The following information has been extracted from "Unit 1: Introduction to Personnel Management" of the FEMA/USFA/NFA/Degrees at a Distance Program, Course Guide, Personnel Management for the Fire Service, January, 2000.
Overview of Personnel Management
The phrases "human resource management" and "human resource development" are used to describe the dynamics of personnel management. Human resource management relates to building the overall personnel management system, i.e., developing training programs, employee assistance programs, promotion processes, organizational lines of communication, salary and benefit contracts, etc. Human resource development relates to the specific tasks necessary to build individual strengths, such as employee evaluation, supervisor-employee communication, individual training and career development, delegation of responsibility, etc. Human resource development experiences offer employees opportunities to maximize their ability and increase their motivation through team support in accomplishing the mission, goals, and objectives. The emergency services officer/supervisor needs to motivate and guide an employee's efforts to attain satisfaction and work as part of a positive team. This is the goal of effective personnel management.
This course will focus on human resource management and individual employee development strategies. The topics include organizational development, motivation and productivity issues, recruitment and selection techniques, promotional processes, training and education programs, performance measures, compensation and benefit programs, employee and labor relations, and contemporary personnel management issues.
By the end of this course, you will have received the benefit of the advice of leaders and managers with hundred of years of accumulated leadership and management experience. This advice will improve your ability to manage and lead in the fire service. It is a challenging and rewarding experience when you realize your leadership potential by inspiring team success and organizational productivity through effective personnel management ability.
The Importance of Personnel
The best emergency service departments do not necessarily have the best apparatus, the best stations, or the best equipment. What they do have is the best people! Emergency response organizations are heavily dependent on the ability, devotion, and willingness of the team to perform. An organization that has effective personnel management and leadership will be successful. The team devotion and desire to accomplish targeted results will be inspired through motivated, self-confident, and well-prepared team members. The struggle for success can build a stronger team. Simply buying the best equipment and the
latest model fire engines or ambulances or squad cars, and building the most comfortable stations will not produce an effective organization automatically.
There are few departmental goals that can be achieved without significant team involvement. No matter how much high-tech equipment is brought online, or how fail-safe the systems are designed to be, even the most basic tasks and the simplest projects are doomed to failure if assigned personnel cannot perform. The skill, ability, and desire to achieve expected results is dependent on the work environment created by the organizational leadership. Positive, open, organized, talented, and inspired leaders promote a stronger team following and motivate individuals to desire to perform effectively.
The ultimate customers of emergency services are the people who live in the community served. Ensuring their health and well being, protection of property, and environmental safety is the primary goal. Recognizing the need to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, control, and recover from potential destruction or personal crisis is the primary motivator of emergency service personnel. Effective personnel management practices are essential to a productive use of departmental resources; this inspires in personnel a constant desire to improve the delivery of quality service and provide a better level of service and protection for the customer.
Personnel Specialists
If you use the incident command system to manage a major fire or riot, the dynamics of emergency management grow with the size of the incident. In the beginning, when the incident is the smallest, the incident commander holds most of the management responsibilities. If the incident grows out of control and more resources to combat the problem become available, the incident management structure begins to grow. The incident commander begins to delegate special functions (in the fire service such as rescue, exposure protection, water supply, ventilation, safety) and other important tasks to individual teams. As the incident grows larger, the command structure broadens to include special assignments for operations, planning, logistics, finance, liaison, etc. The size of the command is dependent on the nature and expected scope of the emergency problem.
This same basic theory of management applies to personnel management. As the size of the organization and complexity of problems grow, so does the need for management specialists to address the organization's special needs. The chief officer or executive serves as the lead player (incident commander) for the organization. His/her concerns for team stability would include training, payroll, evaluation, organizational direction, employee satisfaction, organizational productivity, compliance with local, state, and federal mandates, morale, motivation, team strength, etc. A number of organizational positions can be used to achieve a desired result; the following is a summary of some of the specialized positions available for a personnel management team.
Training Officer: Develops team and individual strengths by targeting weak areas for future training.
Operations Officer: Implements departmental personnel procedures through the organizational hierarchy and makes sure the plan of action is being followed closely.
Personnel Officer: This position is responsible for making sure that proper implementation of personnel procedures such as hiring, promotion, transfer, evaluations, pay increases, etc., is accomplished. He/she may be appointed departmentally or may serve the entire city or county jurisdiction. The personnel officer also makes sure that employee rights are properly protected according to personnel law, e.g., grievance procedures, employee right to bargain for changed working conditions, contract rights, etc. The personnel officer may assign teams of specialists for specific duties such as recruitment and testing, affirmative action plan implementation, employee-employer negotiations, etc.
Finance Officer: The payroll, insurance (health insurance, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, etc.), retirement, and related compensation benefits are the responsibility of the finance officer. The finance officer may assign teams to specific areas such as payroll, employee benefits, etc.
Program Coordinator(s): Many organizations offer employee assistance programs to support and develop employee effectiveness. The program coordinator works on employee health, career, personal and family counseling, career development, and /or other related human resource development activities.
Legal Assistance: Personnel law is a special legal entity. Legal advice often is required when dealing with sensitive personnel matters such as a potential loss of employee property rights (e.g., salary reduction, demotion, layoff, termination, etc.). The organization may have a legal advisor who understands personnel law, or may retain legal advisors specializing in personnel law.
The chief or chief executive of the organization may manage all aspects of personnel management or use departmental, jurisdictional, and/or specially assigned advisors to help manage the personnel challenge. The depth and degree of personnel management support depend on the quality of leadership and size of the organization. Large organizations require more support because of the volume of personnel activity (hiring, promotion, payroll, etc.). Good leaders/managers prevent personnel problems through solid organizational systems and excellent human relations skills. The size and overall extent of personnel management are dependent upon the preventive care given by the organizational leadership.
In smaller departments, one higher ranking officer usually is given the responsibility for administrative tasks such as shift assignments, payroll, overtime allocation, and vacation scheduling. Another officer may have responsibility for training, safety, entry-level testing, and the evaluation of probationary firefighters. The chief officer often handles grievances, transfers, and dismissals. In some municipalities city officials, such as the personnel director or the finance officer, may routinely handle recruiting and payroll, or may become involved after a problem such as a grievance emerges. In small volunteer or combination departments and agencies the chief or chief executive may have to perform all personnel management functions.
An editorial comment: In those jurisdictions where many or most of the personnel management functions are handled by a city or county human resources department or director, it is critical that the emergency service organizations have active liaison contacts with the central human resource office. Emergency services (police, fire, EMS) are rather unique jurisdictional services. I would venture a guess that not many of the central human resource personnel have a good understanding of their rather unique qualities. Organizational personnel need involvement as educators, advisors, and/or collaborative decision makers if the HR decisions are going to best address emergency service concerns.
The Personnel Management Role of Line Officers and Supervisors
Everything occurring in a department that affects its members influences productivity, morale, and personal satisfaction. The actions and attitudes of line officers and supervisors often have the greatest direct impact on the rank and file. Whether members are career or volunteer, supervisors are responsible for the command and control of personnel in both emergency and routine conditions. This means that lieutenants, sergeants, captains, and chief officers are in key positions either to improve or to diminish positive attitudes and skill levels of personnel. Not only are these supervisors typically the first step in the personnel management chain, they are in prime positions to improve the ability and professional development of their unit members.
For example, company-level line officers in the fire service are directly involved in shaping a firefighter's workday. The company officer is in a key position to make the shift's workday productive by assigning and performing training, and by guiding individual and team performance in completing company work assignments. This is a human resource development function.
The department training officer provides a human resource management function that involves less direct supervision of individual rank and file activity. The training officer is most concerned with overall team strength and ability. The training programs and specific training standards are developed for the use and benefit of the entire team.
Technical and Human-Oriented Skills
The technical (management) skills related to personnel management require a different sort of expertise than that required for human-oriented (leadership) skills and abilities. Technical skills are required to develop specialized training programs; for selection and promotional processes; for shift schedules, payroll, and budgetary plans; and for other systems and personnel processes that keep the organization functioning properly. Regardless of the human qualities associated with the organization, the team is dysfunctional without a certain amount of technical personnel management expertise.
The organizational personnel system or structure is comparable to an automobile: it is the wheels, power, and drive train of the organization. Just as an automobile needs the human element to design, build, drive, and maintain it, an organization's personnel system needs a human element to administer it. Just as a winning race car is a step above all others because of the human element, the effectiveness of an organization increases through proper management. The people associated with an organization need to be trained and cared for in a manner that guarantees success.
Supervisors must develop talent within the organization. Opportunities for success should be nurtured, and weaknesses identified and dealt with in effective ways. Today's employees need clear direction, trusted relations with their supervisors, open lines of communication, and opportunities to achieve desired results. Successes should be celebrated, and failures should be treated as opportunities to build new strengths. First line supervisors have the best opportunity to improve an individual's ability and achieve day-to-day success. Each call for service should be considered an opportunity to show the quality of the department or agency's services available to the customer (the public served).
Human-oriented skills are necessary to build team strength and to design organizational systems that prepare emergency service personnel to deal effectively with the organization's customers (the public). The most successful organizations always are looking for better ways to deliver customer services. The best-prepared workers have confidence in their abilities, as well as those of the organization, to address the challenges and expectations of the public. Visionary leadership constantly prepares the team to adopt new strategies to improve service and to deal with future challenges. All the efforts necessary to build effective teams and to deal with individual problems and concerns require human-oriented skills.
Influences on Personnel Management
A variety of influences affect personnel management practices. The following are examples of some of these outside influences:
Trends in society: Local, state, and national economic trends cause department and agency budget fluctuations. The environmental movement, the educational system, and the computer age are examples of national trends that have affected local emergency service delivery systems.
Civil rights: Equal opportunity, fair employment practices, and legal mandates have improved the accountability of hiring, promotions, and other personnel management practices.
Federal government: Certain health and safety regulations are formulated and enforced, and certain desirable public safety projects are sponsored by the federal government.
State government: Regulations concerning emergency medical technician certification are set forth, and standardized training programs are offered by state governments.
Local level: Pressure for a residency requirement may be applied, or neighborhood resistance to station consolidation may be strong at the local level.
Other emergency service departments: Salary increases may have been approved or new protective clothing may have been furnished, new equipment obtained influencing personnel practices in one's own department.
Professional fire, police, emergency medical service, and safety organizations: Organizations sponsor certain certification programs (such as for safety officers), or hold national conferences that attract member participation.
Professional non-emergency organizations: National statistics and other normative data are provided to governmental managers who oversee public safety agencies. These organizations may encourage increases in budget allocations for some functions and reductions in others.
Employee organizations: Employees can moderate the volume of additional assignments, or bargain for certain fringe benefits.
The value system and management style of the department's line officers: These affect the timing and the amount of information and support that rank and file members receive.
Each of these sources of pressure on management is influenced by another. State government is affected by the actions of the federal government. Local governments are influenced by county, state, and federal policy. The entire system of governmental pressures is focused on delivering services in a fashion that is fair to all people and targeted to the latest political agenda of the ruling political leadership.
Local influences on personnel management are historic, since "home rule" is a powerful expectation built into this country's Constitution. As society has grown and political power has strengthened at state and federal levels, new pressures are being felt at the local level. Property and sales taxes, once used by local government to deliver basic services such as public safety, are being sidelined to state government. The concerns and activities of the federal government have increased. The Fair Labor Standards Act and civil rights laws have had dramatic effects on personnel management. The need to balance the federal budget, clean up the environment, and continue in the 21st century will require more tax dollars to be diverted to state and federal services. The concept of "home rule" will have new meaning in this century. Smaller, single-service districts may be overtaken by larger, regional governmental organizations.
Most of this increase in state and federal influence on local government is the result of widespread concern over the rights of individuals, both workers in organizations and consumers of their services. As a result, the federal government has created directives, regulations, and laws that directly affect personnel issues for emergency service departments. Recruiting, entry-level testing, promotional testing, racial and gender configuration of the department, termination proceedings, job assignment procedures, harassment of personnel, work hours, and compensation now are governed directly and indirectly by federal authority. Other conditions of employment, such as health and safety issues, are also are governed by state and federal authority.
While some managers tend to view the rules and regulations from outside authorities as burdensome, these rules typically are designed to protect personnel and to promote better service. For instance, the function of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), an arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is to assist in human resource development functions, such as training and education. The U.S. Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are examples of regulatory agencies that exercise authority related to safety in the workplace.
It is important to realize that managing personnel in any type of department or emergency service agency is influenced continuously by a number of variables. Local, state, and federal governments have significant influence on the methods of managing local agencies. Personnel management expertise requires an open-minded and broad-based understanding of issues that relate to safe and fair methods of managing personnel needs.
Personnel Management Programs
In emergency service organizations, even the most basic personnel management program must assume certain responsibilities. These include, but are not limited to:
recruitment;
pretest orientation/training;
entry-level testing;
candidate selection;
recruit orientation and training;
project and work duty assignment;
salary classification;
probationary clearance;
establishment of leave day entitlement;
periodic job performance evaluations;
maintenance of a personnel folder;
training and educational accomplishments;
promotional examinations and results;
transfers;
grievances;
commendations and disciplinary actions;
personnel status (time in service, leave records, etc.);
salary and benefit package adjustments;
injury, disability, and medical records; and
retirement and pension data.
A note regarding volunteer fire departments and volunteer EMS organizations: As of 2003, nearly 71 percent of the fire departments in the U.S. were all volunteer and over 17 percent were mostly volunteer, which means the vast majority of fire departments are dependent on volunteer firefighters to protect their communities. The level of sophistication needed to accomplish personnel management tasks is dependent on the size of the organization, local political priorities, and quality of leadership. There are many large volunteer fire departments that require the same intensity of recruitment and selection strategies, grievance management, and other personnel management abilities as a paid organization. Usually a volunteer organization has less personnel stress. Volunteers are dedicated "employees," although their position's legal standing requires less of a legal mandate to conduct personnel hearings because the property interest in the job obviously is much less than that of a paid employee. The common sense and good judgment of the volunteer fire chief or chief executive are counted on to deliver fair and proper personnel management.
When providing the leadership necessary to build team strength and accountability to the community, paid and volunteer officers and supervisors face
the same basic challenges. Emergency service personnel need to be trained and equipped to deal with the challenges associated with the missions and goals of the agency. Training systems, promotional processes, evaluation techniques, and employee support programs are equally important for all emergency service personnel.
The employee contract for paid workers obviously is more complex than that for volunteer agencies, and the relationship between labor and management can become stressed during contract negotiations. The employee-employer memorandum of understanding and working conditions that are subject to "meet and confer" are much more challenging for paid organizations. The business relationship between labor and management can create distance between the administration and the personnel of paid departments. This stress can be damaging if it is maintained. Strong teams know how to diffuse the tension associated with stressful personnel actions. Ongoing communications and honest, trustworthy relations between management and personnel will alleviate occasional stressed relations over a grievance, heated contract negotiation session, or other negative personnel actions.
Open styles of management allow for discussion of varying points of view without fear of retribution or negative future relations. Open communications in administrative settings help foster the development of personnel whose personal goals correspond to departmental goals. In this way, employees gain personal and professional satisfaction from their work and can assist their department in reaching its goals.
This course, Personnel Management for Fire and Emergency Services, provides an introduction and overview of contemporary, broad-based personnel management, emphasizing both the technical functions and the latest human resource development topics. Students who desire in-depth coverage of selected topics will need to conduct specialized or advanced study.
|
