Of these the police had the least stressors while the ambulance service respondents had severe work-related pressures and problems of psychological well-being. The research showed that the work-family conflict, neuroticism and job satisfaction were similar for all these services. This is an issue that must be addressed if the fire department has to function properly.
While training the personnel to be leaders, there must be a way of removing the stress factor. This is important because the stress can cause problems in inter-personnel behavior. There is a problem of work stress and definition of roles within the system. The study by Bennett et al. (2005) says that personnel of both sexes are subject to high levels of stress and will develop trauma and depression. Some of the reasons cited are that there is no supportive environment to the staff and secondly there is no social support for the relief of stress associated with emergency responses, and these contribute to anxiety. The study was based on a survey of emergency ambulance personnel of one British ambulance service. This is applicable to fire services also. (Bennett, et al., 2005)
Thus the major issues does not revolve around the use of better technology but the bringing in of a better system that can enhance leadership qualities and at the same time ease out the negatives. One another negative that can come in the field will be gender bias and this is a very singular thing. Leaders can get promoted on skills especially interpersonal skills, and in course of time role models and ideal perception of who or which type of person will be most suited to the situation will evolve. Yet bias is not erased completely from the human psyche. The solutions provided by Barrett and Davidson (2006) are that women who are employed in the services must forcefully express...
Fire department involves the leadership of the managers and also individuals and team work. There must therefore be multiple levels of leadership that must be inculcated with bringing in responsibility. And the responses must always be based on the contingency. Thus the primary work groups as teams and the team members with their experience provide the leadership with established norms. Much is in common with personnel in ambulance services, and police and the method of removing stress ought to be explored with eliminating the negatives like gender bias and other work place problems.
References
Barrett, Mary; Davidson, Marilyn J. (2006) "Gender and Communication at Work:"
Ashgate.
Bennett, G, et al. (2005) "Associations between organizational and incident factors and emotional distress in emergency ambulance personnel" British Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 215-226.
Brough, Paula. (2005) "A Comparative Investigation of the Predictors of Work-Related
Psychological Well-Being within Police, Fire and Ambulance Workers." New Zealand Journal of Psychology, vol. 34, no. 2, pp: 127-132.
Hernon, Peter. (2010) "Shaping the future: advancing the understanding of leadership"
ABC-CLIO.
Northouse, Peter. (2011) "Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice"
SAGE.
Northouse, Peter Guy. (2009) "Leadership: Theory and Practice"
SAGE.
