Just like managing the staff of any other organization in the private and public zone, leading the staff members of a correctional facility is a complicated task (Carlson, 2006). Just like the staff in the private sector, the prisons and penitentiaries staff has varying attitudes towards work. Managing a heterogeneous group is not easy since the perceptions of the members will be different and this will impact negatively on cohesion and peaceful cooperation. The staff members in the correctional facilities operate in a rigid police-like environment where the employee has little contribution to the decision making process. Bureaucratic procedures are inherent of the prison staff management system (Carter, 2006). There being no flexibility, the employees have little discretion and decision making authority. Research conducted in correctional facilities across the United States and India indicated that the challenges encountered in the management of prison staff were rooted in the main principle of management applied by leadership: the principle of strict instructions and authority. This paper focuses on the comparison between the challenges encountered in managing prison staff and the problems encountered in managing staff in the private sector.
There is much similarity I the problems encountered in both sectors. The major basis for the resemblance is the verity that human beings have a similar attitude towards work. The average human being cannot live with live with others without conflicts. Such conflicts are the causes of the problems encountered by the senior management in leading the rest of the work force. One of the challenges that are common between the private sector and the correctional department is resistance to change (Carlson, 2006). The average employee is always not ready to accept change. This has majorly been linked to the fear of the unknown. Similarly, research carried out in the correctional facilities indicated that the staff was not ready to embrace change as they feared that which they did not know and did not want to lose their jobs.
Worth noting is the fact that managing prison staff is challenging because the environment in which they work is not a friendly environment. The physical conditions in the prison setting are such that they cause a lot of stress and tension (Carter, 2006). Incidences of attacks by the inmates for instance make the prisons personnel view their job as a hazardous task. Giving instructions to a person that is not comfortable in their working environment, is cannot be effective at all since such persons are bound to rebel. Whilst, conflicts among the employees are rampant in the private sector, they are not as many among the prison staff. In the prison setting, the conflicts usually exist only between the prison personnel and the inmates. Another problem encountered by the prison administrators in handling their staff is the fact that the prison personnel are prone to drug and substance abuse. Research has proven that following the stressing environment in which the prison staff works, suicidal tendencies and drug abuse are common phenomena.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the major difference in the challenges encountered in management of prison staff and the private sector staff is the principles of management applied in either case. The major principle applied in management of private sector personnel is the principle of the common objective and unity of direction. On the contrary, the major principle in the correctional institution is that of strict instruction and observation of authority (Carlson, 2006). While the private sector employees may be allowed to contribute to decision making, their prison counterparts have no power to participate in the process. Both scenarios, however, face the problems of cultural diversity, lack of homogeneity and limited autonomy and discretion. The managers in both cases also encounter challenges dealing with the work-life imbalances.
References
Carlson, P. (2006). Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theory. Ontario: Jones and Bartlett Publishers
Carter, S. (2006). A Rainy Night in Georgia: Managing Change in the Conditions of Confinement. Corrections Today. Vol. 68 Issue 6, p56-60.
