Exercise 7-2: “In-Basket” The role of a supervisor can vary from mentor to disciplinarian, and an important trait of an effective supervisor is the ability to distinguish between tasks that should be delegated or acted upon. Many supervisors lack the common knowledge of what is necessary to entrust his or her subordinates with assignments. This can be harmful to the department’s business objective. Therefore, informed, willing and capable of what is required of a supervisor will ensure an effectively operated department. The basics steps of delegation make the process simpler like following an instruction manual. It is a guide that every supervisor should follow. During the research conducted with other team members on a hypothetical situation involving the supervision of a retail store, a list of tasks were left for the store supervisor to either undertake or delegate to the employees. Some of the items on the list were unanimously agreed upon and certain others were not. Many factors come into play when delegating or retaining duties as a supervisor. For instance, the management pyramid within an organization may determine the length of responsibilities each department supervisor may hold. Although ideally a supervisor governs the daily responsibilities, some of them are controlled by upper management. The reluctance to assign undertakings to subordinates may fall on the company philosophy. Department supervisors like other people do not always make the correct decisions in delegating responsibilities. Sometimes because of a fear of failure he or she will preserve many of the tasks for him or herself. The 10 items reflected during the study were unquestionably straightforward and did not require much thought. Perhaps had the list been more complicated, the decision to retain or delegate may be more challenging. Item number three, determining the store hours during the holiday was the only one agreed upon between all of the classmates. Since the store hours affect all of the employees’ schedules, and one that commands the attention of the supervisor. With item number four, dealing with a customer complaint, is an item that should be handled directly by the supervisor. If a customer asks to speak with someone in a higher position within an organization because of dissatisfaction with service or an employee, the only resolution to this issue would be to involve the first line supervisor. Many customers are not content with dealing merely with an employee and for the good of the branch the supervisor should handle the complaint. Item number seven involved the visit from the Fire Marshall’s office to conduct an on-site inspection. Again this is an assignment that can clearly be carried out by the shift supervisors because a report is generated after the inspection and if any corrections need to be made, these can be reviewed and coordinated by the branch supervisor.
When clarifying which duties to assign or maintain, the supervisor must have an established trusting relationship with his or her employees. It can be challenging for a supervisor to operate a section efficiently if responsibilities have not been defined. If roles are not clear, this could cause confusion amongst the employees. So the issue of duty allocation is two-fold. One because the supervisor did not ensure the employees obvious functions within the department and two because the trust is not confirmed. In the assessment of the suggested tasks the decision was based on capabilities of the supervisor, personality and intuition.
Each supervisor operates and thinks differently. Every decision is made based on the functionality of the department, its employees and business objectives. Although each team member in this project had unique ideas on which tasks to delegate and which ones to maintain and act upon, the decisions were made based on the type of supervisor the classmate is or would be. That is not to say the segregation of the duties were incorrect, it just displays how each individual feels about the priorities laid before him or her. Some of the delegated tasks may not pose successful if the lower-level employees were to follow through with them, but again it would be founded on the functionality of the unit. So in closing, an effective supervisor is a person who is confident in his or her abilities to assign duties respectively without prejudice to accomplish the goal of sector.