Battalion Chief James Scott of the Lynchburg Fire Department

Abstract

James Scott, one of two sector commanders at the Lynchburg (Virginia) Fire Department, is about to retire. Since Scott had been promoted to this position, he had tried to inculcate a new management style in the department. Where there had once been a rigid, paramilitary hierarchy, Scott had attempted to create a team-based environment that empowered each fire fighter to do his or her job without having to report to their immediate supervisor first. The story of Scott's management style is interwoven with the story of an actual fire that took place in Lynchburg in 1996. This story reveals the high degree of stress, uncertainty, and danger to which a fire fighter is subjected. The environment of the fire ground is very different from that of the station house; the fire fighters must immediately make the transition from the relatively relaxed and informal milieu of the latter, where individuals are free to question the decisions and actions of their colleagues, to the highly structured and hierarchical environment of the former, where both civilians' and fire fighters' lives hang in the balance. The decision points in the case explore Scott's philosophy and the changes he has made, and challenge the student to consider how to sustain the momentum of such changes.

Excerpt

UVA-OB-0625

BATTALION CHIEF James Scott of the

Lynchburg Fire Department

When you get on the fire ground and we ask somebody to do something—you do this, you do that, a direct order kind of thing—they know it is a life-threatening situation. There's no hesitation; it is done immediately without question … It's almost like you're operating in two different worlds and you have to switch gears.

—Company Commander Fitzgerald

How do I run my station? I do what I'm supposed to do and hope I've trained the fire fighters to do what they're supposed to do, and I just monitor it and if I see that they have a problem, or if the work load gets to a point where they have a problem … we just work as a team, and they know that if we have a lot of calls, there's a lot of paperwork to do …and they realize that they've got a little extra work, and they don't mind doing it. If we get overburdened a little bit, it's very simple. Work and teamwork and working as a team … It just makes things a lot easier, and you feel if you need help, somebody will help you. It makes the stress level lower when you feel you can do a better job when you do go out on the street.

. . .

Keywords: change, management of, leadership, management philosophy, public administration, alternative bussiness issue or setting, diverse protagonist, race