CHAPTER 1
Supervision in a Changing Workplace
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define supervision.
2. Describe the work of a supervisor.
3. Present the types of skills necessary to perform the job of supervision.
4. State the key reasons for supervisory success.
5. Define diversity in the workplace.
6. Explain the glass ceiling.
7. Explain who is an entrepreneur.
8. Describe a small business.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRESENTATION
Analyze the Needs of Your Students
This exercise helps you to determine how homogeneous your mix of students is in
any group. It also lets you know their individual and collective attitude toward
certain supervisory skills. And, it gives you a means of feedback to the group so
people can visually determine where they are in relation to their peers’ attitudes. It
can, in that way, reinforce that people have come to the class with different attitudes
and needs, and that you won’t be able to meet each one individually.
,A form for this exercise is included at the end of this section in the Instructor’s
Manual. Use it to make one handout for each student and an overhead transparency.
The students should make a check mark somewhere along the continuum between
extremes in response to each of the questions. It should take only four or five
minutes to complete this. Student names need not be on the form, but some
identifying mark should be made so they can be handed back.
Collect the forms, and set the students to some other task (show a film, have them
discuss a question, or take a break).
One at a time, lay the overhead on each student’s sheet and use a transparency-
marking pen to mark on the transparency over that student’s check mark. When
completed, you’ll have a transparency, which represents that group’s collective
attitude toward the questions on the survey.
,You can then return the forms to the students; show the overhead transparency and
discuss each of the questions. You can also take the response into consideration
when you plan future lessons. For example, if most people indicated a strong
preference for working with individuals, you can emphasize group skills more
carefully when you cover chapters 6, 9, 10, 14, and 17.
Have students interview their supervisor at work.
Compare notes to the textbook and to each other next class.
LECTURE OUTLINE
Supervision Dilemma
Jane and John are offered positions as supervisors and they wonder what the job
entails.
Overview: Supervisors manage operative employees. The supervisor’s work includes
planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Successful supervision requires
the mastery of a diverse set of skills.
I. What is Supervision?
Supervision is the first level of management in an organization and is
concerned with encouraging the members of a work unit to contribute
positively toward accomplishing the organization’s goals and objectives.
The supervisor does not do the operative work, but sees that it is
accomplished through the efforts of others.
, II. Who are Supervisors?
The need for supervision dates back to biblical times. Figure 1.1 shows the
forms of organizations suggested to Moses.
o It contains the three levels of management that exist in most
organizations.
The top management of business organizations usually includes the
chairman of the board, the president, and the senior vice
presidents.
Middle management includes all employees below the top-
management level who manage other managers.
The third level of management includes supervisors who manage
operative employees.
The three levels of management form a hierarchy.
o The management hierarchy is shaped like a pyramid, with very few
senior managers at the top and many supervisors at the bottom (Figure
1.2).
Many names are used to describe the people who supervise.
o Regardless of the name, a supervisor is the manager who serves as the
link between operative employees and all other managers.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Taft-Hartley Labor Act contain
conditions that determine whether a person is considered to be a supervisor.
o The FLSA states that a person is considered to be a member of
management if the person is paid on a salary basis rather than an hourly
basis and if the primary duties of the person are administrative,
professional, or supervisory in nature.
III. Sources of Supervisory Talent
The vast majority of supervisors are promoted from the ranks of operative
Supervision in a Changing Workplace
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define supervision.
2. Describe the work of a supervisor.
3. Present the types of skills necessary to perform the job of supervision.
4. State the key reasons for supervisory success.
5. Define diversity in the workplace.
6. Explain the glass ceiling.
7. Explain who is an entrepreneur.
8. Describe a small business.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRESENTATION
Analyze the Needs of Your Students
This exercise helps you to determine how homogeneous your mix of students is in
any group. It also lets you know their individual and collective attitude toward
certain supervisory skills. And, it gives you a means of feedback to the group so
people can visually determine where they are in relation to their peers’ attitudes. It
can, in that way, reinforce that people have come to the class with different attitudes
and needs, and that you won’t be able to meet each one individually.
,A form for this exercise is included at the end of this section in the Instructor’s
Manual. Use it to make one handout for each student and an overhead transparency.
The students should make a check mark somewhere along the continuum between
extremes in response to each of the questions. It should take only four or five
minutes to complete this. Student names need not be on the form, but some
identifying mark should be made so they can be handed back.
Collect the forms, and set the students to some other task (show a film, have them
discuss a question, or take a break).
One at a time, lay the overhead on each student’s sheet and use a transparency-
marking pen to mark on the transparency over that student’s check mark. When
completed, you’ll have a transparency, which represents that group’s collective
attitude toward the questions on the survey.
,You can then return the forms to the students; show the overhead transparency and
discuss each of the questions. You can also take the response into consideration
when you plan future lessons. For example, if most people indicated a strong
preference for working with individuals, you can emphasize group skills more
carefully when you cover chapters 6, 9, 10, 14, and 17.
Have students interview their supervisor at work.
Compare notes to the textbook and to each other next class.
LECTURE OUTLINE
Supervision Dilemma
Jane and John are offered positions as supervisors and they wonder what the job
entails.
Overview: Supervisors manage operative employees. The supervisor’s work includes
planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Successful supervision requires
the mastery of a diverse set of skills.
I. What is Supervision?
Supervision is the first level of management in an organization and is
concerned with encouraging the members of a work unit to contribute
positively toward accomplishing the organization’s goals and objectives.
The supervisor does not do the operative work, but sees that it is
accomplished through the efforts of others.
, II. Who are Supervisors?
The need for supervision dates back to biblical times. Figure 1.1 shows the
forms of organizations suggested to Moses.
o It contains the three levels of management that exist in most
organizations.
The top management of business organizations usually includes the
chairman of the board, the president, and the senior vice
presidents.
Middle management includes all employees below the top-
management level who manage other managers.
The third level of management includes supervisors who manage
operative employees.
The three levels of management form a hierarchy.
o The management hierarchy is shaped like a pyramid, with very few
senior managers at the top and many supervisors at the bottom (Figure
1.2).
Many names are used to describe the people who supervise.
o Regardless of the name, a supervisor is the manager who serves as the
link between operative employees and all other managers.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Taft-Hartley Labor Act contain
conditions that determine whether a person is considered to be a supervisor.
o The FLSA states that a person is considered to be a member of
management if the person is paid on a salary basis rather than an hourly
basis and if the primary duties of the person are administrative,
professional, or supervisory in nature.
III. Sources of Supervisory Talent
The vast majority of supervisors are promoted from the ranks of operative
