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Showing posts from October, 2018

Missouri Department of Corrections: A Case Study in Management Failure

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It is a fact that the quality of your employees is directly connected to how they are treated by management. If an employee is treated as though they are valued and respected, they will give the most to their job. In terms of staff retention, the key is so simple that it's honestly a bit confusing how so many managers don't understand it. The key to keeping your staff is to give them a job they don't want to leave. Sounds simple right? Well, it's taken many years for employers to realize this concept. What it comes down to is the way we look at the relationship between employer and employee. Should an employee be thankful for having a job that puts food on the table? Of course, but should the employer be equally thankful to the staff for the work they do? Again, this sounds like an easy yes, but employers often miss this part of the equation. When thinking of this particular error in management, I am reminded of an Officer who left the Missouri Department of Corr

The Department of Corrections Does Very Little Correcting

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Corrections is an interesting term for the prison system. The word prison itself is really only used out of habit as most such institutions are now called Correctional facilities. Somewhere a long time ago people decided that prison sounds too harsh. It sounds like a place where convicts are thrown to punish them for their crimes. "Wouldn't it he better if we were correcting, not punishing?" They thought. The idea of a prison being a bad place for bad people was slowly replaced by the concept that facilities could be used to rehabilitate those who had turned to a life of crime. The idea of rehabilitation is admirable. Turning a life around rather than throwing it away in a dark prison cell is certainly more beneficial to us all. However, not all are capable of rehabilitation and many of those who are, are not given what they need to change. This is the problem with calling modern-day prisons "Correctional Centers." Prison is kind of like sending your kid