The Fundamentals of Managing Resources and Information - Essay Example

Name Course Tutor Date Managing Resources and Information Introduction Our today’s environment is exposed to different kinds of risk management caused by human activities or their lifestyles. According to the research findings of the World’s Environmental agencies, most of the domestic fires are caused by young children either accidentally or due to their curiosity. Most of the fire and rescue services in Glasgow city are trying to implement all tactics to ensure the occurrence of these risks is minimised. Our line manager has asked me to strategize and come up with ways of implementing a Child fire safety project whose aim is to improve fire safety awareness amongst young children under the bracket of the school going age and meet the recommendation of the national risk management plan. For the plan to be successful i am instructed to employ two permanent community safety practitioners work together with the temporary workers. The selected human and material resources will depend on the finances set aside in the annual budget to cater for the project to avoid interfering with other activities of the organization. I should also consider ways of obtaining the resources, procurement materials or staff. The evaluation process is necessary as it gives a guideline on the activities to be considered for the success of the whole process, enable the operators to make rectifications in case they discovers that the chosen resources are less effective or helps to identify whether the project was effective or not or whether it attained its intended purpose. I will also consider the best method of auditing as an evaluation of the process. Recruitment of the new staff members The project comes as a new department which needs independent personnel to operate thus two permanent workers should be recruited to run the whole process. The project is meant to benefit all the residents of the whole of Glasgow city so the occupants of the entire city should be given the opportunity to apply for the vacancies. Advertisement is the best way of creating awareness to the public about the chances. This is a community based project and involving or recognising everybody in it enhances its success since they will all give the necessary support. Advertisement The vacancies for the full time workers will be advertised through the local electronic channels and the print media like business magazines and journals. The most common ones like Scottish TV, Hammerhead and real radio can be considered so as to reach as many people as possible. The nature of the job being advertised and the status of the personnel needed will be included in the advert. This is to ensure that the interested candidates are the most fitted for the positions. The public internet will be considered because most of the people are access it and enhances online application. The period for the application will be indicated to avoid late application. All the applicants will be expected to attach photocopies of their testimonials to ascertain that they are what they claim to be or they have the necessary skills (Mathis & Jackson, 24-26). Short listing and interviewing the applicants The opportunity will be open for all the interested applicants to forward their applications. All the applications will be shortlisted to come up with the list of those assumed to be the most qualified amongst the applicants. A list of the shortlisted will be published and a date set for them to avail themselves to the organization for briefing or can be issued with the letters inviting them for the interview. They will be required to present their original certificates for verification as they present themselves physically before the panel of the interviewers and have their skills of communicating tested. Then there will be a written interview in which all the interviewee will be given printed questions and expected to answer them. This interview is meant to determine those with the desired qualifications and select the best two who will be employed. This is the most genuine way of recruiting the workers as everyone is give a chance to prove their competence and the fate of each is determined by his or her efforts. Employment of the workers The two candidates who qualify for the positions will be called for the briefing of the is expected of them as internal workers of the organization or the nature of the job that they are expected to do; if they agree with the terms given they will sign an agreement form which will be in triplet, a copy for the human resource manager, another for the manager and the individual retains a copy. Their salaries depends on the money allocate for the project but the rate will be discussed with the staff members recruited including the rates on the overtime hours The finances to cater for the expenses of the project and all the resources needed including the human resources should be included in the annual budget of the organization. The money assigned to the environmental ministry to manage the environment of Glasgow city can also be used to find this project. Other well wishers can volunteer to finance the operation and the professionals like teachers can help to teach the children on the basic information concerning the fire safety. The contractual workers will be hired to assist the permanent workers to run the activities involved in the project. These will be recruited through the arrangement of the project employment that is they sign an agreement to undertake the activities of the project and their contract is banned at the end of the agreed period of time. These workers should be under the management of the permanent workers who will be briefed by the entire management on what is expected of the project and apply their skills to choose what is best for the project to achieve its objectives (Torrington, Laura & Taylor, 24-26). Some experts in this field will be hired to share their skills with the recruited workers on the best ways of operating the project. This is because the target audiences are very sensitive and requires experts or professionals to handle them. Unlike the grownups who can who can be asked to decide on the best ways of teaching them, the young ones requires someone who can understand them and decide on the most suitable style for them. This means that some specialists with the skills of handling and teaching kids will be contracted for the duration of the project. Resources needed to run the programme There are many resources needed to run the programme apart from the human resource. The human resource chosen will need the material things to enhance their operations, so many material things will be used from the stage of recruiting the staff all through the implementation of the project and operations to its final assessment to evaluate its effectiveness. For example, literature materials like stationeries will be needed to recruit the staff members, educate children on the fire safety measures and auditing the operations. Other material resources which will be needed include the equipments which will be used for the practical purposes. Fire safety measures do not only look into ways of preventing the occurrence of these risks, but also ways of reducing their effects on the victims. This involves putting off fires before it spreads to wide areas, children can be informed of the basic ways of putting off small fires using small apparatus like the dry fire extinguishers thus the organization will have to get these equipments. The project is supposed to serve all the children across the entire city of Glasgow in United Kingdom. This means that the operators will have to move from place to place thus there should be a reliable means of transport. Sometimes there will be need to gather children for theory part of training; these children will need furniture like chairs and desks to write on. The specialists and the casual workers will be included in the list of the resources needed for the These resources will be obtained from the suppliers department of the organization after the organizing committee hands over the list of the items they require. This will also be included in the Integrated Risk Management plan of the organization which bears the latest national risk management plan and determines most of the things outlined in the annual budget. The organization can decide to acquire them through their suppliers or the FiREBuy Ltd., a company which provides the best resources to the projects of the fire and rescue service organizations. The Regional Centres of Excellence is the best for the human resources because it gives advice on good practice (Bratton & Gold, 15-18). Procurement Procurement in the fire and rescue services undertaking a project like the one we are planning is required to taken at the level likely to be attain greatest efficiencies and maximisation of the purchasing power by the aggregation of the local and international demand. The organization should conform to the procurement rules of United Kingdom. This will facilitate the realization of the goals and objectives of the project and those of the national organization of fire and rescue services. This means that the organization should consider the recommendations of the FIReBuy Ltd Company and those of the Regional Centres of Excellence to be certain of the resources of the best qualities for their operations. It is a recommendation for every fire and rescue service to base its activities on the latest national risk management plan (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 12-13). CRB clearance The chosen human resource is expected to work with the members of the public especially the young kids who are very innocence hence need to be handled by innocence people or those within any criminal records. To assure the organization that they are innocence, the workers should clear with the Criminal Records Bureau and be issued with a certificate of good conduct. They should also be physically health so as to be able to carry on fieldwork duties of reaching the children. Evaluation of the project There are many methods which can be considered to evaluate the project depending on the type of evaluation process. This can either be prior to the implementation of the project, during the implementation period or after the programme is over. The evaluation process starts during the preparation period. This helps the committee of experts to identify the activities which should be involved in the project for the outcome to be most effective. They will also be able to identify the best resources to select and where to apply them so as to be most effective to the intended purpose. This process is carried out like the research project by studying the environment and trying to predict the outcomes or changes likely to occur after implementing the project. The evaluation process during the implementing period and as the activities of the project takes place is to observe the effectiveness of the resources chosen and make changes where necessary. For example, if the human resources hired are not effective in their duties assigned they can be changed with others who are preferred to be more qualified. This kind of evaluation can be done through the observation method whereby the managers supervise the operations of the workers. The evaluation done after the completion of the project is to examine the effects of the project and whether the overall objectives have been achieved or not. This is best achieved by analysing the records or interviewing the operators or the children who were trained (Patton, 26-29). SMART – Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Evaluation ensures that the goals set are specific which have better chances of being accomplished than their counterparts. Setting up these goals ensures that simple six W questions are answered. For example: Who is involved? What is to be accomplished? Where located? When? Which? Why? The measurable factor ensures that a concrete criterion of examining the progress of the activities of the project is set. This entails such questions as: How many? How much? How will I know when it is accomplished? The Attainable factor helps to identify goals which are most necessary for the project and how to attain them. This goes along with the realisation of the skills and abilities of reaching to the intended destiny. A realistic goal should be reflected in the objectives which are capable of being worked upon. The one which is both high and realistic is easily achieved due to the high force of motivation asserted towards it. Every goal should have a time frame set for it to be achieved and that is why the project is meant to be completed within the allocated time. The goal can also be tangible if it can be felt through one of the senses for example, smell, touch, sight and hearing; these are the goals which can easily be made: measurable, specific or attainable. These factors are to be considered by the auditors during their evaluation processes (Lopper, 35-38). The policies to be used in evaluation process The policies used in the evaluation of the project can either be qualitative or quantitative depending on the data that is intended to be collected. The qualitative method deals with the focus groups while the quantitative is basically the survey method. Although most of the auditors prefer using the triangulation method whereby they combine the two methods so as to gather more information, the qualitative one is the most effective. This is whereby the common models like observation, questionnaires and interview questions apply. The auditors may observe the operations of the workers or the behaviour of the public to determine the effects of the activities of the project implemented. They can also interview the operators on information concerning the project or issue the public with questionnaires which they forward upon completion. Most of the residents of Glasgow city are elites and the project at hand focus the children of the school going age so they can be able to respond to the interviews of whichever way. To assess the effects of the project to the community the auditors should consider the observation method since it is the most suitable for the young children. Principles of operational assurance Auditing in a fire and rescue service is one of the most sensitive operations and can be risky to the personnel doing it. The individual should be conversant with the equipments used and have good interpersonal attributes so as to be able to motivate the workers. The auditors should be keen to ensure that all the operations of the organizations are genuine that the workers are not underpaid or overpaid. There is also assurance that all the activities of the organization are relevant to the latest National Risk Management plan and the recommendations of fire and rescue services Act 2004 Conclusion The project of improving the awareness of the fire safety to the young children of Glasgow city is considered to be the most important as it is looked at as a positive effort towards reducing the outbreaks of fires caused by the activities of these young people. Everyone is expected to accord the necessary support to all the process of preparation and implementation of the project. Two permanent workers will be recruited as representatives and managers of the newly formed department, the temporary workers to assist the full time workers. The human resource department will be keen on the selection of the resources to be used to run the activities of the project. There are some organizations in Glasgow city which helps the fire and rescue services to get the resources for their activities. The FIReBuy Ltd Company and those of the Regional Centres of Excellence helps to obtain the resources of the best qualities both material and human resources. To assess whether the project has attained its intended purpose or not, an evaluation will be carried out both in the organization and in the targeted community. Work cited Mathis, Robert & Jackson, John. Human resource management. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Creating sustainable Communities: National Procurement Strategy for the Fire and Rescue Service: 2005-2008. London: Eland House, 2005.Torrington Derek, Laura Hall & Taylor Stephen. Human Resource Management. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2008. Bratton, John & Gold, Jeffrey. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, 2001. Lopper, Jerry. Personal Development 40 Best Articles. Lulu: Lulu.com, 2007. Patton, Michael. How to use qualitative methods in evaluation. New York: SAGE, 2000. Read More