This study is concerned with how the black township church leadership mismanage their defunct members especially at times of funerals. In the absence of a pragmatic pastoral method of how to deal with defunct members when they die, the church has devised a church policy which adds to the already experienced pain and grief of mourners. The criteria in the policy stipulates that, if at the time of death, the member has become defunct with regard to: - Church attendance, - Dedicated giving ( tithing ), the person should be given a stoep funeral. The problem with this policy, is the manner in which it is communicated to mourners - cold and insensitive, loaded with arrogance and rigidity. Cases are not viewed on merit but mourners are being emotionally and spiritually destroyed by this practice. Stoep funerals have developed a negative stigma in the townships since everyone is aware of the punishment being meted out to the deceased. Because of their alleged dysfunctionality , defunct members gets treated like spiritual criminals by the leadership through the refusal of church funerals. Church funerals are reserved for those who are in good standing and who enjoy implacable status in the church in relation to the mentioned criteria. The priest is expected to conduct church funerals while the lay ministers are assigned to do stoep funerals. A stoep funeral is an embarrassment and it leaves mourners with feelings of rejection and shame, if not truamatization. The aim of this research is to assist the township church to journey with her defunct members in creating a model directed by scriptural truth from a perspective of African pastoral care. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Practical Theology / PhD / Unrestricted

Traditionally in Sweden the crime preventative and fear of crime reducing work has fallen on the police. However, in 2019 the Swedish government appointed an inquiry where an investigator is to submit a proposal regarding how the municipalities in Sweden can have a legislated responsibility for crime preventative work. The proposal is to cover formulations of what the responsibility would be as well as what actors should carry this responsibility. The present study examined a municipal crime preventative and fear of crime reducing initiative that has grown more popular in Sweden: community wardens. The aim of the present study was to investigate what the arguments for the implementations were as well as how these arguments turned out practically. The present study uses a qualitative thematic analysis to study the implementation of community wardens in two Swedish municipalities – Vellinge and Trelleborg. The results show that even though the arguments for and mission of the community wardens in both municipalities are very similar there are differences in implementation giving the community wardens different approaches. In Vellinge there is a focus on building relationships and working proactively providing an enhanced informal social control. Whereas in Trelleborg there is greater focus on monitoring municipal properties enhancing the formal control in the municipality. Furthermore, there seem to be risks of intruding or overlapping with other actors when implementing community wardens.

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of interstate inmate transfers (IITs) by prison wardens and the administrative intent that guide their use. This study assesses the explanatory power of the new penology in three cases and asks three broad questions of two prison wardens and the DOC: What correctional goals do you hope to accomplish with interstate inmate transfers? Why? And what contextual factors (if any) are felt to inhibit or facilitate these goals? IITs are controversial. Supporters of IITs argue that in addition to serving the needs of correctional managers, they may also serve to help inmates reenter society, remain physically safe while incarcerated, remain close to family and friends, and have access to appropriate correctional programming and treatment. On the other hand, critics of IITs argue that they are much more than a correctional management tool. Rather, IITs are evidence of an informally emerging "new penology" in American corrections that—due to the increasingly problematic conditions of confinement encountered by correctional managers (e.g., overcrowding)—emphasize a shift in focus away from what is good for the individual inmate to what is good for managing the correctional system as a whole. The case data collected in this research contradict, to a large degree, new penological assumptions. The findings point to high levels of ideological and behavioral autonomy among prison wardens as well as high levels of individualized and moralistic thinking with regard to inmate management, and a general feeling that correctional management at the institutional level is only situationally (rather than perpetually) stressful. Thus, the new penological assumption that criminal justice actors lack human agency or that inmates are thought of only in actuarial terms, may be an incorrect or incomplete assumption in relation to prison wardens and the intent of IITs in these cases. This study concludes that in order to better understand and possibly predict the administrative intent of IITs, an alternative theoretical framework should be utilized—one that better captures the dynamism and variability of influence that unique situational and dispositional factors (and their interaction) may have on administrative intent.

Abstract in process

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Tennessee wardens’ leadership practices and correctional officer job satisfaction. Utilizing the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), the relationship between correctional officers’ perception of the warden’s leadership practices and the LPI norms were examined. Additionally, utilizing the LPI, the relationship between self-ratings of the warden’s leadership practices and the observer rating of the LPI were assessed. Lastly, utilizing the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and observer LPI, correlations were examined between the correctional officers’ job satisfaction and their perception of the warden’s leadership practices. Findings of this study showed lower correctional officers ratings of the wardens on the five LPI subscales than the inventory’s norms. In a comparison of the LPI wardens’ self-perception and the correctional officers’ observer perception, correctional officers rated the wardens lower than the wardens rated themselves. The overall ratings of the correctional officer Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS)were neutral. However, of the nine JSS subscales, the results identified the nature of their work and supervision as the most positive. Pay, contingent reward, and promotional opportunities were rated as the primary reasons for job dissatisfaction. Additional findings indicated a positive relationship between job satisfaction and each of the five subscales of the LPI. / Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership

Employees desire performance feedback which helps them understand what they are doing well, what they are doing wrong, and how to develop so that they can advance in their careers. Yet, many comment that they do not receive enough performance feedback to help them understand if they are being successful in their work or where they can improve. In this qualitative study, I pursued the question of what might prevent supervisors from providing performance feedback to their direct reports by interviewing a group of front-line supervisors and their wardens in two Midwest Prisons. My goal was to identify what the supervisor participants believed performance feedback was, how they understood and explained their personal feedback delivery practices, and how they learned to deliver feedback. My research methodology involved three stages of data collection, including collecting a range of documents from the prison system, one-on-one interviews with the two wardens who led the two prisons involved in the study, and one-on-one interviews with 16 Sergeants. I leveraged Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) as the theoretical lens of this study. As Kolb (2014) explains, every time an individual has an experience, they have the opportunity to learn from that experience. I was curious to understand if a group of supervisors in a correctional work environment learned how to deliver and improve upon their performance feedback practices through the on-going delivery of feedback. Through the data analysis process, I found that both Warden participants deeply valued performance feedback as a teaching method and see it as an important method supervisors can utilize to enhance Correction Officer (CO) growth and development. Additionally, I found that the majority of supervisor participants (15/16) believed and understood delivery of performance feedback to COs to be a function of their rank, while a slightly smaller majority (10/16) explained it as a responsibility of their rank. Further, I found that the supervisor participants naturally employed a comprehensive range of performance feedback best practices including being positive and supportive (14/16), providing praise for work done well (13/16), correcting poor performance or incorrect understanding of policy or procedure (12/16), and conducting the feedback exchange as a conversation (10/16). Finally, I found that the supervisors’ beliefs and understandings of how they learned to provide performance feedback align with Kolb’s ELC. A majority (13/16) of the supervisor participants explained that they learned to deliver performance feedback through experience (having an experience, ELC first mode) in the supervisory role, while half of the supervisor participants (8/16) described how they learned to deliver performance feedback to Correction Officers (COs) through reflecting on prior experience (reflecting on experience, ELC second mode). Several of the supervisor participants (5/16) explained how they thought through and planned (Abstract Conceptualization, ELC third mode) their feedback conversations with COs, while a small minority (2/16) of the participants spoke to their practice of experimenting with new approaches when delivering performance feedback (Active Experimentation, ELC fourth mode) to COs. I close my study by offering recommendations based on the findings to front-line supervisors, wardens, and to trainers and educators working within correctional organizations.

M.Cur. / Please refer to full record to view abstract

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / Les institutions privatives de liberté sont des milieux de vie complexes. Détenant contre leur gré de nombreuses personnes, elles sont des lieux de rencontre d'individus dont le rôle et le statut sont fondamentalement opposés. L'objet de cette recherche est de procéder à une analyse de ces institutions à partir du sens que les différents acteurs qui y vivent et qui y travaillent lui attribuent. A partir d'un travail de terrain de plusieurs mois au cours duquel nous avons réalisé des observations participantes et recueilli de nombreux témoignages, nous avons analysé les pratiques, le vécu, les perceptions et les points de vue, tant des membres du personnel que des détenus de ces institutions. Il ressort de notre recherche que le monde carcéral est, à l'heure actuelle, un monde fragmenté. En effet, les membres du groupe des surveillants, confrontés à une mission ambiguè entre le maintien de l'ordre interne et l'aide à la réinsertion sociale des détenus, tendent à s'approprier une de leurs tàches au détriment de l'autre. Selon la mission privilégiée des tensions surviennent à l'intérieur du groupe et les gardiens ont alors de la difficulté à se reconnaItre à travers une identité collective. Parallèlement, les relations qui se nouent entre membres du personnel de surveillance et détenus se révèlent être atomisées. Certains d'entre eux privilégient une relation conflictuelle face aux membres du groupe adverse. D'autres favorisent l'entente et la négociation. Par ce fait même, il y a scission selon la forme de relation privilégiée. Solitude, tensions, incertitude et atomisation constituent les caractéristiques des pénitenciers d'aujourd'hui.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The modern correctional agency is characterised by the extensive use of information and communication technology (ICT) (e.g. computers, close-circuit television cameras, electronic monitoring systems) and human sciences technology (HST) (e.g. psychometric tests, therapy and educational programmes) to monitor, discipline and rehabilitate sentenced offenders inside and outside of institutions and to prevent their recidivism. As a result of this combination of ICT and HST, modern correctional institutions were transformed into socio-technical environments with serious implications for the relationships between those within and outside of the institution. The use of ICT for continuous monitoring of the prison and its population, has resulted in a situation where correctional officials, like prisoners, have become legitimate datasubjects. In addition to the privacy dilemma that resulted from this, continuous monitoring has also negatively affected the relationship between the state and those under surveillance (inmate, parolee, family of parolees and correctional officials). The utilisation of sophisticated technology by organisastions to achieve certain key objectives, does not necessarily bring about the desired results. Pistorius (1996) is of the opinion that only organisations who are true learning organisations will benefit from the use of such technology. This study aims to integrate all of these perspectives in order to determine the impact of technology on a single South African correctional institution. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die moderne korrektiewe agentskap word gekenmerk deur die omvangryke gebruik van gevorderde inligting- en kommunikasietegnologie (IKT) (bv. rekenaars, geslotebaan televisiekameras en elektroniese moniteringstoestelle) asook geesteswetenskaplike-tegnologie (GWT) (bv. sielkundige toetse, opvoedkundige en terapeutiese programme) om gevonnisde oortreders binne inrigtings en in die gemeenskap te moniteer ten einde hulle te rehabiliteer en hul terugval in misdaad te voorkom. Die kombinasie van GWT en IKT binne die gevangenis het gevolglik daartoe bygedra dat die moderne gevangenis tot In sosio-tegniese omgewing omvorm is met bepaalde gevolge vir die verhouding tussen gevangenes en korrektiewe personeel. Aangesien IKT meesal vir deurlopende monitering van die inrigting en diegene daarbinne gebruik word, word korrektiewe personeel net soos gevangenes, legitieme datasubjekte. Hierdie monitering oor die algemeen, skep 'n privaatheidsdilemma met bepaalde implikasies vir die verhoudinge tussen die gemoniteerde (gevangenes, geparoleerdes en hul families, korrektiewe personeel) en die staat. Die ontplooiing van gesofistikeerde tegnologie ter bereiking van 'n organisasie se sleuteldoelwitte, lewer egter nie outomaties die verwagte resultate nie. Pistorius (1996) argumenteer dat die optimale benutting van tegnologie slegs moontlik is in lerende organisasies. Hierdie studie poog dus om al hierdie sake te integreer teneinde die impak van tegnologie op 'n enkele Suid Afrikaanse gevangenis vas te stel.

Rangers, as vanguards of wildlife conservation, are constantly fighting off armed poachers. That makes their work stressful and dangerous. In spite of this, their needs are neglected and are not considered as the focus is on saving wildlife. Undoubtedly, the African continent is not spared from the unrelenting poaching menace that threatens to drive the world’s wildlife spicies into extinction. In response to this scourge, countries, in their quest to safeguard these species from extermination, have signed various treaties, continuously come up with different strategies and pledged their support to fight illegal wildlife trading. This study was conducted at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HIP) and Mkhuze Game Reserve, which are under the management of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Wildlife Management. These parks have turned into a battlefield between poachers and rangers. The intrinsic case study approach which is explorative and interpretive in perspective was used to unravel and describe the experiences from the world view of rangers. A descriptive qualitative research design was used to gain insight from the rangers about their challenges and needs in the workplace. Furthermore, developmental research was used to design and develop a tailor- made technology – a ranger resilience-building model – to assist rangers to deal with their workplace challenges. Focus group discussions were conducted with a group of rangers, while individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in order to solicit information from purposively selected sample of rangers and managers at HIP and Mkhuze game reserve, that assisted in the development of the model. Ethical considerations, which involve the informed consent of the participants, confidentiality and privacy, participants’ right to withdraw from the study and the management of information, were applied to ensure that the participants were protected from harm. The collected data was analysed by using codes and themes that best described the experiences of the rangers, and data verification was done before the process of model development. It was evident that rangers are faced with a variety of workplace challenges, such as poor quality of work life, unpleasant living conditions, coupled with poor amenities, inadequte wellness interventions, and the poor management and implementation of policies by the Human Resources (HR) Department. Nevertheless, teamwork and their cultural practices were positive aspects that promoted their coping capacities in dealing with their everyday challenges. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)