Conflict Management Paper

Most agencies in law enforcement have different styles of management that will often lead to conflict in the workplace. Management plays a major role in the workplace to handle important changes and decision- making processes. The subject of this paper focuses on the conflict management within the juvenile justice department at (SRYDC) Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center. The paper will also focus on how conflict contradicts certain styles of management in the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center.

According to (Peak, 2010) many workplace settings develop conflicts one time or another among employees, middle management, and upper management because of lack of communication. Most of these conflicts arise because of too many agreements and disagreements as a team or organization. When these conflicts arise it can cause the workplace to become a hostile environment for employees and management. The management has to deal with many of these issues consisting of work related issues. The Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center (SRYDC) is a boys and girls facility for adolescents between the ages of eight to 17. The (SRYDC) has a manager over medical that oversees the medical department and a manager over the program that oversees the residential department. The residential side of the detention center have specialist who work and interact with the youths and believe in rehabilitating the youths. The medical side of the detention center has therapists who spend less time with the youths but believe in using therapeutics to help rehabilitate the youth. Trying to rehabilitate the youths is hard for the therapists and specialists to implement his or her style for rehabilitation.

When the therapists and specialists try to interact with the youths at SRYDC, he or she try to use a different approach to deal with the youth, especially when it concerns the use of disciplinary actions. For example, a youth involved in a physical altercation at SRYDC were placed in restraints and escorted to his or her cell for a 24 or 72- hour lock down as punishment for his or her behavior. If the situation remains the same but medical handles the situation the youth or youths involved in the altercation will talk to his or her therapist who will require that youth to write a letter of apology and explaining his or her actions to receive lesser punishment on a therapeutic aspect. Once these two departments cross paths many issues tend to develop and cause confusion, stress, and disagreements for the other staff members involved in the incident. When a youth gets involved in an altercation that becomes physical or not, he or she must have some accountability for their actions. Some youths face 24 to 72- hour lockdowns for incidents happening beyond his or her control. Most youths provoked in physical altercations try to protect themselves from exercising any mental or physical harm involving another youth. The youths involved in gangs are the main reasons