Planned Change 1

Planned Change 1

PLANNED CHANGE

What elements of planned change must the criminal justice administrator be familiar with in order to ensure that change is effected rationally and successfully?

The elements of Planned Change, which a criminal justice administrator must be familiar with are problem analysis, setting goals and objectives, program and policy design, developing an action plan, and monitoring and evaluation.

Problem Analysis

Problem analysis is the "process of conducting in-depth analysis and assessment of crime problems at the local level."(1) Problem analysis is crucial part of criminal justice, because it involves the in-depth investigation of many detailed factors that will eventually lead to solving crimes. The initial decision in any plan is of course deciding what is the issue, or what is the problem to be solved. After identifying the problem, it must be carefully analyzed or scrutinized to make sure that all aspects of the problem is researched and detailed. Nothing can be planned or solved without knowing what the change is to be. For instance, the problem might be that the department’s technology is far too outdated.

Setting Goals and Objectives

Without thoroughly going through the goals and objectives, a criminal justice administrator cannot convey to the organization, when a problem is indeed solved. It is the way anyone and everyone can tell what the end result should be. What is the desired result is going to look like. There has to be a goal and objective in order to be able to move on to the next steps of deciding on a program and policy for attaining that goal. In the “technology” example the goals might be multiple, purchasing and installing new equipment in stages of time.

Program and Policy Design

The program and policy design is the next logical step for a program administrator. This is the in depth part of solving the problem in a way. After all, the program is the engine of any organization, criminal justice organizations included. How this change is going to be made requires the decisions about programs and policies.

Developing an Action Plan

The criminal justice administrator has to develop an action plan. This is akin to the play book of a football team. What is the plan, the “nuts and bolts” of the work that needs to be done? It is probably the most boring part of the work of a criminal justice administrator. It is deciding how many people are needed; what equipment is needed; who does what when. But, it is a crucial step in the process. Who will be assigned to look into the purchase of the items? What is the budget for the technology?

Monitoring and Evaluation

Keeping close track of each step of the progress and making sure that the progress is evaluated is extremely important for a criminal justice administrator. It is the process of maintaining quality control in one way. In another way it is the criminal justice administrator’s control over the program and policies and how they are fitting into the action plan. Just planning, or just identifying a problem is not enough. Without ongoing monitoring, the plans could easily go astray and the imminent goals not reached.