A note – There are four main professional categories in prisons, mentioned in statistical tables: Corpo da Guarda (wardens or guards); Chefias (top warden or manager); Técnicos Superiores (correctional staff, highly qualified people) and Técnicos Administrativos (clerks, office people who handle all the bureaucracy).
All the tables are available (4master portuguese page), so instead of deepening the subject, I will just summarize some of the conclusions we can take from this study.
Organizational Climate (Authentizotic levels, according Kets de Vries theory) – The Prison system is not Authentizotic, but all the changing process PGISP promoted in Pilot facilities during three years of work lead to a better atmosphere and a positive perception of all employees (4 professional categories).
Nevertheless, the study tells us that Wardens’ team (which we call Corpo da Guarda or Guardas) had the most negative perception, with results under the midpoint, 3,50. There are only two items somehow close to a positive perception, «Learning and Development Opportunities» and «Open and Candor Comunication With the Hierarchy», 3,40 and 3,14. One item claims attention, «Camaraderie Sense», with a low average 2,70.
We see the same value in Re-educators staff (what we call Técnicos Superiores, that are correctional personnel), 2,80 in Control facilities, against a large rise in Pilot facilities, 3,49.
Stress levels (Sandy Staples) - Of course, there is stress in prisons. It’s quite obvious. The worst result came from wardens (Corpo da Guarda or Guardas), and the best from Re-educators (Técnicos Superiores), who showed an almost «absence» of stress.
There is something very interesting going on with Re-educators (Técnicos Superiores): stress levels grew from Control to Pilot. This situation may be explained by an increase of responsibility during all the changing process in Pilot units, as well as changes, challenges and hard work.
With regard to Self-Efficacy (Albert Bandura / Sandy Staples) - All the professional categories had a great perception of their efficacy, but there's an interesting fact: Even in a positive field, above the midpoint (3,50), only Re-Educators had better average in Pilot facilities. All their partners had a less positive perception in Pilot.
