Chapter 1 - The Supervisor's Job in a Changing Environment Flashcards
The workplace in the 1970s was:
Relatively predictable Power based Competitive Emphasis on independent work Emphasis on “working harder”
Today the workplace is:
Uncertain Relationship based Cooperative Emphasis on team work Emphasis on “working smarter”
Four factors changing the character of local government
Demographic changes
Technological changes
Changes in legal accountability
Shifts in employees’ expectations and attitudes
Demographic changes
Increasing cultural diversity
Aging population
Managing a diverse workforce means being more flexible and adaptable, and keeping up with new trends.
Technological changes
Internet and e-mail
Computer advances
Cell phones
These and other technological advances have made possible telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements.
Clarity about expectations and accountability have become increasingly important.
Legal accountability
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
These and other state and federal mandates help supervisors by providing a standard of conduct and fair treatment.
State and federal mandates may also
Increase the complexity of managing the workforce
Reduce supervisors’ flexibility
Add to administrative burdens
Diffuse responsibility for the implementation of public policy
Expose local governments to greater risk of litigation.
To protect the organization from lawsuits, supervisors must be
proactive. They must keep records, refer to departmental policies and procedures, and focus on objective outcomes and results.
Changes in employees expectations and attitudes
Many employees today
Expect their jobs to fulfill needs for friendship, affirmation, and acceptance
Seek a balance between work and home
View their talents and skills as commodities to be marketed
See their careers as cyclical, not linear
Look for jobs that are interesting, meaningful, and enjoyable.
Top-down hierarchical management is giving way to
self-managed teams in which the supervisor plays the role of liaison.
Four fundamental tasks of supervisors
Achieving predefined results and outcomes
Sustaining a spirit of teamwork and cooperation
Continually developing the skills and talents of employees
Fostering a work environment that is flexible but in which accountability is maintained
To build good working relationships,
Respect and listen to employees Help set goals Involve employees in decisions Communicate frequently Delegate responsibility effectively Find the right balance between being “one of the gang” and being the person in charge Relate to everyone on the work team equally well Be fair, compassionate, and predictable.
If you are not quite sure how to be a better supervisor
try asking your employees.
To cultivate a management attitude
Learn the larger goals and processes of the organization
Help employees understand how their work fits into the organization’s goals and processes
Encourage employees to develop a forward-looking attitude.
Protestant Ethic - A set of values centered on:
Hard work
Self reliance
Thrift,
Respect for traditional authority
Local Governments are more likely to be sued because of ______ than for any other reason.
Human resource actions
Supervisors and nonsupervisors see their careers as
cyclical
Today’s employees expect to make more decisions about the issues that
directly affect them.
Many people today expect their carers to lead to
self-actualization and fulfillment, So they want to know how the work they are doing serves the larger good. Especially public sector employees.
Jobs need to be
interesting
meaningful
enjoyable
The supervisor may be a
coach team leader process facilitator mentor change agent but not necessarily the sole or principle decision maker
The increasing diversity of the workforce requires supervisors
familiarize themselves with different expectations, traditions, work styles, and perspectives.
Managing a diverse workforce means
being more flexible and adaptable, and keeping up with new trends.
With the advent of new technologies, supervisors have become accustomed to
handling their own research and communicating directly with others, instead of relying on support staff.
Computers have largely transformed what traditionally was regarded as
clerical work
Telecommuting has a number of advantages
made it possible for central offices to be downsized,
encouraged employers to focus more on results and outcomes than on “face time”
When work is decentralized through nontraditional arrangements
both the supervisor and employee must have a clear understanding of what the expectations are & the employee must understand that he or she will be fully accountable for the timely completion of tasks.
Clarity about _______ is especially important if the nature of the work allows personal time to overlap with tasks performed for the employer.
expectations and accountability
While some mandates can be helpful to supervisors by providing a standard of conduct and fair treatment,
the complexity and uncertainty created by mandates can slow the decision-making process and may limit the supervisor’s ability to be creative and responsive in dealing with the needs of individual employees.
As a supervisor, you probably have to assume that nearly everyone of your actions and decisions can be
litigated
While the risk of litigation may make supervisors more careful and deliberative,
it also slows down the responsiveness of government and makes the work environment far more rule bound.
A rule bound environment can
stifle creativity
hurt morale
creating additional challenges for the supervisor
To protect their local governments from lawsuits, the supervisors of today must
be proactive: they must keep more records than they did in the past, refer more often to departmental policies and proceedures, and focus more on objective outcomes and results than on relationships with individual employees.
Today stability and loyalty are often supplanted by other criteria:
fulfilling their human needs including:
friendship
affirmation
acceptance
The Protestant Ethic has gradually enlarged by the idea that
productive workers are entitled to certain basic necessities such as decent housing, a job, assistance with their health care expenses, and a reasonable retirement in exchange for their efforts.
Some workers are interested in having careers that
are less consuming- providing more of a balance between life and work
Workers are beginning to view their talents and skills differently as
commodities to be marketed to various employers over the course of a career
The 21st century supervisor is often more of a ____ than a commander.
broker
Supervisors still wield a formal power and authority but relying on the “weight” of the supervisory role is not usually the most effective way to
motivate employees manage stress and conflict delegate, build effective teams facilitate change or solve problems creatively.
Supervisors must learn to function as
liaisons,fostering communication and cooperation between members of the same team, between different teams or departments, between external customers and internal agencies, and between frontline workers and top management.
Supervisors must learn to function as liaisons,fostering communication and cooperation between
members of the same team, between different teams or departments, between external customers and internal agencies, and between frontline workers and top management.
Only one of the Four fundamental tasks of supervisors stems from the traditional view of supervision:
Achieving predefined results and outcomes
The other three fundamental tasks of supervisors derive from the
uncertainty of the work environment, and from its emphasis on relational and behavior-based supervision and leadership
You and the skills you bring to your position
are essential to getting the government’s mission accomplished.
You have a great deal of responsibility because you must keep your unit on schedule, decide what tools and resources it needs, determine how to assign the work, and ensure that your employees remain motivated. Four personal habits will help you do this:
Developing self-awareness,
building good working relationships with employees,
cultivating a positive management attitude,
learning to broker competing interests.
The first step to being a good supervisor is
self-awareness - understanding yourself
To build good relations with employees and strenghten their willingness to work harder, better, and smarter, today’s supervisor must
appreciate human complexity and understand the sources of motivation.
The best way to obtain an understanding of others is to
strive to understand yourself.
_______ wil help you to sense and to adapt to changes in employee needs.
Healthy self awareness
________ can also help you keep your personal beliefs from interfering with your supervisory decisions
Healthy self awareness
Effective supervisors build good working relationships by
creating an atmosphere of trust on the job
As a supervisor, you must
respect and listen to employees help them set goals, involve them in decisions, and keep them up-to-date, communicate frequently and honestly, delegate responsibility effectively.
You must meet two personal challenges:
find our own balance between being “one of the gang” and being the person in charge, and you must relate to everyone in the workforce equally well.
Building a good working relationship does not mean
building a personal friendship with every employee
Building a good working relationship does mean
being fair, compassionate, and predictable.
Employees respond positively to supervisors whom they
respect and admire
When asked for their ideas and creative input, individuals and small groups can be remarkably effective at
planning, organizing, and carrying through on specific assignments.
The modern supervisor must alos work effectively with employees who have
unique needs and expect to be dealt with as individuals.
In a diverse workforce, you may spend more time
cultivating and maintaining productive and effective relationships with employees and strengthening their willingness to contribute to common goals.
The results are likely to be
a stronger sense of commitment to the organization’s objectives, increased creativity, and a greater ability to adapt to change.
Wherever possible, match employees _____ to the job
Talents.
People are usually ________ when they are doing what they enjoy and what they do best.
happier and more productive
The Management Attitude is
Supervisors who understand the larger goals and processes of the organization, and how toe work of individual employees advances those goals and processes.
The supervisor must have _______ to be effective.
The Management Attitude
Successful supervisors help employees understand
how their work fits into the organization’s long term goals.
The supervisor must encourage emplyees, especially those who may one day be supervisors themselves, to develop a
forward looking management attitude.
One of your best tests as a supervisor is whether your employees
work as hard when you are away from the job site as when you are there.
The effective local government supervisor is skilled at
competing interests, values, and perspectives so as to best serve internal and external customers.
As a supervisor you are a member of
management and a member of a work team
______ is critical
first line supervision
The people most vital to an organization’s success are its
first-line supervisors
Whatever an employee’s stated reasons for making a job change, the actions of the ________ are most likely to influence a job decision.
supervisor
7 questions for the supervisor to help measure the strength of a workplace
Do I know what is expected of me?
Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
Does my supervisor, or someone else, care about me as a person?
Is there someone who encourages my development?
Do my opinions seem to count?
In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?
The supervisor must be able to get work accomplished
with and through others.
Success depends on your effective management of three competing interests:
Your obligations to the local government,
your duty to function as a change agent,
your relationships with your own supervisor and employees.
Entities to which you are accountable
Yourself
Your employees or work team
Your supervisor and management
Citizens and other customers of the local government
