Corrections_Today_March_April_2021_Vol.83_No.2

n Self-Perception

functionality, efficiency, and effectiveness of the existing correctional facilities. According to the 2018 Training Industry Report: The highest priorities for training in terms of allocating resources in 2019 are: increasing the effectiveness of training programs, followed by measuring the impact of training programs and reducing costs/improving efficiency, and increas - ing learner usage of training programs. The organization is as strong as its weakest link. The question posed is, “how strong is your organization, your facility and your staff?” We should not send only upper management and civilians to training. All staff should have the opportunity to grow and experience additional learning. The advice here, although not solicited, is simple. Invest in your staff: sworn or non-sworn. Give everyone an opportunity to become more effective, more satisfied with and committed to the industry. Lunenberg (2011) in his research concluded: Self-efficacy influences the tasks employ - ees choose to learn and the goals they set for themselves. Self-efficacy also affects employees’ level of effort and persistence when learning difficult tasks. Four sources of self-efficacy are past performance, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional cues. Managerial and organizational implications of self-efficacy in the workplace include hiring and promotion deci- sions, training and development, and goal setting. Job satisfaction is highly linked to self-esteem and the ability to believe in one’s own ability to accomplish specific tasks. This leads to employee motivation, job performance and a lower turnover rate. It also contributes to organizational commitment. The result of these cues in the workplace is hiring and promotion decisions, training and development and goal setting. If budgets do not allow more staff to participate in training; an alternative may be to allow two to three em- ployees (on rotation) to attend training. Those employees who are chosen should have the understanding that they will be responsible for bringing the information back to the facility and train others. How strong is the facility is determined by how strong is the staff that runs it? How strong is your facility?

Personal self-esteem is most strongly in- fluenced by microsocial relations with family, friends, and community, while personal efficacy is generated through experiences in social sta- tuses embedded in macrosocial systems of social inequality. We conclude that Black self-esteem is insulated from systems of racial inequality, while personal efficacy is not, and suggest that this ex - plains why Black Americans have relatively high self-esteem but low personal efficacy. The belief that racial discrimination, rather than individual failure, accounts for low achievement among Blacks is irrelevant to personal self-esteem and personal efficacy. In contrast, racial self-esteem is produced by a combination of education, interra- cial contact, and ideological processes, or beliefs. We are now faced with determining what all this means. What does it all mean? Simply stated, how the officers feel about and view themselves and their work, affects their work ethic, the efficiency of their work and the effectiveness, as well as the, efficiency of the organization. Although measures of accuracy and the elements that can alter self-assessment, as previously mentioned (i.e. age, sex and gender, health, and race) should always be considered.

Job satisfaction is highly linked to self-esteem and the ability to believe in one’s own ability to accomplish specific tasks.

We have seen in research how training improves posi- tivity and builds self-esteem. It heightens the contribution to the industry, in this case, the correctional industry. The idea of investing in the professional and personal growth of our corrections staff, is not a new one. But it does deserve revisiting in order to benefit the overall

22 — March/April 2021 Corrections Today