Criminal justice agency Research Essay

The goal of criminal justice organizations and the role of ethical standards

The goal of criminal justice organizations is to guarantee that public moral standards are properly upheld. Criminals are temporarily housed in a criminal detention facility while they anticipate trial. In light of this, it is strongly advised that employees in such a facility uphold moral standards and carefully adhere to the established rules and regulations (Florres, 2008). Without necessarily requiring constant oversight from the authorities, the succinct corporate ethical plan acts as the cornerstone in guiding all the stakeholders involved in achieving this (Young, 2011). Additionally, this platform allows for the promotion of transparency, which in turn increases client compassion and fosters organizational confidence. As a chief director, I have the obligation of planning and executing agency policy on ethics which would ensure adequate coordination of responsibilities.

Implementing ethical practices in criminal justice organizations

Nonetheless, the task of enacting an ethical policy is quite demanding (Comittee, 2007). Ensuring that ethical practices are assured can equally be challenging. Every organization has its own rules and regulations governing it. Failure to comply with the instituted policies attracts stiff penalties depending on the extent of malpractice. In many cases, policies on ethics amongst companies are set by the sitting board of directors in their initial stages. Copies of the policies are handed to the employees and are included regarding employment. In other cases, they are printed and distributed to every department. However, in case of a change in the policies, it usually takes some time for the employees to adjust accordingly. Different employees react differently. As a norm, organizations cannot instantly comply with such guidelines and regulations. Below are some of the steps that I would consider as a head administrator to ensure that ethical practices are implemented appropriately.

Incorporating ethical principles into all aspects of organizational communication

First, I would incorporate ethical principles into all aspects as per the organizational communication requirements. In this case, I would control all infrastructures within the company by informing the employees the importance of ethical standards in such areas as decision making and operations in the organization. This would precisely be achieved by optimal adoption of the standards and also incorporating training materials within all sources of delivery, for instance, management levels, assimilation of new employees, training and businesses strategy formulations and any other activity that defines daily running of the organization. As such, this offers the opportunity to inform everyone the importance of conforming to the stipulated rules (Young, 2011).

Creating engagement with the board of directors

The second stage is to create an engagement with existing board of directors. This would typically require that the executives are adequately informed of the need for ensuring that the topic remains their pivotal role in all their endeavors within the organization. Being their core responsibility, conveying contagious issues touching on the area would be paramount in running the organization. As such, this will help in proper coordination and ensure that they assist adequately in instilling the sense of ethical practices amongst their juniors and their employees at large. This is a case of mentorship in which employees are able to do according to their expectations (Kramer, 2007). In other words, the top crème of an organization plays a major role in instilling the sense of discipline amongst their juniors since they are the face of the organization.

Clarifying risks and imposing penalties for non-compliance

This is then followed by clarifying all the risks involved in all aspects. Since it is not easy for everyone to comply fast enough with the ethical practices and that majority of them tend to be reluctant, it would be necessary to underline equal measures of penalties and toughen them to scare the hell out of them (Young, 2011). This will strategically be installed in place to ensure that everything is right on the track. Once this has been guaranteed, regular reviews will then be imposed. It would be the duty for the corporation to provide separate forms of assessment or any other formula for examination in all the entities not necessarily focusing on the minorities or the selected groups, i.e., usually stubborn staff members. This will then be concluded by obtaining decree and pledge from the top leadership. This will imply the extent to which the executives will be willing to comply with the adjustment impacts on the rest. If they are willing to live up to the standards, then the rest will be compelled to and vice-versa.

Establishing an ethical policy with the help of the board of directors and the IT team

More importantly, to establish my ethical policy, I would need the assistance of the entire board of directors and the IT team. The board will help me plan and set the policy and suggest possible ways in which the policy will be established. The best means will be selected with the help of the IT team. The IT team will then draft the document as per the requirements of the board. The document will then be posted to different departments and individual emails (Kramer, 2007).

Certainly, this would require effective communication strategies to all the stakeholders involved. As such, I would be forced to use all the available means of communication; the most basic being via a memo. I would write a memo entailing the creation of new agency policy, its implementation, its seriousness, the date it will start functioning, the punishment to those who fail to abide by the rules and the form of reward to those who comply with it. The memo will be sent to all the departments through their respective heads. Then, I would send personal mails to every employee bearing the same content as prescribed in the memo (Young, 2011). Other supplementary forms of communication to be employed would include company’s official pages of WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook.

Inspections and reinforcement of policies

For inspections to ensure compliance, I will select a team fully mandated with the necessary course of measures. The team will conduct a personal assessment at least once a week until everyone is right on track. I would also select three of the most trusted employees to work as spies and observe how the employees are adapting to the new system, how they feel about it, any recommendations suggested and those who are unwilling to adjust. Also, I would host a staff meeting at least twice or thrice a week so that I can get to interact with the employees at a personal level to be able to identify how the compliance to the rule is fairing on, what should be added, what is done the wrong way.

In reinforcing the policies, first, it will be the duty of the leaders to lead by example. If we as the leaders do it the right way, then the employees have no choice but to comply. Secondly, full punishment is guaranteed to those who fail to comply with the rules and regulation. The punishment should be so serious to instill fear in the employees. The punishment to those who fail to comply will include suspending the employees, working overtime without pay, and in extreme cases, will lead to the firing of the employees.

In general, it takes a little more effort and toughness from the head administrators for the policy to be fully implemented by the whole team. This will only be possible if there is total cooperation between the staff members (Kramer, 2007). However, if done the right way with total cooperation and less drama, the agency will run smoothly in the long run, hence ensuring that there is productivity at work.

References

Comittee, P. (2007, May 31). Defining and Developing an Effective Code of Conduct for Organizations. International good practise guidance. International Federation of Accountants.

Florres, A. (2008). The philosophical Basis of Engineering Codes of Ethics. Engineering Ethics and Enviroment, 201-209. Cambridge: cambridge University Press.

Kramer, J. (2007). implementation of angency policies. chicago.

Young, J. (2011). The Quest for a code of professional Ethics. An Intellectual and Moral Confusion. In Johnson, Deborah G. Ethical Issues in Engine