Case management often involves a variety of roles and large caseloads. For example, the following scenario is fairly common for correctional case managers:

It is Friday afternoon, and you still have two annual reviews and one security review to complete. You are expecting four offender transfers to arrive at any minute, and you are responsible for handling their intakes. You have to serve as a witness at an institutional charge hearing at 3 pm, and the warden has asked you to contact a local church group to set up a visit next week. You are on your way back to your office, and you notice one of the offenders on your caseload sitting on his bunk, crying. How will you handle all of this? Keep in mind that your facility is not authorizing overtime, so you must leave at 5 pm.

Research time management theories, and discuss which are most appropriate in the field of criminal justice by responding to the following:

• Describe some of the time management theories that you found in your research.
• Which theory do you think would be most effective for you, working in the field of criminal justice?
• Discuss how you would utilize time management to handle the situation outlined above.
• Discuss how you could have utilized that theory to avoid the scenario outlined above.

 

Time Management Theories – Criminal Justice System

There are various time management theories in existence today. The first one is the Pomodoro Technique. Created in the 1980s, this theory suggests breaking up one’s day into chunks of 30 minutes each, where they work for 25 minutes and rest for 5. These 25-minute intervals are called Pomodoros. After going through 4 Pomodoros, the break or rest time gets increasingly longer. The second theory is the pickle jar theory which utilizes the image of a pickle jar. The jar represents a day with a definite amount of time to get things done. The jar is filled with large rocks, representing bigger tasks, then with pebbles followed by sand, representing smaller tasks. In the time blocking technique, one creates a structure for their day that includes different tasks. Rather than working by the clock, one focuses on completing small and big tasks one at a time. One should first determine the tasks they need to complete and estimate the amount of time required to complete them. Finally, they should set blocks of time throughout the day to focus on each specific task.

I believe that the most effective theory in this case study would be the pickle jar theory. This is because it ensures that I take care of the most important issues first. Since I have limited time, I will need to determine the most important activities or those that are a matter of urgency. I will first leave the annual and security reviews pending to cater to the four offender transfers to avoid delays in their processing. While doing this, I need to keep in mind the institutional hearing at 3 pm. The local church group visit is set for next week, and so I can postpone it till after the hearing. When I come back, I will attend to the offender who was crying and set up the Church meeting. By this time, it will be too late to complete the reviews and will come back to do so the next morning.