In an essay address the following:
1. Cities and fire districts are experiencing the “more for less” era: as the challenges for service go up, the funding seems to be less available. The need for new revenue sources or a method of working more efficiently within the organization faces most all fire and emergency service organizations. Describe a solution to this dilemma that has worked in your community. If you have no examples, then consider yourself as the fire chief who must describe the plan of action to address the reduced-funding-for-more-demand problem.
2. How does your organization’s budget translate to a plan of action? What level of accountability exists within your organization’s management system for achieving those budget targets? How could your management system be improved to be more fiscally accountable?
3. Identify three ways that your organization can become more customer friendly and more effective in communicating with your general public.
4. Research the enabling legislation for your fire agency, beginning with the State Constitution, and trace that authority through to your agency. You may want to draw out a diagram as a rough draft, and then compose a written description of the line of authority. Include reference citations from each document in succession (e.g., title, chapter, section, subsection).
5. Determine which management model discussed in this Module most closely matches that used in managing your own agency by interviewing an agency administrator. Investigate how this model came to be used, and whether or not it is currently successful in its implementation. Document your findings by crediting all sources, including personnel interviewed.
Your essay should be 6-8 double spaced pages in length. The essay should have a formal introduction, a statement of purpose on the first page, a body, and a conclusion. Be sure to credit all sources. Visit Diana Hacker’s Research and Documentation Online at http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/ to find complete examples of how to cite sources.
