Reluctance to Becoming a Cheif Officer in the Union City Fire

Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 1 BECOMING A CHIEF OFFICER IN THE UNION CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT Reluctance to becoming a chief officer in the Union City Fire Department Terence Carey Union City, CA Fire Department January 2008 Appendices Not Included. Please visit the Learning Resource Center on the Web at http://www.lrc.dhs.gov/ to learn how to obtain this report in its entirety through Interlibrary Loan. Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 2 Certification Statement I hereby certify that this paper constitutes my own product, that where the language of others is set forth, quotation marks so indicate, and that appropriate credit is given where I have used the language, ideas, expressions, or writings of another. Signed: s/s Terence Carey ______________ Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 3 Abstract The problem researched was the lack of Union City Fire Department (UCFD) personnel desiring to promote to the chief officer ranks, potentially causing the department to go outside the organization to fill positions. The research purpose was to identify the reasons for this reluctance to promote to chief officer within the UCFD. Through descriptive research, questions concerning reluctance to promote into management in the private and public sector including fire departments were answered. Research was carried out through literature review, interviews and questionnaires. The results identified the reasons for reluctance to move into management. Recommendations were made to acknowledge the problem, develop a career development guide, address compensation, lack of bargaining representation and provide more support to chief officers. Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 4 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………....3 Table of Content……………………………………………………………………….….4 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..........5 Background and Significance………………………………………………………….….5 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………….....9 Procedures………………………………………………………………………………..22 Results……………………………………………………………………………………29 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………..40 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………..45 Reference List …………………………………………………………………………...48 Appendices Appendix A: Reluctance to becoming a chief officer – Industry Questionnaire………..50 Appendix B: Reluctance to becoming a chief officer – UCFD Questionnaire …………55 Appendix C: Cover Letter for Interview Request……………………………………….64 Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 5 Reluctance to becoming a chief officer in the Union City Fire Department Introduction The Union City Fire Department (UCFD) is a career fire department located near San Francisco, California. The UCFD is tasked with providing fire and emergency medical services, as well as disaster preparedness for its citizens. Leadership of the organization at the rank of chief officers is an important component to direct and support this mission. The problem is a lack of UCFD personnel desire to promote to the chief officer ranks. The research purpose is to identify the reasons for this reluctance to promote to the ranks of chief officer within the UCFD. The descriptive research method was used to answer the following research questions. What are the reasons for reluctance to promote into management in the private sector? What are the reasons for reluctance to promote into management in other public sector entities? What are the reasons for a reluctance to promote to rank of chief officer in other fire agencies? Why do UCFD members feel a reluctance to promote to the rank of the chief officer? The research approach was literature review, questionnaires and interviews. Background and Significance The UCFD is a paid department with 50 members located 30 miles southeast of San Francisco. Union City is 18 square miles in size. The UCFD provides fire protection and advanced life support emergency medical services (paramedics) for an ethnically diverse population of 72,300 people. The department responds to approximately 5,000 emergency responses annually (Union City Fire Department [UCFD], n.d.). UCFD Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 6 operates four fire stations with a minimum daily staffing of 13 persons, including a battalion chief. UCFD was established in 1959. In 1995 it merged with nearby Fremont Fire Department into one department. In 2000, the merger dissolved and the department was reconstituted as its own entity (UCFD, n.d.). Since 2000, the UCFD has had five different fire chiefs, two of which were interim chiefs. Except for the present chief and the present division chief who was briefly an interim fire chief, the other three have retired on disability or accepted employment elsewhere. The organization chart of the management rank has consists of a fire chief, one assistant chief, one division chief, one emergency medical service chief and three shift battalion chiefs. The present fire chief has been in the position for 21 months. He was previously a fire chief in another state. The department is presently recruiting for an additional battalion chief (a new position), who will be assigned a 40 hour work week and will be in charge of department training and disaster preparedness. The assistant chief, who has been working as an interim assistant chief for 18 months, will be retiring in January 2008. A recruitment to fill that position is also currently underway. Both the assistant chief and battalion chief positions are open to applicants outside the organization. The ever changing leadership in the organization over the last seven years has led to a situation where consistency of operations and decision making has been lacking. This lack of consistency and clear direction of the organization hampers the forward movement of the department. Morale has suffered because members of the department do not feel ownership in decisions because of the ever changing leadership. As soon as Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 7 one style of leadership and direction is established, new leadership of the organization is established. This then causes all members to have to adjust to the next style of leadership. An erosion of morale has occurred in the department because no one is clear on where the department and its personnel are headed. Some disillusionment with the leadership of the department has occurred because of the previously mentioned changing environment. Many qualified members of the department are hesitant to become part of a management team that they feel is not leading the department in the correct direction. For the upcoming battalion chief and assistant chief exam processes, applications were accepted from outside of the department which led some in the department to feel as if the Fire Chief has already picked those outside the department to fill those two positions and the exam process is just a necessary charade to justify the hiring of those preordained from outside the department (R Hurtado personal communication, October 30, 2007). For the upcoming battalion chief application process, six members of the department applied, out of 22 members who meet the minimum qualifications. Of those six, two are captains and four are engineers (apparatus drivers). For the upcoming assistant chief exam, two members of the department applied out of five members who meet the minimum qualifications (Carlos Rodriguez, personal communication, October 30, 2007). Many qualified department members chose not to pursue these promotional opportunities. Although members can effect positive change in any rank in the organization, the department needs highly qualified personnel, who can garner the support of the rank and file, to assist in the leadership roles to help move the organization Reluctance to becoming a chief officer 8 forward in the setting and reaching of goals. As the department has seen ever changing leadership and direction over the last seven years, additional unknown new chief officers potentially lead to the continued lack of stability at the top of the organization. As will be demonstrated in this research paper, this problem is not only found in the UCFD. This is an important topic to the author because as a chief officer, the lack of direction and ever changing leadership leads to frustration throughout the organization, including the chief officer rank. Throughout the fire service, in the author’s experience, the most qualified many times do not pursue promotion to the chief officer’s rank which hurts the fire service. In any industry when the best of the best do not choose to take on leadership roles, the industry suffers. This applied research project (ARP) relates to the following United States Fire Administration (USFA) stated operational objective: “to respond appropriately in a timely manner to emerging issues” (U.S. Fire Administration [USFA], 2003, p.II-2). By researching member’s reluctance of private industry, public entities, fire departments and UCFD to promote into the management ranks, lessons can be learned and addressed. Over time, optimistically these lessons would encourage the most qualified members to more seriously pursue a position in the rank of chief officer. This reluctance of pursuing chief officer positions has been, and continues to be an issue in the fire service. A National Fire Academy Executive Leadership course goal is “the chief fire executive will develop the ability to conceptualize and employ the key processes used by effective executive-level managers” (Federal Emergency Management Association [FEMA], 2005, p. v). Effective leaders need to groom their

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