Solution Manual For
Supervision Concepts and Skill-Building 2024 Release Samuel Certo
Chapters 1-17
Chapter 01
Supervision: Tradition and Contemporary Trends
I. Chapter Overview
Learning Objectives
LO 01-01: Define what a supervisor is.
LO 01-02: Summarize research findings that have led to basic ideas of what managers should
do.
LO 01-03: Describe the basic types of supervisory skills.
LO 01-04: Describe how the growing diversity of the workforce affects the supervisor‘s role.
LO 01-05: Identify the general functions of a supervisor.
LO 01-06: Explain how supervisors are responsible to higher management, employees, and
coworkers.
LO 01-07: Describe the typical background of someone who is promoted to supervisor.
LO 01-08: Identify characteristics of a successful supervisor.
This chapter provides an introduction to the supervisor. The supervisor is the first-level manager
responsible for coordinating the work of nonmanagement employees, or employees who provide the
products and services for the customers of the organization.
A historical perspective of the supervisor‘s role looks into the theories and principles that have led to
the development of current views on supervision. Frederick Taylor‘s scientific management principles
(focus on efficiency), Lillian and Frank Gilbreth‘s time-and-motion studies, Henri Fayol‘s
administrative principles (focus on functions), Mary Parker Follett‘s principles of coordination, and
Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs (focus on people) are discussed in relation to the supervisory role in an
organization.
The skills required of the supervisor are similar to the skills required of both employees and
managers. Supervisors need technical skills common to their employees, but they also need human
relations skills, conceptual skills, and decision-making skills. Human relations skills enable the
supervisor to work effectively with other people. Conceptual skills enable the supervisor to see the
relation of the parts to the whole and to one another. Decision-making skills enable the supervisor to
analyze information and reach good decisions. Supervisors usually have ample technical skills, which
may have to be held in check. On the other hand, they may have to develop better human relations,
conceptual, and decision-making skills.
Growing diversity in the workforce resulting from increasing proportions of women and ethnic and
racial minorities is challenging the supervisor‘s role. Differing perspectives on situations faced by the
,organization are an advantage when competitive forces increasingly require flexibility and innovation.
However, most individuals, including supervisors, usually feel more comfortable with those who are
most like themselves. Supervisors need to learn to value diversity for their own success and for the
success of the organization.
General functions of the supervisor include planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
Planning involves setting goals and determining how to meet them. Organizing involves setting up the
groups, allocating resources, and assigning work to achieve goals. Staffing includes identifying,
hiring, and developing the necessary number and quality of employees. Leading involves getting
employees to do what is expected of them. Controlling consists of monitoring performance and
making needed corrections.
Supervisors are responsible for getting the work assigned by their boss accomplished through the use
of the employees who work for them. They are also responsible for communicating instructions,
requirements, and expectations of the organization to their employees and dealing with them fairly.
Supervisors are responsible for informing their managers of concerns of employees. They are also
responsible for cooperating with coworkers in other departments to assure the effective and efficient
operation of the organization.
Most supervisors start out as employees within the department. Their promotion is based on
performance and skill levels. To be successful, supervisors must leave the role of employee and
develop the required skills of the supervisor. A successful supervisor is usually someone who has a
positive attitude, is loyal and fair, communicates well, can delegate, and wants the job.
A Supervision Challenge: Supervising Remote Workers
This opening case discusses supervising remote employees and presents the following two questions.
1. What traits do you think can help a supervisor successfully manage remote workers?
Sample answers may include communication skills, diplomacy, consistency, and fairness.
2. What traits would you as a supervisor look for when hiring subordinates to work
remotely?
Sample answers may include communication skills, attention to detail, time-management
skills, and ability to do the work.
The case is again referred to in the Skills Module – Part Two: Skill-Building exercise at the end of the
chapter.
II. Teaching the Concepts by Learning Objective
Learning Objective 01-01: Define what a supervisor is.
,1. Key terms:
Supervisor: A manager at the first level of management.
2. Teaching notes:
The Taft-Hartley Act defines a supervisor as ―any individual having authority, in the interest of
the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or
discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or
effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such
authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent
judgment.‖
Figure 1.1 reprints actual advertisements for a variety of supervisory jobs.
The basic job of a manager is to see that an organization meets its goals, yet there are
distinctions.
For top executives, managing is about making sure that the organization‘s vision and
business strategy will allow it to meet its goals through the years ahead.
At the supervisory level, managing means ensuring employees in a particular department
are performing their jobs so the department will contribute its share to accomplishing the
organization‘s goals.
o Usually, supervisors focus on day-to-day problems and on goals to be achieved
in one year or less.
Present-day theories about how to be a supervisor are based on management and supervision
research findings that continuously evolve over the years.
Management research is important because supervision is management at the lowest
level of the organization.
3. Teaching example for defining what a supervisor is:
Students may not be familiar with the structure of an organization and the functions of its
managers. Use an organization chart to show where the supervisor is placed in the organization.
The organization chart is covered in greater detail later, so use a very simple chart at this point.
The organization chart illustrates where the supervisor is in the hierarchy of the organization. It
also illustrates the variety of work groups that include the position of supervisor.
The organization chart developed for this Learning Objective may be used again for later
learning objectives. For example, Learning Objective 1.6 explains how supervisors are
responsible to higher management, employees, and coworkers. On the chart, include at least four
levels of employees and at least three divisions of management such as human resources (or
personnel), purchasing, and a sales or production unit. By doing so, you have two divisions with
which a supervisor interacts.
, Develop the organization chart by using the following methods:
a. Ask students to help develop an organization chart for a local business they are familiar
with such as a grocery store. Include at least four levels: for example, a CEO, managers,
supervisors, and line workers.
b. In developing the organization chart, ask students to describe what has to happen in the
organization to ultimately deliver products and services to the customer: for example,
hiring people, buying goods and materials, paying the bills for goods and materials,
waiting on customers, and so forth. Add the position of division manager if it is useful to
the discussion.
c. Discuss the general responsibility of each level and the relationship of other positions to
the supervisor, including positions higher, lower, and peers.
d. Discuss how the supervisor‘s responsibilities, behaviors, and attitudes differ from the line
worker and the boss of the supervisor.
Remind students that the supervisor has a role in the organization that is different
from those who are higher in the organization and the employees who will work in
the supervisor‘s work unit, even though there is a sharing of certain skills.
Typical organization chart, simplified:
4. Exercise for defining what a supervisor is:
Draw on the experience of students in the class. Ask them to describe what supervisors do by
using knowledge they have gained with work experiences or talking with other people about
supervisors.
a. Ask students to think about supervisors they have worked with or information about
supervisors they have gained by talking to other people. Have them list what supervisors
do on the job and how they fit into the total organization. Allow two to five minutes for
them to individually write their list.
b. Ask students to share the comments on their lists with the class.
Supervision Concepts and Skill-Building 2024 Release Samuel Certo
Chapters 1-17
Chapter 01
Supervision: Tradition and Contemporary Trends
I. Chapter Overview
Learning Objectives
LO 01-01: Define what a supervisor is.
LO 01-02: Summarize research findings that have led to basic ideas of what managers should
do.
LO 01-03: Describe the basic types of supervisory skills.
LO 01-04: Describe how the growing diversity of the workforce affects the supervisor‘s role.
LO 01-05: Identify the general functions of a supervisor.
LO 01-06: Explain how supervisors are responsible to higher management, employees, and
coworkers.
LO 01-07: Describe the typical background of someone who is promoted to supervisor.
LO 01-08: Identify characteristics of a successful supervisor.
This chapter provides an introduction to the supervisor. The supervisor is the first-level manager
responsible for coordinating the work of nonmanagement employees, or employees who provide the
products and services for the customers of the organization.
A historical perspective of the supervisor‘s role looks into the theories and principles that have led to
the development of current views on supervision. Frederick Taylor‘s scientific management principles
(focus on efficiency), Lillian and Frank Gilbreth‘s time-and-motion studies, Henri Fayol‘s
administrative principles (focus on functions), Mary Parker Follett‘s principles of coordination, and
Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs (focus on people) are discussed in relation to the supervisory role in an
organization.
The skills required of the supervisor are similar to the skills required of both employees and
managers. Supervisors need technical skills common to their employees, but they also need human
relations skills, conceptual skills, and decision-making skills. Human relations skills enable the
supervisor to work effectively with other people. Conceptual skills enable the supervisor to see the
relation of the parts to the whole and to one another. Decision-making skills enable the supervisor to
analyze information and reach good decisions. Supervisors usually have ample technical skills, which
may have to be held in check. On the other hand, they may have to develop better human relations,
conceptual, and decision-making skills.
Growing diversity in the workforce resulting from increasing proportions of women and ethnic and
racial minorities is challenging the supervisor‘s role. Differing perspectives on situations faced by the
,organization are an advantage when competitive forces increasingly require flexibility and innovation.
However, most individuals, including supervisors, usually feel more comfortable with those who are
most like themselves. Supervisors need to learn to value diversity for their own success and for the
success of the organization.
General functions of the supervisor include planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
Planning involves setting goals and determining how to meet them. Organizing involves setting up the
groups, allocating resources, and assigning work to achieve goals. Staffing includes identifying,
hiring, and developing the necessary number and quality of employees. Leading involves getting
employees to do what is expected of them. Controlling consists of monitoring performance and
making needed corrections.
Supervisors are responsible for getting the work assigned by their boss accomplished through the use
of the employees who work for them. They are also responsible for communicating instructions,
requirements, and expectations of the organization to their employees and dealing with them fairly.
Supervisors are responsible for informing their managers of concerns of employees. They are also
responsible for cooperating with coworkers in other departments to assure the effective and efficient
operation of the organization.
Most supervisors start out as employees within the department. Their promotion is based on
performance and skill levels. To be successful, supervisors must leave the role of employee and
develop the required skills of the supervisor. A successful supervisor is usually someone who has a
positive attitude, is loyal and fair, communicates well, can delegate, and wants the job.
A Supervision Challenge: Supervising Remote Workers
This opening case discusses supervising remote employees and presents the following two questions.
1. What traits do you think can help a supervisor successfully manage remote workers?
Sample answers may include communication skills, diplomacy, consistency, and fairness.
2. What traits would you as a supervisor look for when hiring subordinates to work
remotely?
Sample answers may include communication skills, attention to detail, time-management
skills, and ability to do the work.
The case is again referred to in the Skills Module – Part Two: Skill-Building exercise at the end of the
chapter.
II. Teaching the Concepts by Learning Objective
Learning Objective 01-01: Define what a supervisor is.
,1. Key terms:
Supervisor: A manager at the first level of management.
2. Teaching notes:
The Taft-Hartley Act defines a supervisor as ―any individual having authority, in the interest of
the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or
discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or
effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such
authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent
judgment.‖
Figure 1.1 reprints actual advertisements for a variety of supervisory jobs.
The basic job of a manager is to see that an organization meets its goals, yet there are
distinctions.
For top executives, managing is about making sure that the organization‘s vision and
business strategy will allow it to meet its goals through the years ahead.
At the supervisory level, managing means ensuring employees in a particular department
are performing their jobs so the department will contribute its share to accomplishing the
organization‘s goals.
o Usually, supervisors focus on day-to-day problems and on goals to be achieved
in one year or less.
Present-day theories about how to be a supervisor are based on management and supervision
research findings that continuously evolve over the years.
Management research is important because supervision is management at the lowest
level of the organization.
3. Teaching example for defining what a supervisor is:
Students may not be familiar with the structure of an organization and the functions of its
managers. Use an organization chart to show where the supervisor is placed in the organization.
The organization chart is covered in greater detail later, so use a very simple chart at this point.
The organization chart illustrates where the supervisor is in the hierarchy of the organization. It
also illustrates the variety of work groups that include the position of supervisor.
The organization chart developed for this Learning Objective may be used again for later
learning objectives. For example, Learning Objective 1.6 explains how supervisors are
responsible to higher management, employees, and coworkers. On the chart, include at least four
levels of employees and at least three divisions of management such as human resources (or
personnel), purchasing, and a sales or production unit. By doing so, you have two divisions with
which a supervisor interacts.
, Develop the organization chart by using the following methods:
a. Ask students to help develop an organization chart for a local business they are familiar
with such as a grocery store. Include at least four levels: for example, a CEO, managers,
supervisors, and line workers.
b. In developing the organization chart, ask students to describe what has to happen in the
organization to ultimately deliver products and services to the customer: for example,
hiring people, buying goods and materials, paying the bills for goods and materials,
waiting on customers, and so forth. Add the position of division manager if it is useful to
the discussion.
c. Discuss the general responsibility of each level and the relationship of other positions to
the supervisor, including positions higher, lower, and peers.
d. Discuss how the supervisor‘s responsibilities, behaviors, and attitudes differ from the line
worker and the boss of the supervisor.
Remind students that the supervisor has a role in the organization that is different
from those who are higher in the organization and the employees who will work in
the supervisor‘s work unit, even though there is a sharing of certain skills.
Typical organization chart, simplified:
4. Exercise for defining what a supervisor is:
Draw on the experience of students in the class. Ask them to describe what supervisors do by
using knowledge they have gained with work experiences or talking with other people about
supervisors.
a. Ask students to think about supervisors they have worked with or information about
supervisors they have gained by talking to other people. Have them list what supervisors
do on the job and how they fit into the total organization. Allow two to five minutes for
them to individually write their list.
b. Ask students to share the comments on their lists with the class.
