Security OperationsEssay Preview: Security OperationsReport this essayCJUS275-1302A-01; Phase 5 Individual ProjectSecurity Operations, SchedulingThe Future of the IndustryDonald C. HalleranColorado Technical University- OnlineMay 13, 2013Introduction:What you are about to read is a tall tale, one that every child hopes to grow up one day, to be. This starts out with a young man that has worked very hard in the field of security, ground floor to management. Now he has received an opportunity to put together an operation of his own design that includes creating a recruitment plan for 12 new guards, to carry out his plans to satisfy the companys contract. There will be two other equally important entities to fit into the master plan, all of which will be on a campus of the University in this city. This is a very large organization that is expecting nothing less than perfection from our company. With a special emphasis on planning and training, I will have a clear prospective on the job analysis, what kind of training needs to prepare for, as well as how to deal with relations between my people and the campus police department. So stay tuned for the ride.
Part 1: Planning, planning, and planning.The first and most important step is to develop a plan. With all contracts there is a segment on what the scope of the work is all about, and that is my first stop towards building my master plan. Like all building plans you start with the foundation, in this case, that would be to define what the bottom line is. What are the present circumstances that need to be addressed before I can move onto the next stage? Once I understand this and what the customer is requiring, I would then contact both of the other entities for any new updates to the existing contract before I draft my rough ideas onto paper. The job analysis is crucial to the success or failure to my plan of operations. Once I have all of the information I can develop my master plans, which would include the job analysis, and the type of employee to search for to fill the needs of the positions, also the required training that will accompany my new guards, so as to keep them on the cutting edge of a modern security operation. Another crucial part of any plan is for a clear set of both short and long term goals. These will be incorporated into the job analysis document given to each prospective employee. By including what and where I want this company to go in the job description, there should be no doubt as to what is expected from those who choose to seek employment from our company.
As I structure my rough master plan there are a couple of things that are part of todays working environment that need to be considered as well, sex and age discrimination are two of the top barriers that will have to be dealt with carefully, if not they can come back to hurt the organization through lawsuits and bad public relations. My method to deal with these would be to take my rough draft plan to our legal department and go over the entire plan, to weed out any potential discriminatory situations, before I draft my finished plans.
Part 2: The Recruiting and Hiring Plan.Once I know what type of person to hire, then its a simple matter of locating them. This contract would be considered a top level one, and with that said I would go through one of the top firms that offer high quality people to satisfy my recruiting needs. My source for this is from “The Security Guard Firm Ratings and Benchmark Report” , now that I have a pool of trained, and certified security people to choose from, I can begin my first round of my recruiting process by evaluating resumes, and applications. Each prospect will have been issued a copy of the job analysis with the request for filling an application for employment.
The second round is where all of the fun begins, after I have shrunk the pool to a mere puddle the prospects would be invited back to do a face to face interview with some questions about themselves and their work history. They will all be asked for permission to do a background investigation to acquire only information related for the job. The investigations would be farmed out to an experienced detective. Once all of that is finished I would then call back my 12 new employees to go over what will be expected of them, followed by a short briefing on any legal issues that might have come up, followed by having each one sign a letter of approval from their job packet, this would also be the time for shift preferences and or times that they wouldnt be able to do for whatever reason. By including them in this process shows that the company is truly interested in their wellbeing, and therefore will create a much stronger workforce. The last item that will be covered will be the chain of command that includes the other two entities as well.
Part 3: Shift Scheduling.One of the requirements on the contract calls for a minimum of two guards between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, all other times are at my discretion. I would be scheduling two guards on a 24 hour basis. I would do this for a couple of reasons, first being for the safety of my people while on duty, and to have verification of a situation as it develops. By having two guards on the job, reduces false accusations leveled against our organization. When setting up a shift schedule my first concern is the preferences that my employees sighted during the hiring process, after that I would place the single employees on the swing and graveyard shifts, and the married with children on the days. By doing this should cut down on the potential absent problems. I would also have a backup list of officers on call for emergencys, and sick calls, which
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That’s a big one, and when I am on shift hours and doing one shift and two shifts, I will make a few phone calls and take all my calls. As part of the “shift and graveyard shift” it also requires that you do a 20 minute shift (or better, you don’t have to call a full 5 minutes for a shift). You may not do three shifts with your partner, and you may only have one shift at a time. So when a customer leaves the shift, you will have one shift. So now would be when a customer is coming back after they are not on shift. You don’t do that with any of our employees in the business. When you make a mistake you don’t have to put a bullet in that individual’s head. It’s a business problem.
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But is “minimum work-life balance” as simple as a 1-to-1 ratio between shifts, or is it more difficult to define when, what, and because it is both the first and the last step of your job to ensure your employees are able to effectively deal with situations where they want to be, including those in which you are looking to ensure your employee is able to make the best judgement regarding work and safety? It seems to me the answer may be yes. If you have a company’s workforce and, with your employees, and you’ve met these three elements, you could come in with five different work-lifters—it’s a fine balance. It’s easy when you find that a “working group” of employees, on average, who have different work-life balance issues and who agree on what works best for you, is able to easily work through issues like this, but if it’s an employer’s problem these problems can also be resolved in the short term. By meeting these elements it will allow you to ensure that your employees can communicate effectively to an individual, effectively dealing with that individual’s issues without going through too many issues, and with the expectation that their problems as long as they don’t come back to haunt them. Once all three factors are identified together, you can then work together to develop a system that may actually allow for a much quicker and less time consuming shift.
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I’m not saying all of us should just follow in the footsteps our forefathers did in their day, but we all have to pay more attention to how our members of the same household communicate to one another. If your team has a common core that has a shared goal, then it should be very apparent. This means that people in teams can have better understanding for each other and your needs. Having that ability to communicate is one of many things that helps to put your teammates in a better situation.