Supervision: Concepts and Skill Building 10th Edition by Samuel Certo Solution manual
Learning Objective 1.2: Summarize research findings that have led to basic ideas of what managers should do.
1. Teaching Notes:
Management research findings are important since supervision is management at the lowest level of the organization.
Frederick W. Taylor, often referred to as 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.
Henri Fayol, a French industrialist, is often regarded as the pioneer of administrative theory, asserted that all managers have primary management functions to perform in organizations. These functions include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
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. Consistent with this approach is the idea that supervisors must recognize that above all, their employees should be treated in a humane fashion. Abraham Maslow, a pioneering psychologist, recognized that people have different sets of needs that are met in a hierarchical pattern. The most basic needs of any human being are physiological needs. Once those needs are met, then safety needs must be considered. Next on the hierarchy are needs related to love and belonging. The fourth level of the hierarchy includes esteem needs. The final part of the hierarchy includes self-actualization. Based upon Maslow’s findings, supervisors must help workers to satisfy their personal needs while being productive in organizations.
2. Teaching example for a historical perspective of supervision:
This is an opportunity to revise certain theories and views that were studied or mentioned earlier. Students should be required to recall theories like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Frederick Taylor’s scientific management principles, and Henri Fayol’s findings.
Discussions on the finer differences between top management and supervisory roles could be held based on the theories discussed. Students are encouraged to cite examples from experience or observations.
3. Exercise for understanding the historical perspective:
Divide class into 6 groups. Assign one supervisory dimension to two groups each: focus on efficiency (2 groups), focus on functions (2 groups), and focus on people (2 groups). Let the teams prepare charts on the relevant theories and provide visual representations of these dimensions at work. Examples and other illustrations should also be included. Let the teams present their exhibits and examples to the rest of the class. Discussions on the points should be moderated by the facilitator after the presentations.
Learning Objective 1.3: Describe the basic types of supervisory skills.
1. Key Terms:
Technical Skills: Technical skills are specialized knowledge and expertise used to carry out particular techniques or procedures
For example, a mechanic’s ability to bring an automobile engine back to life relies on technical skills. To be “technical,” skills do not have to be mechanical or scientific; they can involve any work-related technique or procedure.
Human Relations Skills: Human relations skills are the skills required to work effectively with other people
These skills include the ability to communicate with, motivate, and understand people. Supervisors use their human relations skills to impress their superiors, inspire employees, defuse conflicts, get along with co-workers, and succeed in many other ways.
Conceptual Skills: Conceptual skills involve the ability to see the relationship of the parts to the whole and to one another
For a supervisor, conceptual skills include recognizing how the department’s work helps the entire organization achieve its goals and how the work of various employees affects the performance of the department as a whole.