NCJ Number
138187
Date Published
1990
Length
148 pages
Annotation
The California Department of Corrections (CDC) established the Departmental Task Force on Organizational Structure in 1989 to address communications, personnel issues, standards development versus centralization, change management, and reorganization-regionalization.
Abstract
The Task Force noted that CDC's existing centralized organizational structure does not bring corrections to the local community level in response to continued population growth. Some Task Force members, however, expressed the concern that regionalization might merely add another layer of bureaucracy. Two members who visited Georgia and Florida to evaluate their regionalized correctional systems concluded that regionalization is a viable approach to managing the rapidly expanding CDC. The Task Force determined that regionalization would enable the CDC to plan for unique correctional populations, develop a flexible organizational structure, increase communication at the local level, and help the CDC accommodate continued growth. The Task Force recommended the establishment of a regional structure emphasizing the following: multifunctional headquarters management with a reasonable span of control for executive management, delegation of decisionmaking authority to the field level, decentralized administrative service functions, and programmatic responsibility for both institutions and parolees within each region. A proposed model of CDC regionalization is included as an appendix to the report, along with organizational charts for Georgia and Florida. Tables and figures