pdf
National Institute of Justice. (n.d.) Cost, performance studies look at prison privatization.
Retrieved at http://www.nij.gov/journals/259/pages/prison-privatization.aspx
Taylor, F. W. (1917). The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper.
