1. Modern Supervision: Concepts and Skills
Chapter 1
Modern Supervision: Concepts and Skills
Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody’s always watching.
—Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO, Verizon
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives Define what a supervisor is.
Summarize research findings that have led to basic ideas of what managers should do
Describe the basic types of supervisory skills.
Describe how the growing diversity of the workforce affects the supervisor's role.
Identify the general functions of a supervisor.
Explain how supervisors are responsible to higher management, employees, and co-workers.
Describe the typical background of someone who is promoted to supervisor.
Identify characteristics of a successful supervisor.
See text page: 2

3. Supervision Supervisor
a manager at the first level of management, which means the employees reporting to the supervisor are not managers
The Taft-Hartley Act embellishes this definition by indicating that a supervisor is “any individual having
authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off,
recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or
responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend
such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority
is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent
judgment.”1

4. FIGURE 1.1
A Sampling of
Supervisory
Positions to
Be Filled
1-4

5. Supervisors Should Focus on Efficiency
Frederic Taylor, the father of scientific management, believed that in order to improve efficiency, it is important to consider the best way in which a job could be completed.
By applying scientific knowledge to the study of production, it was feasible to maximize efficiency.

6. Supervisors Should Focus on Functions to Be Performed
All managers have primary management functions to perform in organizations
Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling

7. Supervisors Should Focus on People
Because they deal directly with employees and have knowledge about an organization’s customers, supervisors emphasize a people orientation.
This focus recognizes that the quality of an organization is often affected by the quality of interactions among its members.

8. Types of Supervisory 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.
See Learning Objective 2: Describe the basic types of supervisory skills.
See text pages: 4-5

9. Relative Importance of Types of Skills for Different Levels of Managers
See Learning Objective 2: Describe the basic types of supervisory skills.
See text page: 5
1-9

10. Modern View of Management Skills
Task-related activities: Efforts to carry out critical management-related duties
People-related activities: Efforts to manage people
3. Change-related activities: Efforts to modify components of the organization
1. Task-related activities: Efforts to carry out critical management-related duties, such
as planning, setting objectives for employees, and monitoring performance.
2. People-related activities: Efforts to manage people, such as by providing support
and encouragement, recognizing contributions, developing employees’ skills,
and empowering employees to solve problems.
3. Change-related activities: Efforts to modify components of the organization, such
as monitoring the environment to detect a need for change, proposing new tactics
and strategies, encouraging others to think creatively, and taking risks to
promote needed changes.

11. Supervising a Diverse Workforce
While the share of white men in the workforce declines, the share of black, Hispanic, and Asian workers is expected to rise.
Women now make up more than 46 percent of the adult labor pool
The segment aged 65 years and over is expected to represent more than 16 percent of the U.S. population by 2020.

12. Opportunities and Challenges
Even greater diversity expected in the U.S. workforce of the future—coupled with laws and policies intended to ensure fair treatment of various groups—requires supervisors to work successfully with a much wider variety of people.

13. Subtle Discrimination
Supervisors and other managers can use several tactics to improve attitudes:
Have employees work with someone who is different
Use the kind of behavior they expect employees to exhibit
Question negative stereotypes

14. Functions of Supervisors

15. Planning
The purpose of planning by supervisors is to determine how the department can contribute to achieving the organization’s goals.
This includes planning how much money to spend, what level of output to achieve, and how many employees will be needed

16. Organizing
At the supervisory level, organizing involves activities such as scheduling projects and assigning duties to employees
Modern supervisors are increasingly responsible for setting up and leading teams of workers to handle special projects or day-today operations.

17. Staffing
Staffing
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

18. Leading
Leading
Influencing people to act (or not act) in a certain way
The supervisor is responsible for letting employees know what is expected of them and inspiring and motivating employees to do good work.

19. Controlling Controlling
Monitoring performance and making needed corrections
The supervisor is expected to provide employees with the resources and motivation to identify and correct problems themselves.

20. Relationships Among the Functions
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.
See Learning Objective 4: Identify the general functions of a supervisor.
See text pages: 10-11

21. Responsibilities of Supervisors
• Recognize the talents of each subordinate. • Share your vision of where the organization wants to go. • Treat employees with dignity and respect. • Conduct necessary meetings efficiently and ensure they accomplish their intended tasks. • Keep your staff informed and up to date. • Be accessible to those under your supervision. • Conduct periodic evaluations of your group’s progress. • Provide an opportunity for employees to evaluate you. • Praise your staff for their accomplishments. • Keep in touch with your industry. • Be able to perform the duties of those you supervise.
Recognize the talents of each subordinate.
• Share your vision of where the organization wants to go.
• Treat employees with dignity and respect.
• Conduct necessary meetings efficiently and ensure they accomplish their intended
tasks.
• Keep your staff informed and up to date.
• Be accessible to those under your supervision.
• Conduct periodic evaluations of your group’s progress.
• Provide an opportunity for employees to evaluate you.
• Praise your staff for their accomplishments.
• Keep in touch with your industry.
• Be able to perform the duties of those you supervise.
• Keep a sense of humor.
• Be fair.
• Follow proper hiring practices.
• Know the law as it applies to your company and your job.
• Adhere to workplace safety rules and regulations.
• Keep accurate employee records.
• Avoid sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender, age, race, pregnancy,
sexual orientation, or national origin.
• Know how to fire an employee without violating his or her rights.

22. Types of Responsibilities
Giving managers timely and accurate information for planning
Keeping managers informed about the department’s performance
Giving their employees clear instructions and making sure they understand their jobs
Cooperating with co-workers in other departments
See Learning Objective 5: Explain how supervisors are responsible to higher management, employees, and co-workers.
See text pages: 11-12

23. Responsibilities and Accountability
the practice of imposing penalties for failing to carry out responsibilities adequately
usually includes giving rewards for meeting responsibilities.

24. 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.
See Learning Objective 6: Describe the typical background of someone who is promoted to supervisor.
See text pages: 13-14

25. 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.
See Learning Objective 6: Describe the typical background of someone who is promoted to supervisor.
See text pages: 14-15

26. 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.
See Learning Objective 6: Describe the typical background of someone who is promoted to supervisor.
See text page: 15

27. Becoming a Supervisor Set limits on your behavior
Don’t be a “rescuer.”
Figure out how to measure success
Communicate with everyone
Be firm.
Learn from others
Often, a new supervisor takes on his or her position
as the result of a promotion. That means the
supervisor’s relationships with others in the department
will change. How do you maintain positive
working relationships with people when you are
now responsible for ensuring they get their work
done correctly and efficiently? Here are some
suggestions for making the transition smoothly:
• Set limits on your behavior. Some kinds of
behavior that co-workers commonly engage
in—gossiping, grumbling about work, choosing
friends—will interfere with your role as
supervisor. Employees are counting on you to be
fair and objective. If some employees expect
favors based on friendship, they are not true
friends.
• Don’t be a “rescuer.” Instead of jumping in to get
the work done whenever a problem arises, teach
the employees in your group to do the tasks you
once handled. Training can be harder than doing
the job yourself, but it builds a stronger work
group.
• Figure out how to measure success. How can you
tell if each person is succeeding in terms of quality,
cost, and timeliness? As a supervisor, you need to
see when employees are on track toward meeting
their goals and when you need to step in.
• Communicate with everyone. Make a point of
talking to each member of your work group so
that you can understand each person’s goals and
everyone knows what your expectations are. Show
employees how each person’s efforts benefit the
whole group.
• Be firm. Sometimes employees “test” a new
supervisor to see if rules and standards will be
enforced. If that happens, you will need to make
it clear that you are serious about the whole
group’s success.
• Learn from others. Get to know other supervisors
and managers who will share the wisdom gained
from their experience.
Sources: Based on Brandi Britton, “Making the Move
from Peer to Supervisor,” Los Angeles Business Journal,
October 10, 2005; Ed Lisoski, “From Peer to Supervisor,”
Supervision, May 2005, both downloaded from Business &
Company Resource Center,

28. Characteristics of a Successful Supervisor
See Learning Objective 7: Identify characteristics of a successful supervisor.
See text page: 16