Chapter 2 Organizational Structure Flashcards
In the scalar structure, feedback and information is transmitted:
Up from the bottom
The separation between line and staff personnel is an organizational concept that divides duties into what manner?
By external and internal customers
Company officers may report to: A. Staff or line personnel. B. Staff, but not line personnel. C. Line, but not staff personnel D. Neither staff nor line personnel.
A. Staff or line personnel.
What are the two types of decision making models?
Centralized and decentralized
Which of the following reasons best describes why centralized decision-making authority may not work well in large organizations?
A. The division of labor may be unfair.
B.The chain of command may be unclear.
C. The unity of command becomes impossible.
D. The leaders span of control may be exceeded.
D. The leaders span of control may be exceeded.
In an organization with centralized decision-making authority, who holds the final accountability for the decisions made?
The chief
In a decentralized model, decision-making authority is limited to only those tasks:
For which personal have been given authority
Which of the following is a potential benefit for upper management personnel when using the decentralization of authority?
Gives freedom to concentrate on other areas of responsibility
Which of the following is the process of providing subordinates with the authority, direction, and resources needed to complete an assignment?
Delegation of authority
When delegating authority and ensuring the assigned employee is capable of doing the job, officers should look for:
Opportunities to challenge subordinates with tasks
When assigning a task during the delegation of authority, the company officer should:
Describe the task and it’s relationship to the overall goal or objective.
An employee that follows the last order received without performing the previous order is most likely indicative of a problem with the:
Unity of command
Which of the following is known as the path of responsibility from the top to the bottom of the organization and vice versa?
Chain of command
Which of the following best describes what is broken when a subordinate sidesteps the immediate supervisor and takes a problem to a higher officer?
Unity of command
Sidestepping can be seen as____ to organizational unity and cohesiveness.
Destructive
Company officers should instruct subordinates in the proper method of handling problems through which of the following methods?
Chain of command
Functional supervision is an organizational principle that allows workers to:
Report to more than one supervisor
In order for functional supervision to work well, supervisors must:
Communicate with each other
What is the rule for determining how many subordinates or functions one person can effectively supervise?
There is no absolute rule
Which of the following is the best reason for reducing the effective span of control?
A workers mistake could result in injuries or fatalities
The span of control may be exceeded when an incident commander fails to ____ at an incident.
Delegate authority properly
Which of the following is the best explanation of why division of labor is important to the fire and emergency services?
Helps prevent location of effort
Which of the following factors must be in effect in order for the principle of division of labor to be effective?
Unit personnel positions must be clearly defined
Which of the following should be provided so that personnel are able to perform a variety of tasks for proficiency?
Cross – training
Fire and emergency services organizations may be classified as either public or private depending on:
Means of funding of the organization
Private fire and emergency services organizations:
A. Are funded through taxes.
B. Are designed to provide services to the general public.
C. May provide services to government institutions only.
D. May provide services to the general public through aid agreements
D. May provide services to the general public through aid agreements.
Public fire and emergency services organizations are often organized across jurisdictional boundaries because the:
Emergencies do not recognize territorial or legal boundaries
Which type of fire and emergency services organization is most likely to reflect the structure of the local government? A. Federal B. Municipal C. State/provincial D. Industrial fire brigade
B. Municipal
Which of the following is most likely to influence the size of a municipal fire and emergency services organization?
Size of the population
Which of the following are you most likely to find at a large municipal fire and emergency services organization? A. Specialized personnel B. State arson investigator C. All volunteer department D. You. S. Fire administrative offices
A. Specialized personnel
Funding for municipal fire and emergency services organization:
A. May come from subscription fees.
B. Comes from state/provincial budgets.
C. May come through the collection of taxes.
D. Comes exclusively from billing users for part cost of services.
A.May come from subscription fees.
County fire and emergency services organizations generally protect:
Large areas of unincorporated land with large populations
Which type of fire and emergency services organization is most likely to operate under a board of trustees or commissioners who represent the residence?
Fire district
Which type of fire and emergency services organization is most likely to include on on-call aircraft and helicopters to provide Ariel support for land-based-fire-suppression companies?
State/ Provincial
Which government organization provides training for all types of fire service organizations through the national fire Academy(NFA) and the emergency management Institute(EMI)?
U.S. Fire Administration
Which of the following services will most likely be provided by the US department of defense on military installations in the continental US and foreign countries? A. Federal code inspections B. Protection for private facilities C. Fire suppression for port facilities D. Training for local fire departments
C. Fire suppression for port facilities
The US department of defense may serve as a mutual aid provider to neighboring jurisdictions as a result of a:
Presidential order
Which of the following services is the Canadian Defense Department most likely to provide the mutual aid agreements with neighboring communities?
A. National code inspections
B. Wildland fire suppression
C. Local fire department training
D. Hazardous materials response for land-based installations
D. Hazardous materials response for land-based installations.
Training, equipment, and funds for tribal fire and emergency services organizations are provided through the:
Bureau of Indian affairs
Which type of organization is most likely to establish an industrial fire brigade? A. National park B. Military installation C. Unincorporated Township D. Chemical processing plant
D. Chemical processing plant
Which of the following is most likely the reason for establishing an industrial fire brigade?
Reduction a potential liabilities
Because for-profit fire and emergency services organizations are becoming more prominent, public fire service organizations must realize:
Their survival may depend on delivering services efficiently.
The scalar structure has a(an)______ series of steps or chain of command.
Uninterrupted
Which of the following requirements must be met for proper funding of nonprofit fire and emergency services?
Must meet US tax code 501(C) (3) requirements
Volunteer organizations may operate as a department of the local government, and many are:
Independent from government agencies.
Combination departments that primarily use volunteers tend to have:
Few, if any, responders residing at the station.
Which of the following statements best describes paid-on-call fire service organizations?
Funding comes from local government or associations.
Because many jurisdictions ____, Company officers should be judicious with resources and plan well for emergency responses.
Face financial constraints
Which of the following best describes the role of company officers in making the best possible use of available resources.
Conserving materials and supplies
Funding only the minimum number and types of resources needed to deal with those emergencies most likely to occur within the jurisdiction is:
Used as a tech nique for extending the budget.
Aid agreements between jurisdictions or organizations: A. Are paid upon request. B. Are usually considered automatic. C. Maybe written but should be verbal. D. Maybe verbal but should be written.
D. Maybe verbal but should be written.
Aid agreements should be considered as which type of document?
Contract
Which of the following factors is the best reason for entering into aid agreements?
Need to define responses for areas on boundaries between adjacent jurisdictions
Plans for mutual aid agreements should:
Define lines and methods of communication.
Those who deliver service
Line personnel
Those who provide support to the line personnel or internal customers
Staff personnel
The legal ability of an individual to make/implement decisions for which the individual is held accountable:
Authority
When an employee skips the immediate supervisor and takes a problem to a higher officer and the unity of command is broken, this is known as
Sidestepping
An organizational principle that allows workers to report to more than one supervisor
Functional supervision
The span of control is usually considered between____and____and is optimum at___
3 and 7 and 5
Workgroups may be created based upon the following elements:
Type of task Geographical area Time of year/season Available resources Skill specialization
Fire/emergency services organizations are classified as either public or private depending on how the organization is?
Funded
Person whose primary employment is a firefighter within a fire department
Career fire fighter
Person who responds to fire/emergencies and just paid for the responses they make
Paid on call person personnel
Volunteer firefighter staff is approximately___% of fire/emergency organizations
70%
Reciprocal assistance from one fire and emergency services agency to another during an emergency, based upon a prearranged agreement; generally made upon the request of the receiving agency.
Mutual aid
Written agreement between two or more agencies to automatically dispatch predetermined resources to any fire or other emergency reported in the geographic area covered by the agreement. These areas are generally located near jurisdictional boundaries or in jurisdictional “islands.”
Automatic aid
Assistance from agencies, industries, or fire departments that are not part of the agency having jurisdiction over the incident.
Outside aid
Term that describes the governmental structure of Native American and Aboriginals peoples of North America (also known as first Nations, Aboriginals, Inuit, and Metis).
Tribal
National level of government such as U. S. and Canada.
Federal
Territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation whose rights are defined by the constitution.
State/provincial
Political subdivision of the state, province, or territory for administrative purposes and Public Safety. Also known as parish.
County
Designated geographic area where fire protection is provided, usually through a supporting tax, or an area where fire prevention codes are enforced.
Fire District
Functional division of the lowest level of local government.
Municipal
Notifying one’s supervisor that one wishes to take an issue to the supervisor’s supervisor.
Skip level notification
Order of rank and authority in the fire and emergency services.
Chain of command
