zbornik radova (.pdf 11,5 MB) - Hrvatsko društvo inženjera sigurnosti

Tomi ZlatarEngleski jezik/English languageUDK/UDC 005.5:614.84(497.5)Stručni članak/Professional paperA FUNCTIONAL APPROACH ON LEADERSHIP OF FIREFIGHTING OFFICERSAbstractIn the Republic of Croatia, there are more than 1 880 Volunteer Firefighting Associations, with anumber of members exceeding 57 000 volunteer firefighters. Every summer we are witnesses ofreadiness of all our firefighting organizations. It is of national interest that extinguishing forest firesbecomes more efficient and to be done with less effort. Leadership is the most important tool to beused in that kind of interventions, especially considering the amount of knowledge, experience andphysical condition of volunteer firefighters. This paper’s aim is to define leadership, its objectives andattributes, to analyse fire management leadership, what followers seek in a firefighting leader, someessential traits to leadership, and a model for upgrading leadership skills of future generations ofvolunteer firefighting officers.Key words: Leadership, Firefighting Officer, Volunteer Firefighter Association, Fire ManagementLeadershipINTRODUCTIONAs history demonstrates, the challenge of leading firefighting organizations is not new. Leadership is apart of mankind, which comes naturally to lucky ones, but also, can be taught to others. The beginningof leadership within firefighting organizations starts at the same time as firefighting itself. At the start,fellows followed the one with leadership characteristics while extinguishing fires or neutralizing otherpotential hazards. Leader was a person that could motivate others to follow him, a person that tookover an initiative.However, the significance of leadership in firefighting organizations increases during the last decade.Thought the society development, thought raising the public concern and the public educational level,the need for an effective leadership was created.Due to the Strategic plan of the Croatian Firefighting Community, made for the period from 2011 to2013, in Croatia, there were active 1 880 Volunteer Firefighting Units (1 825 Governmental VolunteerFirefighting Associations and 55 Enterprise Volunteer Firefighting Associations). The number ofvolunteer firefighters in these volunteer units was 57 211, with constant growing trend.Good leadership is also vital to all the taxpayers, water users, wildland-urban interface residents, andvisitors to the forests, refuges, parks, and other public wildlands across Croatia. Never before haswildland fire management been so important in the national scheme. Never before have so many beenaware of, or affected by, resource management decisions. No one summer goes by without a mediareport on the issues that are faced in wildland fire management.Perhaps never before have we seen so much interest in what is happening on our public lands. Inrecent years, the focus on forest health, on financial and budgetary issues, and on a host of associatedlegislative and political concerns has drawn unprecedented congressional attention and involved by theadministration. Our publics are voicing their concerns at the local, regional, and national level farmore effectively than ever before. The scientific and professional journals are full of discussions aboutthe dilemmas we face today in wildland fire management [4] .Although there are different leadership approaches, such as the qualities and the situational approachto leadership, a specific notion for firefighting associations should be taken on the functionalapproach. A functional approach on leadership takes into consideration three basic areas of needs (taskneeds, team needs and individual needs). Understanding them should be of great help for firefightingM&S 8(2013) 485