The Supervisor as Leader

1. The Supervisor as Leader

2. Leading • The management function of influencing people to act or not act in a certain way. • Leadership traits that are often suggested as useful include: • a sense of responsibility, • self-confidence, • high energy level, • empathy, • internal locus of control, and • a sense of humor.

3. Internal Locus of Control: • The belief that one is the primary cause of what happens to oneself.

4. Leadership Styles: • Leadership styles are define by • The amount authority retained by the supervisor • A task-oriented or people-oriented approach, or both • Leader attitudes based on assumptions they have about employees.

5. Supervisors can be • authoritarian, • democratic, or • laissez-faire. • They often use more than one style of leading depending on employee and situational factors.

6. Situational factors include leader-member relations, task structure, and the position power of the leader.

7. An important part of the leadership role is giving orders or directions to employees. • A supervisor should make sure that employees understand directions and the reason for them.

8. Leadership behavior is affected by how the supervisor thinks of himself/herself. • People who believe they are capable tend to act capably.

9. Successful supervisors need to work effectively and maintain good relations with their employees, boss, and peers. • With employees, supervisors should set a good example, be ethical, and develop trust. • Supervisors should give their boss loyalty, cooperation, information, and results and be aware of and respond to the boss’s style. • With peers, supervisors should keep competition fair and as friendly as possible and offer support or criticism in a constructive way.

10. Paul B. Malone III, • “a manager focuses just on getting a task done, a leader focuses on getting it done in a way that gives employees a feeling of accomplishment and willingness to follow the leader again.”

11. Manage-- • 1. To direct or control the use of. • 2. a. To exert control over. b. To make submissive to one’s authority, discipline, or persuasion.”)

12. In some cases a distinction is emphasized with leadership described as a more dynamic activity toward meeting the needs and goals of the organization..

13. Organizations seek to hire or promote employees who will be successful and an asset to the organization. • Is it possible to predict success or leadership ability from personality type, or are there traits that are associated with a supervisor’s success?

14. Significant Traits Associated with Leadership • a. Sense of responsibility. • Supervisors must be willing to take seriously the responsibility that goes with the job. • b. Self confidence. • Supervisors who believe in their ability to get the job done will convey confidence to employees.

15. c. High energy level. • Many organizations expect supervisors to willingly put in long hours in order to handle the variety of duties that come with the job. • d. Empathy. • Supervisors need to be sensitive and higher management. Supervisors who have difficulty understanding what makes people tick are at a disadvantage.

16. e. Internal locus of control. • People with an internal locus of control are thought to be leaders because they try harder to take charge of events. • f. Sense of humor. • People with a good sense of humor are more fun to work with or for.

17. Characteristics of a Successful Supervisor (Ch. 1) • The characteristics of a successful supervisor include: • positive attitude • loyal • fair • good communicator • able to delegate • wants the job

18. Additional Characteristics of a Successful Supervisor • Additional criteria for a successful supervisor include: • technical skills • human relations skills • conceptual skills • decision making skills

19. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey • Habit 1 • Be proactive. This refers to the taking of responsibility to make things happen. • Habit 2 • Begin with the end in mind. Start with a clear picture of where you are going and what the destination will look like.

20. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey • Habit 3 • Put first things first. The principle is based upon two factors--importance and urgency. • Habit 4 • Think win/win. The principle means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial.

21. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey • Habit 5 • Seek first to understand, then to be understood. One key to effective interpersonal communications is to listen with the intent to understand. • Habit 6 • Synergize. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

22. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey • Habit 7 • Sharpen the saw. Enhance personal abilities.

23. Leadership Styles • Authoritarian • Democratic • Laissez-faire • Theory X • Theory Y

24. Authoritarian Leadership: • A leadership style in which the leader retains a great deal of authority. • This style of leadership is characterized by the supervisor giving orders and employees following the orders. • An example would be a military commander who expects unquestioned obedience. • Decisions are made quickly. • Works best in an emergency or crisis or where employees lack maturity. • Employees may become dependent on decisions from supervisors and will not do anything of their own.

25. Democractic Leadership • A leadership style in which the leader allows subordinates to participate in decision making and problem solving. • This style of leadership is characterized by the supervisor actively seeking input from the employees. • An example would be work groups or teams for problem solving • Employees feel they have a say in the ways things are done and may feel more satisfied with their jobs. • Decisions take longer. • A supervisor who leaves most decisions to the group may be viewed by some employees as weak.

26. Laissez-faire Leadership • A leadership style in which the leader is uninvolved and lets subordinates direct themselves. • This style of leadership is characterized by the noninvolvment of the supervisor. • An example would be research and development settings. • Works best in an atmosphere where creativity and innovation is required. • Many employees see this method as no leadership at all.

27. Theory X • A set of attitudes based on the view that people dislike work and must be coerced to perform. • Theory X assumes that people dislike work and try to avoid it and must be coerced to perform. • Employees would prefer to be directed. • Employees have to be watched and occasionally disciplined to keep them performing. • A Theory X supervisor would most likely be autocratic.

28. Theory Y • A set of attitudes based on the view that work is a natural activity and that people will work hard and creatively to achieve objectives they are committed to. • Employees can be trusted and discipline is not necessary to get them to perform adequately. • Theory Y supervisors are more likely to adopt the democratic style.

29. Theory Z • A set of attitudes that emphasize employee participation in all aspects of decision making. • Assumes employees work as hard as they can. • An extension of Theory Y with the addition of organizational structure and the response of management to the employees. • Employees are trusted, and their input or ideas are actively sought. • This approach to supervision would be more consistently democratic.

30. Authoritarian style of leadership • Organizations or departments that require • a regimented method of performance, • quick response, or • employees need a lot of direction. • The military, and military-type organizations such as correction facilities, would be an example. • Fire fighting would be another. • This style would also be appropriate in organizations where employees require a lot of direction, such as a fast-food restaurant where there is high turnover of personnel.

31. Democratic style of leadership • Organizations and departments that require • input from employees for problem solving or • product and process improvement. • This style works in organizations where there is a highly skilled work force, especially if work requires teamwork to complete work effectively. • An example may be companies that supply the auto industry with parts and materials. • These companies are being driven by competitive forces to improve quality and reduce prices through continuous improvement.

32. Laissez-faire style of leadership • Organizations or departments that require • innovative employees and • where creativity is important. • Examples include • research and development departments, • software companies, • and design departments. • Beauty salons might be another type of company where this style of leadership works best.

33. Contingency Theory

34. Supervisors are not likely to use or represent a single type. • Contingency models of leadership attempt to describe the situations under which a specific type of supervisor will be most successful. • Contingency models of leadership maintain that the best style of leadership depends on the circumstances.

35. Contingency Models • There are two models: • Fiedler’s model and • The Hersey-Blanchard model.

36. Fiedler’s Model • Supervisors will be relationship oriented (people oriented) or task oriented depending on: • leader-member relations, or the extent to which the leader has group members’ support and loyalty. • task structure, or whether there is specified procedures to follow in carrying out the task. • position power, or the leader’s formal authority granted by the organization.

37. Fiedler recommends that a leader determine whether his or her preferred leadership style fits the situation, and, if not, the leader should try to change the characteristics of the situation.

38. The Hersey-Blanchard Life Cycle Theory • Similar to Fiedler’s theory except they believe that the leadership style should reflect the maturity of the followers as measured by such traits as ability to work independently . • Leaders should adjust the degree of task and relationship behavior in response to the growing maturity of their followers.

39. As followers mature, leaders should move through a combination of behaviors: • (1) High task and low relationship behavior • (2) High task and high relationship behavior • (3) Low task and high relationship behavior • (4) Low task and low relationship behavior

40. Situational characteristics include: • The supervisor’s characteristics • The level of competency of employees • the working environment

41. Supervisor Characteristics • The manager’s values. • What is most important to the supervisor? • Company profits • Personal growth and development • Development of employees • Level of confidence in employees • The more confidence in the employees, the more the supervisor will involve the employees.

42. Personal leadership strengths • Effective leaders capitalize on their strengths. • Tolerance for ambiguity • When employees are involved, the supervisor cannot always be sure of the outcomes. • Will the supervisor be comfortable will this uncertainty?

43. Employee Characteristics • Need for independence. • Employees who want a lot of direction will welcome autocratic leadership. • Readiness to assume responsibility. • Employees eager to assume responsibility appreciate democratic or laissez-faire styles of leadership.

44. Tolerance for ambiguity. • Employees tolerant of ambiguity will accept the leadership style that gives them more input. • Interest in the problem to be solved. • Employees interested in a problem and think it is important will want to be involved.

45. Understanding of and identification with goals. • Employees who understand and identify with the organization’s or department’s goals will want to be involved in meeting these goals. • Knowledge and experience. • Employees with the knowledge necessary to solve a problem are more apt to want to help come up with a solution.

46. Expectations. • Some employees expect to participate in making decisions and solving problems.

47. Diversity • Growing diversity in the work place means that supervisors may have a more difficult time determining where the employees are in regard to these characteristics. • There is the additional danger that supervisors have preconceived ideas about how employees think and behave.

48. Situation characteristics • Type of organization. • The organization lends itself to a type of leadership. • For example, if supervisors are expected to manage large numbers of employees, a democratic leadership style may be time consuming and relatively challenging to use. • When there is a large number of employees to manage or they are dispersed over a large area, laissez-faire style leadership may be the result whether it is intended or not.

49. Effectiveness of the group. • Regardless of the characteristics of individual employees, some groups are more successful in handling decisions than others. • When employees have little experience making decisions, authoritarian style leadership may be easier to use.

50. The problem or task. • Problems range from simple to complex. • Tasks range from structured to relatively unstructured. • Although it appears that each of these variables suggests a specific type of leadership, such as a structured task is best handled with more control by the supervisor, in reality each problem or task is also related to the other characteristics of the situation.