Organizational Change in Corrections Organizations : the Effect of Probation and Parole Officer Culture on Change in Community Corrections

Abstract

Current trends in the field of community corrections make it necessary for administrators to consider innovative organizational change strategies to increase public safety. However, criminal justice administrators face pressure to maintain the status quo even as they are expected to produce successful outcomes through innovative practices. The broader implication is that administrators will have to develop proficiencies in the interpretation of theoretical concepts to make meaningful decisions about how best to use scarce resources to measure organizational variables. This research uses a case study of one community corrections organization to demonstrate how administrators in community corrections might make use of organizational culture variables to create and perpetuate systems for the collection of organizationally relevant data to support organizational innovation over time. The goal of this project is two fold. First, this dissertation was designed to examine some of the variables associated with organizational culture that are important in transforming political and social pressure for increased public safety into more effective correctional practices. Second, the research is especially focused on discovering the factors that make meaningful differences at the first line supervisory level of the organization. In carrying out this research, three analytical methods were used to derive a broad spectrum of organizational data. First, a regression analysis ties organizational culture to practice outcomes. Second, data derived from an organizational survey completed by probation and parole officers and administrators define some of the broad characteristics of the organizational culture. Finally, a guided group interview of administrators allows consideration the specific cultural elements that may help or hinder the innovative strategies in which the organization has engaged. The information drawn from a guided group interview of a core group of administrators highlights several of the unique elements of the culture.