Key Areas of Management Practices - Essay Example

 Introduction Management is a critical component of successful operations of private and public institutions. Successful management approaches inculcate confidence, appreciates peoples’ diversity and maintains discipline. Besides, a viable framework balances authority, command, equity, and order. The prisons and other correctional facilities should consider these principles to enhance safety and quality of the correctional facilities. Nonetheless, correctional institutions like the prisons experience the challenge of managing inmates’ diversity and gender concerns. Particular challenge entails the management of the elderly inmates that require specialized attention. Instead of dispensing the services alongside upholding everyone’s integrity and basic human rights, the current management styles lack the broad scope of management. Hence, it is a common practice to observe younger inmates taking care of the elderly inmates. Moreover, unhealthy diet, lack of gender sensitivity and cultural unawareness constitute the significant challenges in the prisons. Various task force reports indicate that they lack essential practices including managing diversity and different age groups, ethical principles, planning and resource allocation. Hence, prisons should incorporate the key areas of governance, good leadership, proper planning, stakeholder analysis, performance measurement, improvement, and resource management. Key areas of management practices Competent management of the institutions requires incorporation of sound governance principles. Governance entails the broad areas of recognizing the special needs stakeholders and employees of an organization. In the context of prison and other institutions, the governance encompasses awareness of the special needs of the various categories of the inmates including the young, aged and women. The elderly inmates need special care regarding the health and physical capability. Therefore, the facilities should assess and identify the ailments, for instance, persons with acute memory impairment. A comprehensive governance approach responds by formulating special care that respects the inmates’ status (Coyle 2000, pp. 23). Besides, the elderly persons require extra equipment like the new attires for hygiene purposes. In addition, good governance of the prisons incorporates the appreciation of the gender differences and perceptions. It is imperative for the management unit including the administrators and policy makers to provide separate facilities for men and women. The demand is a key management principle that ensures that enhances confidentiality and facilitates the provision of essential services, for instance, medical and sanitation amenities (Tarzwell 2006, pp. 38). Likewise, the separation of male and female inmates simplifies labor division in the organizations according to the special attributes Integrating ethics and adherence to established code of conduct are a vital management tool that promotes achievement. The management should create a culture that promotes sound decision-making guided by the ethical principles and impartiality. In the case of institutional management, the management structure should aim progress equal opportunities, willingness to participate in organizations activities and respect for the participant. Ethical management should apply in the management of prisons that comprise the aged and young inmates. Predominantly, some prison management pushes the young inmates to assist the elderly in the facilities. Nonetheless, it is an unethical practice to make someone work in challenging environment and against the principles (Needham 2015). Hiring, maintaining, and rewarding a competent staff team is a prerequisite for sustainable management. Proper management of the work process further strengthens the management structures by ensuring fair competition and remuneration of the employees. It is a similar case in the context of management of prisons to promote the dispensation of high-quality services to the target persons. Hence, facilities should employ competent corrective staff to take care of the rehabilitation process of the inmates. The professionals bring multiplicity in management, for instance, counseling, social interaction and expert advice for the target populations. The specialists also enable the provision of relevant services like proper feeding mechanisms that safeguard against food poisoning and achieve the satisfaction of the inmates. An efficient management extensively includes proper planning for equipment, staff, and resource allocation. Accurate planning in the prisons necessitates the provision of care for the elderly inmates in an ethical manner. The strategies include scheduling for regular health assessments, safety, and provision of prison attires. Apart from planning for the elderly, the management practice also enables the delivery of offer elementary services like food, personal care services. It becomes handy since it enables taking data of the total number of prisoners and making appropriate budgetary allocations for their wellbeing. Planning is also essential for assessing trends of inmates including the growing number of old prisoners. In turn, it facilitates the distribution of resources, formulation of services and efficient management. Noble management areas characterize cost-benefit analysis and equitable resource allocations. The two aspects constitute significant issues that affect decision-making process for the prison's management. It is imperative to perform the cost-benefit analysis of maintaining prisoners in special care hospitals or minimum-security aged care centers. Needham (2015) is the idea that it costs $ 1000 a day to house an inmate at Long Bay Hospital Aged Care and $ 145 to house an elderly inmate at the new minimum-security aged care center. Hence, the cost of maintenance, operations, and efficiency of the facilities should form the basis for the key management practices. Overall, stakeholders and administrators should collaborate and pull resources to implement the facilities or programs that cost less but have high output capability. Besides, the present and long term costs of establishing and maintaining the correctional amenities should become an integral agenda for the implementers of similar programs. In addition, the leading management practices encompass conducting performance management and appraisal for the working staff. The procedure entails regular routines to ascertain the level of competencies, establish areas for improvements, and reward the best performers for their exemplary services. In the prisons sector, the procedures include the development of relevant management frameworks to assess management aptitude, employee output, client handling and adherence to organization regulations. It is also important to promote a safe working environment for the performance management and appraisal. The transformations in this sector promote team diversity and gives equal opportunities for growth (Tarzwell 2006, pp. 167). Prisons just like other organizations bring together different people with differing views about life and varied practices. Hence, the management should promote an institutional culture that enhances the personal integrity of the elderly and young inmates by the international human rights (Coyle, 2009 pp. 113). In the past, prisons had a bad reputation including poor sanitation services, mishandling of the inmates and the violations of the fundamental requirements for the quality of human life. Nonetheless, the management practices support a change of perception towards continuous improvement of services and measurement of the overall performance. In this approach, the institutions introduce new mechanisms for the accomplishment of standard policies. The current systems should consider the unique requirements of the different categories of inmates and offer services that follow to the demands. When handling the elderly populations, the prisons management should formulate a sensible plan that considers their physical impairment, cognitive challenges, and health complications among the old. The identification and assimilation of the mentioned concerns in the management policies construct best practices in the new decade. Similarly, offering best terms of service for the prison employees’ and performance measurement builds trust and motivate the employees to improve. In turn, it creates a cohesive team that works towards the attainment of the organizational objectives. It also improves collaboration, coordination, and sharing of ideas to improve the services (Tarzwell 2006, pp. 167). Overall, aiding the management practices require a leader with effective communication skills and vision. The exemplary communication skills assist in passing knowledge that facilitates growth. Besides, effective communication skills enable the smooth interaction of the management, staff, and the inmates to formulate viable strategies to guide the growth and service delivery frameworks. A resourceful communication plan for the prison department should take the form of bottom-up approach and encompass the participation of everyone. The management should also encourage inmates to practice dialogue as a mechanism for solving conflicts. In the case that includes a multicultural setup, the communication plan should be accessible, elaborate, and easy to use by every stakeholder. The plan should also be in harmony with the cultural and age differences of the inmates and the staff. Currently, a working plan can encompass the formulation of small teams and a leader to express their grievances. The management should also establish specific days for handling the inmates’ grievances. The communication plan should be swift and allow the presentations of feedbacks. Additionally, the administrators should review the structures to limit the hindrances to efficient communication within the institutional setups. Conclusion Successful management practices offer a practical environment for the development, satisfaction and the performance of all the participants. The suitable approaches enable the accomplishment of human rights, embrace cultural diversity, consider gender perspectives, and ensure team discipline. In addition, applying the key management practices creates a balance between the management functions, roles, and expectations of the stakeholders. Therefore, the management of rehabilitation institutions should incorporate the differing challenges and needs of the young and the elderly inmates. The approaches should entail consideration of the costs, ethical requirements, and proper planning of the facilities. Besides, the management should pay particular attention to the types of diet, the specific needs of the young, elderly inmates and women inmates. Despite the fundamental role of conducting rehabilitation, the management should incorporate the measures to build trust and achieve organizational success. List of references Coyle, A. 2000. Understanding Prisons: Key Issues In Policy And Practice: Key Issues in Policy and Practice. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Coyle, A. 2009. A human rights approach to prison management: Handbook for Prison Staff. The Journal of the Scottish Association for the Study of Delinquency, 113. Needham, Kirsty. 2015, October 18. Elderly inmates left in the care of fellow prisoners. The Sun-Herald. Tarzwell, S. 2006. Gender Liens are Marked with Razor Wire: Addressing State Prison Policies and Practices for the Management of Transgender Prisoners, The. Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev., 38, 167 Read More