Supervisor Manual II Flashcards
In it’s handbook of leadership development, the ___________, perhaps the most notable organization in America engaged in the business of leadership development, recommends that emerging leaders(and those who are helping leaders to develop), focus on three aspects of leadership.
Center for Creative Leadership
What is the first step of being a good supervisor?
Self Awareness
_________ years ago, most employees said that in selecting an employer, they looked for a stable organization that would be______________.
Forty/Loyal to them
Leadership is difficult to define clearly. For example, although certain characteristics such as focrefullness, persuasiveness, and ____________ have been all associated with leadership, many leaders do not seem to posess those particular qualities.
Charisma
It is essential to understand that formal power and___________ are not absolutely necessary to lead.
Authority
To protect local governments from lawsuits, supervisors must keep more records than they did in the past, refer more often to department policies and procedures, and focus more on_________and _________than on relationships with individual employees.
Objective outcomes/Results
A supervisor who has strong ________ skills is a good team builder, communicates effectively, and works to build employee’s confidence in their abilitiies.
Clan
All________are work, but not all work is a ________.
Projects/Project
A__________offers a picture of what a work unit or organization would be if it completely fulfilled its potential. It is a picture that everyone can be proud of and want to achieve.
Mission Statement
The most effective supervisors are leaders of closely knit work_________.
Teams
Remember that your job is to get work done__________.
With and through others
For supervisors, planning means determining: what needs to be done, the order of the tasks, when the work must be completed, what support will be needed to complete it, who will do the work, and _______________.
What the expected quality of the results will be
_____________ is thus a two-way process; a relationship that requires the commitment of both parties.
Leadership
To protect their local governments from lawsuits, the supervisors of today must be__________.
Proactive
All supervisors need to have a good grasp of good management practice; that means understanding the difference between_________and__________.
Leading/Managing
Your organizational peers and your direct reports-those who are, in a sense, the”__________” of your leadership skills-tend to have the most useful perceptions of your leadership behavior.
Consumers
A supervisor who has strong_________skills is good at releasing motivation in others, gaining power and influence, and managing conflict.
Market
____________administer, monitor, direct, and refine current performance.
Managers
The four categories of the Competing Values Framework are:
Clan skills,Adhocracy skills, Market skills, and Hierarchy skills
Research going back to _________ indicates that the perception of expertise is perhaps the most essential condition for influence.
World War II
To catch problems while they are still small, it is important to develop___________and awareness of the feelings of others. ________acts as a kind of sixth sense that can alert you to trouble ahead.
Empathy/Empathy
A good work plan should have the following elements(which is not correct)
A. A detailed description of the plan**
B. A description of the ways to measure progress and results
C. A clear statement of the specific work goals to be accomplished
D. A schedule that details the people and supplies that are needed to reach the goals
Successful supervisors and successful local governments are those that can__________and__________.
Anticipate and respond to change
The____________severely limits a supervisor’s freedom to implement nonstandard work schedules that might be more appealing to employees and more efficient for the local government.
FLSA(Fair Labor Standards Act)
Until the mid 20th century, American economic life was dominated by what is often called the __________.
Protestant ethic
Supervisors who have the best chance of identifying and resolving problems early have four characteristics.(Which is not one)
A. They budget time to constantly evaluate problems
B. They look for trends or patterns that may indicate a problem
C. They are amicable****
D. They actively watch for small signs of trouble
Remember good supervisors routinely check on the progress and quality of the work. That means checking on your employee’s performance, not .
Checking up on the employees themselves
Studies have shown that good planning gets ___________.
Good results
Two important things happen when a work group becomes a team. First, the workers gain a sense of belonging. Second, the ________________.
Whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts
Leading your employees including handling their complaints________and __________ while maintaining the right kind of discipline and order.
Properly and promptly
Whats most important, however, Leadership is a behavior that can be_________and that the effects can be long lasting.
Taught
Effective supervisors allow the members of their work team to directly participate in many decisions, including planning, goal setting, scheduling, and________.
Allocating resources
Which is not one of the four fundemental tasks of the effective local government supervisor;
A. Sustaining a spirit of teamworkand cooperation both within and outside your work unit
B. Continually developing your employees skills and talents.
C. None they are all correct.
D. Achieving predefined results.
E. Fostering a work environment that is flexible but in which accountibility is maintained.
In many organizations, the supervisor may be a coach, a team leader, a process facilitator, a mentor, and a change agent-but is not necessarily_____________.
The sole or principal decision maker
The three conditions for influence are;
Trustworthy, Expert, and Attractive
Supervisors have three primary sources of influence on the members of their work team(and others); Which is not one?
A. Their reputation
B. All are correct
C. Their role
D.** Their influence**
Where the workplace was once predictable, it is now uncertain. Where it was once power based, it is now relationship based. Where it was once_________it is now ___________.
Competitive/Cooperative
People are much less likely to be influenced by those whom they perceive as having different_______and ________.
Values and Beliefs
Good planning also means breaking each goal down into:
Objectives, Tasks,and Activities
The main steps in making a plan are:
Stating goals, streamlining the work, listing objectives, tasks and activities, scheduling resources, and checking on the progress of the work.
_____________ is a better predictor of effective leaership than personal traits.
Behavior
Local governments are more likely to be sued because of ___________ thaan for any other reason.
Human Resource Actions
Supervisors who want to be leaders need to learn how to exert_____________.
Positive social influence
________and __________ is most closely associated with the internal maintenance of the organization.
Clan Skills/heirarchWork processy skills
A compelling argument can be made that the people most vital to an organizations success are its____________.
First line supervisors
A_______is a series of actions that lead to the compleation of work. Everything we do at work is a part of a___________.
work process/work process
Four specific factors are changing the character and appearence of local government, and as a result, the world of the supervisor. The four factors are:
Demographic changes, technological changes, changes in legal accountibility, and shifts in employee’s expectations and attitudes.
The five major tasks in project planning management are:
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling, and Closing
An interesting paradox of leadership is that the more the supervisor has to rely on the the power of the role to influence people, the ____________ real leadership may be exerted.
Less
Good planning is a habit that can be developed. It begins with a premise: the clearer your__________is of what you are trying to do, the more likely it is to get done, and get done right.
Picture
__________and_________ with external positioning, that is, with organizations relationship to its environment.
Adhocracy skills/Market skills
A_________is a clear, succint of an ideal future, provides a vision of what success would look like. It also generally describes what an organization wants to do.
Mission statement
One excellent way to make jobs more interrsting is to_________the members of your work team.
Cross-train
Since_________, for example, more than 4,000 books with the word leadership in the titles have been published in English.
1995
Goos supervisors constantly ask the following questions:
Are we on schedule?, Is the work being done correctly?, Are the quality and level of service level as expected?, Can we improve our precess for next time?, Could any part of the operation be improved by teaching new skills?
Some supervisors are simply more comfortable dealing with strategic direction or with internal operation issues. No supervisor will be equally skilled in all areas of management and_________.
Leadership
One thing we do know for certain about leadership is that it has little meaning outside the context of relationships. Thus leadership cannot really be said to occur__________.
In isolation from others
Partly as a result of these changes in employee attitudes and expectations, top-down, hierarchical management is giving way to______________.
Self-managed teams
Many people today expect their careers to lead to________and________, so they want to know how the work they are doing serves the larger good.
self-actualization/fulfillment
Eespecially among public sector employees, it is not enough to have a job that provides sufficient income to support a family and a reasonable retirement. Jobs need to be _______,________, and __________:in fact, employees will stay at jobs that meet these criteria even if the pay is a little lower.
intersting, meaningful, and enjoyable
In response to shifts both within and outside local government, the roleof the supervisor and the methods of supervision have changed. In particular, as many local governments have flattened their organizational structures, reducing the ratio of _________to_______.
managers to non-managers
A goal is a ________.
target
The effective local government supervisor is skilled at____________, values, and perspectives so as to best serve internal and external customers.
brokering competing interests
A(n)_________percentage of the workforce will change careers several times during forty of more years of working life. In particular, the career goals of Generation Xers are more fluid than those of older workers.
increasing
A supervisor who has strong______skills is self aware, and good at managing personal stress, managing time, and solving problems analytically.
hierarchy
As a ________, your job is to find out where your strengths are- as a leader, a manager, or both and build on them.
supervisor
Four personal habits(that will help you keep your unit on schedule, decide what tools and resources it needs, determine how to assign work, and ensure that your employees remain motivated) that will help you doo all this:
developing self awareness, building good working relationships with your employees, cultivating a positive management attitude, and learning to broker competing interests.
As a supervisor you should use_______and_______, not processes or level of effort, to measure success.
outcomes/results
leadership fitness can be thought of as having four dimesnsions:
Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Spritual
PIES
___________is essentially “the story” that peers, subordinates, and others tell about the boss.
Reputation
Computers have largely transformed what was traditionally regarded as”________”.
clerical work
New approacheds to management have led to_________organizations with an emphasis on_________.
flatter/teams
Flexibility and change are generally associated with_________and_________.
Clan Skills/Adhocracy Skills
A supervisor who has strong ____________skills can solve problems creatively, articulate a vision, and foster innovation.
adhocracy
When you take on supervisory responsibilities,__________is more important than ever before.
Planning
The noted management thinker__________was once asked whether leaders are born. He just responded that some are-but in far to few numbers that make much difference in the world.
Peter Drucker
The bottom line is that supervisory influence is directly related to two things”1)how your colleagues and your subordinates perceive your leadership behavior and 2)how your leadership behavior________________.
directly affects them
Goal statemennts should be SMART, an acronym that means:
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results based, Time bound
If you are going to earn your employees respect as a team leader, they should feel that you__________.
trust them
Employees respond________to supervisors whom they respect and admire.
positively
A good________identifies the goals and standards that have been established for specifiic jobs within an organizational unit or function.
plan
The twenty-first century supervisor is often more of a “__________” than a commander.
broker
Delegating helps employees feel___________.
valued
____________is an activity-an influence process-in which an individual gains trust and commitment of others and without recourse to formal position or authority moves the group to the accomplishment of one or more tasks.
Leadership
Planning means:What must be done…When….By_______and____________.
Whom/How
Beginning with Ohio State University studies of leaership in the late 1940’s, research has consistently identifiied two general qualities associiated with effective leaders:____________and_________.
consideration/structure
A __________generally describes what an organization wants to be.
vision statement
___________set direction, articulate the organizations vision, and act to transform bothh the individuals and the organization.
Leaders
Effective supervisors are willing and able to________jobs to make them more intersting and challenging.
redesign
Telecommuting has a number of advantages: for example, it has made it possible for some central offices to be downsiized, and it has encouraged employees to focus more on results and outcomes than on”___________”.
face time
Effective supervisors understand the larger goals and processes of the organization, and how the work of individual employees advances those goals and processes. This kind of understanding is called___________________.
management attitude
All supervisors occasionally feel this kind of stress; it is a bi-product of acting as a ___________, because successful _________must identify with each party’s point of view.
broker/brokers
As leadership expert________has observed,”people want to be part of something that makes a difference that trascends the ordinary:they want a start to steer by”.
Frances Hesselbein
But as organizational theorist____________observes,”Those in positions of authority are not the source of authority”.
Peter Senge
Stability and control are generally associated with___________and____________.
Hierarchy skills/Market skills
The three aspects of leadership developed from the most notable organization in America are:
Self-management capabilities,Interpersonal skills capabilities, and Work facilitation capabilities
In sum, Leadership is the exertion of positive______. It occurs in the context of formal and informal relationships in all types and siizes of organizations.
social influence
Good planning can: Help you stay on top of things, Give you time to do those things you must do and want to do, Help produce better results, and_____________.
Reduce stress
Setting goals means stating what must be done, who must do it, and when it must be completed; it also means_____________.
setting priorities
As the population ages,government will gradually assume a greater role in the provision of services needed by______________.
older citizens
The most important aspect of this job(planning) is_______________________.
scheduling the time for the people doing the work
IN organizations where teams are used productively, “a supervisor is the decision maker” and is no longer a ______________, and supervision is no longer as simple>
management mantra
The effective supervisor often functions as much as a broker-a go between who works to balance competing interest-as director of work. To be effective in this role, the supervisor must:
maintain a steady focus on defined goals
One popular model of the relationship between management and leadership is the_____________.
Competing Values Framework
Local government supervisors who served in the _________might not recognize the work place of the early twenty-first century.
1970’s
Most people in organizations think of themselves as________________.
Excellent communicators
Three specific tools that supervisors can use to empower emplyees are:
Job enrichment, mentoring, and career growth
This stage is sustained through continuous cooperative activity.
performing
Teamwork is
about working together to improve the work culture
During the first_____________, the supervisor should help the new employees understand their responsibilitiies, assignments, authority, and relationshps with other departments and people.
three to six months
Effective supervisors treat performance evaluations as a(n)____________, not a once a year activity.
continuous process
It must be clear from the supervisor’s words and tone that he or she has confidence in the employee’s ability and wants to help the employee____________.
get the job done correctly
Conclude the interview with a summary of the__________ that were discussed.
major points
Your interview will be the applicant’s first contact with his or her___________.
new supervisor
This stage is marked by conflict, mainly over who will lead the group.
storming
The parts of an organizational_______ have to be put together so that the whole system functions smoothly and the work is done effectively as possible.
puzzle
Effective communication is a necessary part of__________ supervisors.
effective
After the initial first week a supervisor can schedule a _________review of the employees work for at least the first___________.
monthly, six months
Mentors offer encouragement to members of the organization who can benefit from_________.
one on one support
___________occurs when the sender transmits information, facts, ideas, and meanings to the reciever and recieves some form of response.
Two way communication
You can often tell a lot about people by__________.
the kind of questions they ask
Generation Y are born between___________.
1977 and 1997
Supervisors can spend more time planning ahead and preventing problems if routine work is handled by_______,__________ employees.
capable, well trained
Studies show that if there is no time to practice,____percent of the instruction is forgotten one hour after a task is learned,____percent one day later, and______percent one week later.
55,65,75
One barrier to communication occurs when the _______jumps to conclusions or hears only what he or she wants to hear.
receiver
You should review the __________point by point with the employee.
appraisal report
People learn______,________,___________.
at a steady pace, when they are at ease, and when they are involved in the process.
After the training program has been completed, it is important to try to____________what effect it has had.
measure
Under the five major responsibilities
common to all supervisor, what category does delegate as much work-related authority as you can, so employees can develop pride in themselves and in their jobs?
Getting the job done
Which is not one of the four major duties of a supervisor?
Developing and explaining policies, procedures, and rules
Good planning also means breaking a goal down into
Tasks, subtasks and activities
Studies show that most supervisors spend only about ___ percent of their time on the activities that produce __ percent of the results.
20/80
A goal is a
Target
In a larger organization worker often feel like ________________ and they need large doses of recognition and responsibility to help them feel important.
Small cogs on a large wheel
Today’s employees respond willingly to leaders whom they ______ and ________.
Respect / admire
What is the set of values and beliefs that emphasizes hard work, knowing your place, standing on your own feet, and obeying anyone who is older or has higher rank?
Protestant ethic
is a management methodology that focuses on improving the processes by which a product is manufactured or a service is delivered.
Total Quality Management
The following are techniques that should serve as useful rules to follow in supervising today’s employees. (except one)
Help employees set standards
When you are able to bring personal goals of the worker together with the organizational goals, the result is
Motivation
Which is not a step in strengthening self-discipline
Act promptly
is a method for identifying the best practice for a particular activity that can lead to changes and improvements in the way you deliver your service
Benchmarking
The key elements in achieving excellence in a work team are?
Respecting, trusting, coaching, developing
Which stage is marked by conflict, mainly over who will lead the group?
Storming
Which organization has a disadvantage that each departments tendency is to think of itself as more important than the others?
Functional
Under the major models of formal organization which maintains discipline relatively easy
Line
Which is not one of the three elements surrounding each situation when making a decision?
The past view point of management
On the way to becoming a team, what stage is characterized by cohesiveness and closeness by group members?
Norming
If you left your job in ____ and came back in ____-not much of a change. If you left now and came back ten years later-tremendous changes.
1950 / 1960
are vital members of the government management team
Supervisors
The point of contact between _______and ________is at the most vital spot in management.
Employee / managers
The supervisor should be able to get work done through others. This means that you, as a supervisor, should organize work and ________employees.
Motivate
In a large organization workers often feel like
Small cogs on a large wheel
Today’s employees respond willingly to leaders whom they ____ and ____.
Respect / admire
is managing through others
Delegating
Which is the communication system of an informal organization?
Grapevine
This is the first stage in which members come together and are uncertain about the nature and role of the group.
Forming
This stage of group formation is characterized by cohesiveness and closeness among group members.
Norming
This stage of group formation is when the group moves forward to accomplish its objective.
Performing
To catch a problem while it is still small, You will have to develop ____as a kind of sixth sense that can alert you to trouble ahead. (Chap 3, pg. 30)
Empathy
The most effective supervisors are leaders of:
Closely knit work teams
One excellent way to make jobs more interesting is to:
Cross-train your work team members
Authority is delegated only to employees on work teams who have demonstrated that they are:
Experts at their job
For supervisors, planning means deciding
What must be done, when, and by whom?
Studies have shown that good planning gets
Good results
The main steps in making a plan are
Stating goals, streamlining the work, listing tasks, scheduling resources, and checking on the progress of the work
Stating goals, streamlining the work, listing tasks, scheduling resources, and checking on the progress of the work
Functional
The ____________________ organizational structure is a series of interlocking teams.
Quality improvement
People are more highly motivated to work toward common goals and objectives when they
Feel part of a team effort
Herzberg’s two factors of motivation are
Hygiene and motivators
The _________________ happens when the supervisor rates everyone at the midpoint of the
scale, regardless of performance.
Central tendency effect
Leaders with __________________ are creative thinkers, think and act strategically,initiate and
implement change, and have good management skills
Work facilitation capabilities
For an influential relationship to develop, the person being influenced must perceive the leader
as
Expert, attractive and trustworthy
The first source of influence Supervisors have on the members of their work team
Role
