PARTICIPATION IN THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
BY WILLIAM L. BINGHAM
The organizational function of human resource management is more important today than ever. Participatory management needs to become more than a buzzword of the 1990s and must be allowed to evolve into realistic and practical application sufficient to deal with relative fire department problems. Consistent with other manufacturing and service industries, there has been in the fire service a tremendous lack of interest in soliciting the input of employees and a comparably high re-gard for authoritarian control and power. The process of understanding the tenets of participation and empowerment include familiarization with associated terms, an appreciation of the fact that two centuries of antiquated management theory will not disappear overnight, and a mechanism for implementation that emphasizes communication and respect.
To allow the progression of the fire service into the 21st century, we must overcome traditional barriers to certain managerial theories that have evolved over the years. This is going to require three elements: having the courage to occasionally make unpopular decisions, having a keen sense of vision with emphasis on the mission of the organization, and understanding that no organization will effectively survive without allowing input from all organization members. John F. Ken-nedy said, “The problems of the world cannot simply be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men (and women) who can dream of things that never were.”1 The collective principles of courage, vision, and participation apply as much to the fire service as to any other organization.
It is imperative that fire service leaders develop a plan of action relative to the demands of the service that incorporates a method of soliciting input from all employees. It must be recognized that a fire department is more than just leaders. A fire department includes all the members. Inaction, reactionary response, and autocratic leadership are not choices when facing the problems of tomorrow. Contemporary problems place new demands on leaders. Innovation and participation will go a long way in solving these problems.
The world is now changing more rapidly than ever. The “protected species” designation of the public sector emergency service provider is losing credibility in times of economic instability and subsequent service cost and tax increases. Today, governmental subdivisions such as police and fire departments are being closely scrutinized and held to an unprecedented high level of accountability. There is rapid change and growing unpredictability, making it necessary to throw out old assumptions and traditional ways of doing business. We can no longer count on the past to guide us through the present and into the future.
Increasingly, organizational success will depend on being held accountable, fiscally responsible, and in touch with effective human resource management. The challenges for fire service organizations will continue to be quality enhancement, cost reduction, innovation, and rapid response.2 One important component of effective human resource management deals with employee participation and empowerment.
PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT
Participatory management is defined as a formal management practice that allows all employees an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process of the organization. Empowerment is defined as an enhanced form of participatory management that gives employees the authority and freedom to make job-related decisions within one`s area of responsibility. According to Dr. Robert S. Fleming, of the Rowan College of New Jersey, empowerment is an art, and the conditions for empowerment include motivational techniques; encouraging and expecting active participation; making available information related to one`s area of responsibility; encouraging and supporting innovation; and holding individuals accountable for their area of responsibility.
From the vantage point of a fire service executive, this is an issue of which we all must be cognizant. As the role of the manager is constantly changing to meet the demands of the fire service in the 21st century, it is essential that “people issues” become a priority. Empowerment demands a supportive organizational culture and will only be as effective as the environment allows. The time is right for a sense of awareness of human resource principles and the implementation of programs that enhance employee input and empower employees with the responsibility, freedom, and authority to assist in the organizational decision-making process.
Important to the task of developing participation among coworkers is motivation. Firefighters know what it takes to get a spark going, and they know what will douse a flame. All are not possessed by the same combustibility but have either high or low ignition points. They need an environment that motivates them. They need constant stimuli and encouragement from outside to thrive. Like all human beings, they are not self-sufficient.3 The previous statement emphasizes the need for encouragement, a void that can be appropriately filled by allowing an employee to participate in the decision-making process.
Greater involvement in workplace decisions is a growing trend. Organizations that seek to improve the quality of their products and services get their employees involved.4 In a chapter titled “Exercising Authority,” under the subheading “From Control to Commitment,” author Linda Hill, in Becoming a Manager, Mastery of a New Identity, states that a primary aim of managers when they started in their new positions was learning how to exercise and gain control over their people. They were eager to exercise their formal authority and to implement their own ideas about how to run an effective organization. Hill goes on to explain that the primary reason for exerting control was to influence results.5 Ultimately, the managers found that while they were good at giving direction, few people seemed to be following their orders. The managers soon discovered that when subordinates were permitted to offer their thoughts and reactions to decisions, they were much more likely to do as they were asked.6
The possibilities regarding the benefit of participation programs within the fire service are endless. Two examples of areas that could be enhanced and will foster a feeling of responsibility and self-worth among employees include the following:
Safety. Input into and development of procedures that assist in providing a safer working environment–i.e., recommendations for equipment/vehicle modification, protective clothing/equipment specifications, personnel accountability systems, training safety guidelines and procedures, and issues dealing with bloodborne pathogens and infectious disease control.
Operations. Input into and development of safe and effective operating procedures for all types of responses and incorporation of applicable sections of NFPA 1500 standards to the greatest extent possible. Also, suggestions may relate to target hazard review and response plans that guarantee adequate personnel and allow for backup as well as providing a mechanism for rehabilitation and stress debriefing.
An important component of any participatory process is assurance of complete commitment from management, without which this valuable means of sharing information will fail.
EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
Based on a research project I conducted, there is an inverse relationship between the number of respondents indicating agreement with a participatory style of management and the actual number of those currently taking part in the process. I think this underscores, to a large degree, a fundamental problem that exists within many fire organizations. Specifically, many fire service leaders understand contemporary principles of managing, but for reasons internal as well as external to the organization, they cannot effectively implement the process of empowerment. These findings correlate closely to findings in the literature reviewed, which tends to stress the importance of attitude readjustment and education relating to human resource refinement in the fire service.
When evaluating the result of participatory practices currently in effect, a majority of organizations are experiencing favorable and even exceptional results. This is encouraging and should serve as incentive for those organizations that do not apply this concept. It is also interesting to note that many of the obstacles to implementation are exactly those concerns many experts claim will disappear once programs such as those advocating employee participation commence.7
As the economy continues to change, as “downsizing” and “rightsizing” continue, and as public service entities such as the fire service continue to be held more accountable to the people they serve, it is going to become more important than ever to empower employees with the authority, freedom, and responsibility to continue to get the job done in the most economically feasible way possible.
Employee participation and empowerment promises improved quality, productivity, employee morale, and motivation.8 It is possible for employees to initiate change. “Empowerment means giving everyone, instead of just people with certain positions or certain job titles, the legitimate right to make judgments, form conclusions, reach decisions, and then act,” noted Judith Bardwick, a management consultant and author of Danger in the Comfort Zone, (AMACOM, 1991).
Organizations need to recognize that employee participation is now at center stage and offers more democracy within the workplace. However, accountability is an extremely important concept in the overall formula of empowerment. Accountability involves the expectation that the empowered individual will fulfill his or her responsibility using the authority he or she has been granted. Therefore, authority, responsibility, and accountability must be carefully balanced.
I have attempted to identify some existing issues, both perceptual and real, regarding the assimilation of employee participation techniques into the workplace. The time has come to put our egos on the shelf and to begin to use our most valuable resource, our employees. n
Endnotes
1. Cleveland, Edward A., “Viewing Your Vision, Paths of Leaders and Managers,” The Voice, International Society of Fire Service Instructors, March 1992, 8.
2. Schuler, Randall S. and Huber, Vandra L. Personnel and Human Resource Management, 5th ed. (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Company, 1993), 77.
3. Casey, James F., The Fire Chief`s Handbook, 4th ed. (New York, N.Y.: Fire Engineering Books, 1987), 59.
4. Schuler, 47.
5. Hill, Linda A. Becoming a Manager, Mastery of a New Identity (Boston Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 1992), 106.
6. Cox, C.J. and Cooper, C.L. High Flyers, An Anatomy of Managerial Success. (New York, N.Y.: Basil Blackwell, 1988), 59.
7. Bingham, William L., Analysis of Employee Participation and Empowerment, National Fire Academy Resource Center, Emmitsburg, Md., October 1993, 10-11.
8. Schuler, 48.
Additional References
Barker, Joel Arthur. Future Edge, Discovering the New Paradigms of Success (New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, 1992).
Halas, Julius E., “The Role of Performance Management,” The Voice, International Society of Fire Service Instructors, June 1993.
Klingner, Donald E. Public Personnel Management, Concepts and Strategies (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1980).
Luthans, Fred. Organizational Behavior, 6th Ed. (New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992).
Walker, Alan G., “Communication and Human Relations: The Frontier for Fire Training in the Future,” The Voice, International Society of Fire Service Instructors, March 1991.
WILLIAM L. BINGHAM, a 23-year veteran of the fire and emergency medical services, is chief of the Boynton Beach (FL) Fire Department. He has a master`s degree in management, with specialization in public administration and human resources, a bachelor of arts degree in political science, and associate`s degrees in fire science technology and emergency medical technology. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy`s Executive Fire Officer Program, a nationally registered paramedic, and a member of the adjunct faculty at Broward Community College and Nova Southeastern University.
