Tactics, command, leadership

Arvonen (1995) emphases the needs for the leader to serve as an

example, to be a visionary and to be able to create a working en-

vironment that motivates personnel in an organisational culture

that is guided by the vision of the organisation.

Intentionally or unintentionally harmless and even more ma-

licious acts, thoughts and feelings form a pattern that becomes

prevalent for a group and thereby for the group’s members, both

for management employees and others. Together they shape a

workplace’s organisational culture and they affect the results of

emergency response operations, whether or not this is the inten-

tion. Organisational culture refers to the sum of what an organisa-

tion has learned and that is now taken for granted as to how one

deals with the surrounding environment and internal collabora-

tion. Organisational culture is regulated by written and unwritten

rules, norms and behaviour (Schein, 1992). An important duty for

an incident commander is therefore to describe and explain how

a fire brigade crew is to collaborate during an emergency response

operation, to set limits for certain tasks and to clarify how the

group’s members are to evaluate one another during and after a

response operation.

Let-it-go

Leadership

development

Conventional leadership

Non-leadership

Organisational results

Favourable

Individual

development

Favourable

Control

Over control

Demands and assessments

Whip and carrot

Control

Take necessary measures

Demands and assessments

Strive for agreement

Exemplary conduct

Values, role model and responsibility

Personal concern

Give support and confront

Inspiration and motivation

Encourage participation and creativity

Leadership style model,
from Larsson et al.
(2003).