The impact of work-family conflict on correctional staff job satisfaction: An exploratory study

Correctional staff job stress has grown dramatically as a result of the increase in inmate populations, legal interventions, and competing ideologies. A wealth of literature has been published on correctional staff job stress. This literature, however, has failed to address the impact of work-family conflict on correctional staff job satisfaction. A survey, administered to correctional staff at a midwestern prison, reveals that role ambiguity and work-on-family conflict have a significant negative effect on correctional staff job satisfaction, while family-on-work conflict does not. Implications are discussed.     

The merit principle in the provincial governments of Atlantic Canada

Abstract: The merit principle is the primary means of restraining or avoiding political influence in civil service employment. It has received a good deal of attention at the national level of government but much less so at the provincial level. This article is designed to provide an assessment for Atlantic Canada. The author reviews the background in Britain and Canada and, after identifying the main elements of the principle, as developed at the national level of government in Canada, deals separately with each of the four Atlantic governments. He concludes that the merit principle has had its ups and downs throughout the region and that its current status varies considerably from province to province. Sommaire: Dans le secteur de I'emploi de la Fonction publique, le principe de la selection selon le merite est le meilleur moyen le limiter l'influence de la politique, voire de l'éviter. Ce principe a fait l'objet de beaucoup d'attention au niveau du gouvernement fédéral, ce qui n'a pas été autant le cas au niveau provincial. Dans cet article, I'auteur Bvalue la situation B ce sujet dans les quatre provinces de l'Atlantique du Canada. Il commence par passer en revue les données en Grande-Bretagne et au Canada, puis met au jour les principaux aspects du principe, tel qu'il a étéélaboré au niveau du gouvernement fédéral, pour en arriver enfin à traiter séparément chaque gouvernement des provinces de l'Atlantique. En conclusion, l'auteur dit que le principe de la sélection selon le mérite a connu des hauts et des bas dans les quatre provinces et, qu'à l'heure actuelle, la situation varie beaucoup de l'une B l'autre.     

Beyond Smokestacks and Silos: Open‐Source,Web‐Enabled Coordination in Organizations and Networks

What accounts for coordination problems? Many mechanisms of coordination exist in both organizations and networks, yet despite their widespread use, coordination challenges persist. Some believe the challenges are growing even more serious. One answer lies in understanding that coordination is not a free good; it is expensive in terms of time, effort, and attention, or what economists call transaction and administrative costs. An alternative to improving coordination is to reduce its costs, yet there is little guidance in the literature to help managers and researchers calculate coordination costs or make design decisions based on cost reductions. This article explores two cases—the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Peer‐to‐Patent pilot program and the online relief effort in Haiti following the devastating earthquake there in 2010—to illustrate the advantages and constraints of using Web 2.0 technology as a mechanism of coordination and a tool for cost reduction. The lessons learned from these cases may offer practitioners and researchers a way out of our “silos” and “smokestacks.”     

Mental Health Courts and Their Selection Processes: Modeling Variation for Consistency

Admission into mental health courts is based on a complicated and often variable decision-making process that involves multiple parties representing different expertise and interests. To the extent that eligibility criteria of mental health courts are more suggestive than deterministic, selection bias can be expected. Very little research has focused on the selection processes underpinning problem-solving courts even though such processes may dominate the performance of these interventions. This article describes a qualitative study designed to deconstruct the selection and admission processes of mental health courts. In this article, we describe a multi-stage, complex process for screening and admitting clients into mental health courts. The selection filtering model that is described has three eligibility screening stages: initial, assessment, and evaluation. The results of this study suggest that clients selected by mental health courts are shaped by the formal and informal selection criteria, as well as by the local treatment system.     

Envisioning the next generation of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions

The purpose of this paper is to cast a vision for the next generation of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions for persons with serious mental illnesses in the criminal justice system. The limitations of first generation interventions, including their primary focus on mental health treatment connection, are discussed. A person–place framework for understanding the complex factors that contribute to criminal justice involvement for this population is presented. We discuss practice and research recommendations for building more effective interventions to address both criminal justice and mental health outcomes.