Leadership and Management Hierarchy of Fire Profession - Assignment Example

Leadership and Management Hierarchy of Fire Profession Overview of the Leader The leader selected for review and discussion is Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch is currently the chairman and CEO of News Corporation in the United States. From very humble beginning and rising through the ranks as a self-made successful entrepreneur, the Australian born has been regarded by many as very hard working and one of those that can be described as the most inspiring business leaders of the 21st century (Chenoweth, 2001). Such accolades may not come for nothing as they are exemplified in his refusal to retire from active work even now that he is 83 and has been suggested to on several occasions to take a break from active work. Apart from his hard work, Mr. Murdoch has been particularly phenomenal when it comes to the exhibition of great leadership traits and characteristics that can be replicated in any public and private service, including the fire and emergency service. Some of these characteristics and traits have been discussed below. Key Characteristics and Traits and how they can be replicated in the fire and emergency services As a global leader whose work field of work has focused on finding news for the public, Mr. Murdoch has been identified to be a very good seeker who leads his outfit to go to every extent to find news as they unfold. It is for this reason that News Corporation has mostly been ranked as one of the best in America (Barnacle, 2006). Writing on leadership traits and characteristics, George (2010) noted that leaders act as the directional heads of their organizations, who take a step for all the others to follow. Consequently, the need to be a seeker who always searches for the most applicable and useful strategies that can be used by the company has been recommended. Leaders who are seekers can indeed be very good pacesetters who can guarantee that they will lead their organizations safely to their goals without facing any challenges. This is because before asking the follower to take any step this leader might have first sought to be convinced of the step being taken. There is no denying the fact that the fire and emergency service could also apply this characteristics and trait of being seekers for the betterment of the organization. Like the News Corporation’s work, the fire and emergency service deals so much with promptness and forecasting. In the world of the media, broadcasting delayed news could be as worthless as not broadcasting it at all. Because of this, media practitioners who have seekers like Mr. Murdoch have always focused on breaking news first. In the same way, delaying with fire, rescue and other emergency support could be regarded as worthless because such delays could lead to loss of lives and property (Raghava, 2010). Having leaders who will always put structures and measures in place to seek and find problem spots and design interventions that ensure that the service can act promptly in times of danger is very necessary and important. It is for this reason that such seeking spirit as exhibited by Mr. Murdoch in the years he has been in active service is needed in the fire and emergency service. The second leadership trait of Mr. Murdoch that readily comes out when reading about him is his resilience against opposition and challenges. Over the years, News Corporation has faced several challenges and opposition, some of which have gone to the leader directly. Whiles some of these are industry based competition that seeks to suppress the market dominance of News Corporation, some of them have been found to be personal attacks on the leader, accusing him of bribery, hacking, and corruption (Ellison, 2010). These issues notwithstanding, Mr. Murdoch has been steadfast and showed public resilience to such opposition. On several occasion, he has talked about how some of these only make him stronger as a person. In leadership, Kickul & Neuman (2010) mentioned that the need to be touch is always a positive trait that ensures that no rush and ill-decided decisions are made. This is because such leaders fail to succumb to pressure, especially those that are regarded as unfounded and not true. Like News Corporation and Mr. Murdoch, the fire and emergency service also needs to be resilient and rise above some of the core challenges that face the industry. There is no denying the fact that of late, the fire and emergency service has received a lot of support from government and the general public in the provision of logistics and general budgetary support (Raghava, 2010). All of these notwithstanding, some basic issues have set the service back in the delivery of its promise to the public. It is expected that instead of losing hope and opting to run away from the realities that face it, the service and its leaders will have the confidence and boldness to confront the issues with the aim of solving them. Indeed when the leaders of the fire and emergency service admit that the challenges that face it are those within their means to handle, there is no way they will be intimidated by them. The leaders are therefore expected to be confident and bold problem solvers who will not find the challenges within the industry as too much for them to handle. Last but not least, Mr. Murdoch has received much public acclamation as being a people-centered leader (Vascellaro, 2011). The people-centeredness of the leader has two major sides, which are internal and external sides. Internally, the leader has been concerned about the welfare of his employees and staff so much that the over 48,000 employees that served the defunct News Corporation readily agreed to be part of the company when it was split in 2012 in 21st Century Fox and News Corp (Wall, 2013). Externally, Mr. Murdoch has always ensured that the company’s productions are directly focused on the quest, expectations and needs of consumer. It is not surprising that products and programs of 21st Century Fox and News Corp continue to be the preference of most people around the world. Still on the external people-centered trait of the leader, he has always led his outfit into focusing so much on social citizenship as a way of helping the needy in society and other people who require social supports in one form or the other (Harcourt, 2006). Such people-centered character is certainly needed by the fire and emergency service. This is because the service is a public sector industry that must be concerned with meeting the needs of the people it serves. Internally, it is expected that there will be interventions and structures put in place that can guarantee high levels of retention of employees. Some of these could include the use of financial incentives and other forms of intrinsic motivation. Writing about leadership, Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt (2002) observed that experience among employees in any service sector like fire and emergency is important in ensuring that employees can go about their work more effectively and in a manner that is most productive. But to get such experience, it is important that employee retention will be taken seriously. Externally, the fire and emergency service can focus on research and development (R&D) to identify the most pressing needs of the general public when it comes to fire, rescue and other emergency services. This way, the service can be assured that the kind of service it renders to the public are the presence kinds of service expected from the people they serve. Reference Barnacle, H. (11 May 2006). "Maxwell vs Murdoch – the untold story". The Independent. London. Chenoweth, N. (2001). Rupert Murdoch, the untold story of the world's greatest media wizard. New York: Random House. Ellison, S. (2010). War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle To Control an American Business Empire. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. George J. M. (2010). "Emotions and leadership: The role of emotional intelligence", Human Relations 53 (2000), pp. 1027–1055 Harcourt, A. (2006). European Union Institutions and the Regulation of Media Markets. London, New York: Manchester University Press. Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). "Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review". Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 765–780 Kickul, J., & Neuman, G. (2010). 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