Organizational structure and communication challenges in El Dorado Hills Fire Department

El Dorado Hills, CA Fire Department

El Dorado Hills Fire Department Analysis

Community Background and History

El Dorado Hills is situated in El Dorado County, California and is a census-designated place. The residents of El Dorado Hills and the companies in the area are usually affiliated with El Dorado County, which is a rural area.

The community was established around 1960. Since then, the community continuously developed, increasing its demographics and business activities. The growth is mainly due to the fact that numerous families in the cities nearby relocated to El Dorado Hills.

El Dorado Hills Fire Department

The El Dorado Hills Fire Department was established in 1963, in order to support the needs of the community that was developing in the area. The district functioned with a minimum of institutions, including a school, a market, a fire station, and almost 100 homes.

The district has continuously expanded, increasing the number of schools and their capabilities, and developing the business activity in the region. The activity and the personnel of the Fire Department also developed.

Organizational Structure

The El Dorado Hills Fire Department is based on the organizational chart presented below:

Organizational Chart

As one may observe, the organizational chart of the El Dorado Hills Fire Department is a very complex one. This means that there is little flexibility within the administrative activity of the department.

This situation can create a series of problems that must be addressed by the department's management. The problems that can interfere with the department's efficiency include:

a) defective communication

b) defective decision-making process

c) reduced efficiency

d) defective control of personnel

e) increased costs

f) reduced ability to perform tasks

g) low employee motivation

h) increased number of errors

Impact on Performance

As mentioned above, the organizational structure of the department is likely to lead to serious problems that will affect the department's activity. Even more, these problems will affect the entire community.

In all types of companies, managers are aware of the fact that in order to create competitive advantage and to increase efficiency and productivity it is necessary to develop and implement an effective informational system. The same situation applies to the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, even if this is a nonprofit organization.

Given the department's organizational chart, it seems that communication within the department follows a top-bottom direction. Although, this strategy produced efficient results in certain situations, the approach is obsolete and must be improved in order to fit modern professional requests.

Therefore, the department must focus on developing and implementing a communicational system that focuses on the horizontal, rather than on the vertical communication. With the current communication flow within the department, a series of communication errors might emerge.

For example, communication can become redundant because of this. The time required for information to circulate will increase if such an approach to the communication system is maintained.

Also, given the fact that the communication flow is a long one, there is the risk of certain data and pieces of information to not reach the recipient. This will further cause deficiencies in the activity of personnel. Communication between top managers and base personnel is therefore deteriorated.

This leads to reduced individual performances, which also affects the performance of the entire department. When the performance of the entire organization does not reach the established quality standards, all levels of personnel are affected, including top managers.

The decision-making process is also affected by the complex organizational structure of the department. This is because decisions affecting the basic work of the department's employees are taken at top management level. Such decisions do not always represent the priority in the top managers' schedule, being postponed in certain cases.

This creates delays in workers' labor processes. Also, decisions are communicated slower than they should be. This is because of the defective communication system that characterizes the department and because of the fact that these decisions are not taken by the work unit affected by them.

In other words, these decisions should be taken by the unit that is affected by them. This will increase efficiency, it will improve the decision-making process and will improve communication within the department.

The organizational structure is also responsible for the reduced efficiency of the department. If decisions are not taken by the right people and if the decision-making process is longer than normal, combined with reduced communication, the reduced efficiency of personnel is justified.

In order to increase efficiency within an organization, it is necessary to develop strict control lines. Given the organization within the department, the control activity cannot be performed at normal parameters. The lack of control is difficult to counteract.

Strategic Plan

In order to improve efficiency, the department's strategy should focus on the human resources. This is because the efficiency of the department's activity relies almost entirely on the human resources. Although financial and technical resources are important, the value to the department's services is created by its employees.

Therefore, the department must develop and implement a thorough motivational system. Although the financial resources that the department benefits from may not support such motivational system, it is recommended that the department's managers address other motivational issues.

The department's efficiency can also be improved by modifying the organizational structure. In order to improve communication and the decision-making process, the department must develop a more flexible organizational structure. Such a structure would allow for decisions to be taken faster, therefore improving the efficiency of the department's activity.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the department's managers address the following issues:

modify the organizational structure develop and implement a thorough motivational system improve allocation of financial resources hire a HR responsible improve the communicational system modify the decision-making process improve communication with the community attract companies in order to increase financial resources modify the personnel strategy

As mentioned above, it is recommended that the department develops and implements a more flexible organizational structure that is more suitable for the type of activity and needs that characterize the department and the community. The organizational structure modification should be established by top managers.

Also, it is recommended that the department hires a specialized HR responsible. This is because the department's unit managers are not qualified to address the issues that concern personnel strategies.

In order to benefit from skilled workforce, the HR responsible must develop a recruitment and selection process that is designed for the field of activity addressed by the department. The local workforce might not satisfy the needs of the department, which means the HR responsible must find ways to attract workforce from other areas.

The efficiency of the department's personnel depends on the motivational system also. If employees do not benefit from satisfactory wages and benefits, they will not be interested in reaching the quality standards imposed by the department and the community.

In order to improve efficiency and increase motivation among the department's personnel, it is recommended that the department's managers develop strategies in order to invite community members to take part of the department's activity. Their implication could be useful in setting examples that should be followed by others.

The economic and financial crisis has affected individuals, companies, and nonprofit organizations. The El Dorado Hills Fire Department makes no exception. It is expected that department's financial resources will be reduced.

This means that the department will be forced to make a series of modifications regarding the allocation of financial resources. The department's financial situation must be assessed in order to find out which areas require the most financial resources, which areas can function with lower levels of financial resources, and how the department's money can be reallocated.

The most important aspect that must be addressed by the department is represented by communication. In order to improve efficiency of the department's activity, it is recommended to develop and implement a strategy regarding communication that helps facilitate the communication flow within the department.

The decision-making process should also be modified. The decisions must be taken by each unit, instead of waiting for top managers to take decisions that affects these units. This strategy is intended to increase the efficiency of the activity of the department and to allow for flexible processes to reach quality standards regarding the activity of the department.

Reference list:

1. Core Values (2010). El Dorado Hills Fire Department. Retrieved September 17, 2010 from http://www.edhfire.com/about-us/mission-statementcore-values.

Fire Chief

Deputy Chief

CFO

Systems Administrator

Administrative Assistant

Operations Specialist Technician

Div. Chief Prevention

Battalion Chief Training

Captain Prevention Specialist

Fire Inspector

24 B/C A Shift

24 B/C B. Shift

24 B/C C. Shift

Captain's A Shift

Captain's B. Shift

Captain's C. Shift

Engineer

FF/P

Engineer

FF/P

Engineer

FF/P