FROM THE PUBLISHER
Departments
Middle Managers: Less Faith in the Top
The fire service is always on the lookout for equipment and ideas from the world of business or industry that can be adapted to good use. A recent note —or a warning, perhaps-seen in Industry Week magazine seems to have food for thought for fire chiefs.
A majority of 2200 middle managers polled for a study by Hay Associates, Philadelphiabased management consultants, did not believe top management encourages them to use initiative on the job. And only a third said that they could openly discuss problems with top management. The result: middle managers have less confidence in top management. Only 39 percent expressed faith in the leaders. Top management, of course, cannot do the job alone.
If this management situation exists in the private sector, it prompts us to wonder what a similar survey would reveal about middle management – the lieutenants and captains — in the fire service. A survey like that may never be undertaken, but each chief could pause for a moment to consider the implications when so many middle managers lose faith in the top.
COMING NEXT MONTH . . .
As a result of numerous reader requests, apparatus and equipment maintenance will be in the spotlight next month. Look for several articles on innovative practices that some departments are turning to in order to keep the apparatus rolling and to keep other equipment in good working order.
And as always, you will find excellent coverage of fires, rescue incidents safety tips and much more. A fire report, for example, will describe how one chief received a phone call asking him personally to check on a gasoline spill. When he drove to the scene, he discovered that the spill involved 4000 gallons. Despite his best efforts, the spill ignited. On a different note, you will read about a new fastresponse residential sprinkler head. Tests show that with its special alloy sensor it can open in one-third the time of an ordinary head.
