Organizational Leadership In Prince William County Department Of Fire And Rescue

Change, for the most part, refers to any modification to the way things presently are or in other words the status quo. When talking about leadership or more specifically organizational leadership the definition of change is more specific. The step imposed on an organization which requires the organization to respond is looked at as “change.” This response is seen as an adaptation of the leaders as they adapt to the change. As seen in my county, Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue (P.W.C.D.F.R.), the source of change is both external and internal but the source of adaptation is internal (the leaders). Change, at times, may be anticipated, planned for, and implemented with little disruption. Other times it is the complete

These individuals tend to report to work at a specified time, perform duties in accordance to their operating procedures, they know their responsibilities, and maybe more importantly, they have established relationships with peers, followers, and leaders. In short, they know what to expect every day. Change may also be feared simply because there are unknowns. Rumors begin to spread amongst the workforce and this only spreads the fear or uncertainty of change. An important part of this fear is that an employee will lose something of value. This may be in the form of an economic or security fear such as losing seniority, pay, or jobs altogether. Along with these concerns comes a fear of loss of power, influence, and status within the organization. On a personal level, change could be resisted because it may seem that the former way of functioning has been inadequate. Members many feel that they are not functioning at an ideal level. Could some feel exploited? Absolutely, when members hear about change, such as volunteers not being needed anymore, they may feel as if they are not really important to the organization. The degree of resistance will differ from one situation to another, depending on how much members value the current

This combination system is managed through our Fire and Rescue Association, which is a joint organization comprised of volunteer fire chiefs and the career chief along with elected career staff.

Prince William County has grown significantly in population over the recent decades. This growth has generated a rise in the number of calls for the fire and rescue service. At the same time, the nature of the call demands has increased in difficulty and has required greater detail to regional design and response readiness. Also, training demands for all responders are now extremely more time consuming to address the growing level of service.

This change has placed a lot of stress on volunteers. Some volunteer companies are having a hard time keeping up with staffing levels. Volunteer companies are complaining that the training requirements are so substantial that once a volunteer is correctly and fully trained, they are hired by career fire departments located in the Northern Virginia