Chapter # 11

Question 0

True scalar structure is well suited for dealing with emergency situations for the following reasons.

Answer 0

– Span of control is maintained
– Information is centralized for decision-making
– Functional chain of command is maintained

Question 1

The term used to describe the common organizational structure in the fire emergency services is ____. Which is defined as having on uninterrupted series or steps or a chain of authority.

Answer 1

Scalar

Question 2

Line personnel

Answer 2

Those who deliver services to the public or external customers

Question 3

Staff personnel

Answer 3

Those who provide support to the line personnel or internal customers

Question 4

____ refers to the legal ability of an individual to make and implement decisions for which the individual is held accountable; there are two types centralized and decentralized.

Answer 4

Authority

Question 5

Centralized authority

Answer 5

Decisions are made by one person at the top of the structure.

Question 6

Decentralized Authority

Answer 6

Decisions are allowed to be made at a lower level, with the effects of the decisions reported through the structure.

Question 7

Centralized
Regardless of level where decision-making authority is located, accountability for decisions is almost always centralized. The Fire Chief or CEO of the organization delegates to officers the authority to make decisions and implement plans, but ____ is still accountable for any decisions made.

Answer 7

Fire Chief or CEO

Question 8

Decentralized

Ideally, decision-making authority should be delegated to the ____ organizational level possible.

Answer 8

Lowest

Question 9

____ is a management principle that states that each subordinate must have only one supervisor.

Answer 9

Unity of command

Question 10

The ____ is the pathway of responsibility from the top of the organization to the bottom and vice versa.

Answer 10

Chain of command

Question 11

A type of breach of the unity of command principle, commonly known as ____, occurs when a subordinate sidesteps the immediate supervisor and takes a problem directly to an officer higher in the chain of command.

Answer 11

End run

Question 12

____ is the number of subordinates that one individual can effectively supervise.

Answer 12

Span of control

Question 13

There is no absolute rule for determining how many subordinates that one person effectively can supervise. The number varies with the situation but it is usually considered to be somewhere between ____ and ____.

Answer 13

3 to 7

Question 14

The national incident management system incident command system model is based on a span of control ratio of one supervisor to3-7 subordinates or functions with an optimum of ____.

Answer 14

5

Question 15

The ____ principal consists of dividing large jobs into smaller tasks that are then assigned to specific individuals.

Answer 15

Division of labor

Question 16

At the broadest level, fire and emergency services organizations can be classified as either ____or____.

Answer 16

Public or private

Question 17

____ fire emergency services organizations provide services to the public and are funded by the public through the collection of taxes and fees.

Answer 17

Public

Question 18

____ fire and emergency services organizations are not funded to public taxes but instead receive funds raised through the sales of services, contracts, and revenue provided by parent organization.

Answer 18

Private

Question 19

A ____ is a written agreement that obligates participants to provide personnel, equipment, and apparatus when requested by any of the participants.

Answer 19

Mutual aid agreement

Question 20

It is estimated that 12% of all fire departments are ____ and protect 61% of the population. At the same time 88% of the fire departments are ____ and protect 39% of the population.

Answer 20

Career or mostly career

Volunteer or mostly volunteer

Question 21

According to the US fire administration, ____ percent of fire and emergency service organizations are staffed by volunteer firefighters.

Answer 21

70%

Question 22

____ is the result of a reciprocal agreement between the two or more fire and emergency service organizations.

Answer 22

Mutually aid

Question 23

____ results from a formal, written agreement between fire and emergency service organizations that share a common boundary. ____ occurs whenever certain predetermined conditions occur.

Answer 23

Automatic aid

Question 24

____ is similar to mutual aid except that payment rather than reciprocal aid is made by one jurisdiction to the other.

Answer 24

Outside aid