Resource Management on Child Fire Safety Awareness Program - Report Example

Resource Management on Child Fire Safety Awareness Program Prepared and Submitted by [Student’s Name] In partial fulfillment of the course syllabus [Subject] Submitted to [Professor’s Name] [Date] About 14% of fire incidents in UK in 2007 occurred at home which has seen a significant decline compared to the 2006 statistics (DCLG, 2007). More than 80% of dwelling fires are accidental and the primary source of ignition is unattended cooking appliances followed by smoker’s materials and candle fires. While there is nothing in the DCLG statistics that directly connects the involvement of preschool children in domestic fire accidents, educating young children about the dangers of playing with candle fires, smoke materials, and electric fixtures could further lower fire incidents occurring in dwelling homes in the future. In this regard, choosing to improve fire safety awareness in Blackpool by educating young children of primary age about fire safety and how they can contribute to this effort is laudable. Part of the mission of the Fire and Rescue Service of UK is to involve communities and neighborhoods in the prevention of fire incidents and risks by making them more responsive to public safety needs (ODPM, 2005). The agency identifies that involving the community through increasing their awareness can help the organization achieve its goals efficiently and comprehensively. Apparently, communal involvement lowers the incidence of fire, increases the response rate of fire fighters, and stops fire even before it spreads as the community becomes actively involved in fire prevention programs. The success of this project will depend on four factors. These considerations involve the ability of the organization to identify key skills and core competencies of the people that would handle the job, identify resources and create strategic disbursement or allocation plans, and measure results against the original objectives. Moreover, it is necessary that any form of acquisition done for this project conform to the requirements outlined in the 2009 - 2012 England’s National Procurement Strategy for the Fire and Rescue Service. Human Resource Requirements The project requires two staff that would act as community safety officers. Their main task is to make sure that the goals and objectives of the project (i.e., educating primary school children, communicating with the school about the program, utilization of physical resources, etc) are met within the time frame of the organization. Since the identification of job roles and functions are already done, this section will discuss in detail the selection process for these positions. Below is the outline of the minimum requirements of qualification for the position: Education - background in community development, fire safety engineering, or child psychology; Experience – 1-3 years knowledge of project scheduling and project management, management level exposures and experience with children would be an advantage. Leadership – Must exhibit independence of thoughts and actions and should be capable of translating organizational goals to action plans, must also be able to achieve coherence of actions to achieve goals, must possess good interpersonal skills including high standard liaison skills. Technical – should be able to demonstrate substantive knowledge in child psychology and deep understanding of the fire safety needs of the community. Other Requirements – applicants must obtain clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) in order to be considered for the position. The successful applicant will report directly to the project manager and will perform specific tasks outlined for the position. The selection process will be consists of three stages. Stage one will be devoted to Candidate Profiling and Assessment. Profiling in this context is an outline of the academic background and technical experience required for successful applicants. The recruitment process will start with the identification of the geographical scope of the advertisement for the position. The scope of the print advertisements will be focused on North West region of England and will target College and University graduates, working professionals, and those with experience in community FRS. For this post, online and print media advertisements will be considered. Online advertisement will be done in collaboration with other FRS sites on the North West region by providing a link on the local and regional government websites that would redirect potential applicants to the careers page (and online application process) of Blackpool. The advertisement will close after eight full weeks, after which the screening and selection process shall commence. The second stage of recruitment will be the Candidate Screening and Selection. The screening and selection stage starts with requirement requisition, collection of CVs from data bank or from walk-in applicants, followed by self-assessment and initial interview, then technical test. The initial interview will consist of internally valid and culturally-blind set of questions that would assess the capacity and experience of the candidate for the job. The self-assessment tests will mainly serve to gather data about the client’s professional, scholastic, and personal backgrounds that do not reflect in the CV and cover letter. Successful applicants will then go through the technical interview (which would be conducted by the project manager). Those who will pass this stage will undergo a final interview and document verification with the Human resource. There is no restriction as to the cultural background and gender of applicants. Age preference for this position is between 23-28 years old although applicants that are younger or older that meet the specific criteria for the position shall be considered in the screening process. The same thing can be said about the applicants with disabilities. The last stage of recruitment will be the Work Orientation and Transfer of Technology. Once the two successful applicants were chosen for the job, offer and welcome letters will be mailed or handed to them and meeting shall be scheduled with the newly hires for contract signing and orientation. The welcome letter is quite relevant for this undertaking to allow the new recruits to feel at ease with the company and for them to look forward to a great working experience. The orientation with the newly hires will be mainly focused on what is contained in their contract (remuneration packages, compensation and benefits, house rules, etc) and whether they are amenable with their job conditions. After the contract signing, the newly hires will go through another orientation which is the on-board orientation where they will be introduced to the organization and their direct supervisor, undergo technical training for their job functions, and potential field exposure. The successful applicants for the position will be given a competitive compensation and benefit package which will include the legal mandates like basic pay, gasoline allowance, health and medical benefit, insurance, overtime pays, and the likes in order to attract them to the job and keep them satisfied. Personal and professional development programs will also be designed to enhance and develop the technical skills of the new recruits to better perform their job functions. Resource Planning and Management Acquiring the manpower requirement for the project is half the resources needed to execute it. The people that will be assigned to the completion of the project require administrative and field support to better complete their job functions. An accurate account of what the staff would need once working in the field is impossible to do at this stage and so the resources that will be included in this section are the unadjusted, theoretical resources the staff would need once they embark on their job functions. The resource requirements for the staff are classified into two: administrative and field support. Administrative resources refer to the materials typically used for clerical and administrative functions like making reports, preparation of modules, scheduling and forecasting of project outcomes, and the likes. Administrative resources include pens and pencils, papers, laptops or personal computers, telephones, books and journals related to the practice, projectors, office tables (or nooks), internet, and other administrative support systems. Periodic administrative resources that might also be required are seminars, trainings, and workshops that would enhance the knowledge of the key staff as well as allow them to transfer their knowledge to the organization. These training and seminars can occur once or twice a year depending on the need. The main function of field support resources is to allow the staffs to perform their duty more easily and more successfully. Field support resources shall be composed of the transportation system that would bring the staff all over Blackpool, projectors, mobile phones, complete uniforms and physical equipments required during presentations, presentation charts, handout and brochures for distribution in schools, posters for distribution in schools and communities, and other paraphernalia that could enhance their presentation of the module as well as encourage primary school children to follow their objectives. The budget for this particular project shall be made separate from the general budget of the Blackpool FRS. This could mean that the budget for this project can be requested during the fiscal year or shall be derived from the particular budget allocation for community development of the FRS that is not yet utilized. The need to separate the budget for this project is pretty obvious since the completion of the project requires controls and monitoring. If the budget for this project is derived from the general budget of the FRS, then it would be very difficult to assess whether the development of the project based on its financial support has been doing well. The disbursement of the budget shall be done on a periodic basis which can be monthly or quarterly. The key staff will determine what they need for the agreed period and request the budget by submitting a proposal for expenditure. Any disbursement shall be made once the project head approves of the proposal after rigid verification and deliberation of the resources itemized in the proposal. The acquisition of these resources shall be made using the official and certified supplier of the FRS so as to conform to the requirements of the National Procurement Strategy. Project Evaluation By default, a project is accountable for achieving the necessary outcomes and contributes to the development impact. Majority of the impact requirement of community projects such as this requires broad and long term development which can change throughout time. The necessity of project evaluation in any type of project stems from the undeniable fact that it allows monitoring of the project cycle which in turn informs the individuals responsible for the management of resources and activities to enhance both short term and long term project developments and align it to the overall goal of the project. A good project evaluation plan steers the project towards sustainability, allows direct and indirect intervention to occur, and corrects the steps to link the project development to the overall project goal. Similarly, a good project evaluation plan needs to: (a) understand the overall design of the project, (b) accumulates data to allow relevant and strategic decision making, (c) facilitates learning to all individuals involved, and (d) negotiate required changes. The project will be subjected to four project assessments. These are project monitoring, annual project reviews, interim and final evaluations, and impact assessments. Project monitoring will focus mainly on activities and their outputs and how these activities and outputs contribute to the overall goal of the project. Project monitoring will be done by periodic observation of the progress of the project and comparing these actual progresses to the projected schedules designed for the project. The annual project review on the other hand, apart from being performed annually, shall be more focused on the self evaluation of the key stakeholders on the achievement of the annual objectives. It differs from the periodic project monitoring by scope and depth of evaluation. Interim can be performed whenever certain issues in the process arise that requires system-wide assessment. These issues are identified as any issues, great or small, that could jeopardize the whole operations or issues that could misdirect the operations in the long run. Interim evaluations will be carried to assess the progress of the project towards its achievement and to recommend required adjustments to align the project steps to the intended goals. Impact assessment refers to the assessment that has to be done on the community rather than on the people behind the project. Impact assessment typically occurs many years after the project is finished to evaluate whether the intended goals have been met or not. Impact assessments can also be a part of the comprehensive evaluation of the FRS. Results for impact assessments are translated into statistics. In this particular case, a significant lowering of domestic fire incidents caused by preschool-aged children means that the program has been a success. Evaluation Policies The evaluation policies for this project need to follow the overall goals of both the local and national FRS. In the same manner, the evaluation policies require that the project is performed in accordance to the legal and ethical principles that bind the UK Fire and Rescue Services. Below are some of the key evaluation policies for the project: □ Improve the statistics on domestic fire incidents involving primary school-aged children; □ Contribute to the organizational and community learning process in terms of fire safety and communal cooperation; □ Reinforce accountability and transparency in terms of managing funds and resources and support reliable and credible process; □ Synergize with the local and national FRS in planning and reviewing fire safety plans and modules; □ Keep aligned with the local and national goals, objectives, and priorities by confining project processes to reasonable technical and administrative levels; and □ Provide reinforcement to project stakeholders by performing duties with the assumption that projects were managed for results; Conclusion The success of the project depends not only on the people working for the project but also on the measures set to monitor and evaluate such project. As with any project, accountability and transparency of resources is of primary importance in order to make good use of both the human and physical resources to achieve the overall goal of the organization. There were four considerations that were earlier discussed in determining the success of the project which are the ability of the organization to identify key skills and core competencies of the people that would handle the job, identify resources and create strategic disbursement or allocation plans, and measure results against the original objectives. It is clear here that selecting people to handle the job and equipping them with tools and resources is just half the success. The other half is keeping the development of the project aligned with the original goals. While there is no way to determine whether the project can become successful in the long run as the impact assessment may take years to be fully evaluated. The probability of success of the project can be analyzed, however, by evaluating the measures defined in the paper – the core competencies selected for the people, the distribution and management of resources, the evaluation and assessment plans of the projects, and the principles behind the project. The closer these elements are to the overall goals of the national and local FRS organization, the more likely it is for the project to achieve its goals and objectives because of the synergy of resources and manpower aligned to perform the same set of goals. In this case, it is easy to identify that the project will have a strong chance of succeeding. References Department of Communities and Local Government.(2007). Fire Statistics, United Kingdom 2007. Retrieved online from http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1320522.pdf Department of Communities and Local Government. (2009). National Procurement Strategy for the Fire and Rescue Service in England 2009 -12. Michigan State University Resource Management Principle 2004 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. (2005). National Procurement Strategy for the Fire and Rescue Service: 2005-2008. ODPM Publications. Read More