This requires good communication both ways between the supervisor and worker. The effective manager is one with whom employees feel free to discuss important things about their jobs. Workers who have something to say like to think that they will be heard. It confirms the belief that their job is an important part of the organization.
1.Don’t communicate with workers exclusively on a high management plane. Identify the ideas, facts, and changes with the job of each worker and talk over important matters with them.
2.Communication is the key to pleasant departmental operation. What you know about the work that your employees should know but don’t, will damage or slow down work.
▪Tell workers promptly and clearly what they should know, and listen carefully to how they think it may affect their jobs.
3.Carefully explain when it is necessary to introduce a new order of things. Most people are not very successful in carrying out plans that are not clear in their mind.
4.Foresee possible objections and discuss them in your presentation together with the reasons.
▪By looking at the change from the worker’s viewpoint, you see the things that must be cleared away so that they can appreciate the good points of your position.
5.State your thoughts simply and make the instructions as clear as possible. Crises generally develop because someone got the message wrong.
6.If employees make a suggestion, tell them what action has been taken, and why.
▪If their suggestion is not adopted, they will accept that fact with full understanding when the reasons for rejection are clear and sound.
▪The cause of offense is not the rejection of an idea, but the rejection of it without careful consideration and discussion.
Reasonable intelligent people with a common objective, in the presence of the facts, do not have too much trouble coming to an agreement.
ASKING QUESTIONS
It is a sign of strength to admit that you don’t know all the answers. Research is needed in even the most routine-bound office or shop. It should be directed toward building and revising a sound structure so that it leads toward the most efficient discharge of work. Research may consist of only standing at the door, looking at the activity of the staff, and asking: “What is the result of all this activity? Is it all necessary?”
Questions, even though the answers are not readily available, are valuable because they mean the existence of another viewpoint. One great problem of efficient management is believing that things are all right as they are, and should not be changed.
SOLVING PROBLEMS
Supervisors will always have various problems arise and these should be considered challenges that must be understood and resolved. The secret of problem solving is to collect and analyze the facts, separate the essential elements, and put them together in a related and meaningful way. Management and the staff may admire the resulting solution as natural brilliance, but you know that it is the result of thorough and painstaking investigation resulting in evidence considered and plans made.
Keep your thinking organized under pressure. You have to know about pressures and tensions and stresses created by the management job. These can be minimized if you see the problems clear and whole, and tackle them with positive confidence and in an orderly way.
MAINTAINING DISCIPLINE
Discipline in business is a clear-cut responsibility of management. There have to be rules, but they should not be too rigid, cause aggravation, destroy personality, or standardize thought and action.
▪Some supervisors impose strict disciplinary measures, not because they are needed, but because they think it is good for their workers to learn to obey.
▪Be firm in enforcing the principles you believe in, but yield in matters that make no difference to the success of the department.
▪Spend little time in finding fault, and make clear that your aim is designed not only to uncover bad work, but also to bring good work to light.
▪Help the uncertain worker and give encouragement toward improvement. It is more honorable to build people than it is to fire them.
WHAT ABOUT MORALE?
Above all, be fair. Tyranny humiliates those who suffer it and also those who exercise it; it is loaded with dynamite for the supervisor who uses it.
1.Good morale cannot be made compulsory or bought; it must be earned. It is the product of consistently high management character.
Have I done something today deliberately to improve employee relations in my work unit and given the staff a feeling of satisfaction in their work?
2.Morale reflects workers’ emotional stance toward their work. It may be measured by the degree of satisfaction of four basic wants: a sense of security, achievement, justice, and participation.
3.Managers can be considered successful if they answers YES to the following question:
SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY
Supervision is not something that a person learns once and then has the art forever. The explosion of technology and knowledge in the past few years demands that managers/leaders keep learning and relearning. Learn something new every day, even though it may not be in your line of work; it will provide background and room for growth. A well-stored mind makes people capable of doing their thinking.
People will not have the unlimited knowledge for handling all management functions without assistance. They must know, as a primary qualification for management, where to find the answers. Some will be in the firm’s statements of policy, its staff handbook, its rule book, and its periodical memoranda to managers/supervisors
SO THAT IS MANAGEMENT
Management does not consist of having a domineering mind, leading to arbitrary government, but in judgment and reason and knowledge of people. It is among the most interesting occupations in the world, because it challenges the manager to administer the most difficult creatures on earth - men and women. It must be done with fair play, appreciation of people’s problems, and knowledge of business principles and practices - planning, organizing, controlling, and supervising - to mesh these into the company’s interests.
This is not a life of ease, but there is still a connection between effort and reward. Managers are judged by their skill in effective action under varying conditions, avoiding what is unfit as diligently as observing what is suitable. The standard for both management and staff is to do the very best with enthusiasm. That gives zest in living, and makes many things bearable that otherwise would be unendurable.
21st CENTURY NEED
Will there be a need for supervisors in the 21st century? If employees have more knowledge and if there are employee teams, what will supervisors do? Supervisors will still manage by planning, organizing, scheduling, leading, staffing, training, and evaluating. There will be a need for supervisors to investigate, coach, counsel, coordinate, and facilitate. The supervisor has an important role in the development of employees, building teams and motivating employees to see that they are a part of carrying out the company’s mission. The supervisor should have leadership ability and technical knowledge along with training in problem solving, presentation skills, and group dynamics. As automation and technology advance and change, many employees will need more understanding and support.
Ten Commandments of Getting Along With People
1.Keep skid chains on your tongue; always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice; how you say it often counts more than what you say.
2.Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully, no matter what the cost.
3.Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody.
4.Be interested in others: their goals, work, homes, and families. Let everyone you meet feel they are important.
5.Be