Transformational Leadership at Medway Secure Training Centre

Introduction: The MSTC Case Study

The case study on which this analysis is predominantly founded concerns the management of a teenage prison. Medway Secure Training Centre (MSTC) was managed by G4S at the time an undercover exposé revealed the mistreatment of the teenage offenders held there. Footage captured over a number of days by an individual posing as a trainee depicts gross cases of physical and psychological abuse against teenagers — abuse that had never previously been visible to the outside world. The video shows G4S staff charged with caring for the young offenders mishandling them unnecessarily, even in situations involving little or no provocation.

The training sessions captured in the footage clearly set out guidelines on how teenagers who become disruptive should be managed without the use of excessive force. The training provides a detailed and professional approach to handling teenagers in a manner that is safe for both officers and young people, specifying what an officer may do and what must be completely avoided. However, the situation changes entirely once officers reach the holding areas. The rules appear to carry no weight, and the use of excessive force seems to be the standard mode of operation.

Of particular concern is the physical harm inflicted on the teenagers without any regard for whether it might cause permanent injury. Officers are seen attempting to restrain teenagers even in situations where physical force was wholly unnecessary. More troublingly, one team leader is observed deliberately inflicting pain on a youth's already injured finger as a means of torture and control. Officers also psychologically torment the teenagers through verbal abuse and intimidation tactics such as punching walls to frighten them.

The officers show no apparent concern about the wrongs they perpetuate within the institution. On the contrary, they are seen fabricating accounts in several instances and recording those fabrications in official reports. The officers openly confess that they care more about producing reports that will secure the contract to operate the centre than about the welfare of the teenagers who are supposed to be rehabilitated. Reports are written to satisfy the favorable requirements needed to maintain funding. After these harsh interactions, teenagers are left in their rooms mentally and physically exhausted, angry, and harboring feelings of resentment.

In terms of administration and leadership, the events described above appear not to be isolated incidents but rather features deeply embedded in the organizational culture, with each person appearing comfortable with the prevailing trend. The duty operations manager is nominally in charge of the centre, yet there is little evidence that he actively oversees operations — either because he has grown complacent or because the abuses occur outside his attention. Team leaders display violent and inconsiderate behavior toward the teenagers, and newer custody officers are effectively apprenticed into that same culture, being instructed on what to write in daily reports rather than how to record incidents truthfully. This was the organizational culture that provoked national outrage when the footage was broadcast by the BBC (Hammond, 2017).

In response, the Medway Improvement Board acknowledged the problems revealed by the footage and agreed that the conduct of the custody officers was wrong — a finding that led to several suspensions. The board also identified various systemic shortcomings and sought ways to address them. Before issuing its recommendations and report, it engaged a broad range of stakeholders, including both past and present residents of the centre.

Situational Analysis

The central concern of this analysis is the role of leadership and how effective leadership could help shape the future of MSTC. Of particular interest is transformational leadership and the role of effective communication in advancing a transformational agenda within a setting like MSTC, where there are distinct categories of people to communicate with — including the teenagers, the custody officers, and the team leaders.

Transformational Leadership as a Framework for Reform

Transformational leadership is one of the most widely recognized leadership approaches in the corporate world and has gained broad acceptance globally. Its central premise is an empowering perspective that draws primarily on motivation and the resulting commitment of team members. Leadership, as distinct from management, is fundamentally concerned with fostering change: the effective leader is a change agent, while a manager tends to focus on preserving the status quo. Leadership is also understood as a collective or group process and cannot be left to any single individual. This is precisely what MSTC urgently required — a process through which staff members and officers could take genuine ownership of the rehabilitation mission and be held accountable for outcomes, under a capable leader. Leadership should be value-based, change-oriented, and grounded in team process; this is what essentially defines transformational leadership (Astin & Astin, 2001).

A transformational leader focuses on developing a vision that appeals to the values and ideals of followers and communicating that vision clearly. This appeared to be the missing ingredient at MSTC: the officers never seemed to understand or act upon the primary organizational purpose — transforming the lives of young offenders and improving their prospects for the future. Instead, they damaged the teenagers' prospects further.

Under a transformational leader, the aim is to cultivate loyalty, trust, and fairness among those being led. MSTC urgently needs these values embedded among both the officers and the young offenders. Officers need to trust one another and to earn the trust of the teenagers. They need to trust their team leaders and the centre's manager, while simultaneously becoming trustworthy themselves. The transformational leader also aims to reform the attitudes of those working under them, thereby improving the performance and output of the team as a whole. The MSTC officers needed to fundamentally transform their attitude — toward their work and toward the teenagers — in order to contribute meaningfully to the young people's rehabilitation. In this sense, the transformational leader taking over MSTC would be operating on a model of continuous quality improvement.

The characteristics of a transformational leader include the following. First, the leader must have significant personal influence and act as a role model who practices what they believe, what they teach, and what they expect of others. Second, the leader must possess inspirational motivation — the capacity to encourage and motivate others by articulating a shared organizational vision in terms that employees find meaningful, thereby securing genuine commitment to organizational values. Third, the transformational leader demonstrates individualized consideration: they are able to give person-centered attention and personalize interactions with employees, recognizing and appreciating each individual's contribution to organizational performance. Fourth, the leader provides intellectual stimulation by fostering creativity and innovation — presenting employees with meaningful challenges and removing barriers to their engagement in quality improvement activities. When MSTC gains a leader with these characteristics, it becomes far more likely that the prevailing abuses will be effectively addressed, as the leader will help employees genuinely adopt his vision and work collectively toward restoring the centre's credibility.

In this case study, transformational leadership is essential to achieving a complete turnaround in the management and operation of the centre. Employees must continually be helped to understand the team leader's vision and the specific changes required. The teenagers in the holding units also need to know that changes are being made and to develop faith and hope for the future. The wider public, too, must understand what changes have been implemented and what improvements are ongoing. These transformational aims require an effective communication system. Effective communication, according to the Australian Institute of Business (2017), serves six major functions: it builds and maintains relationships, facilitates innovation, builds an effective team, assists in managing employees, contributes to organizational growth, and ensures transparency. These are all areas of urgent need for MSTC as it works to recover its standing.

The centre has many employees, a large population of young offenders, and numerous visitors each week. The manager therefore cannot be physically present with every team at all times. This necessitates the establishment of an effective communication system capable of functioning as a virtual team framework. In turn, this requires setting behavioral norms that will help the MSTC team communicate effectively and carry out their responsibilities under the transformational leader. These norms are broadly divided into communication norms and task norms. Group norms are defined as the accepted standards of behavior that a team collectively adopts. Some behaviors will be classified as acceptable and others as unacceptable. These norms exist to maintain order and to facilitate the achievement of group goals by minimizing the disruptions and conflicts that have characterized the centre's operations in the past.

Conclusion

In general, MSTC has a sound ideology behind it — that of helping transform the lives of young men so they may contribute more positively to society at large — but the centre itself requires transformation in a radical manner, particularly in the wake of the undercover exposé. Significant steps must be taken to actualize meaningful change. The centre needs a transformational leader who will implement the centre's vision without bias and bring every team member on board in working toward that vision. Equally, an effective and efficient communication system must be established to ensure that the transformational vision is clearly understood and genuinely shared among all the stakeholders who will contribute to the centre's renewal.

References

Astin, A., & Astin, H. (2001). Principles of transformative leadership. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from http://www.pmc.edu/Websites/pmc/Images/Principles%20of%20Transformative%20Leadership.pdf

Australian Institute of Business. (2017). 6 reasons why effective communication should be a focus in your business. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from http://www.aib.edu.au/blog/communication/6-reasons-effective-communication-focus-business/

Communicaid. (2017). Regular communication with customers is key to success. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from

Hammond, R. (2017). Teenage prison — undercover prison documentary 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HQuJpiUOGw