Discuss why change occurs

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Change can emanate from inside or outside an agency's environment. To the extent that members are aware of environmental changes or internal conflict that may affect the agency's operations or outputs, the agency may enter into deliberate or planned change efforts. Before executives actively make some form of change effort, however, they must first perceive a need for change—that ‘‘something is broke and needs to be fixed.''
• The need for change may also be a result of environmental changes, such as changes in public perceptions of what agencies should be doing or how agencies should carry out their mission or duties. Environmental forces, such as technological changes, demographic changes, or social or political pressures may impose on agencies at least a need for change.
• For agencies of the criminal justice system, their task environments—new legislation, court decisions, etc.—will have the strongest impact on the need to change. A performance gap may be also produced internally by employee turnover, internal structural or technical changes, or repercussions from an agency's performance.
• External or internal forces taken separately or collectively can cause disequilibrium in an agency. Turnover of personnel will lead to differences in the collective behaviors of organizational members, regardless of official agency goals. New employees may have different goals, values, or work ethics from older employees. They may also view the mission of the agency differently.