Organisation Behavior - the United States Fire and Rescue Service - Assignment Example

Organisation Behaviour Introduction One of the basic roles of tactical leaders in an organization is to develop and maintain organizational uniqueness that recompenses and promotes collective effort. Perhaps one of the most basic unique properties of an organization is organizational behaviour. Lawrence (1991, p. 6) claims that each organization subsists in an environment that establishes requisite behaviour that the organization must perform for it to survive. Each organization, with its requisite behaviour as the basis, develops behavioural traits that are exceptional to it and tend to carry on over time in definite patterns. This report uses United States Fire and Rescue Service departments to elucidate further the various concepts of organizational behaviour. Statement United States Fire and Rescue Service In the United States, fire and rescue services are well established as each state has a fire marshal office. Every state marshal office is assessed of its efficiency by factoring in issues such as code enforcement, fire investigation, review of plans, fire prevention inspections, fire data analysis and collection, fire service training and public fire edification. The United States’ Fire and Rescue Service has well structured state fire marshal organization patterns with different states falling under different fire and rescue departments. These departments include: Department of Insurance, Department of Public Safety, State Emergency Department, Department of State, Fire Investigation-Justice-Attorney General, Department of Consumer and Industry Service, Justice-Attorney General, Department of Building Fire Safety, State Police, Department of Community Affairs, Governor’s Office, Secretary of State and Department of Housing and Community Development (Cote 2003, p. 12). Every department has fire and rescue training facilities, fire fighting equipment, protective clothing and equipment, emergency and fire prevention services and a personnel structure that is unique to the needs served by that particular department. Organizational context An organization’s environment contributes significantly to its optimal performance. When an organization handles its environment in the right way, it is unlikely to get itself into problems with other issues. External environmental factors have deep relationships with internal organization factors. One of the main external environmental factors is economy; economy serves a very critical role in developing the political atmosphere and solidity of a country. According to Griffin and Moorhead (2009) the economic growth, stock levels, price rises, future prospects, exchange rates and other economic factors greatly determine the success of an organization. Government is another external environmental factor whose impact on internal organizational factors cannot be ignored. The government is responsible for structuring a good or bad political climate and constancy of a country highly depends on it. Government is also responsible for policy formulation and hence defines various roles such as levying of taxes, imposing of tariffs and product restrictions. Law or the legal aspects of a country are also other external environmental factors that establish the labour laws, union laws, licensing and organization operations. Technology is probably the most unpredictable external factor that affects an organization. Technology is imperative in order for an organization to excel in its operations as it establishes organizational efficiency, new products, expenditure and convenience of service delivery. Internal organization factors include factors such as shareholders, employees, suppliers, distributors, labour supply and partners. Shareholders, for example, determine the structure of board of directors and the prospects of the organization. If the government imposes harsh policies on their organization, shareholders have an option of floating their shares or even moving out to another country where conditions are favourable. Employees are the main machinery through which an organization is able to dispense its services or produce goods for its customers. If the economy goes down, many organizations usually find themselves downsizing their human resource and this has profound effects on service delivery and production. Partners help an organization to carry out roles that would otherwise seem difficult if the organization was to do them on its own. This resourceful factor is also highly influenced by external factors such as economic policies, government policies and technology. Suppliers of raw materials, equipment and labour supply also determine if production is going to take place or not. On the other hand, each and every organization needs distributors to get its products or services to customers efficiently and within the recommended time. In the United States Fire and Rescue Service, external factors such as technology, government and the law have had much impact compared to the economy. For instance, technology has seen almost all the fire and rescue department adopt latest fire fighting technology, adopt effective emergency communication systems and respond timely to fire emergencies. Use of intelligent computer software and appropriate government policies have also simplified assessment of the various fire departments in a bid to improve fire fighting services across all states. Though the fire and rescue services are owned by the state, efficient service delivery often requires help from other partners and labour suppliers such as nongovernmental organizations which are key players in responding to fire emergencies and incidences. Good coordination of employees as they discharge their roles and convenient supply of fire fighting machinery are also crucial factors in improving the efficiency of a fire fighting operation. Individual Roles Organization behaviour began to emerge as an established area of study in mid 20th century. That era saw organization behaviour develop from the straightforward theories and behavioural concepts of the human relationists to the concepts and methods of an actual scientific area of study. Since then, organizational behaviour as a scientific area of research has made significant progress albeit there have been sporadic steps backward as well. However, senior organization officials are progressively more aware of the value of human resources and endeavour to better comprehend the workforce and their role in elaborate organizations and competitive business circumstances. The development of the theory of learning has of late attracted much attention among many organizations over the last two decades. Traditionally, it was believed that learning was supposed to be a senior management issue; today’s organizations are convinced that learning is a whole life procedure and that organizations would evolve and improve as a result of promoting learning to transpire. However, empirical studies have shown that employees in a considerable number of organizations still regard learning as a senior management activity and this perception frustrates vital involvement of other employees at times when the organization is in need of extra manpower. For organizations to overcome these perceptions, they are left with options such as use of motivation, organized structures and teamwork to ensure certain roles are not left to a restricted number of employees. According to Cook, Staniforth and Stewart (1997, p. 3) after most people are employed, they relax and leave their roles in the hands of rules and regulations, procedures and instruction booklets. The United States Fire and Rescue Service departments have fire brigade organizations that are reliant on the size and the needs of the brigade. In these brigades, roles and responsibilities are delineated by creation of titles like captains and chiefs. The fire brigade chief, for instance, oversees all the operations of a fire brigade unit. These operations include training of employees, use, management and maintenance of equipment and construction and implementation of procedures. The fire brigade chief may account to the unit emergency coordinator or may have a twofold task of coordination and chief but this occurrence is reliant on the size and requirements of the fire rescue unit. Chiefs of brigades are also chosen based on minimum qualifications that correspond to the tasks of the position. Deputy Chiefs are also appointed so as to help the chief undertake his roles; these senior officials supervise various operations on a shift basis and report their findings directly to the fire brigade chief. At this level, deputy chiefs are the fire incident commanders during a particular shift. Deputy Chiefs, however, have other permanent responsibilities such directing captains to lead brigades during performance of tasks such as fire containment, rescue, recovery and refurbishment. As a leader, the deputy chief can also merge his duties with other tasks that could crop up within his jurisdiction. Plant personnel who are appointed to contribute in fire brigades must have proper physical psychological and emotional competences. Besides these competencies, these personnel should have flexible schedules and be available during fire rescue operations depending on one’s tasks. The brigade employees are supposed to engage in habitual training, fighting fire, rescue operations and perform any other tasks in the plant’s governmental statement. Depending on the occupancy and staffing levels of a particular facility, it may be requisite to include fire brigade support persons that are not directly involved in fire fighting. For instance, an electrician may assist in operation and control of dangerous electrical appliances that may otherwise hinder rescue and fire fighting operations. Although at times the electrician may deem it appropriate to switch off power supply during fire incidences, fire rescue teams should be supplied with their own power in case their machinery will require electricity. A plumber can also assist in operating water pipes; incident commanders and personnel sometimes get themselves having problems with fitting pipes together. Such an operator is also able to establish the conditions in which pipes are likely to affect the fire fighting operations significantly and the best way to fix these problems. Delineation of Roles In many organisations, there is a definite criteria used to delineate roles to be carried out by each employees in a particular position. Though roles are often matched with qualifications, at times employees get themselves carrying out duties that are poles apart from their area of expertise. Griffin and Moorhead (2009) claim that depending on the complexity of the job and emergence of other subsidiary tasks, employees may find themselves being given other responsibilities by their seniors. This concept does not only apply for junior positions; even higher positions do not guarantee that an employee is going to perform only the tasks that are official to that position. Indicative of this concept is the United States Fire and Rescue Service staffing procedure at the brigade level. To settle on the number of fire brigade members needed, it is requisite to delineate and state the tasks the brigade will perform. The brigade’s basic errands include controlling and putting out fire, evacuating endangered personnel, reducing exposure to other areas and coordinating the efforts of all fire departments present. In order to ensure the safety of brigade members, all fire fighting and rescue operations are carried out in groups. Teamwork becomes a very important aspect especially where horse pipes are involved in fire fighting. It takes a minimum of five people to be able to fight a fire effectively; two are directly involved, one acts as the incident commander while the other two remain standby in case the rescue efforts pose a danger to those being directly involved in the fire fighting and recue process. Simultaneous with the fire fighting process, efforts should be made to lessen the injurious effects and impacts of the fire and the fire fighting efforts. This task is carried out via recovery and overhaul operations. Therefore, the more the tasks the brigade has, the larger the number of members needed and the greater the probability of a standby brigade member playing an unusual role. Organisational Development Momentous organizational change occurs, for instance, when an organization alters its general strategy for success, adopts or gets rid of a key section or practice and want to alter the way it operates. Organization development is also evident when an organization grows through various phases; for organizations to develop, they must experience considerable change at various points in their development. For this reason, organization development is considered as a very popular subject amongst strategists in businesses, organizations, leadership institutions and in other management institutions. The development of an organization and particularly the method in which an organization manages change is very pivotal in business success. Organization development operations intrude in the relations of various individuals in an organization, the organizational culture, the organization’s atmosphere and hence a good organizational design is needed to stop change from impacting negatively to an organization (Griffin & Moorhead 2009). In fire and rescue services, organizational change can be seen in terms of technological advances in incidence response. Changing fire fighting equipment as a result of technological know-how is not a simple task and adequate training needs to be put in place if the integrity and efficiency of fire fighting and rescue operations are to be left uncompromised. New and more improved fire apparatus are invented day in day out based on societal needs and hence are essential for suppressing fire and responding to other fire-related incidences. Without proper tools and acquaintance of how to use these equipments effectively and correctly, a fire department is likely to fail the public and other parties terribly. Moreover, acquiring and using fire fighting equipment follows definite standards and polices. Organisational Management According to Hien (n.d) stakeholders contend for the resources that an organization generates and organization’s survival and growth are highly dependent on the way collaboration and rivalry among stakeholders are managed. It is every party’s wish that the organization survives but once in a while stakeholders differ in opinion. Whenever such an instance occurs, relevant management officials are faced with a hard task of decision making, conflict resolution and containment of power and politics. Conflicts can transpire from issues such as competition for scarce resources, differences in goals and targets, and other bureaucratic factors. Conflicts can be resolved using several ways such as change of organizational structure and implementation of an organizational culture with specific conflict resolution criteria. Authority is also another challenging aspect which can be detrimental to the growth and productivity of an organization if used in the wrong way. Some employees feel intimidated and usually overreact to abuse by senior management personnel. Some authoritative managers often acquire authority with selfish political interests at heart; it is imperative to comprehend how politics work so as to spot a skilful politician and distinguish between bad and good politics. Politics could improve decision making if well utilized though at times they may bring about conflicts. In Fire and Rescue Service the main conflict is sharing of resources and undefined responsibilities; these could hinder efficiency of a fire fighting operation. Conclusion As each and every organisation continues to operate, it develops an organisation behaviour that is unique to its needs. Though there are basic external environmental and internal organisation factors affecting an organisation, the magnitude of the impact is unique for various organisations. The result is that organisation management, organisation development, employee roles requirements differ from one organisation to another. For instance, while United States Fire Rescue Service may be greatly affected by government policies and technology, fire and rescue services in other areas may depend on economy to a greater extent and adopt different organisational behaviour that is unique to their needs. References Cook, JA, Staniforth D & Stewart J 1997, The learning organization in the public services, Gower Publishing Limited. Cote, AE 2003, Organizing for fire and rescue services, Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Griffin, RW & Moorhead, G 2009, Organizational behavior: managing people and organizations, Cengage Learning. Hien, PH n.d, Chapter 14: managing conflict, power, and politics, viewed 30 March 2010, < http://www.scribd.com/doc/7974316/ORGANIZATIONAL-THEORY-DESIGN-AND-CHANGE-Chapter-14> Lawrence, PR 1991, The changing of organizational behaviour patterns: a case study of decentralization, Transaction Publishers. Read More