People Management and Leading Change in the Fire and Rescue Services - Essay Example

 Reflection is an activity whereby learners aim to mentally recapture their experiences and to reflect upon them. The purpose of reflection is four fold (a) individual – to add to and promote understanding of what the individual already knows (b) contextual – to enhance this understanding in the context of the theoretical knowledge available on the subject itself (c) relational – to understand and make sense of new information in the context of their own experiences and (d) developmental – to make choices for further learning. The purpose of this reflexive Journal is to achieve all these four aims, especially in relation to people management and understanding the forces of change that are impacting upon the Fire and Rescue Service where I work in training members of the watch. The role of a researcher as a reflexive practitioner has also been emphasized by Trafford, who is of the view that “Being part of our research field makes us also part of the evidence that is collected …..[and we]…..should allow readers to see the author in context as well as the text.” (Trafford, 2000:3). There have been some significant changes taking place within the fire service, mostly driven by the new agenda of Labour to bring about changes in the public sector. During the nationwide Fire services strike in 2002, the Fire Brigades Union asserted that the existing pay scales for the Fire Services were out of date because the role of a fire fighter has changed considerably in recent years. As opposed to the traditional male, manual worker who formed the average fire fighter in the past, the new group of fire fighters reflects associate, professional and technical grades which are inadequately compensated. In my opinion, these were legitimate arguments, especially because of the potential danger in what a fire-fighter may have to do, which further necessitates flexibility and leadership skills in the Fire Service. Globalization has produced a business environment of continuous change, where the failure to anticipate can be deadly (Ashley et al 1997:1), which specially applied to the Fire Service, which is subject to changes in the external and internal environment. An independent inquiry report was commissioned by the Government (Bain 2002), which was followed by a White Paper titled Our Fire and rescue Service, identifying poor human resource systems as one of the limitations in the Fire Services (www.communities.gov.uk). This has resulted in the introduction of Fire and Rescue Services Act of 2004, which requires Fire Authorities to carry out an annual Integrated Risk management Plan to evaluate operational resources. There have been recent reductions in fire cover and in my own Fire Service; there have been two station closures. In the context of all these and many other changes, my own observation has been that despite the volume of change, there is little direction that can be discerned, which may contribute to organizational resistance to these changes due to the difficulty in managing them (Lewin 1951). In my role as a training Manager for Watch members, I have observed that while the majority have a positive attitude towards leadership training, however there are a few Managers who believe they already know best how to run their watch and conduct training sessions, which makes them resistant to new ideas and/or procedures. Perhaps part of the problem lies in the fact that we are a transactional organization, as identified by Adler and Towne (2003). The Fire and Rescue Services is generally a hierarchical organization where information is communicated in a top-down, linear format by way of emails, memos and newsletters. The assumption is that communication is taking part in a clear, unambiguous format, although this may not actually be the case. However, it does produce an atmosphere within the organization where a hierarchical approach is favored as opposed to more informal networking. These managers who are resistant to the training program may be demonstrating this organizational culture, in their belief that they know best what’s appropriate for their watch. However, good leadership also calls for the ability to anticipate, coupled with visionary leadership geared towards ensuring that the Fire Service is able to meet future challenges as well. There is a substantial body of research evidence that suggests that leadership development is vital to an organization’s success and this aspect must be emphasized within the present day global, competitive framework.(McCall and Hollenbeck 2002; Charan Drotter and Noel 2001). Conger (2004) disputes the traditional belief that leaders are born, not made, and states that successful performance in a leadership role can be attributed to “leadership and coaching, rather than simply to in born talent.”(136-137). This focus on training is also reflected in the Aspire leadership model introduced by the Fire and Rescue Service, in recognition of the importance of good leadership in the FRS. This model emphasizes people management, flexibility and adaptability to changes in order to be better equipped to face up to challenges. In the improvement of leadership practice, An Integrated Personnel development System (IDPS) has been introduced, whereby Personnel and Training Assessment Records are being issued to fire service personnel, so that they identify their own training needs, which are then acted upon by the Watch Manager. Training has been identified as a vital aspect of the Model, for managers at all levels, so that through training programs, Members of the Watch become better prepared to cope with the emergencies that are a part of the daily life of fire station personnel. In my own role as Training Manager, I focus upon making students comfortable in the learning environment and I feel self identification of training needs according to the IDPS is a valuable step forward and has been useful in boosting the motivation of those attending leadership training programs. Rogers offers the view that “unless you are motivated you will not and cannot learn. As a tutor you must therefore tap into and keep refreshing the motivation of your group, otherwise the whole thing will collapse” Rogers, (2001, p15). When participants in the leadership training program are allowed to assess their own training needs and ask for appropriate programs, there is automatically a sense of value and purpose in attending those training sessions, which serves to keep these members of the watch motivated and committed to learning the leadership and training skills that are being imparted by the course that I teach. Transformational leaders “stimulate followers to perform beyond the level of expectations.” (Bass, 1985, p 32) and in the context of the Fire Service, may be best able to provide the kind of intrinsic motivation that employees need, as identified by Maslow (1970) – such as social, self esteem and self actualization needs. These may be particularly relevant in the case of fire fighters, who are seen as people that will help in an emergency. They are viewed as special people by the public and “can lead to fire fighters believing their image and acting out at work how they subjectively judge they expect to be seen, by themselves, their peer group and the public.” Baigent (July 2001). Since most fire fighters may feel the need to conform to the public image of their work, their needs for self esteem and self actualization may be much greater than rewards of money, which may not be adequate motivation to ensure job satisfaction. My own approach in my classes has been transformational, I have tried to project an enthusiastic and informal approach that is calculated to put students at ease and enable them to achieve their best in a supportive learning environment. My objective is to stir up the enthusiasm and dedication of the participants, inspire them to develop their own leadership patterns in a way that fosters the values of their watch members and inspires them to continue to sustain grit and determination in a dangerous job. Moreover, these classes take place at the Fire Training Service Centre so that the learning is situated within the environment where the individuals work (Lave, J., and Wenger, E., 1992). Adopting such a situated learning approach helps the participants to develop skills that are associated with the context within which they occur and enables them to be better prepared to deal with crisis situations and to provide effective leadership to those who work under them on how to deal with risk. The objective of the training program I teach is to prepare watch managers in training fire station members, by also giving them an opportunity to put what they have learnt into practice through the simulation of operational incidents.(Schank, R.C., 1997). I also allow students in my course to enhance their learning prospects by letting them communicate knowledge to each other and network effectively in teams, through the self explanation effect (VanLehn, K., Jones, R. M., & Chi, M. T. H. (1992). This is directly opposed to the traditional hierarchical processes of communication that have hitherto been going on within the Fire Service and allows the participants to develop a different communicative and networking approach. I believe that with continued training, this approach will ultimately replace the hierarchical and outdated communication systems that exist within the organization and promote a more informal, networked approach where most Fire Station managers will be transformational leaders, leading their own groups and inspiring the best creative endeavours from them. A positive correlation has been found to exist between transformational leadership and the performance of the organization (Lowe et al, 1996). Transformational leaders are very effective within an organizational context because they are able to inspire their followers to achieve superlative outcomes by providing them with meaning and understanding of what they do, apart from providing them cherished and time honored ideals to follow and espouse. They also provide support, mentoring and coaching for their followers, to infuse them with their own enthusiasm and energy. Hughes et al have stated that “Leadership is a complex phenomenon involving the leader, the followers and the situation.”(Hughes et al, 2002, p 6). Leadership cannot be assumed to be a position that one person has, rather it is a process of interaction between a leader, followers and the situation. To me, this appears to be a true description of what leadership is really all about, and appears to suggest that true leadership may actually be most effective when distributed among both the leader and the followers. The objective of the training exercise that I conduct is to ensure that the students learn and develop adequate leadership strengths. In contrast to the hierarchical framework that used to exist within the Fire Services, the introduction of leadership training ensures that a more distributed leadership pattern is being allowed to develop within our organization. This allows responsibility for decision making to be diffused through the organization rather than placing the burden on one or two individuals. According to Argyris and Schon (1978), distributed leadership is concerned with the thinking and actions that accompany a particular situation and the manner in which it unfolds within the organization will be dependent upon the perceptions of the individual practitioners and their theories which are in use. By developing leadership skills in a wide range of individual managers across the Fire and Rescue service, the full benefits of distributed leadership may be available to the organization. Distributed leadership allows for cognitive activity to be stretched across many players and therefore offers a wider range of solutions to a problem, thereby enabling a better response to a crisis or changing situation where established precedents cannot be applied successfully. Robert Blake and Anne Adams McCanse (1999) have also advocated a team approach by identifying a leadership grid, based upon which a team management approach is advocated and these authors believe that this leadership approach is ideal. Such a team management approach identifies leadership as a grid in which the various parts of the grid are interlinked with each other and various employees within a firm work together on a cooperative basis with an equitable allocation of responsibilities on the basis of the skills possessed by each individual employee. In order for the organization to achieve its entire potential, the underlying premise is that all the parts of the system , i.e, the people in the organization, must work together in order to achieve a common objective and piece meal objectives are unlikely to work. The authors recognize however that implementing an integrated system may be difficult in practice and have therefore recommended that managers in the organization foster team work and encourage employees by motivating them to reach higher levels of achievement. Peter Senge (1990) presented several ways of thinking and acting of the leadership of an organization in such a manner that learning systems within it can be changed to address the weaknesses in the organization. In view of the changes that are taking place in terms of restructuring of the framework of the Fire and Rescue Services through the provisions of the revised Act and the Risk assessment requirements, providing effective leadership skills to members of the Fire Watch units becomes all the more vital. It has been my observation that most students have benefited from the rigorous two day training course which enhances their leadership skills and improves their ability to support and train fire station personnel, as well as to respond appropriately in a crisis because they learn how to be better prepared and anticipate risks. The advantages of distributed leadership are considerable, especially in the context of the changes that are taking place in the Fire and Rescue Services, because it employs distributed cognition, which is a process of making sense of a situation by incorporating both action and artefacts into a single whole. The use of a distributed approach offers a wider range of solutions that will be available to deal with the situation because cognitive activity will be distributed among many players. It is important to recognize that every situation has many sides – the people, the history, the physical setting of the situation and the actual event itself, i.e, in this case fires, are all part of the situation or risk where leadership skills must be exercised. Distributed leadership also allows for a much faster response to a crisis because the situation, the leader and the followers are all geared to respond to the situation through effective networking. A fire station manager who has had the opportunity to train and communicate with peers is better equipped to provide stronger and more effective leadership in a crisis. In my opinion, the training program thus offers significant benefits to the participants, especially through the development of scenarios. I have also found myself benefiting from the creative solutions that are suggested, through the opening up of a range of possibilities and different ways of thinking about a particular situation. By allowing participants to network and tap into each other’s creative abilities and skills during the course, I believe they are being well trained to be responsive in an emergency, and to develop new and innovative solutions to problems and cope effectively with the challenge of organizational change. -2501 words. Managing People: The independent inquiry report was commissioned by the Government (Bain 2002), like other reports that preceded it (Macphereson, 1999), indicated that the Fire and Rescue Services came very close to being institutionally racist. In my own experience, I have had occasion to observe how new members on the watch seek to integrate into the existing informal network on their respective watches and their struggle to be accepted into the bastion of masculinity that comprises the Fire Service. The majority of the Fire and rescue Services are comprised of white, heterosexual males in the age group of 35 to 55, who are drawn from the working class of West Yorkshire and also educated there. As a result, the values of this dominant group are reflected in the social network that exists within the Fire Services. According to Schauber (2001) the organizational climate is reflected in the private, informal language of the organization. There are “spaces” during the day in between the operational work that firefighters do, this typically includes station cleaning, equipment testing, training/assessment and community fire safety. These spaces are when firefighters are generally away from their line managers and where most of the informal hierarchy is formed. Through conversation and the use of humour, some of which is of an extremely frank and robust nature the watch will “police” itself. The process of “fitting in” requires that each person on the watch knows where they are in the informal hiarachy. The irony is that in attempting to protect the perception of this bastion of masculinity anybody that does not meet these exacting standards is marginalized. This suggests that women would be natural candidates for exclusion from this male social network, however in practice, it has been my observation that any person who does not fit the parameters of heterosexual masculinity and is perceived to be the least bit effeminate is also likely to be a candidate for marginalization. A new member on the watch is the subject of curiosity to some extent. Other members of the watch ask leading questions geared towards eliciting information about the new entrant’s personal social life and sexual orientation. The initial interactions include questions such as, Are you married? Do you have children? – How many? What is your full time job? What other jobs have you done? Do you play sport? What football/rugby team do you support? The degree of ease with which a new member is included in the informal network appears to depend considerably on the manner in which these questions are answered, and the future relationship of the individual with other members of the watch appears to be conditioned by this aspect. It makes it very difficult for the individuals concerned as they don’t yet have an understanding of the personalities of the watch members, the culture of the watch or organisation and to that end they are working blind. This results in responses that are fairly generic and that give little away. It is obvious that the initial questions are an attempt on the part of the watch to “place” the individuals, that is to contextualise them within a frame of reference that is familiar to them. The part of the individuals seems to be one of attempting to give answers that will satisfy the curiosity of the watch whilst not laying bare their soul. It also occurred to me that this process in itself could be seen to be a means of comparing “sameness” i.e. if a male answers that they are not married and that they don’t have a girlfriend this will raise in the mind of some individuals the possibility that the individual may be homosexual, this may then have an impact upon any further interaction. This can extend so far as to marginalise a white heterosexual male that is perceived to be slightly effeminate or that challenges any of the established behaviour on the watch. Connell (1995 p 76) suggests that “working class masculinity, ethnic minority and homosexual masculinity are subordinated and marginalized. Indeed, whilst it is recognised that men in general benefit materially, socially and politically from their position as the dominant gender – advantages described as the “patriarchal dividend” (Connell 1987) – these benefits are not spread equitably amongst all males. – Other groups of men pay part of the price, alongside women, for the maintenance of an unequal gender order. Gay men are systematically made targets of prejudice and violence. Effeminate and wimpish men are constantly put down, (Connell 1987 p64). This very narrow view of what constitutes masculinity seems to have the effect of forcing many people joining the fire service to hide what may be deemed to be feminine traits, i.e. feelings and emotions, this perpetuates the masculine myth and also causes difficulties within the organisation in terms of staff being able to communicate both horizontally and vertically. It is worthy of note that this denial of perceived feminine behaviour appears to be prevalent amongst most of the new entrants, this includes female entrants and openly homosexual males, (following interviews with staff in three brigades in England in February 2006), in addition they mentioned that they felt a need during the first year on the watch to over emphasise their ability to do operational tasks often trying to be the “first into a job”, (volunteering to be a breathing apparatus wearer, ensuring that if there was a fire they would be going into it). This seems to demonstrate that the “Communities of Practice” suggested by Wenger (2004) will be dependent upon an individual being accepted as part of the community in the first place. The concept of the “discourse community” as defined by Putnam and Borko (2000 pg 5) as “the cognitive tools – ideas, theories and concepts – that individuals appropriate as their own through their personal efforts to make sense of experiences” seems to suggest that it would be very difficult for an individual to participate in situated learning without first having an understanding of the culture and social structures of the group in which they were participating. This in turn suggests that although situated learning is the preferred method of learning in the fire service, it lends itself to excluding an individual that is, for whatever reason, excluded from a group. It was noteworthy that the new member of staff that had previously spent time in the armed forces seemed to be more adept at being able to tiptoe through this minefield that the member of staff that works for a local authority. This may be because he could have had previous experience at having to do this. Argyll (1994) explains social behaviour of certain drives that motivate individuals to persistently seek certain goals. While there are some basic drives, such as the biological drives for food and sex, there are other drives that may play a prominent role in conditioning the behaviour of an individual and fashioning his conduct within a social context. Argyll suggests that social behaviour may be the component of at least seven different drives, of which one is self esteem and ego identity and another is aggression, both of which may be playing out in the social interactions among the new members and the veteran ones on the watch. The drive towards aggression appears to be prevalent among the older members of the Watch. On the basis of Bion’s basic assumptions about the emergence of a group, it appears that the fight/flight assumption is most valid within the Fire Services context, since the individuals within the group may perceive the very survival of the group as being dependent upon fighting the danger of fires every day, thereby mandating an aggressive approach that emphasizes group unity and solidarity , while the welfare of the individual is likely to be of secondary importance (Bion, 1961:64). This may perhaps explain the aggressive drive of the members of the Fire Service and the importance it ascribes to traditional notions of bravery, strength and the macho attitude associated with masculinity. In order to render them eligible to join this exclusive group of masculine individuals who face and overcome danger on a daily basis, new entrants must prove equal degrees of masculinity and conformity with the group norms. As a result, they are largely motivated by the drive to self esteem and ego identity as identified by Argyll. Since the dominant culture of the group is the display of a strong masculinity, it has been my observation that new entrants are often the first to push themselves forward to undertake tasks that require exceptional bravery and valor. By emerging successfully from such tasks, it appears that they are able to establish their masculinity and their fitness to become a part of the bastion of exclusive masculinity. Women and men who may be perceived to be effeminate, either in demeanour or because of personal social history, all tend to display such behaviour within the group when they are entering it. Part of establishing masculinity in this manner also extends to what what (Baigent 2001 p29) calls “the boob test”. This involves the passing round of pornography in the presence of the new member of staff in order to try and elicit a reaction. Baigent describes how, as an observer researching behaviour on a watch, he feels justified in that he “smiled and passed on the picture”. He goes on to quote examples of this type of behaviour in order to justify it in terms of the imperative to be accepted by the group in order to have a true reflection of their behaviour. My own experience has been an interesting one in that I have never felt fully integrated as part of a team. Although I have never felt that I would be let down by a colleague in a safety critical environment, away from the fire ground I have felt the need to challenge what I have felt uncomfortable being around, that is the sexism, racism and homophobia that were endemic to the fire service when I joined. As Hampton puts it, it’s as if the group has become “endowed with a darker side….if groups are capable of great deeds, they are also capable of great follies.” (Hampton, 1999:113). While fire fighters are capable of deeds of great courage and strength, they also appear to believe that expression of racist and homophobic views in private may yet be condoned, despite their awareness that they may need to limit their expressions to ensure justice and fairness to everyone. My discomfort with this darker side of the Fire Services initially lead to my becoming active as a trades unionist but this was counter productive in terms of me getting promoted and being able to affect change in my immediate environment. My feeling is that I am accepted because there is an inter dependence which is highlighted by the nature of the profession. I have more recently begun to discuss the culture of the organisation and of watches with new entrants. I feel able to discuss openly some of the problems I faced in challenging what I perceived to be unacceptable behaviour. I discuss the issue of being marginalized because of the perception that probationers should just “keep their gob shut and learn to fit in” (Ff with 15years in the fire service, during a training observation in Dec 2006). I also point out that if they feel the need to object then they are also perfectly within their right to do so and that if as a result of objecting they were to be marginalized that they would be supported by the management of the brigade. Adler and Towne (2003) in discussing communication state, “Communication is essential to human survival. People need to communicate in order to meet their physical needs, shape and maintain their sense of identity, and manage their interpersonal relationships.” Their model below shows that communication is two way, that it involves sending and receiving, decoding and responding and that all of this happens simultaneously. More importantly their emphasis is that communication is not something that is done to others, it is something that is done with others. This further emphasizes the group activity inherent in communication. In terms of the model the two ovals represent the different environments in which the communicators are operating, these could represent the watch and the individual joining the watch. The more the overlap the easier it will be for the parties to communicate, hence, a white male with a military background joining an organisation that is primarily white male with a uniformed hierarchical structure should find communication fairly easy. A black woman with no experience of a uniformed militaristic environment would according to the model find communication more difficult, though not impossible as long as there was an awareness and acceptance of the gap by both parties. Feedback refers to all feedback and could be tone of voiceoron verbal communication and the parties may not be aware that they are doing it. The channels represent the means by which the communication is taking place, i.e. personal contact, radio, telephone, email. The noise is referring to any interference and could be taken to be physical, social or psychological. Transactional Communication Model (Adler and Towne 2003 pg 11) In practice, from the perspective of new members, they feel that being able to attend incidents, (riding the fire engine to fires etc), has assisted in “bonding”. They feel that this shared experience of going to incidents with the watch and “proving” that they are able to function as part of the team on the fire ground is as important to their self confidence as it is to letting the watch know that they are able to do the job. It can be seen by looking at Alder and Towns model that this process increases the amount of overlap, reduces the noise and increases the likelihood of positive feedback. My observation has been that they are able to participate at present as legitimate peripheral participants in a situated learning context as described by Lave and Wenger, (Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Lave and Wenger 1991 Cambridge University Press). As they are to join the profession and the watch they are legitimate, passing the core skills module increases that legitimacy. They are involved in peripheral participation as they are not yet fully accepted or socially bound to the watch despite the fact that they are training and working with them. It would seem to be the case that the more time they spend attending incidents and working with the watch the more likely it is that they will be accepted into the group and lose the status of being peripheral However, if there are significant barriers and differences, the acceptance may never happen. This is evident in the instance of shocking discrimination and victimisation reported in the press. The changing reality of the workplace is that the fire service now has a higher proportion of women, black and ethnic minority members of staff and a higher number of gay and lesbian staff who feel able to declare their sexuality than ever before, therefore group interactions may be changing slowly. I would venture to guess, however, that if either of the new members of staff that I have been observing were gay they would have been reluctant to declare it at the first meeting with their watch. Most new members generally appear to conform to the dominant group culture and fit in by conforming to those conditions, perhaps motivated by the drive to self esteem and ego. (Argyll, 1994). I am reluctant, however, to accept this as good practice, since it perpetuates the white, male heterosexual culture, and I believe it needs to be changed, which is indeed a daunting task. Bibliography Adler, R. and Towne, N. (2003). Looking Out/Looking In. Tenth edition. Belmont,CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Argyris, C and Schon, D (1978). “Organizational Learning in action: A Theory in Action Perspective”, Boston: Addison-Wesley * Argyll, Michael, 1994. “The Psychology of interpersonal behavior”, Penguin Books Ashley, William C, Morrison, James L. (1997). “Anticipatory management: Tools for better decision making”. The Futurist Sept/Oct, 1997. 31(5): 47-51 Argyle, M. (1994) The Psychology of Interpersonal Behaviour (5th ed.), Penguin Baigent, D, (2001). 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