The Influences of organisational cultural practices on productivity in prison farms in Zimbabwe

As part of the rehabilitation and correctional efforts by the Zimbabwean Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), inmates are required to undertake some work whilst they are incarcerated. In particular, some of the inmates are required to work in farms to augment government supplies. However, the average yield per hectare for most crops in Prison Farms has not surpassed 40% of potential yield, a development overstraining the fiscus, as the government has to purchase food requirements for inmates. This study was necessitated by the fact that productivity in these prison farms has continued to decline over the years, resulting in malnutrition in Zimbabwean prisons due to inadequate food supplies. Whilst there could be several other factors, it is argued that organisational cultural practices within ZPCS are instrumental to such low yields. However, there still remains a dearth of research that focuses on the link between various cultural practices and productivity in prison farms. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess the impact of organisational cultural practices on productivity in prison farms focusing on the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service over the period January 2009 to December 2013. A quantitative research methodology was used to survey 137 employees of ZPCS from five prison stations namely: Chikurubi Prison Farm, Chikurubi Maximum Prison, Chikurubi Female Prison, Chikurubi Staff Hospital, Harare Remand and Harare Central Prisons respectively, Harare Central Prison Workshops and two administrative offices i.e. Mashonaland Regional Headquarters and Prisons and Correctional Service National Headquarters. The empirical findings supporting the central argument are presented, together with some suggestions for further research. The findings of this study were that leadership within ZPCS had the greatest influence on ZPCS's organisational cultural practices and therefore are expected to be role models. It was observed that organisational cultural practices such as: Employee involvement, Adaptability, Rigidness, Systems and Processes were statistically and significantly associated with farm productivity. The results also indicated that the government should make key resources such as cash and farm inputs available, in order to improve farm productivity. The findings can be generalized to other prison stations in Zimbabwe and other settings that have similar organisational and cultural practices as that of ZPCS