Criminal Justice Organization Forms and Leadership Styles

Criminal Justice Organization Forms and Leadership Styles

Court hierarchy is important to the legal system in a variety of ways. The hierarchy provides courts with a system that allow defendants and the plaintiffs to pursue their cases effectively to prove the credibility of their cases. The hierarchy delineates the manner of undertaking legal proceedings in the courts. For example, the presence of the lower courts provides a basis for determining the threshold of the cases that should be forwarded to the high courts of the state. The hierarchy also provides the courts with a system of that promotes delegation of duties to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the management of operations. For instance, it provides the high courts with opportunities to delegate some of its responsibilities to the lower courts to facilitate effectiveness and efficiency. However, hierarchy system in the courts has disadvantages such as time consuming for individuals as they have to follow the long system of legal procedures and expenses to the involved because of factors such as appeals of the cases (Allen & Sawhney, 2010).

Hierarchy in correction organizations also plays a significant role. It provides the stakeholders with clearly defined organizational goals that facilitate the adoption of shared strategies for their realization. It creates the desired system of authority in the corrections organization. The stakeholders within it know their expectations alongside individuals to report their problems in the organization. The hierarchy within the corrections organization also promotes specialization and development of skills among the stakeholders. The restricted scope of operations make it desirable for an organization to concentrate its skills; hence, performance. However, hierarchy system has various limitations to the correction organizations. The fixed nature of the hierarchy system restricts the stakeholders of the organization to adopt a certain behavior that suits organizational needs. As such, it implies that the possibility of personal and professional growth of the stakeholders become limited alongside promoting autocratic leadership within the organization (Mary & Peter, 2014).

Similarly, hierarchy is beneficial to the law enforcement organizations in the state. Empirical evidence shows that the hierarchy in the law enforcement organizations promotes empowerment of the involved stakeholders. It provides these organizations with shared leadership that ensures alignment of the organizational vision with the strategies adopted for organizational success. Shared organizational leadership also translates to the shared objectives among the members of the law enforcement organizations. As such, this contributes to the effective control of the discretion, a factor that heightens the visibility of the organization. However, the fact that following the hierarchy in the law enforcement organizations consumes time makes it less effective for the use (Mary & Peter, 2014).

Different types of leaders exist in organizations. The leaders include autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire leaders. Each of them has unique features that determine the management of operations in the criminal justice organizations. Autocratic leadership is a form of classical leadership approach where a leader has total authority. Superiors obey the instructions provided without questioning or commenting on their actions. This leadership style bases their principle on Theory X by McGregor that views the employees in an organization as lazy and avoid their work. The behavior of the employees necessitates the adoption of leadership strategies such as strict supervision and development of comprehensive systems of control within the organization (Allen & Sawhney, 2010).

Autocratic leaders exhibit a variety of behaviors. They retain all the authority, power, and control alongside reserving the right to decide on issues affecting the organization. They have a high distrust toward their subordinates. They believe that the subordinates do not have the desired abilities; hence, the need for close control and supervision. Most of the organizational activities often remain with the autocratic leaders. They do not believe in the power of delegation, minimizing the likelihood of the involvement of the other leaders in making organizational decisions. They use the one-way system of communication. Such communication implies that they do not consult with the other members of the organization on critical issues that affect organizational performance. Autocratic leaders consider employee motivation to arise from the provision of structures rewards and punishments. They perform their tasks by using threats and punishment to evoke fear among the employees. In addition, these leaders focus on dealing with their assigned duties rather than developmental activities. Autocratic leadership is undesirable for the organization because it does not focus on empowering the junior followers and fails to recognize their varied personal and professional needs (Mary & Peter, 2014).

Democratic leadership is defined as the leadership that takes into consideration the opinions of the employees for decision-making. A democratic leader emphasizes on great participation of the employees and the other stakeholders in decision-making. They constantly seek other people's views on the actions adopted by the organization. Such leaders promote the sharing of ideas and respect them to facilitate the adoption of the most effective strategies. Democratic leaders also delegate duties to other staff and employees within the organization. They delegate some of the duties to individuals considered able to execute as expected, to build their expertise knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition, democratic leaders trust his/her employees/superiors. Such leaders trust and value the decisions of the other employees as they play a role in influencing the performance of the criminal justice organizations. Other characteristics of democratic leaders include helping and providing guidance to the employees alongside recognizing the importance of the provision of opportunities that promote employee capacity building. The leadership style is desirable for the criminal justice organizations because it focuses on employee empowerment, motivation, and recognizes their varied personal and professional needs (Allen & Sawhney, 2010).