Matrix Structure Of The Juvenile Justice Department

The most recent organization I was employed with was the El Paso County Juvenile Justice Department which used a combination of hierarchical and matrix organizational structures. Juvenile Probation is just one department under El Paso County’s Organizational Chart. However, the Juvenile Probation Department has its hierarchical chart that consists of the top executives; Chief of Probation, Deputy Chief of Probation, Chief of Operations, Chief of Accounting, and Financial Operations. Afterward, each of the above executives had unit Directors for each unit of this department. Subsequently, below the unit Directors, there were unit Seniors who would oversee and delegate the objectives to the front-line management, and the Team Leaders, who

According to our readings, an organization that implements a matrix structure can be complex but flexible, as employees are grouped by functions and product teams (Jones, 2020, p.287). However, while there are benefits to using a matrix structure, there are also downfalls that can be caused conflicting demands among managers and team members. A more effective structure for a complicated organization could be having less middle management (Unit Seniors) as many times the communication is broken here from the time the objectives are delegated from the executive levels. Therefore, Jones (2020) suggests that a cross-functional team can be effective in such a complex organizational structure are internal unit rivalries between units can be worked through and focus on the overall department’s goal. I strongly believe that the Juvenile Probation Department can reach higher organizational goals if every leader would respect each other’s views and work together, despite the units they are in charge