Can models of organisational change help to understand ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in community sentences? Applying Kotter’s model of organisational change to an Integrated Offender Management case study

摘要

A number of nationally-driven initiatives have led to significant changes in the\udframework of community sentences, with various agencies being required to work in\ud‘joined-up’ multi-agency arrangements. Most notably, perhaps, has been the increased\udworking relationship between police and probation, most recently within Integrated\udOffender Management (IOM). Although these have produced some positive outcomes\udin relation to crime reduction, success is sporadic and often quite modest. Research has\udidentified a number of barriers to successful implementation, and this article builds on\udthis by drawing upon fresh empirical evidence to argue that the success of such schemes\udrelies on the management of organisational change that will inevitably and necessarily\udoccur. Applying Kotter’s model of organisational change to data generated from an\udevaluation of two IOM schemes in England, the article offers an explanatory account of\udthe implementation of the schemes and the possible effect this had on efforts to reduce\udcrime.