The chapters in the main article have a direct correlation with the roles and functions of a supervisor in a contemporary organization. Thus, the article dwells ostensibly on the managerial roles actuated by the supervisors in an organization. The extent of the mandates advocated by the supervisors relates to his or her obligation to the organization. Moreover, supervisors are the immediate advocate of the company, and in direct contact with the employees on a daily discourse.
Principally, this article discusses discipline as a core mandate of supervisory roles to an organization. On the same line, supervisors act as the direct advocate of an organization and are expected to maintain high levels of discipline with the staffs. The congruence between the mainstream points on the disciplinary mandate and the roles of the supervisors makes it relevant to this emblem of this discussion (Austin and Karen 5). Consequently, supervisors enforce discipline and keep the employees focused on their task and assigned duties. The execution of this mandate spurs responsibility and productivity within the organization, as well as enhancing the creation of a level playing field among employees regardless of their status or position.
The second aspect that relates to the supervisor’s roles in an organization that ostensibly appears in this article refers to the development mandate attributed to the supervisor. Indeed, a supervisor is the closest and the most immediate authority figure that controls the activities of the employees of an organization (Austin and Karen 7). In fact, a manager acts as an intermediary between the management and the rest of the employees. Thus, their roles as closer and common custodians to the management and the employees enable them to spur development projects on behalf of the organization. Furthermore, the daily contact that a supervisor makes with the employees acts as a suitable ground for spurring skills and competence among them. However, the mandate of the supervisors is not only limited to making daily contact and developing their work duty skills; they are equally tasked with the responsibility of determining the suitability of an employee to a given job.
Supervisors also act as peacekeepers in the organization. Indeed, the closeness that the supervisor shares with the employees gives him or her chance to intervene whenever there is conflict in the organization. In the case of an ensuing conflict, the supervisors intervene by first assessing the situation before offering a solution to the conflicting groups or partners. The intervention of supervisors is vital in preventing a conflict from escalating beyond a certain level. In fact, his understanding of both sides of conflicting employees enables him to stem further conflict and fury, and this puts him as a capable peacemaker within the organization.
There are myriads of challenges that supervisors face in our organization, and time it baffles me about the right move to take whenever such conflicts are eminent. The most ensuing problem that the supervisors in my organization have relates to the moment that they need to confront the performance problem of an employee. In most cases, a supervisor’s nightmare becomes real when it comes to confronting the problem since a majority of employees take it negatively, and the situation triggers a negative behavioral change. On the other hand, postponing confronting such behaviors simply promotes weaknesses that hamper the organization’s performance.
The decision to terminate an employee often triggers fury and blames on a supervisor. This is often a hard decision to make, and it brings sharp reactions from the employees. Therefore, the balance between making a termination decision and maintaining a sound ethical appeal to the employees is very hard to a supervisor. Finally, the ability to make the right decision is often a problem in our organization, and indeed the supervisors have to consider both sides of the divide before committing to such decisions.
Work Cited
Austin, Michael J, and Karen M. Hopkins. Supervision As Collaboration in the Human Services: Building a Learning Culture. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage, 2004. Print.
