Chapter 2: Organizational structure Flashcards
I’ll find emergency services organizations must have some type of formal structure to?
Provide a management framework for the organization
Define whole plan and operate to meet its mission
Fire in emergency service organizations follow certain basic principles of organizational structure, these principles include?
Scalar structure Line and staff personnel Decision making authority Unity of command Span of control Division of labor
Is commonly used in the fire and emergency services, defined as having and uninterrupted series of steps or chain of command.
Scalar structure
Terms that refer to an organizational concept that separates fire and emergency services personnel into the following two distinct groups.
Line personnel and Staff personnel
___________Refers to the legal ability of an individual to making and implement decisions for which the individual is held accountable.
Authority
Those who deliver services to the public or external customers, typical functions include fire suppression, emergency medical services, inspections, education, and investigations.
Line staff
Those who provide support to the line personnel and internal or external customers, typical functions are training, logistics, auxiliary organizations,and personnel administration.
Staff personnel
Decisions are made by one person at the top of the structure. This model works well and very small organizations, such as an individual fire company.
Centralized authority
Decisions are made at lower level with the effects of decisions reported through the structure. To work effectively, the chief must ensure that all members understand the organizations direction, values, and goals.
Decentralized authority
The process of providing subordinates with the authority, direction and resources needed to complete an assignment.
Delegation of authority
When assigning a task the company officer should?
- Describe the task and its relationship to the overall goal or objective
- Provide support for a successful outcome
- Identify time and safety constraints
- Follow up on assign task
This means that each person within an organization reports to one,and only one, designated Authority.
Unity of command
The path of responsibility from the top of the organization to the bottom and vice versa.
Chain of command
___________ can be destructive to organizational unity and cohesiveness.
Sidestepping
In addition, the subordinate may be justified and bypassing the chain of command using_________if there is a mandatory reporting requirement.
Skip level notification
To reduce size step in the chain of command officer should?
- Be available
- Be proactive
- Take action
- Follow up
_________Is an organizational principle that allows workers to report to more than one supervisor.
Functional supervision
This refers to the number of subordinates and or number of functions that one individual can effectively supervise.
Span of control
Span of control ratio
1:3-7
One supervisor to 3 to 7 subordinates or functions
Span of control optimum ratio
1 to 5
Making every decision in the absences of good delegation can quickly become overwhelming and can cause?
- Chaos at the incident scene
- Breakdowns in communication and coordination
- Confuse, and efficient operations, and perhaps losses of life and property
This consist of dividing large jobs into smaller tasks that are assigned to specific individuals.
Division of labor
The fire and emergency services use division of labor to?
- Assign responsibility
- Prevent duplication of effort
- Make specific, clear cut assignments
Find an emergency services organizations can be classified as either_______depending on how the organization is funded.
Public or private
In some instances,_______partnerships can be formed to provide services.
Public or private
Common public jurisdictions that provide by an emergency service protections include
Municipal Fire district Federal County State/provincial Tribal
Examples of_____fire and emergency services organizations include traditional departments in public safety.
Municipal
The second level in local government is normally the__________.
County
_______Generally operate under locally elected board of trustees or fire commissioners.
Fire district
Generally,______emergency fire suppression companies are organized for Forest, wild Fire, and urban interface fires.
State/provincial
________Fire and emergency services exist to protect federal lands and property.
Federal
Private emergency services organizations generally fall into one of three categories.
- Industrial fire brigades
- For profit fire and emergency services organizations
- Private, nonprofit fire and emergency services organizations
_________________ are reciprocal agreements between multiple jurisdictions and organizations, both public and private.
Mutual aid, automatic aid, and additional resource agreements.
