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Copyright 1999 by Walter G. Green III. All rights reserved.
In this session we will address two key areas, organization missions and organization structure. Every organization has a mission, values, and a vision, whether or not the organization and the members realize it. If there is no mission statement, then the mission becomes simply to exist; if there are no values, whatever you do today becomes the values that you hold dear; and if there is no vision, the vision of the organization becomes "in five years we all agree we are going to be here." Well articulated mission, values, and vision statements capture what the organization is about, where it is going, and how it is going to get there. In a culture of almost constant change, adhering to the status quo only guarantees the certainty of the nearness of its future demise.
Missions, history, and the nature of our business shape how we organize the emergency services. Emergency Services organizations tend to adopt classical hierarchical organizational structures, becoming, if anything, more rigid and more complex in a period in which commercial organizations are becoming less hierarchical and more flexible. As managers of emergency services it is important to ask ourselves if we are adopting the best structure for our evolving missions.
At the end of this session each student will be able to:
(1) Analyze the mission, values, and vision of his or her agency.
(2) Identify what organizational activities should be shaped by mission.
(3) Describe the organizational model adopted by his or her agency.
(4) Suggest alternative organizational models that might better serve the agency's mission or achieve its values.
(5) Describe parallel organizations in the emergency services and analyze their functions.
During this session, read the following material:
(1) Chapter 4: Mission, Values, and Vision of the draft textbook MANAGING THE EMERGENCY SERVICES - AN INTRODUCTION (sent to you by e-mail).
(2) Chapter 6: Management Functions in the Fire Service in Carter and Rausch MANAGEMENT IN THE FIRE SERVICE.
Everyone answer three of the following six questions (one E-mail to the listserv per question, and make sure you include a subject line that identifies which questions you are answering). You may answer them in any order you wish.
(1a) If your agency has a written statement of mission, values, and vision, share it with the class and comment on what you understand this statement to mean to you as a member OR (1b) if your agency does not have a statement of mission, values, and vision, write one and explain why you have chosen to write it as you have.
(2) Given the statement in question 1, how does or should that influence a major decision the agency now has to make or will have to make in the near future?
(3) Describe the organizational structure of your agency.
(4) What do you think the terms line and staff mean; who in your agency has a line officer function; what would be an example of a staff officer?
(5) Suggest an alternative way in which your agency could be organized.
(6) What roles do auxiliary organizations fulfill? Does your agency have one? How effective is it?