Fire and Rescue Services in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

Project Management xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fire and Rescue Services xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Introduction Lancashire fire and rescue service is among the best fire and rescue services in the United Kingdom. It works towards providing a cost effective and accessible fire and rescue service to Lancashire’s communities. It covers six different areas which are western, northern, southern, central, Pennine and eastern. It is actively involved in making Lancashire a safer place by being involved in educational activities to the communities around. The educational activities taught cover road safety, children’s education and environmental issues. Lancashire partners with several organizations involved in public service. Some of these organizations are; Environmental Agency, Lancashire County Council, Partnership for read safety, Muslim community Safety – Hajj, Red Cross and Red Rose Hub. Lancashire fire and rescue service believes that it has a responsibility to protect the environment. Its partnership with the Environmental Agency helps them respond to any pollution control measure. Lancashire fire and rescue service has invested on caterpillar truck and off road machine that help in firefighting on rough terrain, woodland and moorland. In partnership with the county council, Lancashire fire and rescue service is tailoring a project that will help reduce accidents and save lives. This is done trough intensive training and education for the public. The Muslim community receives training before they leave for the Hajj. This involves training on fire escape plan, electrical safety and how to avoid death or injury during the stone throwing ritual (Jamarat). Lancashire Fire and rescue service also partners with the Lancashire Red Cross branch to offer emergency support service. This aims at giving immediate emotional and practical support to domestic fires and other incidents victims. A partnership with the Red rose Hub is aimed at linking Lancashire with electronic and telephone information which helps generate thousands of referrals. This means that Lancashire fire and rescue service is committed to giving reliable and effective services to the communities around it which include rescues when there are floods, high winds, storms and snow affecting the lives of the community. To enhance effectiveness in service delivery through collaboration and cooperation, it is necessary for Lancashire to establish a common governance system. Project initiation document The aim of the project is to establish a common governance structure between Lancashire fire and other services to promote close working relations and agency interoperability. Objectives To train managers for all stakeholder organizations on effectiveness of teamwork and team leadership skills in the training centre by December 2011. To select one overall CEO among the managers in stakeholder organizations for effective message delivery To establish a training program for all stakeholders by June 2011 To establish an evaluation and monitoring system in Lancashire so as to determine the effectiveness of the governance structure in contributing to initial organizational objective. Benefits of project Establishment of a common governance structure will result to improved procedures, processes and policies of the project through the enhancement of cooperation, coordination and communication. In addition, a common governance structure will reduce any existing internal jurisdictional conflicts and establishing principles and guidelines for effective service delivery. To achieve communications interoperability which is key to successful emergency response, partnership among all organizations dealing with emergency response across all governance levels must be enhanced. The governing body should therefore include federal, state, and local entities in addition to representatives of pertinent emergency response disciplines within UK. A strong governance structure is also very important in improving interoperability through technological development. In Lancashire, common governance will be formed through the establishment of one highest ranking position for all stakeholders. This will be regarded as the CEO and will be expected to maintain close links with stakeholder organizations as well as the community members. Cost Well designed governance in any organization proves to be cost effective because it avoids duplication of tasks and responsibilities in the management line and other working levels. In this case duplication implies having many people playing almost similar roles which can be handled by one person, a factor which increases the cost of running an organization. To establish this project, several costs will be incurred as shown in the chart below. As indicated in the chart, the CEO will be the overall manager of the program. The CEO must have good communication and leadership skills as he or she will be expected to enhance cooperation among all stakeholder organizations which according to Kaldor (1998) is achieved through effective and timely communication. He/she will be receiving the highest pay due to his responsibilities, position and skills that one must have to be given that position. The chief executive officer acts as the umbrella link of all the stake holders involved in a project. There will be systematic communication of values, plans and expectation from the chief executive to all levels and departments involved. There is a dire need to train staff because of the added responsibilities. As a result, there is need to recruit trainers. These trainers will train the managers and other team leaders on the importance of a common governance system and the aim and objectives of the project (Kaldor 1998). It will be a comprehensive training, equipping staff members with all the knowledge and skills required to carry out a successful project. The trainers are in this case divided into two; the chief trainers and the trainers. The chief trainer will oversee the training process by trainers and also inspect and supervise the other trainers. To cut down the cost of training, trained managers and team leaders will be required to trained other workers and community members on the mission, vision, goals and the objectives of the project. This will ensure that the least number of trainers effective in delivering quality is recruited. Since consensus is vital in any team work, various organizations must be well represented in any meeting. It is therefore a requirement that all organizations produce one person who must be in the managerial level to represent that particular organization. These groups of people will be paid by the organizations they represent and thus extra cost will not be incurred. Business Case The recruitment of a new CEO will result to several changes within the organization. Several leadership styles will be incorporated in the company and new strategies be developed to ensure effectiveness in attaining company’s objectives. In the process of electing a new CEO, it is essential to control the other staff members to avoid disturbances and gain new development within the company. This will be enhanced through advertisement of the position and clear stipulation of required skills, experience and competencies. The company must work within the stated budget so as to minimize costs and avoid losses or unnecessary spending. Currently, the company has resources which can sustain it for at least more than ten years if well budgeted for and managed. 1 Write and agree PID 30.2.2011 2 Leaders and managers training on common governance and its importance. 10.3.2011 3 Seeking support and approval to undertake the project by those in leadership positions. 13.3.2011 4 Developing a list of tasks which the CEO is expected to do and the expected level of education, skills and experience 14.3.2010 5 Obtain materials for the CEO recruitment program and Briefing staff on the same. 15.3.2011 6 Advertise the position of the CEO through human resource management 15.4.2011 7 Schedule training programs for all the managers seeking for the CEO position 30.4.2011 8 Meeting all potential candidates for the position 15.5.2011 9 Monitoring and evaluation of company activities before handing over 31.5.2011 10 Unveiling of the new CEO to other staff members 15.6.2011 11 Training for all team leaders and managers 3.7.2011 12 Training other workers and community members through seminars and public barazas 15.7.2011-15.8.2011 13 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 Staffing Only seven new staff members will be employed since the head of departments and all the other staffs will be retained. The new staff will include; chief executive officer, chief trainer and five trainers. The chief executive officer must be an excellent leader, charismatic and one who has good communications skills. The trainers must be conversant with the topics to be covered and results focused. There will be no additional staff for all the lower ranks and company representatives will be paid by their organizations they represent and therefore there is no extra cost incurred in this process. Risk Management Plan Mayor (2005) defines risks as uncertainties and likely occurrences that are likely to affect the successful completion of the change implementation process. The new management style to be applied in Lancashire is not without risks. There is a risk of 1. Receiving opposition from staff members who may feel threatened by the action of creating a common governance structure. This is because duplication of duties will be avoided and thus some employees will lose their current positions. 2. Lack of interest by some members and the fact that some people may be reluctant to accept new roles is also a threat. This is due to the probability that though the changes being made may not affect the employees, some are reluctant to adopt new processes and procedures as they are already used to the old ones. 3. Demand for increased pay by those directly affected by the change as they may feel that their responsibilities are more than were in their previous working conditions. Risk Management Plan Risk 1 Likely impact if risk does occur Likelihood of risk occurring L M H L M H 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 To overcome these risks, all members will be trained on the importance of developing a common governance structure and its implications. Higher productivity is dependent on knowledge and information applied in production making training very important in this process (Castells 2004). The management team will be given the first priority in the training since ssuccess in implementing change is at the discretion of the leaders, managers and those who work under them. For any change to be successfully implemented, those leading it must support it fully. This means that support must originate from the top level management in order to achieve the expected outcome. Those in high position are more likely to resist the changes since they are not sure as to who will take the place of a general CEO. According to Mayor (2005), this may threaten effectiveness in exercising control Efforts to show staff members that suggested changes do not only present new challenges but also an opportunity to be seized and fully maximized on should be made in Lancashire Fire and Rescue Services. In addition, consultation will be carried out with stakeholders so as to ensure that they own up the project (Castells 2004). Meetings with project managers of stakeholder organizations will be held on a monthly basis to evaluate any upcoming issues and evaluate the effectiveness of their collaboration. This will also happy after every rescue activity has been carried out to identify the challenges faced during collaborative service delivery. Documents Management Plan Records will be kept for every meeting held and after an idea, process, procedure or principle is agreed upon, it shall be entered in the monitoring system. a secretary will be appointed to take minutes in every meeting as evidence of consultations. Amendments on existing documents will only be done after extensive consultation with stakeholders to enhance harmony and unity in the process. 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 Maylor, H 2005, Project Management, 3rd Edition, New York: Pearson Education. Murphy, M 2003, Managing strategic change: an executive overview. Carlisle Barracks: Department of command, leadership and management, U.S. Army War College. tudies, 32, 899-900 Read More