Supervision: Concepts and Skill Building 10th Edition by Samuel Certo Solution manual
In order to continually develop his or her skills, the supervisor can undergo training programs and have feedback sessions with his or her superiors. The supervisor must continue his or her learning process.
- Identify whether each of the following skills relates most to task-related, people-related, or change-related activities.
- The ability to communicate well with one’s manager: People-related
- The ability to evaluate whether sales clerks are delivering polite and timely service: People and task related
- The ability to plan a safety training program for the housekeeping staff: Task-related
- The ability to involve employees in making good scheduling decisions to accommodate their vacation preferences: People-related
- The ability to see how new technology can help the department meet its goals: Change-related
- The ability to teach an employee how to machine a part without unnecessary changes in the setup of equipment: Task-related
- Population trends suggest that the workforce will become increasingly diverse. What are some advantages of greater diversity? What challenges does it pose to the supervisor?
Diversity in culture and experience brings diversity in ideas for improvements and ways to solve problems. The growing diversity enables supervisors to draw on a greater variety of talent and gain insights into more perspectives than ever before.
Supervisors may be uncomfortable dealing with individuals perceived as different. Stereotypes may negatively affect the perception of employee skills and ability. Supervisors may have to learn more about specific group behavior and attitudes. Also, they may have to deal with more discrimination in the work place. That is, other employees may also treat people who are perceived as different in negative ways. Supervisors must be aware of their own perceptions and behaviors as well as eliminate unfavorable behavior of others in the department.
- What are the basic functions of the supervisor? On which functions do supervisors spend most of their time?
The basic functions of the supervisors are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Supervisors spend most of their time leading and controlling because they work directly with the employees who are producing or selling a product or providing support services. Planning, staffing, and organizing take up less of a supervisor’s time.
- What responsibilities do supervisors have to each of these groups?
- Higher management: Supervisors are responsible for carrying out the duties assigned to them by higher-level managers. This includes giving managers timely and accurate information for planning. They should look for ways their group can contribute to achieving the organization’s larger goals. They also must keep their managers informed about the department’s performance. Supervisors are expected to serve as a kind of bridge, between employees and management. Thus, their responsibilities include building morale and carrying employee concerns to the relevant managers.
- The employees they supervise: Supervisors are responsible for giving their employees clear instructions and making sure they understand their jobs. They must look for problems and correct them before employees’ performance deteriorates further. They also need to treat their employees fairly and speak up for their best interest to upper management.
- Co-workers in other departments: Supervisors should respond promptly when a co-worker in another department requests information. They should share ideas that will help the organization’s departments work together to accomplish common goals. And supervisors should listen with an open mind when co-workers in other departments make suggestions about improving the way things are done.
- Emma has just been promoted to an office manager position in a small real estate office. Some of the people she will supervise are her former peers; she is aware that one of them also applied for the office manager’s job. How can Emma prepare for her new position? What might be the best way to approach the co-worker who did not get the manager’s job?