Modern Supervision: New-Era Challenge 1 Modern Supervision: New-Era Challenge Working in the knowledge economy requires the ability to recognize patterns, to share ideas with people inside and outside your organization, to maintain relationships with people who have common interests, and to pull value out of those relationships. —Chris Meyer, Director of Ernst & Young’s Center for Business Innovation

Types of Supervisory Skills Technical Human relations Conceptual Decision making A supervisor is a manager at the first level of management. 1-3 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Categorizing the Skills Technical skills – the specialized knowledge and expertise used to carry out particular techniques or procedures. Human relation skills – the ability to work effectively with other people. Conceptual skills – the ability to see the relation of the parts to the whole and to one another. Decision-making skills – the ability to analyze information and reach good decisions. Knowledge skills – the ability to utilize various communication technology to manage and distribute continuous streams of data. 1-4 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Relative Importance of Types of Skills for Different Levels of Managers 1-5 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Supervising a Diverse Workforce Opportunities and challenges Current trends enable supervisors to draw on a greater variety of talent and gain insights into a greater variety of perspectives than ever before. The even greater diversity expected in the U.S. workforce of the future requires supervisors to work successfully with a much wider variety of people. Subtle discrimination Subtle forms of discrimination persist in every workplace, and everybody holds some stereotypes that consciously or unconsciously influence their behavior. 1-6 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

General Functions of the Supervisor 1-7 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Planning It is the supervisor’s job to determine the department goals and the ways to meet them. Organizational goals are the result of planning by top managers. The purpose of planning by supervisors is to determine how the department can contribute to achieving the organization’s goals. 1-8 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Organizing Planning is the what. Organizing is the how. How to set up the group How to allocate resources How to assign work to achieve the goals efficiently At the supervisory level, organizing usually involves activities such as scheduling projects and assigning duties to employees. 1-9 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Staffing Staffing is the activities involved in identifying, hiring, and developing the necessary number and quality of employees. A supervisor’s performance depends on the quality of results that the supervisor achieves through his or her employees. 1-10 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Leading The supervisor is responsible for letting employees know what is expected of them and for inspiring and motivating employees to do good work. Influencing employees to act (or not act) in a certain way is the function of leading. 1-11 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Controlling Monitoring performance and making needed corrections is the management function of controlling. In many organizations, the supervisor is still responsible for controlling, but he or she works with others to carry out this function. 1-12 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Relationships Among the Functions Usually planning comes first, followed by organizing, then staffing, then leading, and, finally, controlling. This order occurs because each function depends on the preceding function or functions. Typically, supervisors spend most of their time leading and controlling. 1-13 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Supervisor Responsibilities Carry out the duties assigned to them by higher-level managers Give managers timely and accurate information for planning Keep managers informed about the department’s performance Cooperate with co-workers in other departments 1-14 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Responsibilities in a Changing Organization Today’s supervisors have to be skilled at online as well as face-to-face communication, and they have to be prepared to change as fast as their employers do. The changes occurring in the modern workplace require supervisors to rely less on their technical expertise and more on their ability to understand, inspire, and build cooperation among people. Information technology has made it easier for employees to do work in many locations, so supervisors need to motivate and control employees they may not see face to face every day. 1-15 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Responsibilities and Accountability Whatever the responsibilities of a particular supervisor, the organization holds the supervisor accountable for carrying them out. Accountability refers to the practice of imposing penalties for failing to adequately carry out responsibilities, and it usually includes giving rewards for meeting responsibilities. 1-16 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Becoming a Supervisor Typical candidates to be made supervisors: An employee with a superior grasp of the technical skills needed to perform well in the department. A person with the most seniority. An employee with good work habits and leadership skills. Recent college graduates. 1-17 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Preparing for the Job Learn about management through books and observation. Learn as much as possible about the organization, the department, and the job. Once on the job, continue the learning process. Acknowledge another person’s feelings if they were also a candidate for the position. 1-18 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Obtaining and Using Power and Authority Have the new supervisor’s boss make an official announcement of the promotion. State your expectations, desire to work as a team, and interest in hearing about work-related problems. Don’t rush to make changes in the department. 1-19 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of a Successful Supervisor 1-20 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Book Part One is devoted to a broad view of the supervisor’s role. Part Two describes the challenges modern supervisors face in meeting their responsibilities. Part Three takes a deeper look at the supervisory functions introduced earlier in this chapter. Part Four describes skills needed by supervisors in all kinds of organizations. Part Five addresses activities related to managing the organization’s human resources: its employees. 1-21 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Summary A supervisor is a manager at the first level of management. The basic supervisory skills are technical, human relations, conceptual, and decision-making skills. Compared with the current makeup of the U.S. workforce, an increasingly large share of employees will be female, nonwhite, and older. The general functions of a supervisor are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Supervisors are responsible for doing the work assigned to them by higher management and for keeping management informed of the department’s progress. Most supervisors begin as employees in the department they now supervise. A successful supervisor is usually someone who has a positive attitude, is loyal, is fair, communicates well, can delegate, and wants the job. 1-22 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.