Staff Education and Transformational Leadership in Criminal Justice

• NCJ Number: 221844
• Author(s): Ray Bynum
• Date Published: December 2007
• Length: 278 pages
• Sale Source: Northern Arizona University
• Publication Format: Dissertation/Thesis
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This dissertation used a survey of criminal justice officers (corrections and law enforcement), supervisors, administrators, and college professors in southern Arizona in order to determine their attitudes toward the role of advanced education in the development of leadership skills needed to provide positive transformation in criminal justice organizations.

Abstract

Respondents strongly agreed that advanced education could develop skills that would be useful in criminal justice organizations. There was less agreement on the usefulness of advanced education for personal development ("self-actualization") and resolving issues with other staff. Approximately one-third of the respondents indicated that the teaching methods used in advanced education had no relationship to their perceptions of the usefulness of advanced education in providing the leadership skills needed to improve the structure and functioning of criminal justice organizations. Further, although there was strong support for the importance of criminal justice officers having excellent leadership skills, many did not believe that advanced education would be necessary to motivate officers to achieve self-actualization in their careers. Compared with criminal justice personnel, college professors had a significantly stronger belief that advanced education would provide motivation toward self-actualization in a criminal justice career, including the development of leadership skills that contribute to resolving issues with staff. The study concludes that although criminal justice agencies have attempted to use advanced education of staff to produce transformation within the organization, they are unclear about how advanced education becomes linked to positive organizational change, specifically the nature of curriculum content that best transfers to organizational change, as well as the instructional methods that promote leadership and organizational transformation. Suggestions are offered for further research. A total of 232 completed surveys representing the target populations provided responses to open-ended questions about attitudes toward advanced education, curricula, and leadership. 78 tables, appended questionnaire, and 200 references