Assessing the Competence of Security Personnel in an Industrial Setting

• NCJ Number: 88556
• Journal: Journal of Security Administration Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (1983) Pages: 7-19
• Author(s): R T Sigler; P R Sanderson
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The competence of a corporation's security personnel as perceived by the security manager was positively correlated with their perceived personalities and negatively correlated with prior work experience in law enforcement and with job satisfaction.

Abstract

The 50 proprietary security personnel all worked at the Reynolds Metal Listerhill Complex in Alabama. Study data came from personnel records and from questionnaires completed by the subjects and by the company's security manager. The questionnaires covered personality and competence as perceived by the security manager, job satisfaction, orientation toward company policy, orientation toward authority, and knowledge of job skills. Absenteeism and prior work experience were also measured. Absenteeism, skill, and orientation toward authority had approximately normal distributions but showed no relationship with any of the primary or demographic variables. Job satisfaction correlated positively with prior work experience in law enforcement and negatively with perceived competence, age, and number of years employed with the Reynolds Metal Corporation. Data tables and a list of 16 references are provided.