Mina O'Reilly at Logan Airport's TSA - Essay Example

?Mina O'Reilly at Logan Airport's TSA Table of Contents Introduction 3 Mina O’Reilly Steps against Security Breach of Ludo Sanchez 3 Model of Employment 4 Policies and procedures of TSA for their employees 5 What do TSA employees 'give' to their company, and what do they 'get' from their company? 6 Effectiveness of the Existing Model 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction This case study is on the incident of security breach at the Logan airport, Boston. The person responsible for such negligence is a Transport Security Officer (TSO) called Ludo Sanchez. The supervisor under whose jurisdiction the TSO was appointed was Mina O’Reilly. Mina O’Reilly has a very good track record and it is because of her supervision, that Logan airport was declared as the airport of the year. Ludo Sanchez was also a hard-working efficient TSO who not only took his responsibilities seriously but also delivered them with dedication. He had a magical effect on the checkpoint. He was also offered promotion which he denied as he wanted to work as a frontline employee. So Mina O’Reilly had strong faith in his dutifulness and had no doubt in his dedication towards his work. However, the recent security breach has questioned the past notion of Mina O’Reilly for Ludo Sanchez. The security breach took place when Ludo Sanchez made a phone call to his daughter and was telling her to complete her homework on time. The call lasted for just a few minutes, but within this few minutes a man carrying a blue hand bag passed the exit lane to the sterile terminal area without security check. Flights got delayed as the blue bag the man was carrying needed to be identified and checked, so that there is no fear of explosives or hazardous elements on plan. All these delays and confusion occurred just because one security breach for which Ludo Sanchez was responsible. Mina O’Reilly is now the responsible person to take measures against this security breach. Mina O’Reilly Steps against Security Breach of Ludo Sanchez Mina O’Reilly received the detailed feedback from Lead Transportation Security Officer (LTSO). She was the one to decide what next steps to be taken against Ludo Sanchez. Though she had the power to terminate Sanchez immediately for his negligence, but she did not wanted to do it because Sanchez had a very good past performance record, and he was a very dedicated employee of the company. O’Reilly had several options in front of her to deal with the situation, but she had to choose one among them. She can assign Sanchez’s duty to a position which requires lower security, such as the exit lane, but ironically that was the position the security breach took place, when Sanchez was distracted. The second option would be to give him a verbal warning and developing a specific performance development plan for him to improve his performance and attentiveness. Third, option would be to send him for retraining and counseling. These were the probable options that O’Reilly can refer to for deciding her ultimate steps in Sanchez’s case. O’Reilly should be combining the options that she has decided; this means that she should give a verbal warning to Sanchez for his negligence. He should be sent for retraining and counseling, so that the protocols would be explained to him ones more and counseling would stop him from getting discouraged or de-motivated through the mistake that happened because of his negligence (Buchler, 2011, p. 231-233). Model of Employment The model of employment of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) signifies the organizational structure of the agency. In TSA the TSO’s position was the entry level position who worked as screening units. The annual salaries of these TSOs are $25,000 to $35,000. There were approximately 760 TSOs. They are responsible for travel document checking, checking luggage through X-ray machine, metal detectors, monitoring the exit lane, tracking explosive devices, etc. For each or these duties LTSO is assigned. There are about 148 LTSO. They handle a team of TSOs. Then for handling teams of these LTSO, there is Supervisory Transportation Security Manager (STSO). Mina O’Reilly was also a STSO. Above these employees is the Transportation Security Manager (TSM). There are 22 TSM in the agency. Then there are Deputy AFSD for second screening, Deputy FSD for first screening and finally the Federal Security Director on top of every one. The TSOs performed a critical task of screening the station positions, so they were given an eight hour shift working hour to prevent fatigue at work place. The objective was to maintain high surveillance of the sterile areas and also ensure the safety of the passengers. The job description of a TSO was challenging and had lots of opportunities. The performances of the TSOs are continuously checked and monitored, since they work as the first line of defense in case of any suspicious person or item found in the premises (Transportation Security Administration, n. d.). Policies and procedures of TSA for their employees TSA was formed after the terrorist attack of September 2011. It was a component of the US Homeland Security. The policies and procedure of the company has been developed for achieving its mission to protect the transportation system of the nation and ensure that the passengers’ free movement without any fear or hesitation. The policy of TSA is to appoint such people who not just perform their task, but also look at the broader aspect of saving their nation. Based on this policy of the agency, they hire the part-time employees and also the full timers at TSO level. They train and guide them to become an integral part of their screening unit and based on the performance within one to two years. The procedure of performance appraisal goes on like this based on the efficiency of the employee. What do TSA employees 'give' to their company, and what do they 'get' from their company? The employees in TSA offered their dedicated services by maintaining the protocols and policies defined by the agency for its employees, such as being polite, courteous, and patients with the passengers. They do not behave inappropriately with the travelers according to stated company policy. Apart from this they successfully do their duty as a first line of defense and work continuously on duty without socializing. In return TSA understands that after working continuously for several hours continuously an employee may suffer from fatigue, which might affect his/ her performance, so every employee has a rotational shift of eight hours. They are given appraisal based on their performances after a fixed interval of time and a efficient work atmosphere is created where employees feel motivated to put in their efforts for their nation’s security. Effectiveness of the Existing Model The success of TSA is reflected through the level of performance it has delivered. It has been unofficially declared as the airport of the year. This is mainly because of the performance of the airport authorities and its effective organizational model. Logan is a very significant airport and TSA ensures that the security presence is visible at this airport. TSA has maintained their performance records through effective monitoring. TSA has designed proper shift duties for its TSOs, so that they can handle the high pressure job without any fatigue. However, the tasks of TSOs were the most challenging of all. There were the right number of LTSOs and STSOs for tracking and assessing the duties and performances of the TSOs. The level of hierarchy that was developed in TSA was strong enough to monitor the duties of each subordinate level, so that the employees in every level performance effectively without any loop (International Labor Office, 2000, p. 99-101) Conclusion In my opinion there is no point questioning the model of TSA because the results show that the existing model of TSA was capable enough to maintain a high standard of security service in the Logan airport. One security breach that occurred resulted in a large chaos and confusion, but the point of initiation was not something dangerous. By this I mean that neither Ludo Sanchez was an inefficient employee, nor was he related to any anti-social group who paid him money for such breach. He was a dedicated high performing employee, who just got distracted for a few minutes as he was talking with his daughter. In his place an alternative TSO should have been there to guard the place, but this was not the case. So he cannot be blamed wholly for such incident (Adams, 2006, p. 137-139). References Adams, D. (2006). The impact of managed care practices on clinical social workers and their response. Michigan: ProQuest. Buchler, J. (2011). Hiring and firing public officials: Rethinking the purpose of elections: Rethinking the purpose of elections. Oxford: Oxford University Press. International Labor Office. (2000). Termination of employment digest. Geneva: International Labor Organization. Transportation Security Administration. (no date). About TSA. Retrieved from: http://www.tsa.gov/about-tsa. Read More