Equity and Diversity in London Fire Brigade - Case Study Example

Project Management xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fire and Rescue Services xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Introduction London Fire Brigade (LFB) is considered as the fourth largest fire and rescue operation organization in the world. It consist of four directorates namely Fire and Community Safety, Corporate Services, Operational Policy &Training and Resources. In addition, LFB is organized into two divisions namely southern and northern divided by River James. Run by London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, LFB is one of the statutory fire and rescue service in London. LFB has 112 fire stations inclusive of a complete autonomous station with a river across London boroughs. It the only fire rescue service in United Kingdom where its entire operational personnel are termed as full time employees (London Fire Brigade 2011). Through it Operational Policy And Training directorate, LFB is widely involved in making London safer place to live by way of educating communities on fire and rescue operations. Educational activities rendered to communities include fire fighting methods, accident due to hazardous materials, floods and on basic traffic collision. Just like other fire and rescue operations in UK, LFB has invested in caterpillar trucks which usually assist in fire fighting especially in area where there is rough terrain. In its fire and rescue operations LFB first determines the size of fire or any kind of special operation so as to dispatch appliances sufficient to minimise risk involved (Improvement and Development Agency 2011). It is the duty of officers in the control room to dispatch appliances accordingly in exact time to reduce risk in fire spreading or any other operation. It is evident that London fire brigade is committed to ensure that UK citizens are safe from both natural and artificial calamity. In order to enhance efficient service delivery and good employees’ relations, LFB need to develop a policy and plan on equity and diversity. Project initiation document The aim of the project is to develop a policy and a plan that enhances equity and diversity in London Fire Brigade so as to improve service delivery. Objectives To educate employees working in the organization on the importance of enhancing diversity and equity in selecting employees by December 2011. To select a competent, professional and all inclusive board comprising of six individuals to make vacancy announcements and recruit employees in such a way that everyone has an equal chance to be selected by May 2011. To establish a training and mentoring program for all stakeholders by June 2011 To establish an evaluation and monitoring system in LFB so as to employee performance and effectiveness of the recruiting board in enhancing equity in employee selection. To identify training needs among the management team by May 2011. To identify the different groups living in LFB service delivery areas and select a representative from each by July 2011. Benefits of the new policy and plan Establishment a policy and plan that enhances equity in employee selection is in accordance to National Framework. The equity and diversity strategy is a vision set to be achieved by 2018 and is aimed at address current inequality, improve services to meet the needs of diverse communities through the establishment of a working environment culture that supports diverse workforce, ensure that services delivered are in line with legislative instruments such as equity law which requires that different groups be treated in an equitable manner and to build effective and lasting relationships with the public (Jacquie et al, 2004). Establish a policy that enhances equity will not only improve service delivery but will build sustainable and cohesive communities. In this regard, representatives will be selected from the community members. This group will be responsible for representing community needs and providing an evaluation of service delivery by LFB. The policy and plan will enhancement of cooperation, coordination and communication among all stakeholders. In addition, this policy and plan will reduce any existing internal legislative conflicts and establishing principles and guidelines to govern employee selection for effective service delivery. Communication interoperability will be achieved through the involvement of community members in the decision making process as well as stakeholder organization (Rumens 2008). This is very important in successful emergency response. Establish employee selection criteria for each working position. Selection criteria for employees in every position will be developed to enhance professionalism and equity during advertisement and employee selection process (Millar 2001). The employee selection board will be inclusive of six professionals. Cost Establishing a policy and plan then enhances equity in the working environment is very cost effective since it enhances services delivery and community satisfaction. Research and involvement of community members ensures that actual needs are addressed and not the perceived needs hence preventing wastage of resources. A cost has to be incurred in establishing a policy and plan that enhances equity in the working environment since several new posts will be created. This is as follows As indicated in the chart, the board will be made of six members. These individuals must clearly understand the equity law and other legislative instruments aimed at establishing equity among diverse groups. They must have good communication and leadership skills as they will also be responsible for supervising researches done to identify community needs. According to Kaldor (1998) effective and timely communication must be achieved in enhancing service delivery and this is achieved through effective and timely communication. The board will be receiving a high pay due to the level of professionalism required since each individual must be at least a masters degree holder and having eight years of experience. This group will link community members to the organizational management team (Huse 2007). There will be systematic communication of values, plans, policies and expectation from the board to all stakeholders. There is a dire need to train staff because of the added responsibilities. Trainers will be recruited to enhance this. Only two trainers and one chief trainer have been recruited since they will be required to train only the team leaders and those in the management levels who will in turn be required to train other workers. This reduces the training costs since team leaders will not have to be paid extra money (Kaldor 1998). The comprehensive training will equip staff members with knowledge and skills regarding the new policy and plan and how activities enabling the realization of the policy will be executed (Hager 2004). The chief trainer will oversee the training process by trainers and also inspect and supervise the other trainers while the managers oversee training by the team leaders. This will greatly cut down on the training cost to be incurred. Seminars will held in different locations within which LFB operates for community members to be informed on the new policy and plan and the importance of their involvement in the decision making process. The needs of all community members will be put into consideration including those of minority group and women. This will make LFB the employer choice for community members trained in fire and rescue service (Beckett and Hager 2002). The community members will also be made to understand the mission, vision, goals and the objectives of the project. Different organization including those dealing with human right will be involved in the decision making process to avoid duplication of activities. As a result, each organization will be required to send a representative during stakeholder seminars and trainings. However, LFB will not be responsible for the salaries of stakeholder organizations’ representatives and each organization will be required to send a representative from the management or leadership level. Business Case The development of a new policy and plan on equality and diversity will lead to several changes within London Fire Brigade. It is very essential that several leadership skills to be incorporated in the company so as to ensure that implemented policy and plan will be effective in achieving stipulated company goals. In the process of implementing equality and diversity policy and plan, it is very important to control other personnel so as to do away with any form of disturbances which may hinder this process. This will be achieved educating staff members on importance of respecting other workmates age, sex, religion and disability so as to develop healthy diversification within the organization. London Fire Brigade must work within the affirmed budget in order to minimize costs and losses which arise from fund embezzlement of funds. Currently, LFB has various resources that will enable the company run its normal fire and rescue operations without any kind of interruption for at least more than fifteen years if these same resources are well accounted for. 1 Write and agree PID 8.3.2011 2 Leaders and managers training the new policy and plan and the implication. 15.3.2011 3 Seeking opinions from those in leadership positions on the way forward. 17.3.2011 4 Holding a stakeholder meeting to discuss the policy and plan. 20.3.2010 5 Advertising the six vacancies for employee selection board, one for the chief trainer and two for other trainers. 30.3.2011 6 Conducting interviews to select the best candidates. 18.4.2011 7 Training programs for selected board. 30.4.2011 8 Training group leaders and the management team. 14.5.2011 9 Evaluating the leaders and management team through tests and group discussions 1.6.2011 10 Training other employees 7.6.2011 11 Conducting research to identify community needs. 18.6.2011 12 Holding seminars and public barazas with community members to inform them on the new plan and policy. 5.7.2011 13 Monitoring and evaluating the level of acceptance of the new policy and plan by workers and community members 16.7.2011-20.8.2011 14 Auditing 10.12.2011 Tasks Precedence Chart Feb March Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Staffing There will be nine new staff members to be recruited. These are the six board members, a chief trainer and two trainers. The management team and current team leaders will be required to offer training services to employees in lower ranks. This will ensure that no extra costs are incurred apart from that incurred in paying the nine new employees. The selection board will be responsible for developing selection criteria for employees at every level, advertising vacant position, conduct interviews; carryout research on community needs and evaluate employee performance. Individuals to be recruited in this board must therefore be professionals and posses good communication skills. Trainers will only be required to be conversant with equity law, human right and other legislative instruments governing equity in a working environment. In addition, they must be good communicators since training is all about communication (Rainbird et al 2004). Risk Management Plan Risk is the uncertainties or unlikely occurrences normally likely to affect a triumphant completion of policy and plan implementation process (Mayor 2005). The equality and diversification policy and plan in London Fire Brigade is not exceptional to these risks. These risks include; 1. Great opposition from company’s personnel who may feel intimidated by the development of equality and diversity policy and plan. This may be as a result of some senior staff may feel they are not ready to be equalized to a similar diversification as their junior workers (Adam 2003). 2. Certain members within the organization may lack interest in ensuring that the developed equality and diversity policy and plan is successfully implemented. This is due to large discrimination which exists between members that normally arises from differences in age, gender, disability and sex orientation (Burtonshow-Gunn 2009). 3. LFB personnel may demand for preferences to those citizens who are from other countries. Preferences can be in term of special house and medical allowances to the whites since they are the majority race in London (Adam 2003). Risk Management Plan Risk 1 Likely impact if risk does occur Likelihood of risk occurring L M H L M H R Risk 2 Likely impact if risk does occur Likelihood of risk occurring L M H L M H R Risk 3 Likely impact if risk does occur Likelihood of risk occurring L M H L M R H In order to minimize the stated risks, it is very essential that LFB trains all its personnel on the importance of developing an equality and diversity policy and plan. Productivity within London Fire Brigade depends highly on knowledge gathered by staffs during performing their routine fire and rescue operations (Castells 2004). To training LFB personnel, various consultations will be held between project manager and director to ensure that the project will be effective in achieving its aims and objectives. Meeting will be held by management team to identify challenges likely to occur during the implementation of the equity and diversification policy and plan. Documents Management Plan Developed selection criteria will be stored for reference. A report must also be written after every recruitment process and stored properly in the records office. The board will be required to submit the report seven days after the recruitment is over. These reports must include the number of applicant who applied for the job, the number which attended interviews and the number recruited. In addition, details on race, sex, nationality and level of education of the applicants will be included. Records will be entered in the monitoring system. During seminar and board meeting, minutes will be written and submitted to the record keeping officers. Assessment reports for seminars and the training programs will also be developed and stored in the monitoring system. The document will be availed to stakeholders upon request. All documents associated to the equity and diversity policy and plan project will be titled and numbered for the purpose of ease in documentation Reference Castells, M, 2004, Informationalism, Networks, and the Network Society: a Theoretical Blueprinting, the network society: a Cross-Cultural Perspective. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. Kaldor, M, 1998, End of millennium: The information age: Economy, society, and culture. Regional S Adam, K, 2003, Equality and Diversity Policy Guidance: Legal Service Commission, retrieved from http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/criminal_contracting/070830EqualityandDiversityGuidanceforLSCProviders.pdf Beckett, D, and Hager, P, 2002, Life, Work and Learning: Practice in Postmodernity, London: Routledge. Burtonshow-Gunn, A, 2009, Risk and Financial Management in Construction, Farnham, England; VT: Gower Hager, P, 2004, ‘The conceptualisation and measurement of learning at work’, in Rainbird, H, Fuller, A, and Munro, A (eds.) (2004) Workplace Learning in Context, London: Routledge. Huse, M, 2007, Boards, Governance and Value Creation: The Human Side of Corporate Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Improvement and Development Agency, London Fire Brigade: Planning for an Emergency, retrieved from 4th March 2011, http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/9543392 Jacquie, C, Audrey, H, Barbara, M and Sandy, W 2004, Workplace harassment and violence report. London, ON: Centre for Research on Violence against Women and children, 2004. Lock, D, 2007, Essentials of project Management, Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Gower. Lock, D, 2007, Project Management, Burlington, VT: Ashgate London Fire Brigade, Mayor of London Green Procurement Code, retrieved from 4th March 2010, http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/GreenInitiatives.asp Maylor, H 2005, Project Management, 3rd Edition, New York: Pearson Education. Millar, J, 2001, Lone parents, employment and social policy: Cross-national comparisons. London: Policy Press. Murphy, M 2003, Managing strategic change: an executive overview. Carlisle Barracks: Department of command, leadership and management, U.S. Army War College. studies, 32, 899-900 Rainbird, H., Fuller, A. and Munro, A. (eds.), 2004, Workplace Learning in Context, London : Routledge. Rumens, N, 2008, Working at Intimacy: Gay Men’s Workspace Friendships, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 15 Issue. 1, pp.9-30, London: London reference collections shelfmark: Read More