Article Review 1
Open v. Closed Systems
Chapter 2
Organizational Theory
“A way to examine and analyze organizations… based on patterns and trends in organizational design and behavior”
Models of organizations
Closed systems: explain organizations via internal events
Open systems: explain organizations via external events
Closed: A prison riot, for example, might be explained by reference to internal factors only (poor training, weak leadership, physical structure of facility).
Open: A prison riot might be explained by reference to external factors (larger gang tensions imported into the prison, racism in society, diminished funding by government agencies)
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Closed-System Models (Classical Perspective)
Overview
The external environment is stable and predictable and does not present problems for the organization
Organizations are sealed off from the outside
Emphasis is on the efficient management of the organization
Emerged during the Industrial Revolution to improve the efficiency of work (machine models)
The environment includes things outside of the organization such as the community, legal decisions, cultural and demographic forces, etc.
Since the environment is largely unchanging, classical theorists suggested a single best way to organize.
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Closed-System Models (Classical Perspective)
Three closed-system model subfields
Scientific management
Administrative management
Bureaucratic management
Commonalities across subfields
Individuals are rational
All people will behave the same way in similar situations
Rational individuals: people act logically and correctly
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Classical Perspective #1: Scientific Management
Father of scientific management was Frederick Taylor. Focused on Task Performance, Supervision and Motivation
Task Performance
There was a correct way to perform every task; goal was to identify and document those procedures
Scientific study of tasks, especially through time motion studies
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Classical Perspective #1: Scientific Management (contd)
The role of Managers in Task Performance
Develop standard procedures for each job
Select workers with skills and abilities and match them to tasks
Train workers in standard procedures
Monitor and support workers through careful planning of work
Supervision
Supervisors were experts in certain areas; they were not authorities in areas beyond their areas of expertise
In criminal justice agencies, as in other agencies, the authority of managers often goes beyond their areas of expertise.
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Classical Perspective #1: Scientific Management (cont’d)
Motivation
Monetary incentives
Piecemeal pay: standard wage for standard output; more pay for exceeding standard output
Criticisms of scientific management
Managerial authority extended beyond area of expertise
Faulty assumptions about workers (e.g., won’t all act the same in similar situations)
Workers ignored for all but physical labor (e.g., rules guide behavior limiting the thinking skills of workers)
Standard wages typically increased as the new procedures for performing work increased overall output for the organization. However, the increase was not equal. A doubling of output, for example, did not lead to a doubling of pay.
Faulty assumptions: Officers responding to a scene or probation officers dealing with a probationer do not all act the same way.
Workers ignored: the mind is not used; follow the manual
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Classical Perspective #2: Administrative Management
Linked to Henri Fayol
Scientific management frontline workers
Administrative management managers
Identified 14 principles of management
Managers were the emphasis of Fayol’s principles of management.
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Classical Perspective #2: Administrative Management (contd)
| 1. Division of work | Centralization |
| Authority | 9. Scalar chain |
| Discipline | Order |
| 4. Unity of command | 11. Equity |
| 5. Unity of direction | 12. Stability of personnel tenure |
| 6. Subordination of individual interest to the general interest | Initiative |
| 7. Remuneration of personnel | 14 Espirit de corps |
Criticisms
Division of work: divide work into smaller tasks
Authority: managers need authority to command staff
Discipline: required in order to ensure rules are followed
Unity of command: only one boss giving orders to each worker
Unity of direction: similar tasks grouped together under a manager
Subordination of individual interest to the general interest: goals of organization paramount
Remuneration of personnel: fair compensation
Centralization: power and authority at top of organization
Scalar chain: single line of authority from top to bottom
Order: clear and easily understood rules
Equity: managers should display fairness in dealing with subordinates
Stability of personnel tenure: employees learn with experience
Initiative: work environment should allow for some initiative in carrying out work
Espirit de corps: managers should foster morale
Criticism: Incompatible with modern management thought. Workers are trained to make decisions and act appropriately. Less reliance on centralized organizations with authority at the top of the hiearchy.
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Classical Perspective #3: Bureaucratic Management
Linked to Max Weber
Addresses the organization as a whole– the intersection of workers and managers
Five major components of bureaucratic management
1. Impersonal social relations: favoritism should be eliminated; workers behave according to rules
Impersonal social relations: prevent favoritism and nepotism. Reduces likelihood the friendships and connections will cloud judgment.
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Classical Perspective #3: Bureaucratic Management (contd)
Five major components of bureaucratic management
2. Employee selection and promotion: based on skills and competence
3. Hierarchy of authority and spheres of competence:
Hierarchy based on amount of power and authority (more at top).
Authority is in position, not person in position
Authority is in position: Weber was writing against traditional authority and charismatic authority structures where people were given authority because of who they were. Once that person left, the organization would suffer. In bureaucratic organizations, the position always retains the authority, regardless of who is in that position.
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Classical Perspective #3: Bureaucratic Management (contd)
Five major components of bureaucratic management
4. System of rules and procedures
Rules would guide decisions, rather than personal judgment
Maintain continuity across time
5. Task specialization
Divide work into simpler tasks
Foster development of expertise and efficiencies
Rules ensure consistency in operations, especially across time.
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Classical Perspective #3: Bureaucratic Management (contd)
Benefits of bureaucracy
Match right person to job
Efficiency as organization has well qualified managers and experts at performing tasks
Duplication of work is eliminated
Career occupation with rewards earned from successful performance
Rules and procedures eliminate impartiality and create standarization
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Classical Perspective #3: Bureaucratic Management (cont’d)
Problems with bureaucracy
Rulification is impossible, stifles creativity, and inhibits flexibility
Hierarchy limits communication, creating a grapevine to disseminate information
Task specialization prevents workers from seeing the whole job
Departmentalization mentality leads people to see their work as more important than the organization’s work
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Open-System Models (Humanistic Perspective)
Origins in 1920s: Hawthorne studies at Western Electric plant
Lighting studies: productivity increased for two groups of workers, regardless of lighting level changes
Hawthorne effect: special attention given to workers led to feelings of pride and productivity
Lasting impact of Hawthorne studies
Social factors matter in the workplace; workers bring attitudes and sentiments to job
Informal groups operate alongside formal structures in organization
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Open-System Models (Humanistic Perspective) (contd)
Four primary elements of open-systems approaches
Individual differences: people are different and react differently
Motivation: workers can be motivated to achieve organizational goals
Mutual interest: individuals have a need to socialize and group themselves at work
Human dignity: employees need to be treated with respect
Individual differences: run contrary to assumptions of scientific management
Motivation: pay is only one motivator; social factors matter
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Human Relations Perspective #1: Total Quality Management
Enhance products and services by taking into account suggestions by workers and the voice of the customer
Four elements of TQM
Employee involvement
Customer focus
Continuous improvement
Benchmarking
Employee involvement: worker input is important to improving quality of good or service
Customer focus: since consumers are judge of quality, focus on the items customers view as important
Continuous improvement: always seeking to improve performance
Benchmarking: examining peers to find areas for improvement
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Human Relations Perspective #2: Supply Chain/Synergy Model
Supply chain perspective: the interrelations between subsystems where the actions of one subsystem affect the operations of another.
Subsystems serve as suppliers and customers
Synergy: when these subsystems are coordinated, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
The criminal justice system is comprised of police, courts, and corrections subsystems. The system as a whole can accomplish more (investigation, apprehension, and punishment) than any single agency.
The designation of supplier and customer is dynamic. A prosecutor’s office is a customer of police departments (takes in arrests) but supplies prisons.
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Changing Face of the Criminal Justice System
Demographic changes:
Children have more free, unsupervised time making them more susceptible to negative influences
Increasing diversity in society:
Immigration, culture conflict, workplace demands
Technological changes
Changes in communication, knowledge gathering and dissemination, and workplace
Heightened demands for corporate responsibility
Adherence to legal, ethical, professional standards
Global environment, including law and order
Boundaries removed
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Moving to a Learning Organization
Learning organizations: highly flexible and adaptable to changing environmental demands allowing for problem solving.
Changes in organizational design to facilitate learning
Move to a horizontal structure
Limit strict adherence to rules by giving more discretion to frontline workers
Share information throughout the organization
Empower the workforce to work toward overall organizational improvement and adaptation
Collaborate with customers and clients
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Difficulties Amid Successes
Changing to a learning organization from a classical or traditional organization is daunting
Some successes in the right direction
Community policing
Probation and parole
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