Product details

This organizational strategy and implementation case describes the effort to develop a major new capacity in Massachusetts state government- that of gathering and making use of DNA test results as part of the criminal justice system. To do so, however, Kathleen Stefani, the first woman director of the Massachusetts state police crime laboratory, must call on the capacities of an array of already-existing-and busy-branches of state and country government. Stefani must find ways to convince a variety of governmental entities to participate in the effort, despite the fact that none would receive funding nor any direct reward for its participation. The case provides a window on the reality of a frontline implementation challenge of the sort that legislators and the public may fail to consider when mandating that new programs be initiated. It highlights the management and negotiation skills necessary to align independent agencies in a new effort that requires inter-agency cooperation to succeed.