Räddningsstyrkans inre liv - Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och ...

The inner workings of a fire & rescue watch
Ola Mårtensson
Summary
This study is based on the complex situation faced by a sub-officer at watch level in a
municipal fire & rescue brigade. The aim of the study has been to contribute to increased
knowledge and understanding about how the officers should be able to handle the informal
rules on a watch, in order to stimulate the responsibility during daily work.
It is during the daily life of a watch that the informal rules take its form. These, at first sight
harmless actions, thoughts and feelings form a normative pattern, which rules the group and
its members, firefighters and officers alike. The issues that are dealt with in this study are part
of the corporate culture of the municipal fire & rescue services.
The study, which is qualitative, is based on in-depth interviews with about ten fire officers
and firefighters, from three different municipal fire & rescue services. The results indicate
that some informal rules have a restraining effect during rescue operations. A lack of
meaningful tasks contributes to the development of informal rules that aren’t in harmony with
the formal rules of the fire & rescue services. Accordingly, it is a central task to increase
understanding and knowledge about informal rules that limit the joy of work, working
capacity, and thereby professional pride. Therefore, fire officers need to increase their ability
to deal with those informal rules that have an inhibiting effect; so that the corporate culture
develops a ruling norm that benefits one’s own initiative, watch responsibility, and work
motivation. The results of the study emphasize that the will the fire & rescue services to make
alterations has to come from within, because the demands of the surrounding world aren´t
motivation enough.
Keywords: corporate culture, organization culture, rescue services, norm, motivation of
work, leadership, fire officer, works manager, leader, chief.
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