SESSION 1
INTRODUCTION
The concept of acting as a supervisor is one of the most interesting phenomena in the workplace. Every one of us, in the course of our work life, will probably look at one of our supervisors and ask ourselves,
“How in the world did he/she become a supervisor?”
Well, how does it happen that people who seem to be lacking in supervisory skills come to oversee and affect the future of subordinates? One common way is that when someone excels in a particular area— it’s very common for that person to be promoted to the position of supervisor—even if he/she has no background or training in supervision. For example, a talented mechanic may be promoted to manager of the service department, an outstanding athlete may be hired as a coach, or a successful salesperson may be advanced to sales manager. Each one of these people excelled in their original positions, but may not be trained for nor possess the necessary skills to be a supervisor. This concept has been given a name—it’s called the “Peter Principle”—people are promoted to a level beyond their capabilities.
So how does one become a successful supervisor? Do you have to be born with the qualifications? Can you learn them? Can you improve your skills as your career progresses? This semester, our goal is to answer these and other related questions.
FUNCTIONS OF MANAGERS/SUPERVISORS
NOTE: In this class, we will oftentimes use the terms “manager” and “supervisor” interchangeably.
So what is it that supervisors do? Traditionally, we have delineated the four functions of management.
FOUR FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT
1. Planning-includes establishing goals, outlining strategy, and coordinating activities
2. Organizing-determining what tasks need to be done, who will do them, how they’ll be accomplished, who will report to whom, etc.
3. Leading-motivating and directing employees,