jective that is important for a group’s area of responsibility (task)
and welfare. Moreover, he writes that the criterion for leaders is
‘performance of teams’, i.e. quality of leadership is demonstrated
in the group’s performance and accomplishments. This view of
leadership seems suitable from a rescue service perspective.
To understand the implications of leadership and their sig-
nificance for behaviour in various types of emergency response
situations in which a number of factors, such as stress, will be
influential, one needs to be aware of what a group is, what af-
fects the group’s existence and reactions in various situations,
and the individual’s manner of acting and reacting in relation to
other people. Individuals and groups often belong to various ty-
pes of organisations. One should therefore also be aware of what
an organisation is, what controls and influences an organisation’s
functions, and the forms that relationships between individuals,
groups and organizations can take.
Organisations
An organisation is a group of people who share a certain amount
of tasks and thus constitute a system with differing roles. The fun-
damental concept of organisations is that through cooperation
between individuals, one achieves objectives more effectively than
through individual efforts. The effect of several individuals coope-
rating to attain a common objective is greater than if each indivi-
dual worked alone, even if working towards the same objective.
A formal organisation is generally characterised by:
- There being a distribution of tasks and that the individuals in
various ways are specialised. - That work is coordinated and controlled in some manner.
- That there is more or less expressed leadership – someone is
the leader and someone else follows this leader. - That there are one or more objectives.
The focus here will be on formal organisations, in contrast to so-
cial organisations. The term social organisation refers to general
interaction between people, both internally within formal organi-
sations and externally.
An organisation is important for the individuals and groups
that are included in the organisation in being able to see their
roles in a larger context. In this way, the organisation creates a
sense of security for the individual, which can be needed if one is