Juvenile Court Liaisons and Theories of Interorganizational Relations

• NCJ Number: 82390
• Author(s): M Sosin
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 34 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Corporate Author: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Discussion paper number 605-80

Annotation

Interorganizational concepts are used as the basis for the development and testing of hypotheses concerning the rate at which juvenile courts invite liaisons into the organization.

Abstract

Analyses of relations among corporations often rely on one theory, an application of the open systems perspective (Katz and Kahn, 1966). This theory suggests that the protection of the core technology is a key organizational motivation; an uncertain flow of resources is a key threat to the technology, and interorganizational relations are prime strategies of guaranteeing resources, reducing uncertainty, and protecting the core technology. The approach is thus characterized by a linking of a general motivation (protection of the core technology) and environmental demand (uncertainty) to a variety of organizational responses. These concepts underlie the following hypotheses concerning the formation of interorganizational relations with respect to juvenile courts: (1) courts in which judges are elected invite more liaisons into the court than do courts in which judges are appointed; (2) among courts with elected judges, the higher the conflict with the throughput group, the more often liaisons are invited into the court; (3) among courts with appointed judges, the higher the conflict with the output group, the more often liaisons are invited into the court; and (4) for all courts, the higher the conflict with the input group, the more often liaisons are invited into the court. These hypotheses were tested using a mail survey of juvenile courts conducted by the National Assessment of Juvenile Corrections in 1974. The survey includes a random sample of all courts in counties of at least 50,000 population. The judge's questionnaire included information relevant to judicial status and environmental conflict, while the administrator's questionnaire included questions on court liaisons. The data support the hypotheses. The juvenile court example thus supports the general perspective of motivations and responses in public human service organizations. Twenty references and three notes are provided.