PAD 348 Midterm Flashcards
Organizations are defined in terms of their::
o Structure,
o Purpose, and
o Activity.
Weber (1947) distinguished corporate groups from other social organizations by:
o Extent to which they limit admission to the group, and
o Whether they include leaders and staff.
Barnard (1938) Definition of an Organization:
“a system of consciously coordinated activities of forces of two or more persons”.
Organizations do/are:
o Develop cultures, o Are political, o Serve, and sometimes fail to serve, their member’s personal needs, o Actively seek survival, o Compete for resources, o Are internally complex, and o Exist in a complex environment
Carlisle (1976) Definition of Management:
The “process by which the elements of a group are integrated, coordinated, and/or utilized so as to effectively and efficiently achieve organizational objectives”.
Klotter (1990) Definition of Leadership:
“refers to a process that helps direct and mobilize people and their ideas…”
Dupree (1989) Definition of Leadership:
Leadership is tribal in nature and focuses on an organization’s
symbols, rituals and culture.
Leaders focus on:
o Motivating employees,
o Developing organizational culture, and
o Changing the organization.
Managers do:
-Insure compliance with existing processes
-Focus on planning and budgeting to achieve short term goals
-Seek to achieve rationality by enforcing rules
-Concerned about employees doing things right
Leaders Do:
-Question existing processes
-Focus on more long-term strategic planning
-Seek opportunities to change the organization and its culture
-Concerned about employees doing the right thing
Closed System Theory:
o Self-contained, and
o Unresponsive to their environments.
- All elements in a closed-system are connected, but only internally.
-Communication follows the lines of hierarchy.
-Power and authority are a function of office.
Organizations that exist within open-systems influence and are
highly influenced by the environments in which they exist.
Criminal justice Open System examples
o Community policing
o The interaction between the police and prosecutors
o Legislative changes in criminal statutes and sentencing
Simon (1964) first recognized this
organizational complexity.
o The pursuit of all goals impinges on the degree of goal attainment.
o Not possible for all goals to be achieved equally.
goal conflict may actually be
necessary. Examples:
o Due process constraints placed on the police by the courts insures civil liberty
o Plea bargaining by prosecutors reserves important resources for more serious cases.
Police departments are particularly vulnerable to complex environments. Examples
o CrimecontrolversusDueprocessconflict
o Lack of universal agreement among the public on what the police department should do.
Clients may not be legitimizers. (example)
Prisoners (clients) are not viewed as legitimate evaluators of the organization.
Mission, not the marketplace, determines value. (Example)
Law enforcement may be considered more important than corrections.
Constituencies within the organization:
influence the organization’s structure and function.
Organizations are structured along three dimensions:
structure, purpose and activity.
Organizations are managed through
a process but management functions are not limited to a specific office within the organization.
Criminal justice organizations both affect and are affected
by the key elements of their environments.
Unlike closed system theory, which emphasizes key operational components of an organization, open systems theory hypothesizes:
that criminal justice organizations are malleable and influenced differentially by elements of the environment.
Criminal justice organizations have many
Goals and compete with one another for limited resources.
Criminal justice agencies have varied and complex
environments that make criminal justice administration more complex.
Criminal justice organizations are evaluated, in part, by the:
perceptions of what various environments expect of them.
Criminal justice organizations are influenced by many internal groups
such as line personnel, support staff and others who perform the work.
Criminal justice organizations are compared by:
o Their organizational models
• HierarchicalversusOrganic o Their structural dimensions
• Task specialization
• Formalization
• Span of control
• CentralizationversusDecentralization • Complexity
• Allocationoflineandstaffpersonnel
Hierarchical Organizational Structure:
-Structurally rigid-clear chain of command.
- Leadership exists within supervisor/subordinate relationships.
-Function best in stable or predictable environments.
-Communications is vertical and downward.
Organic Organizational Structure:
- Loosely connected- authority is diffused.
- Leadership is more peer- oriented.
- Can function efficiently in unstable or unpredictable environments.
-Communication is horizontal.
Task Specialization
the process of dividing work processes unto smaller tasks.
o Narrowly defined work tasks = high task specialization
o Broadly defined work tasks = low task specialization
Formalization
the establishment of written rules and
regulations that govern the work activities.
o High levels of formalization (many rules) o Low levels of formalization (few rules)
Span of Control
the number of subordinates reporting to a supervisor. o Wide (more subordinates per supervisor) o Narrow (few subordinates per supervisor)
Centralization versus Decentralization
o In centralized organizations important decisions
are made by upper managers.
o In decentralized organizations important decisions are made in the lower levels.
Complexity
defined by the number of units within an organization.
o Verticalcomplexity–number of levels in the chain of
command (tall organizations).
o Horizontalcomplexity–number of units across the
organization (flat organizations).
Line/Staff Allocation
the balance between line and staff personnel.
o Line employees ‘exist’ within the chain of command.
o Staff employees ‘exist’ outside the chain of command.
The ideal bureaucracy has:
o A written mission that is logically implemented by, o Policies and procedures,
o Performed by employees who;
• Understand and accept the mission,
• Have a working knowledge of the policies and procedures, and
• Carry out their tasks in accordance with their job descriptions.
A mission is a statement of an organization’s;
o Common purpose,
o Continuing purpose for existing,
o Ideology, and
o Values.
o Provides clear understanding of an agency’s purpose, goals, and objectives.
- Declares an agency’s values and operating philosophy.
-Provides employees with a basis for ethical decision making.
-Helps keep an organization’s daily activities focused.
Policy
a clear statement that defines what action is to be taken and why. Policies include a;
o Statement of purpose,
o Required action, and
o Rationale for that purpose.
Procedure
step-by-step descriptions of the activities that agency members need to follow to achieve the objective or goal put forth by a policy.
Criminal justice organizations acquire resources through a process that is
cyclical, formal, and political.
Informal Structures in Organizations
The goals, activities, or structures that are not officially acknowledged by an organization.
The informal structure may be a product of an organization’s actual culture and includes;
o The informal communications system–the grapevine or rumor mill.
o Informal work groups–loosely knit teams organized on an ad hoc basis.
o Informal leadership–individuals with a great deal of expertise and communication skills.
Organizations can be analyzed effectively when viewed through
four frames or perspectives (Bolman and Deal, 2003).
- Each frame describes distinctive attributes of an organization.
Organizational Frames
- Structural frame
- Human resource frame
- Political frame
- Symbolic frame
Structural frame
The organizational hierarchy, division of labor, job descriptions, mission, policies, procedures, etc.
Human resource frame
assumes organizations exist to serve human rather than organizational needs.
