Performance Management in Corrections - Essay Example

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Performance Management in Corrections: A Case Study Gary Hart is the leader of a small team of correctional officers at the Undon Correctional Facility. It has come to Gary’s attention that one of his team members has been engaging in poor work practices, i.e., unexplained absenteeism, sleeping on night shift, not making mandatory security checks, etc. There are several problems with this team member that need to be addressed appropriately by Gary when he has the meeting with this team member. The first issue at hand is to discuss the team member’s strengths. Then, after having recapped what he appreciates about the team members work performance, he should then try to tackle the more pressing issues that make this team member’s work performance so dismal as of late. The first major issue is that the team member has unexplained absenteeism. The second major issue is that the team member has been sleeping on the night shift. The third major issue is that the team member is not making mandatory security checks. All of these issues are going to be discussed here. I. Unexplained Absenteeism Unexplained absenteeism is unacceptable, and the team member should be alerted by Gary that one should not be absent so much for work. Not only is this unreliable on his part, but it shows that he doesn’t care much for his job or think about the safety of his co-workers. It demonstrates a visible and obvious lack of professionalism, and as well as demonstrates that the team member is not taking his or her job seriously by continually having repeat absences occur. Gary must let the team member know that such behaviour will not be tolerated—and that if he or she does not change his or her ways, that person will no longer be employed on the team—standards that everyone has to indeed follow. II. Sleeping on the Night Shift Sleeping on the night shift is wrong for many reasons. Number one, the team member is not getting paid to sleep on the job; the team member is being paid to be awake during some of the most important hours of the day in order to stop problems from happening. If the team member is asleep, however, he or she cannot prevent small issues from snowballing into even larger ones. Sleeping on the night shift could be especially detrimental to a corrections officer if there was a prisoner at-large, and that could cost the team member his or her life. A lot of these people in the jail facility are hardened criminals, and it is very possible that this could pose a problem in the future if the team member continued to sleep on the job while other important things were going on and happening. III. Failing to Make Mandatory Security Checks Failing to make mandatory security checks is a major faux pas by this team member. Not only does this signal a lack of professionalism, but it also demonstrates a disregard for the safety of human lives (both prisoners and personnel)—who can be put at risk by the guard not performing his or her job duty of making mandatory security checks. Since security checks are mandatory, that means they must be completed. There are no if’s, and’s or but’s about it—this must be accomplished by the end of the team member’s shift. It would simply be a travesty if something bad occurred all due to the fact that the team member did not properly make his mandatory security checks. Gary has called a meeting with the team member to discuss their work performance. The purpose of the performance review meeting is to outline the work performance concerns with the officer and develop an action plan to improve performance. (480 words) I. How to Improve and/or Eliminate Absenteeism Absenteeism must be improved dramatically in order to ensure that the corrections officer does not lose his or her job. Therefore, part of the action plan that Gary will propose will include reducing or eliminating absenteeism on the part of this team member. For example, he may stipulate that the team member must arrive to work no later than 15 minutes on any given day, or else he will be fined for a rushed arrival. Rushed arrivals make everyone uneasy and uncomfortable. It is better to get this team member into the habit of arriving early so that the team member will feel more inclined to not only be early getting to work, but that the team member realizes the value of his or her time. It is important to show the team member that there are so many elements which go into running a prison, and that the team member is an important and, yes, even integral, part of having that facility operating smoothly. II. How to Stay Awake on the Job It is important for the team member to stay awake on the job. Not only does he compromise his security, but he also compromises the security of other corrections officers as well as inmates themselves if he is asleep on the job. Several maladies could happen while he is asleep, thus rendering his services useless. For example, a bunch of inmates could get together a few bunk beds, cover them with sheets, and then do harm to someone without the corrections officer knowing because he would be asleep. The inmates could torture, rape, or murder someone without the officer’s knowledge. Then, when the officer would wake up to see a debacle had occurred, the officer would be responsible for that. If he was sleeping on the job, that would most likely get him fired. One surefire way to encourage the officer is to drink caffeinated coffee or a caffeinated beverage or two before his shift. That way he will stay awake. Also, he could bring along a crossword puzzle or some activity to keep his mind sharp while on duty, or review records of inmates—anything to keep the mind busy so that the officer will stay awake. After, this job is way to important to be sleeping on the job, which is definitely true. III. How to Remember to Make Mandatory Security Checks Security checks are mandatory, and they should be enforced with all seriousness. The officer should be informed by Gary that, if he cannot complete mandatory security checks in addition to improving in his other performance areas, he will have to be fired. Basically, skipping mandatory security checks are way too important to miss making them. It is similar to a nurse who has to make floor rounds in a hospital. If she doesn’t make the rounds, and a patient dies in the middle of the night because the patient wasn’t checked on, the family could bring a lawsuit against the nurse and so forth. So, the situation is most definitely somewhat similar in this case. Gary is apprehensive about the meeting. Based on previous performance review meetings that Gary has had with the team member, Gary is expecting that the team member will be very defensive about their work performance and will seek to blame management for this behaviour. Choose one leadership theory/approach and discuss the type of leadership profile that would best suit this leadership dilemma. (485 words) I. How Gary Can Eliminate Being Apprehensive About the Meeting Gary can eliminate being apprehensive about the meeting by just being himself, making his statements clearly and calmly, and being professional about the situation because he has to discuss the team members unprofessional behavior. Therefore, modeling this good behaviour will definitely help the team member to have good behaviour himself. Generally, people get offended and turn over a new leaf when someone accuses them of being unprofessional. Instead, that individual being criticised will prove the person wrong by demonstrating his or her professionalism. So, then, it is very important that what happens is that Gary demonstrates professionalism. II. If the Team Member Gets Defensive If the team member gets defensive, it is suggested that Gary de-escalate the situation by letting the team member know that this is nothing to get upset about, but that it is just business, plain and simple. The corrections officer must know that running a prison facility is like running a business—one cannot just sleep on the job, not make mandatory security checks, and not show up for work. Rather, one must show up to the job every required day, on time—but preferably early—and that one must do what he is supposed to do and not sleep on the job either. So, in this sense, Gary must realistically tell the team member that if he doesn’t start doing what he is supposed to be doing, then he is going to be summarily dismissed from the job. III. If the Team Member Blames Management If the team member blames management, he or she should summarily be dismissed if he cannot recognize that these problems are his fault and they are his mistakes and his mistakes alone—not that of the management. It is the team member who is sleeping on the job, not making security checks, and not showing up for work. Those are issues over which management has no control, and therefore Gary should not worry about this issue too much, because it’s not his fault. IV. A Leadership Approach That Would Work A leadership approach that would work in this case would be for Gary to be the guide for the team member in order to navigate his workplace more easily. Being a leader is not easy, but Gary must demonstrate some sort of leadership in order to spark this employee’s consciousness enough so that he will realize what he is doing wrong and make him start doing the right thing by following Gary’s example of professionalism. Most definitely, it is important to motivate him. IV. The Leadership Profile Which Would Suit the Dilemma The leadership profile which would suit this particular dilemma is that of the Dynamic Motivator. In order to get this employee to cooperate, the employee must be motivated to want to come to work. Perhaps an incentive of an end-of-year bonus or a raise looming in the future might be something that will motivate the employee to want to do a better job, and, in essence, give him an extrinsic motivation. It is important to somehow give this employee rewards for good work. BIBLIOGRAPHY Security industry authority. competency for licensing renewal strategy [Online]. Available from: [accessed 02-08-2011]. Security industry authority. licensing statistics [Online]. Available from: [accessed 02-08-2011]. Skills for business: Security industry training organisation national occupational standards for close protection [Online]. Available from: [accessed 02-08-2011]. 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