Storm King Mountain Case - Essay Example

Running head: storm king Storm King Mountain Case The fire mayhem at Storm King Mountain may be attributed to more than one cause. As pointed by Roberto and Ferlins (2003), the investigation report on this case outlined four direct causes namely, fire behavior, incident management, equipment and the profile of firefighters. However, indecision, inappropriate timing, insufficient information as well as lack of clarity of situation cannot be ruled out. Lack of ownership on part of the agencies was also seen when the incident was initially reported.

Despite being aware that the USFS guidelines discouraged use of aggressive tactics, and were categorized as ‘watch out situations,’ the firefighters continued to take the bold step of building fire line downhill upon receiving confirmation from their leader, Mackey, that the area was good enough with less vegetation, and not much risk from existing fire. The crew members relied completely on Mackey’s judgment as they trusted in his abilities more than their conviction of adhering to the guidelines.

Attributable to their can-do attitude, the firefighters ignored most of the rules because their ultimate aim was to stop fire from spreading. They did not regard these guidelines as procedures to be used in firefighting; rather, they relied more on their critical judgment based on experience and situational constraints. Hackman and Oldham’s Job Characteristics Model (JCM) explains employee behavior based on four motivational aspects namely, job characteristics, critical psychological states, personal and work outcomes and growth-need strength.

The JCM framework helps in understanding managerial functions as well as the psychological processes associated with work that are associated with employee behavior and outcome of employee actions. This model emphasizes the role of job design that ultimately leads to experienced meaningfulness of work, experienced responsibility for the outcomes, and knowledge of the results of work activities (Debnath, Tandon & Pointer, 2007). A team leader can determine what skills would be best to perform a specific job and deploy staff accordingly.

In addition, the task to be performed needs to be identified in advance besides having complete understanding of how the task or job impacts the employees and/or other stake holders. Identification of skills and tasks to be accomplished will also help the leader assess the extent to which the staff may be empowered to take their own decisions. While autonomy is an effective way to motivate staff, the level of autonomy requires a holistic view of the task and its outcomes. Finally, the team leader’s observation and assessment of the outcomes from actions taken by the staff have significant impact on staff’s commitment, motivation and enthusiasm.

If JCM were to be applied to the Storm King incident, the leaders would have benefited by having clear information about the situation and area; secondly, the leaders directed the crew members of tasks to be performed due to lack of time and other criticalities. Exercising autonomy would have brought better results if crew members’ concerns of not taking certain actions, like avoiding going downhill, were considered by the leader. Moreover, the leaders had to liaise between different teams, which made their job more complicated.

This job could have been more effective through uninterrupted and channelized communication from single leader instead of multiple voices. ReferencesDebnath, S.C, Tandon, S and Pointer, L.V. (2007). Designing Business School Courses to Promote Student Motivation: An Application of the Job Characteristics Model. Journal Of Management Education, Vol. 31 No. 6. (December 2007) pp: 812-831. Accessed July 17, 2010 from www.jme.sagepub.comRoberto, M.A and Ferlins, E.M. Storm King Mountain.

Published by Harvard Business School. pp: 304-046.