Operational Management: Fire and Rescue Services - Admission/Application Essay Example

Operational Management: Fire and Rescue Services Chain of Command In a business organization, the chain of command refers to the hierarchical distribution of power and authority from the top level management to the each employee at every strategic level of the organization. The chain of commands plays a key role in the organizational decision making process as at higher ranks make critical decisions for those below them. The significance of a chain of command in every organization is that matters are handled at various levels depending on their sensitivity to the organization (Gilman and Carl 189). The more the power and an authority a certain level possesses, the more delicate the situations that they are likely to handle. For instance, while an issue affecting a department will be handled by lower level management decisions, affecting the entire organizations are initiated by the top level management. Difference between Operational Firefighting and Management Fire Fighting While senior management is involved in the design, review and reform of organizational strategy, the operation management is a lower level management that defines the tactic of converting organizational inputs into output (Mahadevan 3). The operations of an organization refer to the actual business activities that effectively convert labour, time and resources into the final products desired by the target customers of a business firm. As the senior management develops a work plan and puts a theoretical schedule to accomplish the tasks, operational managers ensure that these schedules are followed during the practical implementation of the projects. In essence, operational managers directly contribute to the quality, quantity and efficiency of the goods and the services desired by an organization. In the Fire and Rescue Services, there is a clear cut line between operational fire-fighting and managerial fire-fighting. In the context, the fire station managers and deputy manager form part of the management firefighting while the technical engineers from the operational firefighters. In case of a fire, the management firefighters take the role of coordinating firefighting activities from the remote stations and do not attend to the location of the fire. They will use communications services to pass their control decisions to the technical heads. On the other hand, the operational firefighters will attend to the location of fire and develop will coordinate all ground activities including the process of extinguishing fire, obtaining water and utilizing available resources. They will use tactical techniques to ensure that the firefighting services are rendered in the shortest time possible. In this regard, it is possible to regard the operational firefighters as the operational management of the FRS while management firefighters are the top level management of the organization. Diagrammatic Representation of Chain of Command and the Organizational structure Chain of Command Organizational Chart How a regional FRS ICT Data and Voice Communication System Central versus Local FRS ICT Procurement Procurement systems are a critical part of any business system that regulates the acquisition of various requirements of the organizations. For a smooth running of any organization, it is crucial to identify the most efficient, quickest and reliable method of acquiring vital accessories that are necessary to furnish the operations of the organization. Often, organizations that have branched out and have fully developed regional offices are confronted with the question using a central procurement system or each region to run its procurement operations separately. As Booth (32) points out, choosing a local or centralized procurement system is dependent on the relation of the regional branches but either method has its own merits and associated disadvantages. From the point of a critical evaluator, FRS is a sensitive business sector and efficient regional coordination is an essential element of the organization. The organization has 9 regions that need to be furnished with different equipment necessary for firefighting operations. While each region is a lone entity, at times the regions are forced to converge in major business operations. For instance, the various regions of FRS converged during a rescue mission in Bradford, the FRS regions converge together to secure the premise and save the lives of the occupants. This means that these regions are only separated by distance but have to play as a team during emergency situations. The communication system is an essential tool for FRS where reporting, coordination and timely response all dependent on the voice and data services. If the organization opts for a centralized communication system, it will enjoy the advantage of accessing goods at low cost and acquiring similar and hence compatible devices (Booth 39). Resultantly, in a time of convergence of regional teams, there will be no communication barriers between the teams. Communication barriers in time of emergency put the life of both the victims and the rescue team at risk. For instance, FRS communication systems are incompatible and this has put the response teams at the risk failure in rescue missions. Additionary, a central procurement system ensures that there is a uniform distribution of resources within all the branches of the organization hence providing them with an equal potential of handling emergency situations. On the other hand, a local procurement system has its own advantages and disadvantages. To begin with, a local procurement system will encourage innovation which is a key value of ICT sector especially with the rapid development trends in the communication sector. This will provide a healthy competition platform for the various regions and this will ensure that the organizations remain at par with the technology (Booth 45). At the same time, the regions will exercise financial independence which allows them to have flexible management decisions depending on the regional needs. On the other hand, it will result to incompatibility issues that are likely to jeopardize the organization's primary goals to maintain safety in the UK society. Weighing the merits and demerits of the local and central procurement systems, it would be advisable for FRS to engage a central procurement system for its ICT facilities to avoid the risks that are likely to emanate from localized procurement systems. Works Cited Booth, Caroline. Strategic Procurement: Organizing Suppliers and Supply Chains for Competitive Advantage. London: Kogan Page, 2010. Print. Gitman, Lawrence J, and Carl D. McDaniel. The Future of Business: The Essentials. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009. Print Mahadevan, B. Operations Management: Theory and Practice. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2010. Print. Read More