Managing Resources in the Fire and Rescue Department - Coursework Example

Managing Resources in the Fire and Rescue Department Customer Inserts His/her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name 30, 04, 2011 Abstract This assignment is a survey in the fire and rescue department. It deals with the human resource department: recruitment, employment, training, selection, trade unions and motivation. Other areas covered are the procurement, finance and operational assurance and evaluation. This is a very sensitive issue because fire outbreaks leads to loss of life, loss of property, destruction of the fauna among others. Contents Contents 3 Introduction 4 Human resource management in the fire rescue service 4 Principles of management of financial and physical resources in the fire service 7 Conclusion 11 Introduction All economic resources are scarce and are bound to be depleted if not managed well; this is why management of resources is vital course of concern. All resources ranging from material, financial, mineral, and human in any field, department or service providing organization are usually managed by well stipulated organs within the organization. For example, financial resources are managed by the finance department and human or labour resources are managed by human resource management departments in an organization. The fire rescue service is not an exception in this arrangement and thus its resources management organs are up and running. The resource management in the fire rescue service department in the UK is far short of the expectations and standards that it is otherwise supposed to comply. This study seeks to explore the resource management strategies employed by the fire and rescue service department. Human resource management in the fire rescue service Human resource management in the fire rescue service follows some laid down principles that are meant to comply with the national standards. However, from the point of view of a critical analyser, the management of human resources in this department is not satisfactory. First, during the recruitment process, the vacancies are first advertised in the newspapers, magazines, internal notice boards and vacancy lists, with the potential employees expected to forward their application letters and resumes either through E-mail, post office mail, courier, or by physical delivery to the relevant office before a set deadline. The minimum qualifications expected from the applicants and the duties of the new employee are well laid down in the advertisements. However, in some instances, though not always, some qualifications are way beyond board deliberately put to lock out certain people. This happens in a situation where there is a predetermined or preferred person or persons by the management or the leadership of the recruiting team or the whole recruiting team in unison. Though the recruitment process is supposed to be regulated by the employment law which urges the potential employers to be equal opportunity employers, this kind of fault in most cases could not be easily avoided. The selection process follows the recruitment process where the suitable candidates are shortlisted for interviews and communications are thereof made to the short listed candidates. Here again the faults cannot be neglected, this happens where the selecting committee lays down tough regulations to govern the selection process either with good intentions or to manage the number of applications which at some point might be too high and unmanageable and reducing it to a small number that can be easily and efficiently worked with. Interviews are then conducted to the applicants by a team of interviewers appointed by the recruitment team. This interview process takes different forms depending on the post and the type of skill and fitness required in a given vacant position. This may include psychometric testing involving the assessment of the applicant’s personality, aptitude testing which involves assessing specific skills of the applicant, in-tray exercise which includes testing the applicant on the field that he is expected to be doing after employment and finally taking an interviewee through a presentation session where he or she is supposed to show or portray some specific skills as per the job’s requirements. Some of these process may not be intended to choose the best from the rest but meant to lock out certain people who are seen to be a threat to the preferred candidates. This happens in a situation where two interviewees being interviewed for the same Job are taken through two separate interview processes. A person is finally chosen and is given an appointment letter and the date of commencement of his assignment, the rules and terms of service that will govern the working of the new employee. The employment law clearly stipulates the rules meant to cover the recruitment process warning against discrimination in any way against the potential employees of a company, not against disability or whichever other discrimination. It also governs contracts and health and safety measures expected from the employers for the safe and secure working environment for the employees. Procedures of forwarding complaints and grievances from the employees also face a number of challenges including sacking and dismissal or suspension of employees who are grieved or are feeling not satisfied with the way in which they are being handled by the management. Most employees prefer to tolerate the bad treatment they face from their employers at some point for fear of these more severe measures that might be taken against them. In the fire and rescue services though, the disputes arising from the workers are handled with care and even at a point where the management cannot resolve, external agencies like ACAS, Tribunals and the EU departments of conflict and dispute resolution are invited to resolve and bring the disagreements to an end. The workers can not be sacked just because of indicating displeasure with the management. Employees’ potentials and abilities in the Fire and Rescue Services are also developed, which is by either promotions, giving them other opportunities to serve in, and encouraging personal development. This acts as a source of motivation to the employees and helps them fulfill their potential. Other forms of appraisal include rewarding well performing employees and award of holidays to the employees (Delery & Dotty 1996, p. 28). Principles of management of financial and physical resources in the fire service The finance department in the fire and rescue service plays a critical role in the smooth running of projects and other functions in the company. It is tasked with the function of drafting and approving financial spending and acquisition. The management of this very vital resource if ignored will paralyse the entire organization and hence making it a failure in a field in which with a little more caution could have saved the whole mess. Finance is a resource that drives the other resources and without finance, the whole of the other departments and the general operation of the organization would be impossible. The assessment of the performance of an organization, and in this case the Fire and Rescue services is assessed in among others its financial management ability. The Fire and Rescue services are majorly funded by the council tax among other funding sources. Council tax accounts for 52%, business rates 41%, revenue support grant 6% and other income sources 1%. The fire and rescue service spending is majorly on employees. Employees’ salaries and welfare take 72% of the budget, premises 4%, supplies and services 16 %, transport 2% and capital financing 6%. Capital financing in this organization involves: the purchase of appliances and vehicles, operational equipment, property maintenance and improvements, and spending on information and communication equipments. The spending of Finances in the Fire and rescue services is further planned in strategic ways that make the management of these finances easy and very reliable (Richard 1998, p.49). The financial management team comes up with strategic plans for spending the money every year in budget form, drafted in budget books which show the breakdown in details of the financial spending and funding from the beginning to the end of the year (Thomas & Alexander 2006, p.70). The financial management team also prepares a five year financial plan to give the summary f their expected spending and funding in the period. This projection helps the organization to gauge its position in the five years and give room for suggestions to better the financial position of the company in the said period. A capital strategy is also drawn to help in the process of definition of capital expenditure. At the end of each year, the finance management publishes a breakdown of accounts explaining the financial performance and the spending over that financial year. The government also at the end of each year appoints a group of auditors to do an auditing report on the financial performance and status of this company. This often comes after the management of the company too has appointed its own internal auditors to conduct an audit of the company’s finances. Procurement processes in the fire and rescue service Procurement process which involves commissioning and tendering of services to service providers who have to undergo an assessments to make sure they are meeting the required standards to deliver on the service at hand more appropriately more that any other of its competitors (Felecia 2010, p. 33). The procurement process first begins with commissioning, defined as ‘the cycle of assessing the needs of people in an area, designing and then securing appropriate service’ (Cabinet office (2006) Partnership in Public Services). Commissioning is done because, the resources are limited hence the need to identify and prioritise issues. Secondly, it helps in solving needs which are more pressing, helps in the evolution of the local authority and reduces the risk of investing on non beneficial projects. Intelligent commissioning can also be used where, for people, communities and public purse to get value for money and better outcomes is achieved (a better return: selling the foundations for intelligent commissioning to achieve value for money. NEF) After the commissioning, the procurement begins. The procurement involves a number of processes which include purchasing which is the process in which a prospective service provider buys the services and contracting follow purchasing and is where the legal binding between the company and the service providers is drawn (Pfeffer 1994). Before this major process of signing a contract between the two companies, the process of finding the most suitable candidate for the commissioned work begins. Initially, advertisements and invitation of tenders from interested parties are made in newspapers, magazines and other advertisement forms for example notice boards within and without the company premises. Interested companies are then directed to the Fire and rescue services offices to collect full tender documentation including tender documents carrying the full tender instructions, a standards and specification document, pricing document, contract conditions, basic requirements that ensure quality delivery, and other documents that may seem necessary as per the contract. The fire and rescue department procurement committee upon receiving applications and dully filled tendering forms and tender documents from interested parties set a date for bidding where all the applicants are invited. A fair bidding process is conducted, making sure that the best suited company grabs the chance. The requirements, including expertise, financial and material capability of the applicants is scrutinised thoroughly to give opportunity to the best bidder for the best results to be realised by the end of the contract. Sometimes malpractices like nepotism and favouritism may crop up in this process but not always do such cases occur. At some point, partnerships between two or more service providers are encouraged especially if the contract is large or if the deadline is a factor to beat. The best applicant or applicants in the case of partnerships, is then taken through the tendering process where the legal teams of both parties going into a contract are invited to verify, read ad acquaint themselves with the terms or partnership with each other and consequently sign the contract upon acceptance of the terms of service. However, the tendering may not always be open to everyone as earlier mentioned where the best will be chosen through a bidding process. The tendering process may be restricted or negotiated depending on whether the work to be done requires a special expertise or specifications that can only be provided by a certain contractor. At the end of this process, the best contactors are always awarded contracts and this ensures quality delivery. Operational Assurance and Evaluation The operational assurance in the fire and rescue services is well structured with each department working as a unit with the rest of the departments. This makes ensures that the operation in the respective departments is working towards standard service delivery. This helps to ensure that the resources are used effectively and economically with the sole aim of making sure that the financial and overall standard of the organisation is met. The operational assurance in resource management results in the good use of the resources which are not fixed and are bound to be depleted if care is not taken to consideration. Evaluation of the resources like human resources helps in improving the delivery of services by the employees in a company. In the fire and Rescue services, employees are the major service providers especially in carrying out their tasks both in office and in the field. Without proper management and appreciation for their efforts and dedication, future service delivery may be hindered greatly hence causing the fall out in the work force (Reeve & Peerbhoy 2007, p.123). This will in turn result in the loss of property or life in case of a fire emergency and the work force is not well motivated. Financial management on the other hand if not managed well may paralyse the efforts during an emergency, if there aren’t enough equipment to be used, no matter how strong the fire team is, the performance will be way below standard. In operational assurance, the people given the chance to manage the resources should handle the management of these resources with utmost sobriety because any hitch will spill the damage to other parts of the company or organisation. Incompetence may however arise in situations where during the recruitment period, an unqualified person was hired for the job and hence when such a person is required to deliver on important decisions the judgement may falls short of the expected standards and finally the resources which were required to be managed properly will have been misappropriated. Also if in a procurement process, an incompetent contractor wins a bid in a contract maybe by corrupt means or otherwise, this will definitely give a poor result at the end and hence a waste of resources. Conclusion Resource management is a very vital aspect in life and without resources; life at any given point will always be full of difficulties. Resource management can be done at any level of service; it doesn’t need that someone be in a top management position to be being able to have a say in the resource management. If we don’t manage resources be it physical or financial, the impact of mismanaged resources will spill out and be felt by all irrespective of how far from the wasted resource or how important the resource was to you . References Thomas, D & Alexander, E 2006, ‘Fire Management, Fire Management Notes and now Fire Management Today (FMT)’, Fire Management Today, Vol. 57, No 1. pp.70. Richard, H 1998, Essentials of Fire Fighting, Fire Protection Publications, Stillwater, OK. Felecia, S 2010, A Look inside the City of Austin procurement program, Texas states University, San Macos. Pfeffer, J 1994, Competitive Advantage through Business, Harvard Business School Press, Harvard. Delery, J & Dotty, H 1996, ‘Modes of Theorizing in SHRM’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol.39, No. 4, pp.20-39. Reeve & Peerbhoy, D 2007, ‘Evaluating the Evaluation: Understanding the Utility and Limitations of Evaluation as a Tool for Organizational Learning’, Health Education Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 120-131. 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