Fire Officer's Guide to Management and Leadership: A Scenario-Based Approach

The Fire Officer’s Guide to Management and Leadership: A Scenario-Based Approach will help aspiring officers develop their critical decision-making skills. The fire service has long emphasized the importance of emergency response size-up: a proper size-up and its associated actions can be the difference between a successful operation and a compromised one.

Training texts, seminars, and academies emphasize officer skills but rarely does the aspiring officer receive practice in assessing personnel issues within the fire station and putting appropriate decisions into action. Even though the vast majority of situations for which an officer is solely responsible are in the station, an officer frequently relies on on-the-job training for guidance as he or she gains rank and promotes up the chain of command.

In order to prepare aspiring officers to take on the challenges of their position before they are officially tasked with handling station issues, we must allow them to practice their decision-making skills. To truly practice sizing up station scenarios, the aspiring officer must approach situations from an officer’s point of view with officer responsibilities, information, and expectations. The scenarios in The Fire Officer’s Guide to Management and Leadership: A Scenario-Based Approach allow aspiring officers to critically assess various station issues so that they are prepared to make sound judgment calls that result in the best possible outcomes if and when they face similar station issues as chief officers.

The scenarios are designed to identify situations at various levels of the organization, and are divided into Company Officer, Battalion Chief/Shift Commander, Operations Chief, Fire Chief, and Chief Elected Official Scenarios. Specific ranks are not always identified in the scenarios because agencies or departments may use various terminologies. Although the scenarios are fictitious, they are grounded in first-hand experiences from a variety of sources in volunteer, career, and combination fire departments.

Some of the scenarios are repeated across levels. This is because officers at different levels, with different domains of responsibility, will size up the same situation differently. As an officer escalates the organizational chain of command, he or she will find that one issue will require different approaches for how best to handle it.

Table of Contents

• Section 1 Company Officer
  • Chapter 1 & 2  Company Officer Scenarios
    • Part Work Product Issues  
    • Case 1 Dirty Dishes
    • Case 2 Low Fuel Gauge
    • Case 3 Excessive Suggestions for Operational Changes
    • Case 4 Enthusiastic Fire Fighter Does Not Complete Station Assignments
    • Case 5 Instructor Teaches Incorrect Material
    • Case 6 Fire Fighter Brings Non-Fire Department Work into the Station
    • Case 7 Fire Fighter Engages in Non-Fire Department Work During Training and Responses
    • Case 8 Fire Fighter Requests Training to Perform Duties Not Applicable to the Department
    • Part Interpersonal Dynamics Issues  
    • Case 9 Inappropriate Comments to a Peer Fire Fighter
    • Case 10 Fire Fighter with Skill Deficiency
    • Case 11 Career Fire Fighter Questions Volunteer Fire Fighters' Skills
    • Case 12 Conflict Between Two Fire Fighters on Different Shifts
    • Case 13 Conflict Between Two Fire Fighters in the Same Company
    • Case 14 Fire Fighter Disregards Chain of Command
    • Case 15 Fire Fighter Fraternizes with Chief Elected Official
    • Part Sensitive Policy Issues  
    • Case 16 Last-Minute Arrival for Shift Changes
    • Case 17 Fire Fighter Abuses Sick Time Policy
    • Case 18 Fire Fighter Smells of Alcohol
    • Case 19 Fire Fighter Under the Influence
    • Case 20 Pornographic Material (Print) in the Station
    • Case 21 Pornographic Material (Digital) in the Station
    • Case 22 Fire Fighter Takes Water Resources for Personal Use
    • Case 23 Fire Fighter Wishes to Unionize
    • Case 24 Fire Fighter Self-Discloses an Arrest
    • Case 25 Driver/Operator with Suspended Driver's License
    • Case 26 Fire Fighter Violates No-Tobacco-Use Policy
    • Part Attitude Issues  
    • Case 27 Fire Fighters Critical of Fire Department Decisions
    • Case 28 Volunteer Fire Fighters Compare Incentive Stipend Checks
    • Case 29 Fire Fighter Critical of Pay Grade System
    • Case 30 Fire Fighter Critical of Fire Department Leadership
    • Case 31 Fire Fighter Critical of City Administration
    • Case 32 Layoffs Affect Company Morale
    • Case 33 Company Dissatisfied with Design of New Apparatus
    • Case 34 Excessive Equipment Location Changes Request
• Section 2 Battalion Chief/Shift Commander
  • Chapter 3 & 4 Battalion Officer/Shift Commander Scenarios
    • Part Work Product Issues  
    • Case 1 Dirty Dishes
    • Case 2 Low Fuel Gauge
    • Case 3 Changes to Run Card Assignments
    • Case 4 Negative Feedback from Personnel
    • Case 5 Rearranged Apparatus Equipment
    • Case 6 Turnout Gear Assignment
    • Case 7 Citizen Complaint: Speeding Apparatus
    • Part Interpersonal Dynamics Issues  
    • Case 8 Inappropriate Comments to a Peer Officer
    • Case 9 Inappropriate Comments to a Fire Fighter
    • Case 10 Fire Fighter with Skill Deficiency
    • Case 11 Career Member Questions Volunteer Members' Skills
    • Case 12 Negative Feedback About a Superior Officer
    • Case 13 Company Officer Disregards Chain of Command
    • Case 14 Fire Fighter Fraternizes with Chief Elected Official
    • Part Sensitive Policy Issues  
    • Case 15 Last-Minute Arrival for Shift Changes
    • Case 16 Lieutenant Under the Influence: Reported by Direct-Report Fire Fighter
    • Case 17 Lieutenant Under the Influence: Reported by Off-Duty Fire Fighter
    • Case 18 Pornographic Material in the Station
    • Case 19 Citizen Complaint: Transport Delay
    • Case 20 Disappearing Station Supplies
    • Case 21 Lieutenant Under the Influence: Not Formally Reported
    • Part Attitude Issues  
    • Case 22 Disgruntled Company Officer
    • Case 23 Highly Qualified Company Officer Passes Up Promotion Opportunities
    • Case 24 Budget Cuts Reduce Staffing and Morale
    • Case 25 Company Dissatisfied with Design of New Apparatus
    • Case 26 Inappropriate Comments About a Patient During a Response
• Section 3 Beyond the Battalion
  • Chapter 5 & 6 Operations Chief Scenarios
    • Case 1 Career Members Question Volunteer Members' Skills
    • Case 2 Fire Fighter Fraternizes with Chief Elected Official
    • Case 3 Citizen Complaint: Transport Delay
  • Chapter 7 & 8  Fire Chief Scenarios
    • Case 1 Citizen Complaint: Transport Delay
    • Case 2 Fire Fighters Critical of City Administration
  • Chapter 9 & 10  Scenarios for Elected Officials
    • Case 1 Citizen Complaint: Transport Delay
    • Case 2 Fire Department Critical of City Administration

© 2019 | 234 pages