Transformational leadership of the judges of the juvenile and familiy court

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study and analyze the components of the transformational leadership of the judges of the Juvenile and Family Court and to explore the guidelines for developing the transformational leadership of the judges of the Juvenile and Family Court. The mixed-method research approach was adopted in this study. The qualitative techniques used were documentary research and in-depth interviews with 56 informants. In terms of the quantitative research, the confirmatory factor analysis and descriptive data analysis were carried out. The sample of the quantitative research was 209 juvenile and family judges. The quantitative research instruments used in this study were questionnaires. The results suggested that the transformational leadership of the juvenile and family judges were comprised of 5 main components, which could be ranked in descending order from the highest to lowest factor loadings as follows: 1) integrated thinking (0.94) consisting of 4 components, which were always learning new knowledge, being aware of changes, proactive working, and building collaboration and coordinating with external networks, 2) building inspiration (0.93) comprising 5 components, which included having ability to convince others to agree on common goals, applying appropriate communication methods, stimulating teamwork, having positive attitudes, and encouraging others to recognize the importance of working for the public interest, 3) intellectual stimulation (0.92) consisting of 4 components, which were having courage and creativity, making all parties recognize and understand problems, encouraging others to look at problems from a new angle, and giving others a chance to creatively solve problems without blaming them, 4) individualized consideration (0.86) consisting of 5 components, which were understanding and paying attention to individual differences, listening to and respecting others, trusting and giving others a chance to shine, developing followers’ abilities and giving advice to others, and encouraging others and appreciating their achievements, and 5) adhering to ideology (0.78) comprising 5 components, which included having vision, having morality and ethics and acting as a role model, having work commitment, dedication, and devotion, having reliability and trustworthiness, and having maturity and emotional control. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the model of the components of the transformational leadership fit the empirical data well, considering that the chisquare = 4.76, p = 0.31, df = 4, GFI = 0.99, AGFI = 0.97, and CFI=1. Regarding the guidelines for developing the transformational leadership of the judges of the Juvenile and Family Court, the results revealed that all personnel management processes of the courts of justice, including personnel management policy, work design and analysis, recruitment and selection, appointment and transfer, personnel development, performance evaluation, and compensation and rewards, were found to have an effect on the development of transformational leadership. Therefore, the Office of the Judiciary should determine a clear, continuous, and long-term policy on personnel management in order to develop judges with specialized expertise and appropriate qualifications to work in each type of court, especially the Juvenile and Family Court, which requires judges with specific qualifications. The success of the juvenile justice system cannot happen in a short period of time; it takes a long time to prove that acquiring qualified personnel to work in the juvenile justice field is a worthwhile investment for long-term outcomes, which are successfully correcting and rehabilitating juvenile offenders into the good future of the nation.