Tactics, command, leadership

language, ‘steamrolling’ other people and using the power ac-
corded by the supervisor position to ensure that a certain task is
executed. Working with certain types of tasks may not always be
popular among fire brigade staff, for example, running hose over
long distances through a densely forested area. But such a task
can very well be a determining factor for the results of the re-
sponse operation and someone must therefore conduct this task.
The employee shall conduct the work on behalf of the employer
that is included in the applicable conditions of employment. In
conjunction with official duty, the exercise of power is clearer,
even if volunteers should be initially recruited.
Certain types of tasks in conjunction with emergency response
operations can be directly repulsive, such as attending to a large
number of seriously injured persons, the dead or body parts. Such
tasks should be handled with a higher degree of volunteerism.
Moreover, supervisors should ensure that personnel, both before
and during such tasks, receive any care they may need. The risks
associated with a task may never be disproportionate to the anti-
cipated benefits.
It is often pointed out that supervisors and leaders are key
persons and one can easily be led to believe that leadership is a
matter for leaders. However, employees’ assumptions of responsi-
bility and attitudes to their work have major significance in this
context. In this context, one often speaks of employeeship, where
all individuals in the group are viewed as mutually responsible
in the work process and parties in the dialogue at the workplace.
Employees are knowledgeable and competent, contribute with va-
rious things and approaches, and participate in formulating im-
portant decisions. Work at an incident site, for example, should be
conducted in consensus between the individuals who are engaged
in this work. Through employeeship, the conditions within the
group are described as a relationship of partnership within which
the person in charge invites initiative, skills development and
performance. Many times one has gone over from management
by details to management by objectives, from direct control to
indirect control, via work results and increased responsibility, etc.
This requires a certain autonomy in the ability to lead between
different levels due to the need to be able to work effectively in
a dynamic environment, i.e. at an incident site where events are
time­dependent and occur as a result of a number of causes that
are difficult to survey. Management employees on various levels