Supervision: Concepts and Skill Building 10th Edition by Samuel Certo Solution manual
4. Exercise for describing the basic types of supervisory skills:
- There are statements in the “Review and Discussion Questions” section of the text that ask students to identify the type of skills illustrated.
- Based on the skills outlined in the table above, students may be requested to provide instances from real-life that relate to the relevant skills.
Learning Objective 1.4: Describe how the growing diversity of the workforce affects the supervisor’s role.
1. Teaching Notes:
In 1980, just over half (51 percent) of the workforce consisted of white men; this group’s share of the workforce is expected to fall to 42.8 percent by 2020. While the share of white men in the workforce declines the share of black, Hispanic, and Asian workers is expected to rise. Women are entering the workforce at almost the same rate as men, and they now make up more than 47 percent of the adult labor pool. In addition, the segment aged 55 years and over is expected to represent more than 25.2 percent of the U.S. population by 2020.
Although diversity is not a new issue, the 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.
Subtle forms of discrimination persist in every workplace, and everybody holds some stereotypes that consciously or unconsciously influence their behavior.
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, including demonstrating respect for others.
- Question negative stereotypes.
Even in an organization whose management is not committed to these goals, supervisors can provide advice and coaching to female and nonwhite employees, helping them get along in the organization. Supervisors also can make a point of learning about the individual employees in the department, such as what motivates them and what their career goals are.
2. Teaching example for illustrating how growing diversity of the workforce affects the supervisor’s role:
Stereotypes of identifiable groups may lead to biased and unfavorable behavior by the supervisor as well as other employees. Explain the following consequences of unfavorable behavior by a supervisor that is perceived as unfair or biased:
- Perception of unfair or biased behavior can lead to morale problems.
- Individuals who feel they are undervalued may see no reason to contribute fully to the organization.
- Perceptions that bias is based on membership of an identifiable group may lead all members to withhold knowledge and work since they will not be able to escape the labels attached to the group.
- Members of other groups may avoid working with a devalued group, thus denying the organization of the best efforts to accomplish its goals.
Supervisors must be fair to all who work in their department. They must also see to it that other workers do not contribute to unfair treatment of women and ethnic and racial minority group members.
3. Exercise for diversity in the workforce and how it affects the supervisor’s role:
A common problem of people who have had little experience dealing with diversity is that they may not be aware of their own bias and how it affects their behavior. One of the ways to help them recognize the effects of stereotypes on their own behavior is to have them carefully examine their thoughts relative to specific groups of people.
The purpose of the following exercise is to show how life experiences have shaped perceptions of characteristics of people and how perceptions shape behavior toward people who have these characteristics. Use this exercise to stimulate small group discussions of four to six students.
- Make each student a copy of Form 1.1 on page 1-11 of the Instructor’s Manual, which contains a list of descriptions of human characteristics.
- Have each student spend three to five minutes looking over the list and jotting down notes about personal and behavioral traits of people who are in the category; for example, red heads may be perceived as having a quick temper.