Which NIMS management characteristic helps eliminate confusion caused by conflicting instructions? (2023)

The Leadership and Management unit provides a more detailed look at the following ICS features:

• Chain of Command and Unity of Command
• Span of Control
• Leadership in Incident Management
• Common Terminology

The objectives of this unit are as follows:

• Describe chain of command and formal communication relationships.
• Identify common leadership responsibilities.
• Describe span of control and modular development.
• Describe the use of position titles.

The visual depicts an orderly line of authority within the ranks of the incident management organization.

The flow of task assignments and resource requests between participants in the ICS occurs only with the person directly above or below them on the organizational chart.

Unity of command means that each individual involved in incident operations will be assigned – and will report – to only one supervisor.

Chain of command and unity of command help to ensure clear reporting relationships exist and eliminate the confusion caused by multiple, conflicting directives. Incident managers at all levels must be able to control the actions of all personnel under their supervision.

Unity of command clears up many of the potential communication problems encountered in managing incidents or events because each individual maintains a formal communication relationship only with his or her immediate supervisor.

It is important not to confuse unity of command with Unified Command.

Ask the participants:

What is the difference between unity of command and Unified Command?

Acknowledge the participants’ responses. If not mentioned by the group, add the following:

• Unity of Command. Unity of command means that each individual involved in incident operations will be assigned to only one supervisor. Unity of command is implemented in ALL incidents.
• Unified Command. Unified Command is a management structure used in multijurisdictional or multiagency incidents. Unified Command is implemented when appropriate.

Using Unified Command when appropriate:

• Enables all responsible agencies to manage an incident together by establishing a common set of incident objectives and strategies.
• Allows Incident Commanders to make joint decisions by establishing a single command structure at one Incident Command Post (ICP).
• Maintains unity of command. Each employee reports to only one supervisor.

Advantages of using Unified Command include:

• All agencies have an understanding of joint priorities and restrictions.
• A single set of objectives guides incident response.
• A collective approach is used to develop strategies to achieve incident objectives.
• Information flow and coordination are improved between all involved in the incident.
• No agency’s legal authorities will be compromised or neglected.
• Agencies’ efforts are optimized as they perform their respective assignments under a single Incident Action Plan.

Formal communication should be used when:

• Receiving and giving work assignments.
• Requesting support or additional resources.
• Reporting progress of assigned tasks.

Ask the participants:

What are some examples of formal communications within the ICS organization?

Add any examples that you think will help illustrate the teaching point.

Informal communication relationships are those situations requiring exchange of incident or event information only and do not involve tasking work assignments or requests for support or additional resources.

Ask the participants:

What are some examples of informal communications within the ICS organization?

Add any examples that you think will help illustrate the teaching point.

Ask the participants:

Why is leadership an essential element of successful incident/event management?

Facilitate a discussion among the participants. If not mentioned by the participants, add the following key points:

• Incident response requires that tasks be executed under dangerous, stressful circumstances.
• Leadership in an incident provides purpose, direction, and motivation.

Relate the discussion from the activity to the following statement about leadership:

Leadership means . . .

providing purpose, direction, and motivation for responders working to accomplish difficult tasks under dangerous, stressful circumstances.

Ask the participants if there is anything they would add to this statement.

The safety of all personnel involved in an incident or a planned event is the first duty of ICS leadership. This is the overall responsibility of Team Leaders, Group or Division Supervisors, Branch Directors, Section Chiefs, and all members of the Command or Unified Command Staff. Ensuring safe work practices is the top priority within the ICS common leadership responsibilities.

Note the following additional key points about decisionmaking:

• Demonstrating initiative requires the ability to make sound, timely decisions during an incident or event.
• Effective decisionmaking can avert tragedy and help the community recover from the event more quickly.
• Conversely, poor decisionmaking or the absence of decisions potentially can result in injury or death to victims or responders. But the repercussions don’t stop there. Poor decisions in the early stages of an incident can make the responders’ job more difficult and more dangerous. In addition, they can give rise to much more critical or complex decisions.

To demonstrate leadership commitment:

• Take charge within your scope of authority.
• Be prepared to step out of a tactical role to assume a leadership role.
• Be proficient in your job, both technically and as a leader.
• Adhere to professional standard operating procedures.
• Develop a plan to accomplish given objectives.
• Develop and improve technical and management skills.
• To prepare for your leadership role, participate in the development of standard operating procedures, emergency operations plans, or specific planning for incidents or events.
• Participate in disaster simulation exercises.
• Know agency policies.
• Make sound and timely decisions.
• Maintain situation awareness in order to anticipate needed actions.
• Evaluate situation for:
• Safety.
• Economic concerns.
• Environmental concerns.
• Political concerns.
• Progress of work assignments.
• Problems completing tasks.
• Develop and communicate contingencies within your scope of authority.
• Ensure that tasks are understood.
• Issue clear instructions.
• Observe and assess actions in progress without micro-managing. (Do not become excessively involved with tactics. Focus on whether or not the strategies are accomplishing the objective.)
• Use positive feedback to modify duties, tasks, and assignments when appropriate.
• Develop your subordinates for the future.
• Clearly state expectations.
• Delegate those tasks that you are not required to do personally.
• Consider individual skill levels and developmental needs when assigning tasks.

Ask the participants:

What can you do to demonstrate your commitment to duty to those you lead?

Facilitate a discussion among the participants. If not mentioned by the participants, add the following key points:

• Give 100% effort to the incident activities.
• Be ethical in your actions.
• Be an effective team player.
• Act with integrity.

• Integrity is how you value yourself. You must be in charge of yourself, before you can be in charge of others. Leaders with integrity separate what is right from what is wrong and act according to what they know is right, even at personal cost.
• Integrity means knowing yourself and seeking improvement.
• Know the strengths/weaknesses in your character and skill level.
• Ask questions of peers and superiors.
• Actively listen to feedback from subordinates.
• Integrity means seeking responsibility and accepting responsibility for your actions.
• Accept full responsibility for and correct poor team performance.
• Credit subordinates for good performance.
• Keep your superiors informed of your actions.

Ask the participants:

What acts of integrity have you witnessed at an incident response?

Acknowledge the participants’ responses. Add a personal story if appropriate. It is important that this discussion inspires/motivates the class to commit to acting with integrity.

One common responsibility of all members of the ICS organization is communication. Note the following key points:

• The most effective form of communication is face-to-face. Obviously, this is not always possible.
• Regardless of the means of communication required by the incident, all responders have five communication responsibilities to perform:
• Brief others as needed.
• Debrief their actions.
• Communicate hazards to others.
• Acknowledge messages.
• Ask if they don’t know.

All leaders have the responsibility to provide complete briefings that include clearly stated incident objectives. The following elements should be included in all briefings:

• Task. What is to be done
• Purpose. Why it is to be done
• End State. How it should look when done

• Management is an important leadership responsibility.
• Assessments should be conducted after a major activity in order to allow employees and leaders to discover what happened and why.
• Common assessment methods include:
• Corrective action report/after-action review.
• Post-incident analysis.
• Debriefing.
• Post-incident critique.
• Mitigation plans.

According to NIMS, “Corrective action plans are designed to implement procedures that are based on lessons learned from actual incidents or from training and exercises. Mitigation plans describe activities that can be taken prior to, during, or after an incident to reduce or eliminate risks to persons or property or to lessen the actual or potential effects or consequences of an incident.”

Ask the participants:

What questions would you use to assess the effectiveness of incident management?

Facilitate a discussion among the participants. If not mentioned by the participants, add the following potential questions:

• Were operations conducted in a safe manner?
• Were the incident objectives achieved?
• Were the resources used in a cost-effective manner?
• What are the lessons learned for the future?

ICS establishes common terminology that allows diverse incident management and support entities to work together. Major functions and functional units with incident management responsibilities are named and defined. Terminology for the organizational elements involved is standard and consistent.

• Organizational Functions. Major functions and functional units with domestic incident management responsibilities are named and defined. Terminology for the organizational elements involved is standard and consistent.
• Incident Facilities. Common terminology is used to designate the facilities in the vicinity of the incident area that will be used in the course of incident management activities.
• Resource Descriptions. Major resources—including personnel, facilities, and major equipment and supply items—used to support incident management activities are given common names and are “typed” with respect to their capabilities, to help avoid confusion and to enhance interoperability.
• Position Titles. At each level within the ICS organization, individuals with primary responsibility have distinct titles. Titles provide a common standard for all users, and also make it easier to fill ICS positions with qualified personnel.

The ICS organization:

• Is typically structured to facilitate activities in five major functional areas: command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance and administration.
• Is adaptable to any emergency or incident to which domestic incident management agencies would be expected to respond.
• Has a scalable organizational structure that is based on the size and complexity of the incident.

However, this flexibility does NOT allow for the modification of the standard, common language used to refer to organizational components or positions.

Note: You can refer the students to the enlarged version of this graphic on the next page in their Student Manuals.

ICS Organization

The ICS organizational chart shown above includes the following Command Staff: Incident Commander, Public Information Officer, Safety Officer, and Liaison Officer. General Staff includes the Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Admin. Sections.

Within the Operations Section there are two Branches. Subordinate to the Branches are Divisions and Groups. Under the Division there is a Strike Team, Task Force, and Single Resource.

Within the Planning Section the following Units are shown: Resources, Situation, Demobilization, and Documentation.

Within the Logistics Section two Branches are shown: the Service Branch with Communications, Medical, and Food Units, and the Support Branch with Supply, Facilities, and Ground Support Units.

Within the Finance/Admin. Section the following Units are shown: Time, Procurement, Compensation/Claims, and Cost.

As a review, ask the following questions:

Who is the point of contact for representatives of other governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and/or private entities? Answer: Liaison Officer

Which Section is responsible for all support requirements needed to facilitate effective and efficient incident management, including ordering resources from off-incident locations? Answer: Logistics Section

Who handles media and public inquiries, emergency public information and warnings, rumor monitoring and response, and media monitoring, and coordinates the dissemination of information in an accurate and timely manner? Answer: Public Information Officer

Which Section collects, evaluates, and disseminates incident situation information and intelligence? Answer: Planning Section. This Section also prepares status reports, displays situation information, maintains status of resources assigned to the incident, and develops and documents the Incident Action Plan (IAP).

Which Section would perform cost analysis and contracting services? Answer: Finance/Administration Section. Not all incidents will require a separate Finance/Administration Section. In cases that require only one specific function (e.g., cost analysis), this service may be provided by a technical specialist in the Planning Section.

Who is responsible for monitoring incident operations and advising the Incident Commander on all matters relating to operational safety, including the health and safety of emergency responder personnel? Answer: Safety Officer

Within which Section would you find a Strike Team? Answer: Operations Section. A Strike Team is a tactical resource within the Operations Section. The Operations Section Chief is responsible to the Incident Commander for the direct management of all incident-related operational activities. The Operations Section Chief will establish tactical objectives for each operational period, with other Section Chiefs and Unit Leaders establishing their own supporting objectives.

When would a Division be used? Answer: To assign responsibility for operations within a defined geographic area. A Division is an organization level that has responsibility for operations within a defined geographic area. The Division level is organizationally between the Strike Team and the Branch.

The initial response to most domestic incidents is typically handled by local “911” dispatch centers, emergency responders within a single jurisdiction, and direct supporters of emergency responders.

Most responses need go no further. Most incidents are small responses that include:

• Command. Incident Commander and other Command Staff.
• Single Resources. An individual piece of equipment and its personnel complement, or an established crew or team of individuals with an identified work supervisor that can be used on an incident.

At each level within the ICS organization, individuals with primary responsibility positions have distinct titles. Using specific ICS position titles serves these important purposes:

• Provides a common standard.
• Ensures qualified individuals fill positions.
• Ensures that requested personnel are qualified.
• Standardizes communication.
• Describes the responsibilities of the position.

Are you now able to:

• Describe chain of command and formal communication relationships?
• Identify common leadership responsibilities?
• Describe span of control and modular development?
• Describe the use of position titles?

Next, ask the participants if they have any questions about the content presented in this unit. After answering any questions, explain that the next unit presents information about delegation of authority and management by objectives.