Successful Management by Motivation, Case Study Example

Summary

After the September 11^th tragedy, firefighters have been given more recognition for their heroic work, nonetheless according to this article they often go into dangerous situations without being properly informed. Firefighters trying to extinguish a fire at a battery plant suffered from throat and respiratory irritations after pouring water on flames that contained toxic hydrogen chloride gas. The firefighters were overwhelmed by the fumes and had to retreat and rethink their method of extinguishing the fire. The second time they used a combination of water and foam to extinguish the flames. After the ordeal, 24 firefighters were hospitalized with respiratory illnesses. Of the 24, 12 remained in the hospital overnight and 4 remained in the hospital for over a week. Many firefighters were distressed by the way the fire was handled and the lack of information they had. Consequently, the fire chief conducted a study to help ensure that disasters similar to this nature can be eliminated from happening in the future.

Importance of Leadership

Leadership in public safety organizations can be a controversial issue. One reason it is so controversial is that people often confused management with leadership. Nonetheless, this concept is not true because leaders are people who can demonstrate the right thing, while managers are people who explain what is the right thing to do in various situations (Canton, 2007). Effective leaders are composed of the ability to understand and advice the people who are depending on them to make wise decisions. Communication is critical for effective leaders. They must be able to convey and relay information in a way that is easy for their followers to understand.

Where Did Things Go Wrong?

In the article, The Lithium Fire, the first obvious thing that went wrong was the fact that the firefighters were not debriefed about the contents of the building. When the firefighters arrived at the scene, they were unable to gain information about the contents of the building because the manager of the plant was not at the facility. Contact should have been made with the manager before the firefighters were permitted to enter the building. If the manager was not available, the company should have had someone else available for emergencies, such as a fire. Being that it was a battery plant, more precautions should have been taken due to the possible content inside the building.

Lesson To Be Learned

According to Canton (2007), prior to the September 11^th tragedy, many fire and police departments in many cities, especially New York, did not adequately communicate with each other because of mutual animosity. Likewise, Canton goes on to say that in 2007, acts of terrorism grew with the possibility of use of chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. As a result, first responder post September 11 must practice proper communication, coordination, and effective leadership to ensure the effectiveness of organization (Canton, 2007). First responders respond to disasters in the United States daily. These disasters may be of different dynamics, but the way the responders respond should be very similar because there needs to be a plan in place to ensure the success of the mission. Each organization has guidelines as to how to respond to various situations in a uniform manner. There did not seem to be guidelines as to how the firefighters should have responded. They arrived at the fire and attempted to fight the fire with water because that seemed to be logical for them. Nonetheless, this could have proven disastrous for the entire team.

Avoiding Future Disasters

Failure of communication strategies and precise information has been impeding emergency response for decades. In the early years, this failure of communication was due to lack of equipment, but in today’s technological society it is merely due to lack of effort. This leaves the question of how to improve communication methods practiced by emergency first responders. The National Institute of Standards and Technology developed a wireless vehicle that provides connection to first responders at disaster sites. With this device, the team has access to voice communication, data, video streaming, Internet, and short messaging (2011). Inventions like these eradicate the physical limitations of communication, but the animosity between groups still remains. Clearly, first responder managers must have a plan established that outlines the proper protocol that needs to be mitigated in an emergency call. According to Cohen, Eimicke, & Horan (2002), there are three pillars that should be in place to ensure that future disasters are limited:

1. What is the criterion that determines if the emergency requires collaboration?
2. What aspects must be present to deem municipal collaboration?
3. What are best practices regarding collaboration

Coppola believes that when these pillars are considered, the possibilities of tragic losses are significantly reduced. In order to do this, “traditional silos must be broken down. Municipalities, and indeed individual agencies, understand the need to interoperate. However, few have sufficiently organized themselves along such lines, despite their necessity for effective emergency response” (Cohen, Eimicke, & Horan, 2002).

Those Directly Affected      

Often the people who are most affected by decisions are the ones who have the least input in those decisions. Sadly, public service workers are no different from office or factory workers. Organizational goals are met through the hard work and dedication of its workers; thus many factors contribute to the productivity and job performance of its workers. Firefighters are aware of the eminent danger they face each time they go on a fire call. However, if the firefighters feel their lives are in more danger due to lack of adequate communication they may be less motivate to do the best job they are able to do( Frey, Bruno, & Osterloh, 2002). This problem can be eradicated or lessened if public safety managers would perform personal interest surveys. With these surveys, workers are able to express their feeling with anonymity, which ensures they would not be retaliated against.

Motivations

Regardless to the type of job or profession one chooses to do in life, he/she is motivated by factors that are intrinsic, extrinsic, or both. According to Frey and Osterloh (2002), there are three forms of intrinsic motivations. First there are those that are motivated by the job for the job sake. Most public service workers fall under this category. They are fire fighter because their desire is to help others. Next, there are those that are motivated by accomplishments. These people are thrilled by accomplishing a job-extinguishing a fire. Finally, there are those that are motivated by compliance and standards. These people desire to act according to ethical commitments. Likewise, people are motivated by extrinsic factors as well. This list is more extensive than the intrinsic factors. Extrinsic motivations could be: prestige, money, social needs, and esteem need to list a few.

Training

The lack of proper training in fire departments across the United States has been noted as a serious problem. According to a study conducted, about 53 percent of firefighters lacked proper formalized training in firefighting (Cohen, Eimicke, & Horan, 2002). Another 12 percent of firefighters serve on departments that have no members who are certified in structural firefighting. Effective training is the focal point to any organization functioning properly. For example, “The level of performance demonstrated by a fire department is usually a good indication of the type, quantity, and quality of training provided” (Petrakis, 2003). To ensure that a fire department is operating effectively, proper training must be provided. Referring to the Lithium Fire article, it is possible that members of the fire team and management are not properly trained due to the way the fire was responded to. Yet, attention must be paid to the fact that firefighters have a limited amount of time per month for training and that there are no universal requirements for training in the United States. There are guidelines set forth by the NFPA, but transgression is left up to each individual state to adopt which standards they want. Nonetheless there are some effective training methods that can be used regardless to the state in which the firefighter is training. According to Petrakis (2003), there are three relevant styles of training: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Each individual firefighter may respond differently to the same training. One effective way to remedy this problem when dealing with real world situations is to pair up firefighter with different style to fight a fire (Petrakis, 2003). For example, when sending firefighter to a fire there should be persons on the team that are from the three different learning styles. This ensures that the fire is being evaluated from all three areas: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

Conclusions

The Lithium Fire article sheds lights on the many mistakes that can be made due to lack of communication and proper trainings. To ensure that firefighters can adequately perform their jobs they must be well trained, able to communicate, and feel valued by their organizations. In the post September 11^th tragedy, more precautions must be taken to ensure that public service workers are as safe as possible in their job field.

References

Advanced network technologies division communication and networking technologies for public safety, National Institute of Standards and Technogy (NIST)

Canton, L. G. (2007). Emergency management concepts and strategies for effective programs. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Cohen, S., Eimicke, W., & Horan, J. (2002). Catastrophe and the public service: A case study of the government response to the destruction of the World Trade Center. Public Administration Review, 62(4), 24–32.

Frey, Bruno, & Osterloh, Margit (2002). Successful management by motivation, Springer Verlag.

Petrakis, J. G. (2003). Firefighter learning styles and training: Beyond the slide presentation. Fire Engineering, 156(10), 132-136. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com