SUPERVISOR

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Chapter 1SUPERVISING IN UNCERTAIN
TIMESLeonard Supervision 11e
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AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO

1. Explain the demands and rewards of being a
   supervisor.
2. Describe the contributions of four schools of
   management thought.
3. Identify and discuss the major demographic and
   societal trends that will affect supervisors.
4. Explain why supervisors must continually grow and
   develop as professionals.

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What Does It Mean to Be a Supervisor In Uncertain
Times?

• Successful Supervisors
• Develop the ability to balance the requirements
  for high work performance with the diverse needs
  of the workforce.
• The Challenges and Rewards of Supervision
• Getting diverse people to work together
• Increased responsibility that comes with climbing
  the management hierarchy
• The unpredictable nature of the job
• The sense of accomplishment from doing a job well
• Managing organizational pressures and conflict

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Supervisory Management

• Supervisors
• First-level managers in charge of entry-level and
  other departmental employees.
• Working Supervisors
• First-level individuals who perform supervisory
  functions but who may not legally or officially
  be part of management.
• Foreman/forewoman, group/team leader, lead
  person, coach, and facilitator

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Schools of Management Thought

• Scientific Management Approach (Taylor)
• Focuses on determining the most efficient ways to
  increase output and productivity.
• Analyze the tasks using the principles of science
  to find the one best way to perform the work.
• Recruit the employee best suited to perform the
  job.
• Instruct the worker in the one best way to
  perform the job.
• Reward the accomplishment of the worker.
• Cooperate with workers to ensure that the job
  matches plans and principles.
• Ensure an equal division of work and
  responsibility between managers and workers.

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Schools of Management Thought (contd)

• Functional Approach
• Asserts that all managers perform similar
  functions in doing their jobsthe universality of
  management.
• A managers authority should equal that managers
  responsibility and that the direction and flow of
  authority through an organization should be
  unified.
• Five functions of management (Fayol)
• Planning Setting down a course of action.
• Organizing Designing a structure, with tasks and
  authority clearly defined.
• Commanding Directing subordinates actions.
• Coordinating Pulling organizational elements
  toward common objectives.
• Controlling Ensuring that plans are carried out.

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Schools of Management Thought (contd)

• Human Relations/Behavioral School
• Focuses on the behavior of people in the work
  environment in the belief that
• if managers used the principles of scientific
  management, worker efficiency would increase and
  productivity increases would follow
• if managers strove to improve working conditions,
  productivity would increase.
• Hawthorne Studies
• Hawthorne Effect
• The fact that special interest shown in people
  may cause those people to behave differently.

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Schools of Management Thought (contd)

• Quantitative/Systems Approaches
• Use mathematical modeling as a foundation in
  attempting to quantitatively describe the
  interrelationships of variables through data,
  data can be manipulated and outcomes predicted.
• Develop mathematical models as series or
  collections of interrelated variables or parts
  that can be analyzed and used in decision making.
• Are frequently found in large organizations where
  sales, costs, and production data are analyzed
  using computer technology.

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Factors And Trends Affecting The Role Of The
Supervisor

• Diversity
• The cultural, ethnic, gender, age, educational
  level, racial, and lifestyle differences of
  employees.
• Population and Workforce Growth
• Continued growth in both.
• Better educated but many employees lack basic
  skills
• Changing Age Patterns
• The workforce will continue to grow older.
• Generation Xers (19641981)
• Boomers (19461963)
• Matures (before 1945)

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FIGURE 1.5 Effective supervisors must be
adaptable and be able to maintain their
perspective in the face of rapidly changing
conditions.
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FIGURE 1.6 Trends affecting the workplace and the
HR profession.

1. Continuing high cost of health care in the United
   States.
2. Large numbers of baby boomers retiring at around
   the same time.
3. Threat of increased health care/medical costs on
   economic competitiveness of the United States.
4. Aging population.
5. Growing need to develop retention strategies for
   current and future workforce.
6. Federal health care legislation.
7. Preparing organizations for an older workforce
   and the next wave of retirement.
8. Threat of recession in the United States
   globally.
9. Labor shortage at all skill levels.
10. Demographic shifts leading to a shortage of
    high-skilled workers.

Source Trends that HR professionals believe
will have the biggest impact on the workplace and
the HR profession. SHRM 2008-2009 Workplace
Forecast A Strategic Outlook. This report is
available to SHRM members free of charge. Others
can log on to http//www.shrm.org/shrmstore to
order a copy of the complete report.
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FIGURE 1.7 Workforce projections 20062016

• Employment Total employment is expected to
  increase by 10 percent down substantially from
  earlier periods.
• The service-producing sector will generate almost
  all of the employment gain during this time
  period.
• Professional, business services, health care, and
  social assistance are also expected to grow
  substantially.
• Those employed in management, scientific, and
  technical consulting services employment
  services and general medical and surgical
  hospitals have projected growth.
• There will be a substantial decline in the
  manufacturing sector, including printing and
  motor vehicle parts manufacturing.
• The number of workers over 55 is projected to
  grow more than five times the projected overall
  labor force growth rate.
• Blacks will constitute 12.3 percent of the labor
  force.
• Asians are expected to be the fastest growing
  group.
• The labor force participation rates for women in
  nearly all age groups are projected to increase.

Source FirstGov, at http//www.firstgov.gov,
provides a one-stop access point for all U.S.
government resources. Central to this site is a
search engine into which you can enter keywords
or phrases to help find the specific employment
information you want. Much of the material
contained in this figure was adapted from BLS
Releases 20062016 Employment Projections,
December 3, 2007. http//www.bls.gov/news.release/
ecopro.nr0.htm.
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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Women in the Workforce and Related Issues
• The increase in both the number and percentage of
  women in the U.S. workforce.
• Womens roles as both employees and mothers.
• Conflicts between job and family obligations.
• Sexual harassment in the work environment.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• When and How Work Will Be Done
• Flextime
• Policy that allows employees to choose their work
  hours within stated limits.
• Job sharing
• Policy that allows two or more employees to
  perform a job normally done by one full-time
  employee.
• Telecommuting
• Receiving work from and sending work to the
  office from home via a computer and modem.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Racial Minorities in the Workforce
• More non-English speaking employees
• Opportunities for Women and Minorities
• Glass ceiling
• Invisible barrier that limits the advancement of
  women and minorities.
• Glass walls
• Invisible barriers that compartmentalize women
  and minorities into certain occupational classes.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Educational Preparation
• Too many college-trained employees
• Underemployment Situations in which people are
  in jobs that do not use their SKAs.
• SKAs A persons skills, knowledge, and
  abilities.
• Too many undereducated employees
• Competitive advantage
• The ability to outperform competitors by
  increasing efficiency, quality, creativity, and
  responsiveness to customers and effectively using
  employee talents.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Occupational and Industry Trends
• Steady growth in business-related services
• Computer services, retail trade, healthcare,
  transportation, and banking and financial
  services.
• Continued downsizing and growth in outsourcing
• Declines in large-scale industrial manufacturing
  businesses with growth in small and midsize firms

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Changing Technology and Business Conditions
• Increased demand for and use of computer skills
  as part of day-to-day responsibilities.
• Ever-increasing amounts of information to be
  properly managed.
• Uncertainty about when and how technological
  change will impact a supervisors position.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Global Challenges
• Recognizing that management practices differ
  culturally and structurally in foreign firms
  compared to U.S.-owned and -operated firms.
• Transplanted U.S. supervisors will need to learn
  about cultural differences and to find ways to
  adapt to nontraditional management styles.
• Outsourcing of high-end manufacturing and
  information technology jobs to low-cost countries
  is expected to continue.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Employment Conditions and Work Scheduling
• Working with a contingent workforce
• Part-time, temporary, or contract employees who
  work schedules dependent primarily on employer
  needs
• Motivating temporary employees
• Lack of commitment among transient employees
• Work scheduling problems
• Employee demands for greater flexibility to
  attend to family needs are likely to accelerate
  during the foreseeable future
• Executive compensation

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Employment Conditions and Work Scheduling
• Executive compensation Two-tier workforce
• Paying new employees at a lower rate than more
  senior employees. Also used to refer to
  disparities associated with high executive
  compensation.
• Corporate Culture and Ethical Conduct
• Corporate culture Set of shared purposes,
  values, and beliefs that employees hold about
  their organization.
• Ethical behavior and fair dealing are at the
  forefront of good management practices, beginning
  at the supervisory level.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Governmental and Societal Issues
• Long-term environmental concerns
• Energy availability and costs
• The costs of compliance with laws and regulations
• Pressures exerted by special-interest groups

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FIGURE 1.10 Overview of federal employment
legislation affecting supervisors.

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (1992)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990)
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN)
  (1988)
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) (1970)
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended
  (1964)
• Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley)
  (1947)
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (1938)
• National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) (1935)

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Workplace Incivility and People that Make Life
  Difficult
• Rude behavior in the workplace is increasing,
  threatening the effectiveness of organizations
  through its effect on individuals and the
  lowering of group morale.
• Understanding how to deal with incivility and
  difficult people is a critical managerial skill.

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Factors And Trends AffectingThe Role Of The
Supervisor (contd)

• Empowerment and Employee Participation in
  Decision Making
• Empowerment
• Giving employees the authority and responsibility
  to accomplish their individual and the
  organizations objectives.
• Participative management
• Allowing employees to influence and share in
  organizational decision making.

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Supervision A Professional Perspective

• Supervisors manage their firms most important
  resourceshuman resources.
• Supervisors who want to be more effective
• Can develop the habits of highly effective people
  
• Recognize the need for continuous
  self-development and renewing the four dimensions
  of their naturespiritual, mental, social /
  emotional, and physical

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KEY TERMS

• Competitive advantage
• Contingent workforce
• Corporate culture
• CSR
• Diversity
• Engaged Employee
• Empowerment
• Flextime
• Functional approach
• Glass ceiling
• Glass walls
• Going Green
• Hawthorne effect

• SKAs
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
• Supervisors
• Telecommuting
• Underemployment
• Working supervisors
• Human relations movement/ behavioral science
  approach
• Job sharing
• Participative management
• Quantitative/systems approaches
• Scientific management approach