Budgets and the Correction Department
The Issue at Hand
The Governor had reviewed her budget and determined that the money allocated to the corrections division had grown over the past decade. She knew that if she could decrease monies that were going towards this area and put those monies into other areas, the budget would eventually even itself out. The problem was that she wanted to have her community see her as a “tough on crime” governor. (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2003, p. 106) Her goal was to find a way to get the budget back on track and still be seen as a Governor who wanted to wage a war on crime. She decided that designing a task force in order to help her obtain her goal would be the first step to the goal she wanted to implement.
Gaining Ideas
As Governor, she had endless resources that she could turn to in order to seek advice on her corrections plan. She could host a conference with other Governors from other states and obtain ideas and plans that have worked with their states. She could seek advice and information from the public seeing as though those were the people she was serving. She could do this by holding community forums and meetings. The final option that the Governor could use was the President. Although the President would be a last resort due to the busy schedule he/she had, if the Governor was able to schedule a meeting with the President she would be able to get unique ideas on how to work her budget while keeping her corrections department covered.
Task Force
The Governors task force could be comprised of retired lawmakers, ex-reporters, former government staff members and lobbyists. She could also include current lawmakers and reporters. The reason lawmakers would be important is due to the fact that they have first hand knowledge on the goal she is trying to obtain with the budget and corrections. If she invites retired lawmakers she would be making sure that there is little to no bias being brought to the task force. If she uses current law makers there may be a conflict of interest. If she invites reporters to be part of the task force, she would be gaining knowledge from individuals who are on the front line with news, statistics and past problems or issues. The main goals that the Governor would need to focus on would be to limit any bias, to keep the goal of cutting the budget for corrections without creating more crime in her community.
Communication
When running a task force, the Governor should refrain from all metaphors. As defined by Wikipedia, “a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second subject in some way.” (Wikipedia, 2006) Using metaphors can only confuse individuals and communication can be hindered. The Govenor needs to be clear on what she is seeking and use the same language with each group that would be represented on her task force. If she uses different language or metaphors with different groups, her goal maybe looked at differently by each group and in the end the task force would not be focusing on one main goal. Each member of the task force would be coming to the table with unique ideas to solve the budget and corrections problem. If the Govenor keeps the topic the same for each group, in the end she will be able to review the information she gets from each group and be confident that the information she obtains is free from any confusion and misunderstanding.
The Public
After the task force has met and come up with ideas, the Governor would need to present their ideas to the public. The best was to do this would be to have a press conference. The press would then give the information to the public. The only downside to this could be that there are times when the press construes information to fit what they want their reports to say. An alternative could be that the Governor could have an open forum at the capitol and allow those who are interested to come to listen. The Governor would need to keep her wording brief and to the point. If she doesn’t she may confuse the public and this could cause an uproar within the community. She would be receiving tough questions from the public. The public would ask questions such as, “Are my property taxes going to be affected by your plan?” and “How can we be assured that crime is still going to be the main focus with the plan you want to put into place?” She would need to assure the public that her task force has been implemented but no concrete plans have been put into place yet. Her goal is to simply inform the public of the task force, why she has formed the task force and the issues they will be reviewing.
Communication Barriers
As with any formed team, the task force may come to a point where communication could break down. When there are so many individuals with strong opinions and ideas to share, a barrier such as filtering can occur. Some task force members may only chose to hear what they want to hear instead of keeping an open mind to other member’s ideas. The Governor will have to be a strong leader in making sure she keeps the task force members on track and making sure that all ideas are heard and respected.
Conclusion
When a plan is finally agreed upon by the task force and the Governor, she needs to stand firm and follow through. The plan will be the first step in gaining the publics trust if in the end it proves to work both for the budget and for the Corrections Division. As with any plan, corrections and modifications may need to take place. The Governor should make sure to always fall back to her task force before making any final changes. If she does this she will not only be seen as a strong leader, but a leader who has a deep concern for the public she has been elected to serve.
References:
Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D.,& Klofas, J. (2003). Criminal justice organizations:
Administration and management (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson/Wadsworth.
(2006,June 18). Retrieved June 16, 2006, from Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor
