Chapter 13
Currently, the personal management system cannot screen all the possible managerial issues. The Pendleton Act (1883) protects employees from the dismissal because of their political affiliation, but does not secure the institutions from poor performance and rule violations. The Lloyd-LaFollette Act has allowed the leaders of criminal justice agencies to remove the federal employees without pay, but only for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service (Dresang, 2008, p. 258). These and other state and local regulations reflect the basic principle of the burden of proof, i.e. the fact that the managers should justify their decision of firing workers. For instance, employees may know their rights and have opportunities to exercise them, but not realize these opportunities.
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Nowadays, there are several types of employment: indefinite, contract (with fixed negotiated terms for one year with the possibility of prolongation) and at will. With respect to any type of employment, leaders should bear in mind that employees cannot be dismissed due to unlawful reasons, such as age, nationality, religion, gender, etc. Usually, the dismissal and other disciplinary actions (warnings, reprimands) are applied against workers when they violate the rule, policy, or procedure, or when they perform their responsibilities unsatisfactorily. The severity of these actions depends on the seriousness of the violation. Leaders of criminal justice agencies should bear in mind that punishment should fit the crime (Dresang, 2008, p. 260). Poor performance can be addressed by additional trainings with specific goals and time frames before the decision to fire the worker. An employee who cannot perform the job tasks to the full extent because of taking care of the ill partner can be provided with easier tasks or removed to another position, instead of being dismissed. This solution will enable leaders to avoid additional expenses on searching and training a new worker for this position, and it will also support morale of the staff. This system also refers to dealing with employees who suffer from alcohol and drug abuse. They can be sent to assistance programs before being dismissed. At the same time, leaders should take immediate and strict actions against individuals who exercise sexual harassment. In such a way, ethics and morale in the agency will be upheld and the productivity of victims will not be affected due to the initiation of investigation, preparation of reports, and their analysis.
Personal and professional rights of workers of such governmental institutions as criminal justice agencies fall under the protection of the doctrine of privilege and the doctrine of substantial interest. The first document posits that the worker cannot be asked to sacrifice personal constitutional rights as a condition of becoming public employee (Riccucci & Naff, 2007, p. 111). As per second doctrine, the worker who has faced an unfair dismissal can start the process of the determination of the legitimacy of such dismissal. Moreover, it can be established in the process whether all the provisions (such as preliminarily informing by notice, evidence of violation or unsatisfactory performance, and proof of the employees ability to appeal) have been properly realized.
The employee has the right to appeal against serious disciplinarily actions by following several steps. First of all, the arrangement of the informal conference with immediate supervisor takes place. Secondly, a formal written appeal is delivered to the supervisor, to the agency head, and, lastly, to the arbitrator or third party.
Chapter 14
The salaries of employees depend on a great variety of factors: public attention, hierarchal position, cost of living, etc. The leaders of criminal justice agencies should bear in mind that the compensation is formed according to particular principles. First of all, it should be high enough for attracting professionals. Secondly, the distribution of salaries and benefits should be perceived as equitable. It should motivate employees of all genders and races to apply their talents in full extent, thus demonstrating social equality. Lastly, it must be within employers ability to pay (Dresang, 2008, p. 280). These employees perceptions can be explained by the following elements of the expectancy theory: expectancy (relationship between efforts and performance), instrumentality (relationship between performance and rewards), and valences (employees values are attached to rewards). Hence, the employees who clearly understand the interconnections among efforts, performance, rewards, and personal goals achievement will be highly motivated to improve their performance. Moreover, according to the equity theory, employees must perceive that pay levels correspond with the usefulness of various contributions employees make (Dresang, 2008, p. 282).
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Leaders of criminal justice agencies should pay additional attention to the elimination of race and gender discrimination in the working places through the establishment of the equal pay for equal work and equal pay for work of comparable value mechanisms (Dresang, 2008, p. 282). The first principle is in accordance with the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963. The second principle is applicable to comparable, but different work. Differences in pay can be based only on seniority and productivity of employees, merit systems, and other factors excluding race and gender. The most common elements of wages are the following: pay rate (fixed amount attached to the particular job), pay range (from minimum to maximum, enabling managers to recognize high performance), pay steps (increments of pay ranges due to the improvement of performance, or automatically), broad banding (large pay ranges for providing managers more flexibility in rewarding high performance of employees and stipulating employees to work harder), and paid schedules (according to the occupation and bargaining unit). Leaders can also reward employees by using different types of benefits, such as those pertaining to retirement, health insurance, educational opportunities, time-off, cafeteria-style benefits, optional benefits with the defined money limit, etc. The establishment of the compensation plan can be connected with various structural issues, including the analysis of the job for the determination of pay ranges, linkage with the cost of living, established minimum wages, hiring above minimum, individual self-implementing pay levels, longevity, performance, and competence. Economic difficulties can force leaders to resort to cutting expenses, introducing layoffs, decreasing salaries, eliminating mandated unpaid vacations, etc.
Chapter 15
The productivity of employees can be lowered because of the conflicts between them and their supervisors. However, conflicts are inevitable, as they protect groups of employees with shared interests against managerial demands and supervisory activities that are based on the differences in power. Leaders in criminal justice agencies can deal with conflicts in different ways: by training employees to dealing with clashes effectively, establishing pleasant physical environments, managing by objectives and Total Quality Management, and bargaining collectively (helping deal with the issues between supervisors and employees with negotiation). The bargaining process has the aim of improving the relationships between employees and employers through negotiating conditions of employment as well as legalization and regulation of relationships between the parties (Liqman, Shahzad, Shaheen, & Kiran, 2012).
The establishment of the currently existing collective bargaining system started in 1932 after the foundation of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). In 1982, 32 states provided the right to public employees to bargain their working conditions (Dresang, 2008, p. 308). However, the federal government still participates in this process in a very limited manner due to the prohibition of including some critical issues, such as layoffs and compensations, into this process.
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The emergency and further development of this movement are closely connected with the patronage of unions, unfair working conditions, ability to bargain for higher compensation, and stringent management. Leaders should understand that bargaining can be realized through the particular structure. Firstly, bargaining units, or groups of employees who perform similar work or are employed in one institution and have similar claims for enriching their power and simplifying negotiation with managers, are formed. Then, administrative agencies offer the certification of unions, determine the scope of bargaining, ensure good-faith bargaining for all parties, participate in the resolution of impasse through mediation, mine for facts, and offer interest and grievance arbitration.
Leaders should bear in mind that there are different types of bargaining, including mandatory, permissive, or optional, and prohibited, which includes cases that should be resolved with the help of the legislative process. The scope of bargaining can vary and may include the following subjects: schedules, clothes, safety, promotion, training, discipline, grievance, union security, retirement, and position classification. The bargaining process involves the choice of a negotiator, who will represent the interests of management or union, present of desired outcomes, negotiate, help reach an agreement, estimate of direct and indirect costs and show that the cost of agreeing is lower than the cost of disagreeing, announce the agreement, and conduct ratification, which is acceptance or rejection by the union members.
The effectiveness of bargaining greatly depends on the leaders ability to organize the realization of agreements with the help of communication. Effective communication allows to disseminate the terms of contracts, supervision and trainings and strengthens cooperation between management and employees. If the provision of the contract is violated, the case may be grieved or brought to the arbitration.