Billings 911 Center: A Case Study
“Power Distance has been defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally” (Hofstede, n.d.). The Billings 911 Center management staff would define the power distance as low, but the organization has a high power distance. According to Hofstede, “power distance represents inequality, but defined from below, not from above” (n.d). Even though management may perceive a small power distance, their behaviors and the staff’s reactions both verbally and behaviorally suggest a large power distance. There are state laws and policies from many different agencies that direct policies and procedures for the Billings 911 Center, therefore, subordinates expect strict standard operating procedures. Punishment techniques used by the supervisors are conditioning employees to be obedient or seek other employment.
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Senior employees are both respected and feared, in that, a new employee coming into the culture can be intimidated by how easy the senior employee can do the job, plus a hierarchy has been established ranking those with the most seniority as having first options for extra duty, regardless of capability. Senior employees have the first opportunities to work overtime hours, request time off, and first options for bidding the shift they would like to work, as well as, which holidays and vacation weeks they will take off.
The supervisors are known to state they welcome opinions and ideas from the staff, they are open to supporting every member of the team, and they are here to make sure the staff’s needs are met. Yet, the contradictory behaviors include, weekly supervisor meetings that do not include any staff members, as well as, disregarding any idea or concern mentioned in the management/labor meetings. Senior employees are responsible for training new employees, yet when a new employee is struggling or displaying strong signs incompetence, the training dispatcher is to document facts only and has no say in the future prospects of their trainee. Those decisions are left solely to the supervisors.
The 911 staff belongs to a union, supervisors have repeatedly told union representatives that they back the staff 100%, although, when there are complaints from other agencies the supervisors generally choose to keep peaceful relationships with the co-existing agencies, while letting the subordinates take full blame without fully investigating the complaint.
Depending on the situation, there can be strict corrective action steps which include two write-ups, followed by a hearing with the 911-center manager and fire chief, and by forth offense within a year, the city human resource department determines the fate of the dispatcher’s future employment with the 911 center.
Due to the behaviors of management, staff can be heard saying how much they dislike being constantly watched and monitored. Every phone call and radio transmission is recorded. Staff often say how easy it is for supervisors to frequently listen to the recordings in an attempt to catch someone making an error. Supervisors are easy to hand out punishment and rarely offer a compliment for a job well
done.
Staff members understand that the job regulations must be strict due to the fact that many situations can be life or death, plus responders can face many dangerous situations that can become amplified if correct procedures are not followed by the dispatchers. Staff knows that the written operating procedures must be followed, but get disgruntled when there are gray areas of interpretation. Since management’s first reaction to any complaint is to come down on the dispatcher, many employees would agree that they would never be supported or defended when it came to a discrepancy in standard operating procedure, thus resembling a high PDI continuum.
Senior employees are both respected and feared, in that, a new employee coming into the culture can be intimidated by how easy the senior employee can do the job, plus a hierarchy has been established ranking those with the most seniority as having first options for extra duty, regardless of capability. Senior employees have the first opportunities to work overtime hours, request time off, and first options for bidding the shift they would like to work, as well as, which holidays and vacation weeks they will take off.
The supervisors are known to state they welcome opinions and ideas from the staff, they are open to supporting every member of the team, and they are here to make sure the staff’s needs are met. Yet, the contradictory behaviors include, weekly supervisor meetings that do not include any staff members, as well as, disregarding any idea or concern mentioned in the management/labor meetings. Senior employees are responsible for training new employees, yet when a new employee is struggling or displaying strong signs incompetence, the training dispatcher is to document facts only and has no say in the future prospects of their trainee. Those decisions are left solely to the supervisors.
The 911 staff belongs to a union, supervisors have repeatedly told union representatives that they back the staff 100%, although, when there are complaints from other agencies the supervisors generally choose to keep peaceful relationships with the co-existing agencies, while letting the subordinates take full blame without fully investigating the complaint.
Depending on the situation, there can be strict corrective action steps which include two write-ups, followed by a hearing with the 911-center manager and fire chief, and by forth offense within a year, the city human resource department determines the fate of the dispatcher’s future employment with the 911 center.
Due to the behaviors of management, staff can be heard saying how much they dislike being constantly watched and monitored. Every phone call and radio transmission is recorded. Staff often say how easy it is for supervisors to frequently listen to the recordings in an attempt to catch someone making an error. Supervisors are easy to hand out punishment and rarely offer a compliment for a job well
done.
Staff members understand that the job regulations must be strict due to the fact that many situations can be life or death, plus responders can face many dangerous situations that can become amplified if correct procedures are not followed by the dispatchers. Staff knows that the written operating procedures must be followed, but get disgruntled when there are gray areas of interpretation. Since management’s first reaction to any complaint is to come down on the dispatcher, many employees would agree that they would never be supported or defended when it came to a discrepancy in standard operating procedure, thus resembling a high PDI continuum.