Assignment:
For most organizations, change is inevitable, and criminal justice organizations are no different. Consider for a moment the following situation:
The new building to house several criminal justice organizations has just been completed. You are the director of one of several criminal justice organizations being housed in the new building. The day after you and your employees move into the new work space, you are handed a memo from the mayor's office outlining a series of organizational changes that are to occur in your organization. Some of the changes are minor, whereas others are significant and include changes to the hierarchy within the organization. As the director of this criminal justice organization, this call for change might seem sudden and unexpected.
You might be surprised to know that there are probably specific reasons for change and a driving force behind the push toward change. Change might come as the result of turmoil within the organization, an outcry from the community you serve, or legislative reform movements. Perhaps your organization needs to change to keep pace with societal or technological changes. As director of the organization, you need to know how change will be implemented, who will be in charge, and what happens if everyone does not embrace the change.
If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
-Woodrow Wilson
As the quote above implies, people do not often appreciate or even welcome change. This is true of employees in the context of organizational change as well. When trying to implement organizational change, criminal justice managers may encounter employees who are resistant. Resistance to change poses a major threat to successful organizational change. As a result, criminal justice managers must be familiar with strategies to address resistance to change in order to move forward. As you review the readings for this week, think about how organizational change not only affects organizations but also criminal justice employees.
Think about sources of resistance to change within criminal justice organizations.
Consider strategies that criminal justice managers might use to address and overcome resistance to change within their organizations.
Article: McGarrell, E. F., Chermak, S., Wilson, J. M., & Corsaro, N. (2006). Reducing homicide through a "lever-pulling" strategy. Justice Quarterly, 23(2), 214 - 231.
Article: Redlich, A. D., Steadman, H. J., Monahan, J., Clark Robbins, P., & Petrila, J. (2006). Patterns of practice in mental health courts: A national survey. Law and Human Behavior, 30, 347 - 362.