Criminal Justice

1- Identify a public organization that you are familiar with. Think of a time the organization (or a subunit within the organization, such as a department, a team, a task force and etc.) needs to make a difficult decision. Describe how the decision is made. Choose a decision-making approach that is related to the decision-making process in your example, and explain how they are related. Please apply the course material to discuss the pros and cons of the decision-making process in your example, and provide your suggestions to further improve the organization’s decision-making quality.

2- Address the following in your response:

Provide a brief description of the organization you are analyzing.
Describe the decision-making process. To provide a comprehensive description, please consider the following questions: What is this decision about? What goal does it want to achieve? Who are engaged in the decision-making process? Who defines the goal? Are all the major stakeholders invited to the discussion? What information is needed? Is all the needed information collected? Is there any discussion about the values or priorities during the process?
Analyze how the decision-making process in your example relates to one of the decision-making approaches in this week’s readings. Which decision-making approach is your example similar to and why?
From your perspective, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the decision-making process in your example? Identify at least one strength and one weakness.
Please provide two suggestions to improve the organization’s decision-making quality and explain why.

3- Format your paper and references according to APA guidelines. Provide at least FOUR references in APA citation style. Writing should be clear, well-organized, and contain minimal grammatical errors.

ANSWER

Decision-Making Process

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a federal agency under the department of health and human services charged with handling public health issues in the united states (Fischer et al., 2017). The CDC has a huge mandate in advising the country on matters of disease control and prevention. The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed just how important and consequential the organization is in ensuring safety for all Americans. One contentious issue has been whether to open schools and if yes how the schools must be opened. In the middle of a pandemic that has ravaged the United States more than any other country in the world, the decision to return students, teachers, and other staff to school has been a tough subject for many people at the organization.

The discussion process involves a calculation of all viable priorities and what can be done to achieve them. While staying at home and social distancing is currently the most effective way of limiting community support, it is important to note that students cannot continue staying at home because it has interfered with their academic development tremendously. The decision process requires information on the prevalence of the coronavirus in the community, prevention measures and treatment preparedness should case emanate. It is important for schools to safely reopen as quickly as possible for learners to catch up with many concepts that they have lost due to closure. Safe reopening involves devising means that will enable an environment that does not welcome the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in both the school and the community. Students, teachers, families, communities, and other staff should take initiatives to protect themselves in their workplaces, homes, learning environments, and playgrounds. Preventing transmission into school communities is the initial step towards a successful reopening of schools (Gostin et al., 2020).

The CDC is through its leadership is involved in the decision-making process to establish how safe the school can be reopened. The agency has the responsibility to offer guidelines of how schools can best manage reopening to ensure the coronavirus does not spread in the same period. The goal is defined by the CDC leadership team under the supervision of the director. Most of the stakeholders are invited into the discussion to ensure that the best solution is arrived upon. The Department of education has been represented because schools fall under the management of the department of education. Stakeholders in the health sector are part of the discussion to ensure that all health protocols are respected even as they attempt to resume in-person learning (Melnic & Darling-Hammond, 2020).

Decision-Making Approach

The decision-making process uses the rational approach because it incorporates steps, defines goals, identifies alternatives, calculates consequences, and attempts to use the information to sway opinion. The process is backed by research and information which is a central requirement for rational decision-making processes.  The CDC must gather information about the COVID-19 pandemic and compare it with how schools operate to ensure that there is a central point of agreement (Marchau et l., 2019).

Strength of Approach

Information is supplied in plenty making the resultant decision informed and accurate.

Weakness of Approach

The requirement of vast information and data takes time leading to late consideration of options.

Suggestions to Improve the Organization’s Decision-Making Quality

The organization should reduce the number of bureaucratic considerations because they lead to time consumption and delay urgent needs.

Information supplied on the decision process should be brief and precise to make the decisions quick and targeted.

References

Covid, C. D. C., Team, R., COVID, C., Team, R., COVID, C., Team, R., … & Ussery, E. (2020).             Preliminary estimates of the prevalence of selected underlying health conditions among    patients with coronavirus disease 2019—United States, February 12–March 28,                          2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(13), 382.

Fischer, L. S., Santibanez, S., Jones, G., Anderson, B., & Merlin, T. (2017). How Is CDC             Funded to Respond to Public Health Emergencies? Federal Appropriations and Budget          Execution Process for Non–Financial Experts. Health security, 15(3), 307-311.

Melnick, H., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2020). Reopening Schools in the Context of COVID-19: Health and Safety Guidelines from Other Countries. Policy Brief. Learning Policy       Institute.

Gostin, L. O., Cohen, I. G., & Koplan, J. P. (2020). Universal masking in the United States: The role of mandates, health education, and the CDC. Jama, 324(9), 837-838.

Marchau, V. A., Walker, W. E., Bloemen, P. J., & Popper, S. W. (2019). Decision making under deep uncertainty: from theory to practice (p. 405). Springer Nature.