Supervision

Learn to be a Supervisor, for any workplace.

The key to success of any company or organisation is good management and the key to good management is the Supervisor.  Good supervision is, in fact, the single most important factor in the success of any advanced economy.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction - Functions of a supervisor, Organisational structures & heirachy, Bases for organisational structure, Organisational charts, Supervisors responsibilities, How supervisors fit into an organisation, What does a supervisor do.
2. Understanding the work place - Government and private personnel departments, unions; Law and employees, Contracted responsibilities, Discrimination, Liability for staff actions, Workplace elements.
3. Communications and human relations -Influence in the workplace (formal authority, Reward and punishment, Knowledge, Leadership, Power, etc), Familiarity, Managing Aptitude (Status, Prestige, Loyalty, Security, Friendship, Personality, Workload, etc), Good Business Writing, Memoranda, Letters.
4. Motivating employees - Internal Incentives, Environmental Incentives, Practical ways to motivate
5. Organising the work place - Good work habits, Planning a Work schedule, Establishing priorities, Improving results, Project planning and management tools, Organising the work space.
6. Problem solving techniques - Solving problems, Guidelines for making decisions, Types of problem, solvers, Different ways to solve problems, Involving others, A Classic Problem Solving Technique
7. Discipline, complaints and grievances - Levels of discipline (reprimanding, fixing, blame, formal warning, removing privileges, termination of employment, legal action), Increasing self discipline, Introducing change, Giving orders.
8. Interviewing, recruitment, training - Job interviews, Successful interviewing, Resumes/ C.V's, Training Staff, Staff Procedure Documents, Staff contracts,
9. Work place safety -Cost of injury and illness, Duty of Care, Accidents, Managing manual work safely, Protective equipment
10. Dealing with management/worker participation/ report writing/ staff meetings - Purpose of meetings, Leading a meeting, Problems with meetings, Meeting documentation

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Explain and create an organisational chart.
• Describe the five basic kinds of Unions.
• Report on what you expect to achieve by practicing good human relations.
• Define objectives, goals, tasks to be achieved.
• Describe what steps should be taken before re organising a section or department?
• Draw up a work area for an office, factory etc.
• Show step by step how you would work through the problem solving technique systematically, in order to determine a good way of dealing with this problem.
• Write a diplomatic letter to a union in response to a complaint.
• Draw up a suitable advertisement for a position of a "Salesperson"
• Explain the methods most frequently used to train new employees.

Suggested Reading

Leadership is a very easy to read book by our principal (John Mason) and staff; writtent to introduce key concepts and complement our courses.
Click to see an outline, download some sample pages, or purchase a copy as a downloadable ebook.

• implementing policies
• implementing plans
• implementing procedures in ways that will maximize productivity.

The supervisor sets goals and objectives for his subordinates in order to achieve the policies, plans and procedures laid down by higher levels of management. Some of the activities that might be involved in setting goals are:

• Job study and analysis (i.e. studying and understanding the work that is required, and analyzing the work). This is best written down or entered into a computer data base;

• Organising resources (e.g. materials and equipment needed for the work, space, information etc.);

• Defining work roles (e.g. staff selection, induction, training, deciding whether staff are taken from existing staff, or outside/new staff are selected);

• Conveying orders to the subordinates (directing the work);

• Motivating subordinates;

• Monitoring and controlling the work (e.g. adjusting allocation of human and non human resources);

• Coordinating (e.g. Interacting with other departments or outside organisation or individuals, whether management, or suppliers of services to the work team, or clients who the work team is serving).