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Feeling the Heat? Management Reform and Workforce Diversity in the English Fire Service

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Fire and Rescue Services

Abstract

The UK government has made a concerted effort to modernise the way in which fire services are managed and staffed. Rhys Andrews and Rachel Ashworth consider the introduction of new duties around fire prevention, reformed pay structures, the integrated development programme for fire service personnel and a renewed emphasis on positive working conditions. One important element of this agenda has been an emphasis on increased representation of women and minority ethnic staff amongst fire service employees. Reforms of human resource management practices were regarded as a key policy tool in the drive to make fire brigades more representative of, and responsive to, the communities that they serve. HRM reform was largely undertaken through the introduction of the Integrated Personal Development System, which sought to reduce the ambiguity around the roles of all fire service staff at every stage in their professional development, from entry to retirement. Crucially, the IPDS was introduced to ensure career progression was linked to ability rather than rank and hierarchical position.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Rhys Andrews & Rachel Ashworth

Authors
  1. Rhys Andrews
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  2. Rachel Ashworth
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Correspondence to Rachel Ashworth .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Peter Murphy

  2. Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Kirsten Greenhalgh

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Andrews, R., Ashworth, R. (2018). Feeling the Heat? Management Reform and Workforce Diversity in the English Fire Service. In: Murphy, P., Greenhalgh, K. (eds) Fire and Rescue Services. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62155-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62155-5_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62153-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62155-5

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