Chapter 7: Leading the fire company Flashcards
Equity Theory
Motivational theory in which people evaluate the outcomes they receive for their inputs and compare them with the outcomes others receive for their inputs.
Expectancy Theory
Motivational theory in which people act in a manner that they believe will lead to an outcome they value.
Followership
The characteristic that leaders can be effective only to the extent that followers ate willing to accept their leadership.
Hygiene Factors
Conditions external to the individual, such as pay and work conditions.
Leadership
A complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.
Motivation factors
An individuals internal desire for recognition, achievement, responsibility, and advancement.
Power
The capacity of one party to influence another party.
Reinforcement Theory
Motivational theory in which behavior is a function of its consequences.
What is the difference between a leader and a boss?
Bosses tell people to accomplish a task or objective, whereas leaders make them want to achieve high goals and objectives. The goal is to lead, not just to be a boss.
A five step approach to decision making as a leader.
- Clear your mind.
- List options.
- Weigh the options.
- Make a choice. Have a plan B
- Evaluate decision
The three major leadership styles.
Autocratic, Democratic, and laissez-faire.
Autocratic leadership
An iron-hand approach where the officer is telling subordinates what to do and is expecting immediate and compliant adherence to the issued instructions.
Two situations that require an autocratic style of leadership.
- When the crew is involved in a high-risk, emergency scene activity.
- When the officer needs to take immediate corrective supervisory activity, such as during a “control, neutralize, command” response to a confrontation.
Democratic leadership
A consultative approach that takes advantage of all of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the group in determining how to meet an objective or complete a task.
The democratic style of leadership should be used when…
Planning a project or developing the daily work plan of the company. This approach can also be used in some low-risk emergency scene operations. Specialized and highly technical fire companies will also use this type of approach to develop the IAP for complex or unusual incidents. But authoritative command is used in the execution of these emergencies.
Laissez-Faire leadership
A free-rein style of leadership moves the decision making from the fire officer to the individual fire fighters. This type of leadership is effective when working with experienced fire fighters and when handling routine duties that pose little personal hazard.
Legitimate power
The target person believes that the agent has the right to make the request and the target person has the obligation to comply.
Reward power
The target person complies to obtain rewards believed to be controlled by the agent.
Expert power
The target person complies due to a belief that the agent has special knowledge.
Referent power
The target complies due to admiration of or identification with the agent and seeks approval.
Coercive power
The target person complies to avoid punishment believed to be controlled by the agent.
The types of power, as described by French and Raven in their 1959 Studies of Social Power.
Legitimate power Reward power Expert power Referent power Coercive power
The types of power defines by Professor Gary A. Yukl
Personal power and Positional power
Personal power
Includes expert and referent power, and reflects the effectiveness of the individual.
Positional power
Includes legitimate, reward, and coercive, and is defined by the role and individual has within an organization. Yukl’s Informational and Ecological power are also included in this category.
Additional additional position based power descriptions described by Yukl.
Informational power
Ecological power
Informational power
Control over information. Unlike expert power, informational power is based on the target persons assessment of the agent’s ability to discover or obtain relevant information rapidly and efficiently, usually through a cultivated network of sources.
Ecological power
Control over the physical environment, technology, or organization of work. the target person’s behavior is based on perceptions of opportunities and constraints.
Initial report communications should include the following information.
- Identification of the company arriving at the scene.
- A brief description of the incident situation. eg. building size, occupancy, haz-mats released, or multiple vehicle accident.
- Obvious conditions
- Brief description of action to be taken
- Declaration of strategy to be used
- Any obvious safety concerns
- Assumption, identification, and location of command.
- Request or release resources as required
Unique challenges where basic leadership concepts prevail.
Fire station as a work location
Leading volunteer fire companies.
General rules for non-emergency activities around the fire station.
- Do not compromise the ability of the fire company to respond to emergencies in its district.
- Do not jeopardize the public’s trust in the fire department.
Principles to motivate subordinates to achieve their maximum potential.
- Recognize individual differences
- Use goals
- Ensure goals are perceived as attainable
- individualize rewards
- Check for system equality
Positive reinforcement
Giving a reward for good behavior
Negative reinforcement
Removing an undesirable consequence of good behavior
Extinction
Ignoring bad behavior
Punishment
Punishing bad behavior
Four types of reinforcement behavior.
Positive, Negative, Extinction, and Punishment.
Three considerations the fire officer must address to motivate the individual according to the expectancy theory.
- The employee’s belief that his or her effort will achieve the goal
- The employee’s belief that meeting the goal will lead to the reward.
- The employee’s desire for the reward or the reward’s value to the employee.
