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Problems with prison reform
Problems with prison reform
Problems with prison reform
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“BUREAUCRACY IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND AMERICA” “INTRODUCTION: MAIN TOPIC AND SYNOPSIS” The criminal justice system and America in general has a lot of bureaucracy. The bureaucracy can sometimes become a hindrance to the people that the system is supposed to be helping. Rarely, do we hear anyone state they are glad for bureaucracy or the red tape bureaucracy seems to create. I think myself and many Americans at first glance dislike bureaucracy; however this appears to be the most prevalent organizational model in most businesses. According to our book “we owe many of the original insights regarding the structure and functioning of bureaucracies to the work of the famous sociologist Max Weber (Palmiotto and Unnithan). While watching the movie Brubaker we also saw how bureaucracy worked for and against the prisoners at the prison. The bureaucracy at Wakefield State Prison in the movie showed the works for the prison bureaucracy along with the bureaucracy from community, prison board and government officials. “BODY: GROUP REFLECTION” We believe that some of the major advantages of bureaucracy are “the presence of a hierarchy makes it clear who is in charge and designates individuals at the …show more content…
As we saw throughout the movie Brubaker there were many challenges to a corrupt bureaucratic system. In the movie “we saw rampant abuse and corruption which included sexual assault and torture of inmates, worms in the inmate’s food, inmates being charged for better food or even something as simple as a haircut, insurance fraud of doctor not treating patients, the original doctor charging inmates for care (Tran). The consequences one faced we noticed was the warden being replaced under prison reform. We also noticed the consequences that inmates were treated like humans and with this treatment became better humans in living within the prison
Relations during this time with the prison and the outside world are discussed, as well as how these relations dominated life inside of a prison and developed new challenges within the prison. After Ragen left, Frank Pate become his successors. Pate faced a problem because he neither sought nor exercised the charismatic authority of Ragen. The Prison remained an imperatively coordinated paramilitary organization, which still required its warden to personify its goals and values. Jacobs goes on to discusses how what Pate did, was not the same direction or ideas that Ragen was doing or had. Jacobs’s counties this discussion with the challenges and issues that prison had during the time of 1961 through 1970. Jacobs blames that the loss of a warden who could command absolute authority, the loss of local autonomy, it heightened race problems among blacks, and the penetration of legal norms exposed severe strains in the authrotitarian system, and says pate cant control
Brubaker snuck into the prison, even after he was named the warden. Nobody in their right mind snuck into a prison, let alone this one in Arkansas. He wanted to see what life was actually like, instead of just hearing what others said (Brubaker). The prisoners believed that one warden or government official was just as bad as the next. They have no reason to believe any different. The prison was basically run by slave labor, using corporal punishment in everyday situations. These situations didn’t even need a reason; sometimes it was done just because.
Top-level managers in bureaucratic organizational structures exercise a great deal of control over organizational strategy decisions, which is ideal for business owners with a command and control style. As for the disadvantages, bureaucratic structures can discourage creativity and innovation throughout the organization. No matter how ingenious a business owner is, it is virtually impossible for a single individual to generate the range of strategic ideas possible in a large, interdisciplinary
Once set up, bureaucracy is inherently conservative. The reason the bureaucracy was initiated may not continue to exist as a need in the future. The need or reason may change with a change in the times and the culture needs. A bureaucracy tends to make decisions that protect it and further it’s own existence, possibly apart from the wishes of the populace. It may not consistently reflect what might be optimal in terms of the needs and wants of the people.
The complex and elaborate hierarchical structure of bureaucracies is what leads to the massive amounts of paperwork or "red tape" for which bureaucracies are known. When control is dictated from the top down and information is relayed from the bottom up, problems of principal-agent loss arise. Information has the potential to become clouded and misconstrued, or even lost for that matter, which greatly compromises efficiency. To reduce principal-agent loss and increase efficiency, the free flow of information between all levels should be promoted. With this, workers would not have to go through a "middle man" to contact someone higher in the hierarchical structure. Not only would this increase efficiency but also increase the quality of communication. Also, the top level in the bureaucracy should not have all the power. The top should have more power, but the power and authority should be distributed which would also help cope with principal-agent loss.
Bureaucracy is a structure with tight and rigid policies, constraints, and procedures. Unlike the structural frame, a bureaucracy has stringent controls with a great unwillingness to change adapt. Bureaucracy helps establish the structure in an organization by formalizing its operations. It ensures every unite in the organization has a structure with .clear lines of authority and responsibility for every situation. The decision-making process in a bureaucracy uses a strict control-and -command structure. An adequate structure due to bureaucracy translates an organization into a machine with parts that should be maintained and replaced when they do not perform.
In society today, the prison system has a blend of different cultures, leaders and workers must be equipped to handle cultures that are unfamiliar to them. Education on leadership helps to ensure the leader is component, reliable, has the motivation to lead large groups of individuals and make the organization a success (Jacobs, & Olitsky, 2012). Most of the correctional and penal leaders have entered their position at the entry level position. Those that enter the position must be capable of overseeing thousands of staff and inmates, skills for management are essential to be effective in the role of leadership, corrections has three organizational models the authoritative model, bureaucratic model, and the participative model, the authoritative model has the presence of a strong leader that has firm control of the prison environment and harsh discipline of inmates and staff, the bureaucratic model revolves around strict systems, but it does not put all its focus on dominating personalities the rules are specific with a clear standard of operating, the participative model is more open and democratic, it relies on input from staff on how the institution should be ran (Carlson, & Garrett, 2008). There exists a need for leaders that have a clear vision for change and that will motivate and inspire others. They must set rules that are clear and must be enforced.
...eet customer demands thus flexibility is key. However there are criticism of post-bureaucracy for example if a company decides to subcontract due to insufficient supply of workers, this would decrease the workers production which would mean that the company is not flexible thus not agreeing with a feature of post-bureaucracy as well as there would be a key difference between pay. There are many factors encourage companies to move from bureaucracy to post-bureaucracy. For example technology requires companies to work together because they are innovative, a company can be skilled but there is always something the company cannot develop thus networking and sharing information is important. Bureaucracy could not cope with the pace of change; information technology meant that there was more external control allowing informal relationships and a minimal division of labor.
The Bureaucracy is a slow and seemingly unnecessary addition to our governmental system, but it does have an important role. The Bureaucracy was originally created to aide the president, and consisted of four people (first cabinet). These members were called the Department
Bureaucracy are defined as a system of government which most of the important decisions are made by the state officials than be elected representatives. Bureaucracy is also an organization made up of many departments and divisions that are administrated by lots of people. They are non-elected government officials and a non-administrative
Even though bureaucracy and red tape are overwhelming the accumulation of federal, state, and local mandates make working with the Discussion Board 4 Govt 475
When Weber analyzed bureaucracies, he developed an ideal type model, which consisted of six essential features. These features described how bureaucracies function and develop. The features Weber identified are as such: specialization; hierarchy; written rules and regulations; impartiality; impersonality; recordkeeping. These features are essential to upholding the purpose of efficiency bureaucracies were created for.
According to Sapru R.K. (2008) p370-371 the traditional ideal of public administration which inclined to be firm and bureaucratic was based on processes instead of outcomes and on setting procedures to follow instead of focusing on results. This paradigm can be regarded as an administration under formal control of the political control, constructed on a firmly ranked model of bureaucracy, run by permanent and neutral public servants, driven only by public concern. In emerging nations the administration was true bureaucracy meaning government by officers. In this perspective Smith (1996) p235-6 perceived that“the bureaucracy controls and manages the means of production through the government. It increases chances for bureaucratic careers by the creation of public figures,demanding public managers, marketing boards.
Bureaucracy is the response to the problem posed by larger and more complex formal organizations because an extensive organization will need a form of order of the ranks or chain of command to coordinate the activities of its members. Bureaucracy provides a hierarchical authority structure that is supposed to operate under certain rules and procedures. Understanding bureaucracy is the key to the analysis of formal organizations. The word “bureaucracy” connotes negative images in everyday speech. It usually brings to mind images of, “red tape” or “buck passing” where the organization requires forms in triplicate; files are often lost, incorrect statements of accounts, and the inability to respond to inquiries.
Bureaucracy is an organizational design based on the concept of standardization. “It is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, very formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command” (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p.