The Supervisor as Leader

1
The Supervisor as Leader
2
Leading

• The management function of influencing people to
  act or not act in a certain way.
• Leadership traits that are often suggested as
  useful include
• a sense of responsibility,
• self-confidence,
• high energy level,
• empathy,
• internal locus of control, and
• a sense of humor.

3
Internal Locus of Control

• The belief that one is the primary cause of what
  happens to oneself.

4
Leadership Styles

• Leadership styles are define by
• The amount authority retained by the supervisor
• A task-oriented or people-oriented approach, or
  both
• Leader attitudes based on assumptions they have
  about employees.

5

• Supervisors can be
• authoritarian,
• democratic, or
• laissez-faire.
• They often use more than one style of leading
  depending on employee and situational factors.

6

• Situational factors include leader-member
  relations, task structure, and the position power
  of the leader.

7

• An important part of the leadership role is
  giving orders or directions to employees.
• A supervisor should make sure that employees
  understand directions and the reason for them.

8

• Leadership behavior is affected by how the
  supervisor thinks of himself/herself.
• People who believe they are capable tend to act
  capably.

9

• Successful supervisors need to work effectively
  and maintain good relations with their employees,
  boss, and peers.
• With employees, supervisors should set a good
  example, be ethical, and develop trust.
• Supervisors should give their boss loyalty,
  cooperation, information, and results and be
  aware of and respond to the bosss style.
• With peers, supervisors should keep competition
  fair and as friendly as possible and offer
  support or criticism in a constructive way.

10

• Paul B. Malone III,
• a manager focuses just on getting a task done, a
  leader focuses on getting it done in a way that
  gives employees a feeling of accomplishment and
  willingness to follow the leader again.

11

• Manage--
• 1. To direct or control the use of.
• 2. a. To exert control over. b. To make
  submissive to ones authority, discipline, or
  persuasion.)

12

• In some cases a distinction is emphasized with
  leadership described as a more dynamic activity
  toward meeting the needs and goals of the
  organization..

13

• Organizations seek to hire or promote employees
  who will be successful and an asset to the
  organization.
• Is it possible to predict success or leadership
  ability from personality type, or are there
  traits that are associated with a supervisors
  success?

14
Significant Traits Associated with Leadership

• a. Sense of responsibility.
• Supervisors must be willing to take seriously the
  responsibility that goes with the job.
• b. Self confidence.
• Supervisors who believe in their ability to get
  the job done will convey confidence to employees.

15

• c. High energy level.
• Many organizations expect supervisors to
  willingly put in long hours in order to handle
  the variety of duties that come with the job.
• d. Empathy.
• Supervisors need to be sensitive and higher
  management. Supervisors who have difficulty
  understanding what makes people tick are at a
  disadvantage.

16

• e. Internal locus of control.
• People with an internal locus of control are
  thought to be leaders because they try harder to
  take charge of events.
• f. Sense of humor.
• People with a good sense of humor are more fun to
  work with or for.

17
Characteristics of a Successful Supervisor (Ch. 1)

• The characteristics of a successful supervisor
  include
• positive attitude
• loyal
• fair
• good communicator
• able to delegate
• wants the job

18
Additional Characteristics of a Successful
Supervisor

• Additional criteria for a successful supervisor
  include
• technical skills
• human relations skills
• conceptual skills
• decision making skills

19
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey

• Habit 1
• Be proactive. This refers to the taking of
  responsibility to make things happen.
• Habit 2
• Begin with the end in mind. Start with a clear
  picture of where you are going and what the
  destination will look like.

20
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey

• Habit 3
• Put first things first. The principle is based
  upon two factors--importance and urgency.
• Habit 4
• Think win/win. The principle means that
  agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial.

21
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey

• Habit 5
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
  One key to effective interpersonal communications
  is to listen with the intent to understand.
• Habit 6
• Synergize. The whole is greater than the sum of
  the parts.

22
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey

• Habit 7
• Sharpen the saw. Enhance personal abilities.

23
Leadership Styles

• Authoritarian
• Democratic
• Laissez-faire
• Theory X
• Theory Y

24
Authoritarian Leadership

• A leadership style in which the leader retains a
  great deal of authority.
• This style of leadership is characterized by the
  supervisor giving orders and employees following
  the orders.
• An example would be a military commander who
  expects unquestioned obedience.
• Decisions are made quickly.
• Works best in an emergency or crisis or where
  employees lack maturity.
• Employees may become dependent on decisions from
  supervisors and will not do anything of their
  own.

25
Democractic Leadership

• A leadership style in which the leader allows
  subordinates to participate in decision making
  and problem solving.
• This style of leadership is characterized by the
  supervisor actively seeking input from the
  employees.
• An example would be work groups or teams for
  problem solving
• Employees feel they have a say in the ways things
  are done and may feel more satisfied with their
  jobs.
• Decisions take longer.
• A supervisor who leaves most decisions to the
  group may be viewed by some employees as weak.

26
Laissez-faire Leadership

• A leadership style in which the leader is
  uninvolved and lets subordinates direct
  themselves.
• This style of leadership is characterized by the
  noninvolvment of the supervisor.
• An example would be research and development
  settings.
• Works best in an atmosphere where creativity and
  innovation is required.
• Many employees see this method as no leadership
  at all.

27
Theory X

• A set of attitudes based on the view that people
  dislike work and must be coerced to perform.
• Theory X assumes that people dislike work and try
  to avoid it and must be coerced to perform.
• Employees would prefer to be directed.
• Employees have to be watched and occasionally
  disciplined to keep them performing.
• A Theory X supervisor would most likely be
  autocratic.

28
Theory Y

• A set of attitudes based on the view that work is
  a natural activity and that people will work hard
  and creatively to achieve objectives they are
  committed to.
• Employees can be trusted and discipline is not
  necessary to get them to perform adequately.
• Theory Y supervisors are more likely to adopt the
  democratic style.

29
Theory Z

• A set of attitudes that emphasize employee
  participation in all aspects of decision making.
• Assumes employees work as hard as they can.
• An extension of Theory Y with the addition of
  organizational structure and the response of
  management to the employees.
• Employees are trusted, and their input or ideas
  are actively sought.
• This approach to supervision would be more
  consistently democratic.

30
Authoritarian style of leadership

• Organizations or departments that require
• a regimented method of performance,
• quick response, or
• employees need a lot of direction.
• The military, and military-type organizations
  such as correction facilities, would be an
  example.
• Fire fighting would be another.
• This style would also be appropriate in
  organizations where employees require a lot of
  direction, such as a fast-food restaurant where
  there is high turnover of personnel.

31
Democratic style of leadership

• Organizations and departments that require
• input from employees for problem solving or
• product and process improvement.
• This style works in organizations where there is
  a highly skilled work force, especially if work
  requires teamwork to complete work effectively.
• An example may be companies that supply the auto
  industry with parts and materials.
• These companies are being driven by competitive
  forces to improve quality and reduce prices
  through continuous improvement.

32
Laissez-faire style of leadership

• Organizations or departments that require
• innovative employees and
• where creativity is important.
• Examples include
• research and development departments,
• software companies,
• and design departments.
• Beauty salons might be another type of company
  where this style of leadership works best.

33
Contingency Theory
34

• Supervisors are not likely to use or represent a
  single type.
• Contingency models of leadership attempt to
  describe the situations under which a specific
  type of supervisor will be most successful.
• Contingency models of leadership maintain that
  the best style of leadership depends on the
  circumstances.

35
Contingency Models

• There are two models
• Fiedlers model and
• The Hersey-Blanchard model.

36
Fiedlers Model

• Supervisors will be relationship oriented (people
  oriented) or task oriented depending on
• leader-member relations, or the extent to which
  the leader has group members support and
  loyalty.
• task structure, or whether there is specified
  procedures to follow in carrying out the task.
• position power, or the leaders formal authority
  granted by the organization.

37

• Fiedler recommends that a leader determine
  whether his or her preferred leadership style
  fits the situation, and, if not, the leader
  should try to change the characteristics of the
  situation.

38
The Hersey-Blanchard Life Cycle Theory

• Similar to Fiedlers theory except they believe
  that the leadership style should reflect the
  maturity of the followers as measured by such
  traits as ability to work independently .
• Leaders should adjust the degree of task and
  relationship behavior in response to the growing
  maturity of their followers.

39

• As followers mature, leaders should move through
  a combination of behaviors
• (1) High task and low relationship behavior
• (2) High task and high relationship behavior
• (3) Low task and high relationship behavior
• (4) Low task and low relationship behavior

40

• Situational characteristics include
• The supervisors characteristics
• The level of competency of employees
• the working environment

41
Supervisor Characteristics

• The managers values.
• What is most important to the supervisor?
• Company profits
• Personal growth and development
• Development of employees
• Level of confidence in employees
• The more confidence in the employees, the more
  the supervisor will involve the employees.

42

• Personal leadership strengths
• Effective leaders capitalize on their strengths.
• Tolerance for ambiguity
• When employees are involved, the supervisor
  cannot always be sure of the outcomes.
• Will the supervisor be comfortable will this
  uncertainty?

43
Employee Characteristics

• Need for independence.
• Employees who want a lot of direction will
  welcome autocratic leadership.
• Readiness to assume responsibility.
• Employees eager to assume responsibility
  appreciate democratic or laissez-faire styles of
  leadership.

44

• Tolerance for ambiguity.
• Employees tolerant of ambiguity will accept the
  leadership style that gives them more input.
• Interest in the problem to be solved.
• Employees interested in a problem and think it
  is important will want to be involved.

45

• Understanding of and identification with goals.
• Employees who understand and identify with the
  organizations or departments goals will want to
  be involved in meeting these goals.
• Knowledge and experience.
• Employees with the knowledge necessary to solve a
  problem are more apt to want to help come up with
  a solution.

46

• Expectations.
• Some employees expect to participate in making
  decisions and solving problems.

47
Diversity

• Growing diversity in the work place means that
  supervisors may have a more difficult time
  determining where the employees are in regard to
  these characteristics.
• There is the additional danger that supervisors
  have preconceived ideas about how employees think
  and behave.

48
Situation characteristics

• Type of organization.
• The organization lends itself to a type of
  leadership.
• For example, if supervisors are expected to
  manage large numbers of employees, a democratic
  leadership style may be time consuming and
  relatively challenging to use.
• When there is a large number of employees to
  manage or they are dispersed over a large area,
  laissez-faire style leadership may be the result
  whether it is intended or not.

49

• Effectiveness of the group.
• Regardless of the characteristics of individual
  employees, some groups are more successful in
  handling decisions than others.
• When employees have little experience making
  decisions, authoritarian style leadership may be
  easier to use.

50

• The problem or task.
• Problems range from simple to complex.
• Tasks range from structured to relatively
  unstructured.
• Although it appears that each of these variables
  suggests a specific type of leadership, such as a
  structured task is best handled with more control
  by the supervisor, in reality each problem or
  task is also related to the other characteristics
  of the situation.

51

• Time available.
• An autocratic leader is in a position to make
  decisions quickly.
• Group decision making usually requires more time
  for discussion and sharing ideas.

52
Giving Directions

• Supervisors practice leadership by giving
  employees directions.
• Supervisors should make sure employees understand
  the directions.
• Directions should be stated in specific, clear
  terms.
• Employees should understand the reason for the
  directions.

53

• When employees do not seem to be following
  directions,
• perhaps they didnt understand the directions
• they may not realize that the supervisor is
  giving them an order.

54
Self-concept

• The image a person has of himself/herself.
• influences how the supervisor behaves.
• Someone who believes he or she has the power will
  act powerful.
• Someone who thinks himself or herself as
  intelligent is apt to make careful decisions.
• When supervisors do something well, they should
  give themselves credit for their success.

55
SWOT Method

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

56
Developing and Maintaining Good Relations

• A supervisor needs support from many people in
  the organization to be successful.
• They need the support of their employees.
• They also need the support of their boss and
  co-workers.

57

• Ways to get along with almost everyone include
• projecting a positive attitude,
• taking an interest in other people, and
• helping out.

58

• A supervisor who is liked and respected by
  employees will inspire them to work harder and
  better.
• Supervisors should be role models for employees
  by following the rules of the company.
• They should also be fair in the treatment of
  employees and ethical.

59

• Employees work most cooperatively with a
  supervisor they trust.
• Building trust takes time and effort,
• yet it can be lost with a single act that is
  unreasonable.
• Trust is built by fair and predictable behavior.

60

• No matter how good you are at planning,
  organizing, and leading, your ability to get
  along with your boss can determine the course of
  your career within the organization.
• That may not always seem fair, but the fact is
  that your boss is the one who most often decides
  whether you will be promoted, get a raise, or
  even have a job next week.
• A boss who likes to work with you is more likely
  to take a favorable view of your performance.

61

• A supervisor can assume that his or her boss
  expects the following
• Loyalty
• positive attitude about the company and his/her
  boss
• Cooperation
• works with others in the organization to achieve
  organizational goals.
• Communication
• kept informed about the departments performance.
• Results
• ensures department meets or exceeds its
  objectives

62

• If you get along with your peers, they will help
  you look good and get your job done.
• If your peers resent you, the poor relations can
  cause an endless stream of problems.
• Quite often your peers are competing with you for
  raises, bonuses, or promotions.
• Regardless, the more you cooperate, the better
  you all will look.