Promotional Process
Because of the similarities in selection and promotional processes, let's discuss promotion prior to moving into training and human resource development.
The topic of promotion definitely ranks high on the top ten subjects discussed by firefighters and I am confident it is a topic of discussion in the law enforcement and EMS communities.
The promotional process is a key management function that has far-reaching effects on organizational operations. A perception of unfair promotional practices can lead to long-term morale and motivational problems for the staff. The best processes include objective evaluations of job-related skills and a trusted evaluation of qualified personnel by the chief officers who will make the final decision. The more trust expressed by staff members for their leaders, and the more solid the team relations, the better the perception of the promotional process. The opposite also is true.
Promotion Practices
The following information has been extracted from "Unit 5: Promotion" of the FEMA/USFA/NFA/Degrees at a Distance Program, Course Guide, Personnel Management for the Fire Service,January, 2000.
Promotional Practices in the Fire Service
Promotional practices within the fire service vary considerably given the variety of fire service structures in existence. This excerpt highlights key features of promotional practices in a variety of fire service agencies.
Private Sector Departments
In private sector fire departments, the nature of a business that must make a profit may change the duties of the officers. Without a civil service structure, promotions in these organizations depend on performance evaluations, with the goals ultimately established by the owners of the corporation. The personal choice of the "boss" is better accepted in private enterprise. Failure to perform also is illustrated in the profit/loss income statement, and so it is easier for the "boss" to correct a poor choice of an appointed leader. Demotion, layoff, or termination are simpler processes for private enterprise leadership.
Industrial Fire Brigades
In industrial brigades there are usually two real levels: the "chief" or brigade supervisor, and the brigade members. In larger industries, of course, there may be several full-time brigade members with fire inspection duties and other related tasks. Promotions to high positions typically rely on employee performance ratings. Part-time brigade members are more closely related to volunteer firefighters, in that their "regular" jobs establish salary level.
Public Safety Departments
Public Safety Officers (PSOs), in those communities that combine fire and police functions in the same personnel, are usually police officers who respond to fires as "call-firefighters." Typically, their promotions hinge more on their competence as police officers. In the several larger cities which have used, or are using, the PSO model, there is a core group of full-time fire officers and firefighters, and a group of fire/police officers who rotate in and out of the fire department. Their promotions are processed in accordance with the expectations of job performance and the procedures outlined within the various departments.
Volunteer Departments
Volunteer departments may use one of several methods for promoting members to higher rank. Many departments have business or civil officers (president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, etc.) as well as firefighting officers (chief, assistant chiefs, captains, lieutenants, truck foremen, engineers, etc.). In most departments, the civil officers are elected, although positions such as secretary may be appointed. Firefighting, or "line," officers may be elected by fellow members at an annual election. In some volunteer departments the volunteer chief has the power to appoint subordinate officers, just as career personnel are appointed.
In some cases there are citizen-elected commissioners who may select the chief, or may reserve the right to approve whoever is elected chief by the volunteer members. Some volunteer departments set a limit on the number of consecutive years an individual may hold the chief's position. This is done to ensure that junior officers will remain motivated toward promotion and will be able to move up through the ranks within their own lifetime. However, it is not unusual to hear of chiefs who remained in office for 20 years and longer.
Although the process of promotion in completely volunteer departments typically involves election by members, a high percentage of volunteer departments have documents containing bylaw provisions that stipulate such prerequisites for various ranks as years of prior service, levels and types of training, certification in types and levels of specialties, depth of involvement in department functions, etc.
Some communities and some states also push volunteer departments toward meritorious promotions, rather than what used to be called "popularity contests." With the clear requirements for training in safety procedures, hazardous materials response, incident command, and other topics by some states and by federal laws, the days of popularity votes for volunteer officers are fast disappearing.
Combination Departments
Because the percentage of full-time, paid personnel in combination departments can vary considerably, and because the various officer ranks, including chief, may be either career or volunteer, the procedures for promotion vary widely. Generally, in those departments that have several officer ranks in each of the two categories, promotions in each category follow the typical procedures as outlined earlier. However, in combination departments with paid drivers only, there usually are no paid officers. In combination departments that are predominately paid, there may be only one or two volunteer officers of junior rank, and they may be elected by fellow volunteers, or appointed by the paid chief.
Difficulty over rank and the question of "who's in charge" crop up occasionally in combination departments with no clear provisions. For example, some combination departments stipulate that a paid officer, no matter what rank, has incident command precedence over any volunteer officer. This is based on the idea that full-time professionals have more experience than part-time professionals. In other instances, full-time personnel are allowed to become members of a volunteer department and respond to alarms as volunteers when off duty (the specific arrangement should be cleared by the management to make sure that the Fair Labor Standards Act, state and local personnel policy, and insurance carrier stipulations are not violated). In a known instance, a paid firefighter was elected as a volunteer line officer in the same department. In another instance, there was a departmental provision that allowed paid officers to work overtime shifts at the firefighter level in order to increase their low annual salary. This resulted in the paid, full-time assistant chief riding as a firefighter and working under the command of a volunteer captain at the scene of an incident. The leadership of an organization must set clear standards to avoid the awkwardness of certain arrangements (since the company officer for whom the assistant chief was working was a paid lieutenant). The confusion that could exist over who was really in command must not hinder fire scene operations. A confused command structure will result in unsafe and ineffective team operations.
Career Departments
The promotion practices used in most career departments are outlined in Section 9, Chapter 5 of the National Fire Protection Association's Fire Protection Handbook. You are encouraged to refer to this section for a fuller understanding of promotion practices.
Promotional Practices: Advantages and Disadvantages
The following chart provides a partial listing of advantages and disadvantages of several common promotional selection methods:
Method |
Advantage |
Disadvantage |
Seniority |
Easy to calculate |
Disregards merit |
Performance Success |
Based on work |
Dependent on supervisor |
Extra Merits |
Encourages brave acts |
Not related to promotion |
Credit for Military Service |
Compensates |
Discriminates |
Written Test |
Job-related questions |
Unrealistic; discriminates |
Interviews |
Flexible approach |
Can be discriminatory and non reliable |
Evaluation Process |
Job-related |
Biased judgment |
Assessment Centers |
Job-related |
Complex and more costly |
Recommendations |
Past performance evaluated |
Fear of giving negative statements |
Interviewing Guidelines
At some point in the promotional process one or two interviews take(s) place. The interview may be a brief and simple encounter with one interviewer, or a longer, more formal session with a selection team. All interviews should be planned and conducted carefully. The interviews must be standardized and equitable.
Formal promotional interviews are often conducted under close scrutiny of a personnel specialist so that any procedural questions raised can be answered. Each interviewer (if there is more than one) may ask the same question or questions of each candidate, and a standardized scoring method may be used.
The questions asked during a formal oral interview must be formulated carefully and asked in the same way of each candidate. Personal or racial questions, or inquiries about religious beliefs or other topics irrelevant to the position should be avoided. Notes indicating the answer to each question and the interviewer's general impression of the candidate's answers should be recorded on the scoring sheet for each interview.
Less formal methods may be used during the final interview when the operating authority is considering the candidate for appointment. |
Eligibility and Actual Processes
As Edwards (2005) points out, eligibility for promotion (and which promotion) depends upon the jurisdiction. Likewise, the specific sequence of steps in the process will vary. The most common eligibility requirement is probably "time in grade." While the designated time in grade generally ranges from one to five years, three years is a commonly cited one. The time in grade requirement is likely predicated on the fact the person needs to be proficient at the level they are at, have a good understanding of agency rules and regulations, and a sound understanding of the agency mission, values, and culture.
In some jurisdictions, there are training or academic requirements required for eligibility, the specific requirements depending upon the promotional position. NFPA standards should be considered in evaluating and establishing such requirements.
Typical Components of Promotional Processes
Typical elements in the promotional process in career departments include a written test; for some, an assessment center (ranging from three to seven "stations"), and one or two interviews (the first with organizational members, the second with chief officers). Some agencies require a physical agility test or a physical fitness assessment and/or a physical examination.
While written tests vary, it is common for a list of readings and study materials to be posted and the written examination is based on the assigned readings.
Past Performance and Seniority
Two issues as they relate to the promotional processes require discussion: past performance and seniority. In some jurisdictions two additional factors may play into the scoring or ranking of eligibles: performance evaluations and seniority. Think twice before recommending either be used as factors in the promotional process.
Performance evaluations reflect how well the person is doing in his/her current position. While often a good performer in one position is a good performer in another, there is no guarantee. Also, in many departments the administration of performance evaluations is not always seen as fair and objective. If this is in fact the case, we could be easily overrating or underrating a given candidate.
There are somewhat the same concerns with seniority. Some see little inherent relationship between length of time with the agency and promotional readiness once "time in grade" has been achieved. Once the candidate has met the minimum time in grade, we are assuming he/she is ready. How does having three, four, or five additional years in grade make the person "more ready?"
While these concerns may not be popular among some, you ought to consider these points.
The Use of Assessment Centers
Many advocate for the use of assessment centers in the promotional processes associated with the first line officer / supervisor to chief executives. It appears that more and more emergency service agencies are incorporating them into the promotional process. Many are convinced, if correctly structured and administered, the assessment center will clearly produce the top candidate or two.
Edwards (2005) discusses the nature of assessment centers and the various types of activities associated with them. While the list is not exhaustive, it provides descriptions of some of the more popular activities. While not all are necessarily included in a given assessment center, they each have a purpose and are quite effective.
Reading Assignment:
- Please read Chapter 6, pages 110-112, "Assessment Centers," from the Fire Service Personnel Management textbook by Steven Edwards.
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As we move from assessment centers for first line supervisors to chief executives, some of the activities will change. Quite often a public relations/public information piece will be included along with preparing a report or presentation to the city council, the board of commissioners, or some other group. A customer relations simulation or situation is often used (usually with the customer or the customer's complaint reflecting strong emotions).
You can read more about assessment centers on the HR Guide to the Internet's website's "Personnel Selection: Methods - Assessment Centers" at http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G318.htm.
Before moving on, let's look at the need to comment on selection of the assessors. While using internal assessors and those from neighboring departments is cost effective, they may not be certain they are the best candidates to be assessors, particularly as we move from the company officer promotion to that of a battalion chief. This can beg the questions of objectivity, freedom from bias, and political influences and create unnecessary questioning of the center's validity.
Even if monies dictate using one or two from the department or perhaps one or two from a neighboring department, it would be advisable to have at least two to three "outsiders" become part of the assessment team. Intricate knowledge of fire department or police department operations is not necessary to function as an assessor. In fact, for some of the exercises, a subject expert might be a more appropriate choice. A departmental resource person can provide answers for the assessors who might raise a department procedural question.
The other point: training of the assessors is critical.
Lateral Transfer/Entry
In order to obtain the most highly qualified personnel available for the respective positions, and in some cases, because their own personnel are not "ready," more and more career fire and police departments are moving toward lateral transfer for some of the entry level and/or promotional positions within the agency.
While specific requirements and policies vary with the respective agency, generally most transfer options entail a requirement of number of years in a given position (or two), ability to demonstrate attainment of whatever certifications or licenses might be required, the passing of any physical agility tests, successful competition on the written examinations and/or assessment centers, and the passing of the psychological or other tests required of in-house candidates. In some cases, lateral entry candidates proceed through a slightly different sequence of "testing." In others they are simply brought in based upon experience, credentials, and interviews.
Obviously the lateral entry hire requires agency orientation but is generally assumed to have the requisite skills, knowledge, and other requirements for the position. Some agencies do require structured training at regional or state training academies. Most often there is a six month to one year probationary period before the employee becomes "permanent."
References
Edwards, S. Fire Service Personnel Management. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education, 2005.