Good Leadership, Criminal Justice & Social Contract Theory - Essay Sample

Introduction

Good leadership, ethical codes of conduct, and criminal justice are mutually connected. Drawing from social contract theory by Certo & Certo (2019), the citizens of a nation repose freedoms to be safeguarded by the Republican state. Higher moral principles and standards are expected to be exercised by government justice practitioners so that an ordinary citizen can confidently trust the expert agents of justice who provide them with security. This moral standard tends to become compromised when law enforcement officers are encountered with moral predicaments where they are forced to make hasty decisions with people's lives in their hands. Criminal justice officers such as judges, police officers, and prosecutors should effectively learn to practice good leadership skills at the discretion of their duties.

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The consciousness and significance of ethics in the institutions of criminal justice are up-surging at a higher rate. The reason behind this faster growth is due mostly to the fact that nearly every other profession including criminal justice officials also participates in fraudulent actions in their daily activities. Recent studies by Ortmeier & Meese (2010), postulate that every year thousands of practitioners lose their job and representing their professions in a dishonorable fashion after being involved in immoral duties. This comprises of activities that are outright illegal and those that have been marked as being of criminal. Integrating good leadership skills and ethics enhances progressive improvement of ethics hence performance.

Training is a quality of good organizational leadership and it is ethical to provide employees with the knowledge they need to perform given tasks. According to Zollo et al. (2019), training is an organized and coordinated activity carried out in organizations to prepare employees in facing future challenges. Training also imparts knowledge to employees to enhance improvement in their performance. Trained employees get to understand the company goals in detail and also on the current developments that boost productivity in the various fields they are involved in. Training also contributes to improved confidence in various activities in that workers are involved as well as boosting career development.

A leader that develops a culture of frequent employee training enhances organizational development in the long run (Zollo et al., 2019). Some employers regard training as an expensive activity to carry out frequently but they miss out on the benefits that come with it. It is important to ensure that such training is incorporated into the organization's culture. A trained worker can address his/her weaknesses, strengthen their skills and uplift them from dependence on others' progress. They will nature their course and even be able to discover new areas that the organizations can venture thus they improve innovativeness. Harmony and good relationships among employees and between them and management can be achieved through regular training. The provision of a broad knowledge base among employees is the first step towards developing an organization.

Another aspect in which good organizational leadership plays a significant role is during the recruitment of employees. In large organizations, recruitment is often delegated to other junior officers to conduct the process. however, as a good leader, is a good choice to take part in the selection process. ensure that the critical areas are properly addressed to ensure that the process finds the best and most appropriate employees. The three important stages include formulating the job descriptions, selection of candidates carrying out interviews. These processes are important because they determine whether the selected persons can be incorporated into the company culture and be integrated into the rest of the teams as fast as possible. This aspect is essential in ensuring that organizations do not lose track of meeting their goals.

Before and during interviews, good leadership skills are essential. A good leader can engage well with the interviewee to get the most out of the process by doing the following. Before interviews, engage the candidates warmly, handle negotiations wisely and carefully scrutinize documents then document everything on email. At the interviews, ask appropriate questions to understand the reason or reasons behind the candidates' interests for the job; it could be because of income; they want to relocate to a new city or looking out to grow their career among others.

Organizational leadership requires accountability and leading by example (Reid et al., 2008). Employees easily emulate what their bosses are doing rather than what the managers instruct them. Therefore, leaders should be accountable for their juniors to follow. Accountability contributes to the reduction of time wastage on unproductive activities and behavior. A good leader ensures accountability among teammates and juniors by making them take responsibility for their actions thus teaching them that they can be trusted and let them understand the value of their work.

The primary reason behind leadership and criminal justice ethics is to show the correlation between the fair and just decisions made by justice practitioners when integrities lead discretionary verdicts since mostly there exist shades of ethical responsibilities that are superior to others. Good leadership can be seen by helping employees to integrate into the company culture and lead by example. Training, recruitment, and accountability are essential qualities of leaders in an organization.

References

Certo, S. C., & Certo, S. T. (2019). Modern management: Concepts and skills. New York: Pearson.

Ortmeier, P. J., & Meese, E. (2010). Leadership, ethics, and policing: Challenges for the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Reid, M., Allen, M., Riemenschneider, C., & Armstrong, D. (2008). The Role of Mentoring and Supervisor Support for State IT Employees' Affective Organizational Commitment. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 28, 1, 60-78.

Zollo, L., Laudano, M. C., Boccardi, A., & Ciappei, C. (2019). From governance to organizational effectiveness: the role of organizational identity and volunteers' commitment. Journal of Management and Governance, 23, 1, 111-137.