The impact of organizational justice on correctional staff

Fairness and justice are fundamental concepts in society, including in the workplace where they are referred to as organizational justice. Distributive and procedural justice are two dimensions of organizational justice. It is theorized that organizational justice impacts the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of correctional staff. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated, factor analysis was performed, and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression equations were computed from the results of a survey of staff at a midwestern correctional facility. It was found that distributive and procedural justice are distinct concepts among correctional staff, and both have significant positive effects on job satisfaction. Additionally, procedural justice, but not distributive justice, has a significant positive impact on organizational commitment.     

The impact of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment

Correctional staff are the heart and soul of any correctional facility. While there was a significant body of research on the impact of the work environment on correctional staff, this study sought to expand that knowledge by examining the effects of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Multivariate models were estimated. Both forms of organizational justice had negative effects on job stress and organizational commitment; however, only procedural justice, but not distributive justice, had a significant impact on job satisfaction.     

Take this job and shove it: An exploratory study of turnover intent among jail staff

The success of any organization usually rests on the shoulders of its employees. As such, voluntary personnel turnover presents administrative challenges that have substantial and far reaching effects. Understanding the factors that lead to staff turnover intentions can assist organizational leaders in possibly altering the work environment to address employee concerns. Among correctional organizations, the few studies that have been conducted on turnover intent have focused, as most correctional research in general, on prisons. The exclusion of jail turnover intent is puzzling given the unique challenges that jail staff face. The current study attempted to fill this empirical void by using survey data to examine the antecedents (i.e., personal characteristics, perceptions of the work environment, and job attitudes) of turnover intent among staff at a large southern jail. Based on a multivariate analysis, the most powerful predictors of jail staff turnover intent were job attitudes (i.e., job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment). The findings suggested that administrators should concentrate on improving the work environment to boost employee job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.     

The impact of individual,organizational, and environmental attributes on voluntary turnover among juvenile correctional staff members

In this study we assessed the impact of individual employee characteristics, organizational attributes, and quality of the correctional environment on the turnover intentions of juvenile correctional staff members. Both individual characteristics and organizational attributes were significant predictors of turnover intentions. The individual characteristics were age, race, and education; the organizational variables were job satisfaction, stress, and staff support and communication. In general, the organizational attributes were stronger predictors of turnover. Only one variable pertaining to the quality of correctional environment, facility's amount of care toward juveniles, was significantly related to turnover. In contrast to findings of previous research, dangerousness, gender, and tenure were not related to staff turnover. We discuss the implications of these results for correctional staffing.     

The missing link between job satisfaction and correctional staff behavior: The issue of organizational commitment

Over the past twenty years, several empirical studies have examined the consequences of job satisfaction among correctional staff. When looking at worker behavior in other disciplines, though, it is commonplace to include both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, very few studies about correctional staff behavior include both concepts. This paper discusses job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and addresses the link between these concepts as it relates to correctional staff attitudes and behaviors. Further, a discussion of measurement issues and recommendations for future research is presented. This is a revision of papers presented at the 1998 American Society of Criminology annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.     

The Impact of the Work Environment on Prison Staff: The Issue of Consideration, Structure, Job Variety, and Training

Correctional staff are instrumental in ensuring the success of any correctional institution; therefore, investigating how the work environment impacts correctional workers is essential. To determine the effects of supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, data from a survey of staff at a Midwestern private correctional facility were examined. The Ordinary Least Squares regression results indicate that each of the work environment factors had a significant impact on one or more of the three outcomes. Specifically, supervisory consideration and perceptions of training decreased job stress. Supervisory consideration, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive effects on job satisfaction. Finally, supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive relationships with organizational commitment.     

Leave it at the gate: job stress and satisfaction in correctional staff

Though academic literature firmly establishes an inverse relationship between job stress and job satisfaction, global correctional studies fail to examine the extent of that affiliation on overall correctional job satisfaction. As such, this study uses a faceted approach to explore underlying relationships between organizational, job, and personal characteristics of correctional staff and causes of job stress and satisfaction. Using the Job Satisfaction Survey, nine aspects of job satisfaction are considered. The Work Stress Scale for Correctional Officers’ analyses of five areas of stress directly related to correctional environments. This study examines both uniform and nonuniform staff assigned to a minimum security prison. On average, staff scored well below the average American worker on the Job Satisfaction Survey. Job satisfaction was predicted exclusively by job characteristics or stressors, including the job itself, role conflict, and ambiguity, and the physical condition of the prison, while employee demographic variables and variables that measure healthy lifestyles (such as sleep and exercise) were not significant predictors. While job stress does predict a substantively significant portion of job satisfaction (21%), there is still room to improve prediction.     

The Impact of Punishment and Rehabilitation Views on Organizational Commitment Among Correctional Staff: A Preliminary Study

It has been long recognized that organizational commitment is an important component of effective organizations. It has, however, received relatively little attention in the correctional literature. Furthermore, much of the research to date on correctional orientation has focused on examining how various forces affect the punishment and rehabilitation views of correctional employees, but ignored how these views affect employees’ organizational commitment. Using a data set collected from 272 staff members at a Midwestern, high security state prison, this study examined the impact of punishment and rehabilitation views on organizational commitment. It was found that support for rehabilitation was associated with higher levels of organizational commitment while support for punishment was related with lower levels of organizational commitment.     

The internal crisis of corrections: Professionalization and the work environment

Criminal justice policymakers and managers have viewed professionalization as a favored solution to the current crisis in correctional systems across the country. Utilizing case study data drawn from a state correctional system located in the western United States, we find that upgrading line correctional staff was a strategy used by top administrators to improve the image of their agency and maintain the autonomy of their prison system in the face of a threatened take-over by the federal court. However, in mandating the professionalization of their personnel, these managers failed to confront deeper organizational problems. Instead, they argued that an educated staff was the cure for acknowledged operational problems—including corruption and inhumane treatment. The failure to combine staff upgrading with more comprehensive organizational reforms merely heightened the frustrations within the workforce of the state's correctional institutions. In essence, these professionalization strategies represent a prime example of utilizing individual-level solutions to solve organizational-level problems.     

Correlates of correctional officer job stress: The impact of organizational structure

Corrections can be a very stressful occupation, producing many negative outcomes for employees. These outcomes, both mental and physical, not only affect the employee, but the entire organization. A large body of literature has focused on identifying correlates of correctional staff job stress; yet, not all of the possible correlates have been studied. One area that has received little, if any, attention is the impact of the organizational structure on correctional job stress. Organizational structure includes issues of centralization, instrumental communication, integration, and organizational justice. The results of multivariate analysis indicate that instrumental communication and procedural justice have a direct effect on correctional staff job stress.     

The relationship among distributive and procedural justice and correctional life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent: An exploratory study

Distributive and procedural justice, two dimensions of organizational justice, have been found to be salient antecedents of many correctional staff attitudes, such as job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment; however, little correctional research has examined their relationships with the life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent. Multivariate regression equations were estimated to determine the association of personal characteristics, distributive justice, and procedural justice with the life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent of correctional employees based on a survey of 160 staff at a private midwestern maximum security institution. Both distributive and procedural justice had a statistically significant inverse association with burnout and turnover intent, while procedural justice had a significant positive relationship with life satisfaction. Additionally, the results indicated that the association of procedural justice was larger than the association for distributive justice. Similar results were obtained using only responses from correctional officers.     

Prison staff and work stress: The role of organizational and emotional influences

Previous research has well established the influence of demographics and work environment variables on the experience of job stress for correctional officers. However, the literature examining this phenomenon for other correctional staff is just beginning to emerge. Scant attention has also been previously devoted to the potential role of emotional issues, such as emotional dissonance, work environment variables of perceived organizational fairness, and feedback regarding job performance. The present research adds to this emerging literature through use of survey data from a sample of correctional staff employed in two prisons in Kentucky. Bivariate and multivariate analyses reveal that influences on perceived work stress are primarily organizational issues, including role conflict, emotional dissonance, and task control. Contrary to popular belief, the percent of one’s work time spent in contact with inmates reduces the experience of work stress.     

The Issue of Control in Jail: The Effects of Professionalism,Detainee Control,and Administrative Support on Job Stress,Job Satisfaction,and Organizational Commitment among Jail Staff

Jails are important, yet understudied, components of the American criminal justice system. While most research on correctional personnel has focused on prisons, a growing body of work is beginning to emerge on jails. This is encouraging given the unique circumstances that occur within jail environments (e.g., diversity and mobility of offenders, health issues among detainees, overcrowding, lack of training among staff, etc.). Given these conditions, the staff members who run jails become the glue that holds them together. The following study contributes to this burgeoning area of empirical inquiry by examining a variety of antecedents of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among jail personnel. Using survey data collected from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the findings indicate that staff perceptions of professionalism, detainee control, and administrative support all significantly impact degrees of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.     

Research Note – Strain-Based Work-Family Conflict and its Relationship with Perceptions of Distributive and Procedural Justice among Correctional Staff

Fairness and justice are valued concepts throughout the entire criminal justice system, and they do not resonate any less with employees in the field of corrections. Distributive and procedural justice, two dimensions of organizational justice, were postulated to have salient outcomes for correctional staff. While a growing number of studies have examined the effects of distributive and procedural justice, their effects have not been fully explored. Strain-based work-family conflict occurs when conflict at work spills over and has a detrimental effect on home life. Hierarchical regression analysis of two different surveys of correctional staff, one at a private correctional facility for juveniles run on behalf of the state and another at an adult public state-run correctional facility, indicated that both distributive justice and procedural justice had negative relationships with strain-based work-family conflict.     

Here today, gone tomorrow, back again the next day: Antecedents of correctional absenteeism

Correctional agencies are labor intensive, and many of the posts in a prison cannot be vacated, often leading to mandatory overtime. Despite the high costs and inconvenience associated with absenteeism in prisons, little empirical work was conducted on the antecedents of sick leave use by correctional workers. From self-reported data of workers in federal prisons in 1994, the results of this study indicated that decisions to use sick leave were independent of the culture of the prisons, and that many of the variables found to be associated with sick leave use in other settings also applied to correctional settings. In particular, the authors found that job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, and personal characteristics were associated with the use of sick leave. Surprisingly, tobacco use was not.     

ROLE CONFLICT IN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The divergent and often incompatible goals of treatment and custody within correctional organizations frequently result in ambiguous role expectations and role conflict among prison personnel. Hypotheses that role conflict is significantly greater among staff in treatment institutions than among staff in custodv institutions. Is significantly greater among treatment staff than among custody staff, and is significantly related to both job satisfaction and punitive attitudes toward inmates are tested with questionnaire data obtained from 336 treatment and custody personnel within 6 adult correctional facilities. Although the bivariate analyses provide support for each of the hypotheses, subsequent analyses indicate that role conflict is more likely to be the product of the organizational goals of the institution than of the treatment or custody staff positions within those institutions. These findings are related to previous analyses of the treatment-custody dilemma within institutions, and the implications for future research are discussed.     

To stay or quit: A review of the literature on correctional staff turnover

Correctional staff are the most important asset for any correctional agency. In fact, they are the heart and soul of any correctional organization. Many staff, however, voluntarily quit. The cost of this turnover is high for correctional organizations. Nonetheless, correctional staff turnover has generated only limited research. Moreover, there has been little direction in the correctional turn-over research. The different forms of turnover are discussed and the correctional staff turnover research is reviewed. A causal model for correctional staff voluntary turnover is developed and presented to guide future research. This article is a revision of a paper presented at the 1998 American Society of Criminology Annual meeting in Washington D. C. and my dissertation. The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions, as well as Janet Lambert, Ferris State University, for her assistance in editing and proofreading this article.     

Informal helping networks in prison: The shape of grass-roots correctional intervention

Factors related to the delivery of human services to prisoners with problems and crises of adjustment were explored in this study. Emphasis was placed on describing the human service roles played by custodial and treatment staff, particularly among staff members who took it upon themselves to (a) expand their formal organizational roles to include a general mandate to identify and assist inmates with problems, and (b) work cooperatively with similarly motivated staff as more or less stable members of informal helping networks or teams. Interview data were used to reconstruct the parameters of informal helping networks, to identify factors that facilitated or inhibited their development, and to obtain indications of their usefulness in the helping process. The research findings suggest more efficient ways to deploy existing correctional resources in the delivery of human services to prisoners. The study also highlights issues of correctional resource deployment that may bear on the larger problem of cultivating human environments in which rehabilitation or planned change can occur.     

The Association of Occupational Stressors with Different Forms of Organizational Commitment Among Correctional Staff

Committed staff are arguably an absolute necessity for the success of correctional facilities. A growing body of literature has examined how different aspects of the work environment relate to organizational commitment; however, organizational commitment can be operationalized as continuance, moral, or affective. Work environment variables may impact the various forms of commitment differently. Using survey data from 272 staff who worked at a Midwestern maximum-security state prison, this study examined the association between the occupational stressors of perceived dangerousness of the job, role conflict, role ambiguity, repetitiveness, and work-on-family conflict with the three forms of organizational commitment. The effects of the occupational stressors varied for each form of organizational commitment. Specifically, work-on-family conflict had a significant positive association with continuance commitment. Role conflict and repetitiveness had negative associations with moral commitment. Finally, all five stressors had significant negative associations with affective commitment.     

Occupational hazard: Predictors of stress among jail correctional officers

The plethora of literature on correctional officers and the work environment, more specifically occupational stress, has focused almost exclusively on officers working in prison facilities. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the predictors of occupational stress and general stress among 373 jail correctional officers in one state in the Northeast, using the Stressors identified in the previous literature on prison correctional officers and occupational stress. The results indicated that organizational strengths, perceived danger, role problems, and job satisfaction were significant predictors of both occupational and general stress. In addition, gender and salary predicted occupational stress while correctional experience and training predicted general stress. Suggestions are made for administrators, as well as future research on the workplace experiences of correctional officers.