Management and Leadership of London Fire Brigade - Case Study Example

Management and Leadership: Case study of the London Fire Brigade Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Introduction Managers play crucial roles in organisations to ensure their success. According to Waterhouse and Crook (1995, p. 8), managers are rather like actors in that they many need to play particular roles to manage in a specific circumstance. For instance, a manager may have to act from time to time as a leader of the group to enable it to achieve tasks successfully. This is particularly true where organisations that provide emergency services are involved. For instance, managers in Fire and Rescue Authorities have to ensure that their staff arrive at an emergency scene in time help to save as much life and property as possible. With this background information, this paper looks at the role the managers at the London Fire Brigade play in ensuring that the Service provides the most efficient services to the people of London. Later in the paper, the leadership style and theory in this organisation is compared to that of another emergency service provider, the St. John Ambulance. Overview of the London Fire Brigade (LFB) The LFB is the largest Fire and Rescue Service in the United Kingdom. It is committed to making London a safer city, and its vision is to be an outstanding Fire and Rescue Service for the city of London, Londoners as well as visitors. The Service employs close to 7000 staff, of which about 5800 are operational firefighters and officers (London Fire Brigade, 2011). With such a large workforce, the management must offer crucial directions to ensure efficient operations and service delivery. Roles and responsibilities of managers within the fire and rescue service Existing literature shows that there are many leadership styles that managers in organisations can adopt to suit their situations (Ogbonna & Harris, 2000; Elearn, 2007, p. 93). According to Waterhouse and Crook (1995, p. 8), the leadership styles often fall into three broad categories: interpersonal, information and task implementation roles. Interpersonal roles involve communicating with other individuals and management relationships within and between groups of people. For instance, acting as a figurehead or as a group leader falls in this category. Information roles encompass the collection and disseminating of information both within an organization and between members of a group. Such roles may also involve representing the viewpoints of a group to the outside world. Examples of these roles include acting as a spokesperson or acting as an information seeker and disseminator. Lastly, task implementation roles encompass deciding what needs to be done and how it should be achieved. Here, the leader can act as a problem solver, delegator, negotiator, resource allocator or decision maker (Waterhouse & Crook, 1995, p. 8). In a Fire and Rescue Service, a manager has to balance these roles as the organisation faces challenges of different magnitudes. Challenging situations imply that the leader has to shift his or her roles accordingly to match the needs of the particular situation. Overall, the manager plays the following roles according to the H.M. Fire Service Inspectorate (2006, p. 8): Taking account of all relevant statutory provisions Establishing policies, setting priorities and defining safe systems of work Ensuring the provision of appropriate equipment, information, training and supervision Reviewing policies and procedures and revising them as appropriate Ensuring that suitable and adequate resources are available to provide safe systems of work In the context of the above roles, Fire and Rescue Authorities in the United Kingdom are required to develop managers to carry out internal assessment of their organisation in relation to the requirements of the their National Occupational Standards. Thus, according to the National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire & Rescue Services (2005, p. 16), managers are expected to be responsible and accountable for: Assessing evidence of employee competence vis-à-vis the national standards of occupational competence within the role maps Ensuring the validity, accuracy as well as sufficiency of evidence produced by employees Maintaining accurate and verifiable employee assessment and achievement records as stipulated in the Fire and Rescue Authority Policy. Importantly, managers of Fire and Rescue Services have to ensure that their organisations meet the requirements expected of them. According to the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, Fire and Rescue Services must achieve four key responsibilities, which are community and fire safety, fighting fires, dealing with road traffic accidents, and responding to a variety of other emergencies such as flooding (Health and Safety Executive, 2011). How managers at the LFB fulfil their roles responsibilities Leadership at LFB is generally based on the organisation’s code of conduct. The fire service has ten general principles in its code of conduct. These include selflessness, honesty and integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, personal judgement, respect for others, duty to uphold the law, stewardship, and leadership (London Fire Brigade, 2011). This code of conduct shows that the employees of the LFB must be committed to delivering service to meet the objectives and vision of the organisation, must act within the confines of the law, must have a good sense of self-judgement, must be responsible for their actions, and must portray leadership skills in their service, among other qualities. A point worth noting is that the fire and rescue service faces present and future challenges, which require good leadership skills to deal with (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2007, p. 3). Historically, the Fire and Rescue Service has been featured by command-based models of service leadership, but these are progressively being transformed to meet new challenges posed by both the agenda for improvement and the growing expectations of those who use the service. Thus, the increasingly flexible and diverse working patterns, more diverse communities, an advanced range of risks and statutory responsibilities and an increasing emphasis on governance and accountability demand competent leaders with a new and robust blend of skills and experience to deliver the desired results. In particular, the requirements of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 imply that Fire and Rescues Service managers must balance their skills to ensure effective leadership, and hence service delivery that is satisfactory (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2007, p. 3). At the LFB, pursuit of effective leadership is reflected in how managers make decisions. Decision making is no longer command-based; rather, meetings are held to consider and make decisions on key matters such as strategy, policy, as well as the Brigade’s budget. There are five dedicated executive committees which meet to deliberate and make decisions on specific areas of responsibility and forward the same to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority where appropriate (London Fire Brigade, 2011). Managers in the Fire and Rescue Service have to be particularly cautious of the choices they make because in cases of emergency they have to dispatch firefighters to risky situations to save lives, and there are frequently unrealistic expectations from the public that the firefighters will put themselves in danger even when such risks overshadow the benefits to be gained from their efforts (Health and Safety Executive, 2010). Managers at the LFB appreciate the risk their staff are exposed to, and for this reason they focus on preventive measures to mitigate emergences and guarantee safety of the people. It has been noted that 40 percent of fires in London occur as a result of carelessness in homes - such as improperly discarded cigarettes. Hence, they conduct home visits where the LFB staff interact with communities and spread awareness on the need for fire safety. Such visits also enhance the participation of everyone in making decisions regarding the organisation, in contrast to authoritarian regimes where only senior management would interact with the communities. The LFB management also promotes working with children to educate them on fire and emergency issues as well as working with London Ambulance, local authorities and Metropolitan Police (London Fire Brigade, 2011) to ensure that the requirements of Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 are met. Comparison with St. John Ambulance Despite the tendency to move to a more flexible style of leadership, emergency services must also reflect some of authoritarian leadership. Hence, both the LFB and St. John Ambulance are characterised by the three styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. According to the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association (2009, p. 164), the autocratic style is used when an officer needs to maintain a high personal control of a group, for instance during evacuation at an emergency scene. The democratic style is employed when planning daily work routines or when there is a complex or unusual emergency situation. The laissez-faire approach is appropriate when staff are handling duties that pose little personal risks (International Association of Fire Chiefs & National Fire Protection Association, 2009, p. 164). Like the LFB, St. John Ambulance management practices these leadership styles in different scenarios as they are involved different events such as major emergencies, patient transport, teaching people about first aid, and training of community first responders (St. John Ambulance). Conclusion Managers in the fire and rescue service have to be knowledgeable of different leadership styles and apply them during different circumstances. They have to be team players in commitments such as staff welfare, allocation of resources and policy formulation to ensure that the organisation runs smoothly. There are different times when leaders have to be autocratic, democratic or use a laissez-faire approach when providing emergency services. These have been discussed in the context of the London Fire Brigade and St John Ambulance. Importantly, managers must ensure that their organisations adhere to national or international requirements shown in this case by the LFB’s pursuit of the requirements of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. References Department for Communities and Local Government, 2007, “Leadership and Development in the Fire and Rescue Service,” Summary of responses to the Consultation Paper, Communities and Local Government Publications, West Yorkshire, January 2007, Available from http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/154719.pdf (viewed 6 June 2011). Elearn 2007, Leadership and Management in Organisations, Elsevier, London. H.M. Fire Service Inspectorate 2006, Fire and Rescue Service Manual, Volume 2, The Stationery Office, London. Health and Safety Executive 2010, “Striking the balance between operational and health and safety duties in the Fire and Rescue Service,” March 2010. Health and Safety Executive 2011, “Fire and rescue services,” Available from http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/fire/ (viewed 7 June 2011). International Association of Fire Chiefs & National Fire Protection Association, 2009, Fire Officer: Principles and Practice (2nd edition), Jones & Bartlett Learning, New York. London Fire Brigade, 2011, “Who we are,” Available from http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/WhoWeAre.asp; http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/HowWeMakeDecisions.asp; https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/HomeFireSafetyVisit.asp; http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/OurWorkWithYoungPeople.asp (viewed 7 June 2011). National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire & Rescue Services 2005, “Fire and rescue services rolemaps,” August 2005, Available from http://www.fbuberkshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FRS-Rolemaps.pdf (viewed 7 June 2011). 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