GENERATION strongXstrong SUPERVISING THE NEW FIREFIGHTERS.pdf

GENERATION X SUPERVISING THE NEW FIREFIGHTERS Robert V ogel Ann A rbor Fire Department Ann A rbor Michigan An applied research project s ubmitted to the D epartment of Interdisciplinary Technology as part of the S c hool of Fi re Staff and Command P rogram. October 2001 ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to determine what differences lay between new firefighters (Generation X) and senior fire officers (Baby Boomers). Generation X started as a te rm used by advertising executives to descr ibe the “slacker” generation: the 40 million Americans born between 1963 and 1977. Often characterized as being lazy, arrogant, unreliable, and cynical . Generati on X is considered to be anythi ng but team-oriented. Many resources were studied and a survey was used to define the probl em and recommend so lutions for managing the new firefighters. The survey filled out by senior An n Arbor Fire personnel confi rmed the negative perceptions of newer firefighte rs (Xe rs ) . New firefighters like to see clearly defined goals or objectives. They wa nt a reason for doing something before they do it , and they hate what they think is busy wo rk . This is a gr oup t hat const a ntly questions their managers. Why does it have to be done this way? Why do I have to do this? To keep this behavi or from driving you up t he wall, give t hem t he why before they as k. New firefighters are overall a focu sed g roup . To kee p X e rs concentrated on the task at hand, the relationship between the task and the outcome needs to be estab lished. If not, Xers tend to get frustrated. 2 TA BLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 INTRODUCTION 5 BACKGROUND SIGNIFICANCE 7 Who Are These Xers? 7