In applying the concept of organizations to the criminal justice system, certain attributes of the criminal justice system need to be determined. The objective of this paper is to briefly discus this particular attributes of the Criminal Justice System as it relates to the services it provides to the society. The paper will in the consequent sections define what an organization is, determine the attributes of the definition that are applicable to the Criminal Justice system, and later an analysis of the practicability of this attributes to the management and leadership aspect of the Criminal Justice Organization. I begin by understanding the meaning of organization.
Defining an Organization
An organization is generally defined as a group of individuals cooperating through a defined structure to archive a specific purpose by undertaking specific activities (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2012) . In the simplicity of this definition, three attributes to an organization present organizational structure, organizational purpose, and activities of an organization (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2012) . In determining whether any collection of individuals is an organization, the three main attributes of an organization must be satisfied. In the application of these attributes to the Criminal Justice System, it is noted that there are a number of contrasting and comparing points to the case.
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The structure of the organization refers to the specificity of each individual’s role and position in the organization. In order to ensure efficiency in the functioning of an organization, a predefined structure is usually put in place as this will enable each member of the organization to know what they are supposed to do to contribute to the overall results of the organization (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2012) . However, the concept of structure often implies the presence of bureaucracy which is not often the case in some of the Criminal Justice agencies. However, as per the definitions, the organization would also have a purpose and predefined activities which apply to all agencies in the Criminal Justice system. This is a clear indication that the system is an organization. Since the definition is applicable, next will be to determine how the principles of an organization apply to the Criminal Justice Organization.
Management and Leadership
Management is the coordination and control of members of an organization towards the achievement of goals. The Criminal Justice Organization is managed through leadership. Leadership involves the use of influence, convincing and bargaining to achieve the results of management without the explicit implications of management (Solomon, Costea, & Nita, (2016)) . This means that the head of a Criminal Justice Organization will control the activities of the organization’s members through leadership as opposed to strict lines of authority as is sometimes the case of some business organizations.
Also, there need to be distinction between public sector management and private sector management. The public sector has a number of influences when making management decisions. The presence of oversight civil service protections and obligations to the public as well as the limitations of public expectations has a bearing effect to the management styles of the Criminal Justice Organization (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2012) . The influence of employee union organizations also has the same influence on the public sector organizations as it does on private sector.
Systems Theory
An organization is often equated to a system and this also applies to the Criminal Justice Organization. The organization is an open system which interacts freely with its environment (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2012) . This means that the environment can affect how the system works through external factors that would be otherwise independent from the system in question (Horst, E., Bondarik, & de Paula Xavier, 2015) . Because the Criminal Justice organization is made up of individuals who interact with members of other different organizations, their individual goals, perspectives and activities are influenced by the people they interact with which means the operations of the Criminal Justice Organization will in turn be influenced by the organization.
The Criminal Justice System may be described as a complex system with complex goals and objectives which are often conflicting. This acts as a constraint to the operations of the organizations (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2012) . The conflicting objectives serve as a boundary model which ensures that the organization does not concentrate too much on the maximization of one objective while ignoring others. This ensures optimization of goal achievement as opposed to maximization.
Conclusion
It can be concluded therefore that the Criminal Justice System is an organization which operates under an open structure. The main goal of the organization is to protect of citizen rights while at the same time ensure the reduction of crime. Criminal Justice Organization is a complex and open system whose actions are affected and influenced by the elements in the external environment with which it interacts.
References
Horst, D. J., E., B. E., Bondarik, R., & de Paula Xavier, A. A. (2015). Open or Closed? Macroergonomics Approaching Socio-Technical Systems Productivity: An Overview of the Conceptual Framework. Social and Basic Sciences Research Review, 3(2). , 98-115.
Solomon, I. G., Costea, C., & Nita, A. M. ((2016)). Leadership versus Management in Public Organizations. . Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 11(1), , 143.
Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D., & Klofas, J. (2012). Criminal justice organizations: Administration and management. Cengage Learning.
