CJ 510 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Criminal justice professionals are asked to serve the public with professionalism and fairness. Regardless of crimes committed by a suspect, the suspect must be treated respectfully and ethically. Leaders are expected to be able to take command of tragedies and major incidents. Administrators must walk a fine line to keep the public informed and their subordinates safe. It takes a true leader to be able to gain the trust of the community and the criminal justice professionals that serve under that particular leader. In order to achieve the qualities of a true leader, one must be able to approach problem situations effectively and address problems ethically and appropriately for all parties involved.
The final project in this course will expose you to a problem situation and task you with how it should be solved. You will imagine you are employed at a criminal justice organization facing a communal problem. Your superior at the organization has asked you to review the problem situation and offer your recommendations. You will be given the chance to evaluate the situation and develop suggestions that will inform development of strategies to address the issue using appropriate ethical and transparent leadership and communication skills. It is important to be able to recognize what leadership style you may be using and if that style will be effective in dealing with an issue at hand. This project will give you the experience and tools necessary to address problem situations and effectively lead both your subordinates and the parties involved while also coordinating with your superiors.
The final project for this course is the creation of a problem analysis with recommendations report. The final product represents an authentic demonstration of competency because it requires you to apply leadership concepts and ethical decision-making regarding decisions that will affect numerous stakeholders. The stakeholders include your law enforcement organization, a community, and many others such as political leaders and government officials. The project is supported by four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules One, Three, Five, and Seven. The final product will be submitted in Module Nine.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
• Analyze leadership dynamics and approaches used within criminal justice organizations for determining appropriate leadership styles that address communal problems
• Determine the potential impact of the ethical decision-making of leadership on the operations of employees and the organizational culture within criminal justice agencies
• Evaluate the ethical decision-making of leadership in criminal justice organizations based on accepted best practices and appropriate research
• Recommend strategies for fostering growth and trust between and within communities and criminal justice organizations
• Make recommendations for overcoming obstacles for implementing new strategies to internal and external key stakeholders in criminal justice organizations
Prompt
For the final project, imagine you are a professional working in a criminal justice organization. Your superior has asked your opinion on a problem facing the community. You will be given a basic scenario detailing a department of the organization that is trying to address a communal problem. You will complete a report explaining the problem facing the community and offering any recommendations and strategies you believe could effectively address the problem.
You will select one of the following case studies to analyze for your final project. To access the case studies, refer to the Harvard Business Review Coursepack Module:
1. NYPD New
2. The Flawed Emergency Response to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Introduction
A. Describe the organization based on the information provided in the chosen scenario and explain the communal problem that they are trying to address.
B. Describe budgetary constraints and other potential obstacles that might impact the organization in addressing the problem from the agency and community standpoint.
C. Analyze and describe the current research in the field that would help leadership ethically address the issue and base their decisions on best practices of the field.
II. Leadership Analysis
A. Analyze the actions of leadership in the chosen scenario for how they did or did not facilitate and motivate employees in addressing the problem. Be sure to provide examples from the scenario to support your response. What instances in the chosen scenario exemplify the approach of leadership in encouraging and interacting with employees?
B. Analyze the actions of leadership in the chosen scenario for communication issues that might arise and how these issues might impede addressing the problem. Be sure to provide examples from the scenario to support your response. What communication issues might leadership face when addressing this problem? What are the implications or consequences of these issues?
C. Determine whether the supervisors in the chosen scenario have functioned as effective leaders. Be sure to justify your response and support your response with appropriate research from the field gathered in your previous review.
III. Analysis of Ethics
A. Determine the ethicality of leadership’s decision making during their attempts to address the problem. Be sure to justify your response and support your response with appropriate research from the field gathered in your previous review.
B. Evaluate the transparency of the organization in regard to public communications. Be sure to justify your response. For example, are systems in place to communicate with the public? Has the organization been readily available and willing to provide the community with information regarding the problem?
C. Evaluate how leadership of the organization considered the ethical concerns of the community in addressing the problem. Be sure to justify your response. For example, how were the concerns of internal and external stakeholders considered?
D. Determine how the ethical decisions of leadership may impact the performance of employees in addressing the problem. How might these decisions improve employees’ ability to address the problem? How might they hinder their ability to address the problem?
E. Determine how the ethical decisions of leadership may impact the culture of the organization. For example, what if employees do not agree with the decisions?
F. Explain the overall implications of the ethical decision-making of leadership and how that affects the organization and the community. Be sure to justify your response, and support your response with appropriate research from the field gathered in your previous review.
IV. Recommendations
A. Recommend an appropriate and effective leadership style that superiors at the organization could employ to address the problem and best fit the organization based on your previous analysis. Be sure to justify your response.
B. Make recommendations to leadership for resolving the situation that balance the needs of the community, effectively addressing the problem, and what is ethically appropriate. How should leadership balance these three important elements in addressing the problem?
C. Recommend strategies or actions that leadership could take to improve community relations and foster growth and trust between the community and the organization in response to the problem from the chosen scenario. Be sure to justify your response and support your response with appropriate research from the field gathered in your previous review.
D. Recommend strategies or actions that leadership could take to maintain and improve the culture of the organization in response to the ethical decisions of leadership regarding the problem from the chosen scenario. Be sure to justify your response and support your response with appropriate research from the field gathered in your previous review.
E. Make recommendations for the organization on how they could account for obstacles that might impede the organization in addressing the problem and implementing your recommendations.
F. Explain how the organization could implement and uphold your recommendations. For example, should they enact new policies? Training?
G. Explain how the organization would consider any budgetary constraints they might face both in addressing the problem and implementing any of your recommendations.
Milestones
Milestone One: Case Study Selection
In Module One, you will submit the case study that you have selected to complete your final project on. Review the final project and then the two case study options. You will post your case study selection in a journal assignment. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Leadership Analysis
In Module Three, you will submit your leadership analysis. You will analyze how leadership acted in your selected case study in regard to how they facilitated or motivated employees, what communication issues might affect how they addressed the problem, and whether or not the supervisors in your selected case study functioned as effective leaders. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Milestone Three: Analysis of Ethics
In Module Five, you will submit an analysis of ethics. You will analyze your selected case study for the ethics that were used to address the problem. You will evaluate how leadership addressed the problem and whether they used ethical decision-making. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.
Milestone Four: Recommendations
In Module Seven, you will submit recommendations. You will use your previous analysis of the leadership and ethics and recommend strategies to help improve the organization’s use of ethical decision-making, the overall culture of the organization, and their relationship with the community. You will then identify obstacles that might occur when the plan is being implemented and strategies to help the organization implement and uphold your recommendations. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.
Final Submission: Problem Analysis With Recommendations Report
In Module Nine, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.
Deliverables
Milestone |
Deliverable |
Module Due |
Grading |
One |
Case Study Selection |
One |
Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric |
Two |
Leadership Analysis |
Three |
Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric |
Three |
Analysis of Ethics |
Five |
Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric |
Four |
Recommendations |
Seven |
Graded separately; Milestone Four Rubric |
|
Final |
Nine |
Graded separately; Final Project Rubric |
Final Project Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your problem analysis should be 6–8 pages in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, following appropriate APA formatting.
Critical |
Exemplary |
Proficient |
Needs |
Not |
Value |
Introduction: Problem |
|
Describes |
Describes (70%) |
Does not describe the organization based on the information |
3 |
Introduction: Budgetary Constraints Other |
|
Describes (100%) |
Describes (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
4.42 |
Introduction: |
Meets practices (100%) |
Analyzes practices (90%) |
Analyzes (70%) |
Does not analyze and describe the current research in the practices of the field (0%) |
3 |
Leadership Analysis: Facilitate Motivate |
Meets (100%) |
Analyzes (90%) |
Analyzes is (70%) |
Does not analyze the problem (0%) |
4.42 |
Leadership Analysis: Communication Issues |
Meets problems |
Analyzes |
Analyzes (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
4.42 |
Leadership Analysis: Effective |
Meets an (100%) |
Determines (90%) |
Determines (70%) |
Does not determine whether effective leaders (0%) |
4.42 |
Analysis Ethicality |
Meets (100%) |
Determines (90%) |
Determines (70%) |
Does not determine the ethicality of leadership’s decision making during their problem (0%) |
5.9 |
Analysis Transparency |
Meets problem (100%) |
Evaluates (90%) |
Evaluates justification (70%) |
Does not evaluate the transparency of the organization in regard to public communications (0%) |
5.9 |
Analysis Ethical |
Meets (100%) |
Evaluates (90%) |
Evaluates (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
5.9 |
Analysis Performance |
Meets (100%) |
Determines problem (90%) |
Determines cursory (70%) |
Does not problem (0%) |
5.9 |
Analysis Culture |
Meets “Proficient” (100%) |
Determines (90%) |
Determines is (70%) |
Does not determine how the ethical decisions of leadership (0%) |
5.9 |
Analysis Implications |
Meets criminal justice organizations in addressing communal (100%) |
Explains |
Explains (70%) |
Does not organization and the community (0%) |
5.9 |
Recommendations: Leadership |
Meets |
Recommends appropriate |
Recommends (70%) |
Does not |
4.42 |
Recommendations: Balance |
Meets (100%) |
Makes (90%) |
Makes (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
5.9 |
Recommendations: Foster Trust |
Meets (100%) |
Recommends (90%) |
Recommends (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
5.9 |
Recommendations: Culture |
Meets (100%) |
Recommends (90%) |
Recommends response but supporting (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
5.9 |
Recommendations: Obstacles |
Meets (100%) |
Makes implementing (90%) |
Makes implementing (70%) |
Does not implementing (0%) |
4.42 |
Recommendations: Implement Uphold |
Meets (100%) |
Explains how the recommendations (90%) |
Explains how the explanation illogical (70%) |
Does not explain how the organization could implement and |
4.42 |
Recommendations: Budgetary Constraints |
Meets (100%) |
Explains (90%) |
Explains explanation illogical (70%) |
Does not (0%) |
4.42 |
Articulation of Response |
Submission |
Submission |
Submission main (70%) |
Submission |
5.54 |
Total |
100% |