Research paper: Supervisory Skills

Organizational leadership is one of the most challenging tasks in the workplace. The people in charge have to ensure a smooth flow of activities while avoiding conflicts or issues that might reduce the firm’s productivity. When employees start exhibiting signs of disinterest and lack of motivation, it is essential to talk to them to identify the cause of the problem. Communication is key, and it enhances the relationship between the managers and workers. As such, problem identification and solving become easier. Adopting the best management approach will also encourage the workers to open up about their experiences in the organization. Therefore, they will not feel isolated or l;ose trust in their leaders .

Research paper: Supervisory Skills

Introduction

Management and leadership are crucial roles in all organizations. The workers’ productivity greatly depends on the kind of leaders and the skills employed in controlling their activities. When handling employees, it is important to understand that leadership and management are closely related but unique in some aspects (Bolden, 2016). While leaders have people following and emulating them, managers make others work for them. For a successful organization, it is vital to have both skills to ensure timely achievement of goals and become successful. While leadership makes the others understand and believe in their leaders’ mission, management entails administering and ensuring that the daily activities happen in the right way. This article will analyze various challenges affecting people in the identified department, and suggest strategies for overcoming these challenges to make the operations easier and productive.

The Department

Managing 30 workers in one department can be challenging if one does not fully understand the aspects involved. In this case, workers operate in shifts that rotate every three weeks. The first morning shifts run from 0700 AM-3.3.30 PM and the second shift from 3 PM-11.30 PM. Considering that the employees in this department are demoralized and unwilling to put the effort in their work, it will be vital to identify the cause of their problems (Certo, 2018). The approach will make it possible to adopt the best strategies for addressing the present concerns. It will also be crucial to involve the co-leads in this process because they also deal with the workers and might have closer relationships, hence a deeper understanding of the underlying issues.

When it comes to handling the employee who is always late, it will be vital to get first-hand information on why they always report to work after the others. Issues like lack of motivation could be making it challenging for the worker to attend the working station on time (Sandhu et al., 2017). After identifying the problem, it will be vital to come up with set guidelines on the expectations concerning reporting time. Additionally, encouraging teamwork will ensure that the workers share helpful ideas on how to tackle both work and personal challenges.

The same case applies to the worker who always calls in sick. He seems to have challenges relating to others or putting up with the pressure at work. However, a degree of motivation will boost his morale by making the job more interesting. McGregor’s theory X and Y of motivation might also help in analyzing these situations to take the most appropriate action. Under theory X, managers believe that some workers possess inherent laziness and avoid work as much as they can. Therefore, workers require close supervision and comprehensive control systems are crucial and ensure close monitoring. This approach could apply in the case of the worker who always calls in sick frequently. On the other hand, theory Y focuses on managers who encourage employee’s ambition, self-motivation and the willingness to engage in more significant responsibilities. The workers also desire to be creative and have visions for the future.

Growth is essential in every career, and so workers remaining in the same position for long might be demoralizing. In this case, an employee has stayed in the same position for 14 years and feels that failing to promote him has been unfair. When handling this problem, it will be vital to bear in mind the workers complain that he is slow and cannot learn new technologies. Since other workers have been getting promotions, there is a possibility that there could have been favouritism in the previous management (Certo, 2018). Where this aspect takes root in the workplace, deterioration occurs in all aspects of organizational performance. Having other employees promoted while remaining in the same position has made the worker threaten to quit their job. The approach is one way of airing their grievances because it seems no one has been considering his plight. Since other employees complain that he is slow, it will be crucial to take him for refresher courses first.

Being in the same position without more training might make a person’s skills obsolete. Therefore, it will be essential to talk to the employee first and find out why they are always slow and disinterested in technology. Another critical approach will be involving them in the conversation and finding out if they have suggestions about ways of improving their speeds. Offering clear deadlines with priorities will also encourage the worker to understand what they are trying to achieve (Certo, 2018). Additionally, limiting distractions will that the workers do not feel overwhelmed. As such, feeding them tasks in bits will increase productivity and boost their morale. Finding out what the worker enjoys doing will also ensure that the functions focus on their strong points. Since the worker is trying to improve their speed, offering positive criticism and providing regular feedback will help them to identify and enhance their weak areas.

On the other hand, it will be vital to offer workshops which train employees how to handle the changing technologies. Ongoing training will help the worker identify the benefits and embrace the technological way of managing their work (Bolden, 2016). After achieving the set targets and improving their work, it will be safe to promote the worker to a higher level.

The brand new worker is very hard working and super sharp but has difficulties balancing her personal life with the professional one. In handling this situation, it will be important to discuss with the employee about the most appropriate shifts for her work. For instance, if she has someone to stay with the child in the afternoon, she could move to the second shift. Additionally, we could make arrangements that she enters the morning shift late and stays into the second shift as long as she covers the required hours and delivers the expected results. With such an approach, she will be comfortable both at home and work.

When handling the workers, it is vital to consider the generational differences involved in the process. For instance, the silent generation which consists of people born before 1946 believes in hard work while the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 believe in loyalty at work. Additionally, the Gen Xers born between 1965 and 1980 place value on the work-life balance while the millennials/generation Y believes in change and innovation (Lu & Gursoy, 2016). While determining the positions to offer each person, it will be vital to analyze their ages to ensure that they remain in comfortable posts.

While handling the situations in the department, it will be vital to uphold honesty and integrity. With this approach, employees will believe the leader’s journey and participate in the development journey Bolden, 2016). Vision is also a crucial aspect of management because it enables the team to understand their progress. As a good manager, it will be vital to inspire the team to be all they can by ensuring they understand their roles perfectly. It will also be crucial to consider the organizational SWOT analysis so that the supervisor and assistants can allocate the most urgent matters to the workers first. The approach will also make it possible to prioritise the weak areas while exploiting the strengths and opportunities.

In achieving the goals, the assistants will also need to adopt the Management By Walking Around (MBWA) strategy.  Since most lack of motivation is high, it will be possible to identify the workers unwilling to execute their duties. It will also be possible to engage the workers at a personal level (Bolden, 2016). The supervision style will also assist all the employees to achieve positive outcomes in their duties.

These recommendations for the improvement of the department require immediate fixing to avoid further problems. Therefore, all the co-leads will take their roles immediately while the training programs will become useful in a few days. Since the co-leads are good at their work, I will delegate most of the activities to them but will need frequent updates about the employees’ progress. both the workers and the co-leads will have to analyze the identified SMART objectives to ensure that the transformation covers all the identified challenges

Conclusion

The issue of misunderstandings and lack of cooperation between the employees and management can result in irreversible damages to the organization. Additionally, poor management can demotivate workers who only stay because they lack choices. Therefore, it is vital for the administration to always remain up to date with the workers to ensure that they are satisfied with their various posts. In fact, adopting the best leadership strategies will avoid problems and encourage the workers’ productivity.

References

Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.

Certo, S. C. (2018). Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Education.

Gürbüz, S., Şahin, F., & Köksal, O. (2014). Revisiting of Theory X and Y: A multilevel analysis of the effects of leaders’ managerial assumptions on followers’ attitudes. Management Decision, 52(10), 1888-1906.

Lu, A. C. C., & Gursoy, D. (2016). Impact of job burnout on satisfaction and turnover intention: Do generational differences matter?. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 40(2), 210-235.

Sandhu, M. A., Iqbal, J., Ali, W., & Tufail, M. S. (2017). Effect of Employee Motivation on Employee Performance. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, 3(1), 85-100.