Best_Practices_Manual

Best Practices Manual For Supervisors MGT/210 January 15, 2011 Being a successful supervisor involves more than just, being in charge. There are several basic skills necessary to help outcomes for your organization and the employee’s you supervise. Within this manual, you will find those basic tools that are necessary to help with the tasks that a supervisor has to deal with almost everyday to supervise effectively and efficiently. Being a successful supervisor entails certain responsibilities, responsibilities that include: Demonstrating Effective Communication Skills, Determining Effective Orientation and Training Methods, Improving Productivity for Teams, Conducting Performance Appraisals, Resolving Conflicts, and Improving Employee Relations. Communication can be used to inform, command, instruct, assess, influence, and persuade other people. Demonstrating effective communication skills is important in all aspects of life including, business. As the supervisor, you will use communications on a daily basis. Much of your time will be spent communicating with others and good supervisors develop effective communication over time. These skills are used to take in information, for the motivation of employees, and to deal effectively with bosses, customers, and other employees. Having good, communication skills can significantly affect a supervisor’s success. Communicating effectively, is an important management skill for several reasons. Supervisors that fail to offer clear guidance often find that their staff of employees do their work unsatisfactorily because, they do not understand what is expected of them. Supervisors must give direction to the people who work for them. Good supervisors must utilize their abilities to communicate to get employees excited about the tasks that they perform and they must be able to motivate their employees. However, supervisors have thoughts and ideas that some will oppose and for the persuasion of employees to accept their ideas, effective communication must be used by the supervisor and, they must possess the power of persuasion. Learning to communicate in writing or verbally is essential for a supervisor. Before a supervisor can master either form of communication they must first be able to identify their audience, develop good listening skills, and recognize the importance of feedback and nonverbal communication. As the supervisor, you will have to communicate with several different kinds of people. To be able to effectively communicate, you must determine your audience. Specifically, you need to be able to answer the following questions: What do they know already, what is it they want to know, what is their capacity to absorb the information, what do they hope to gain by listening, and is it a hostile for friendly audience. One of the most important skills a supervisor can develop is being able to listen. Developing good listening skills will enable the supervisor to absorb relevant information, understanding others’ problems, and recognizing other people’s viewpoints This requires the supervisor to learn active listening. Active listening requires absorbing what people are saying and being able to respond to the person’s concerns. The key to becoming a good communicator is learning to listen actively. Communicating effectively is a two-fold process and the information between the sender and the receiver must have a back and forth flow, the flow is defined as feedback. It informs the sender whether the correct message has been received by the receiver. It also allows the receiver to know if they have received the correct message. People also possess the power to convey meaning through nonverbal means of expression. Paralanguage is a form of nonverbal communication that includes pitch, tempo, loudness, and hesitations in verbal communication and people also utilize several gestures in nonverbal communication.(The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004). In short, nonverbal communication is a relevant supplement to verbal communication and at times can change the way verbal communication is interpreted and nonverbal communication is also an effective way of communicating emotions. In combination with verbal communication, it gives supervisors a powerful skill for transmitting information to employees. Determining effective orientation and training methods are an essential and integral part in the process of developing a committed and flexible, high-potential workforce, and socializing new employees. These programs can also save the employer’s money, providing large returns to an organization because a company that invests time and money to train their employees can result in both the employee and the organization enjoying the dividends. Orienting the new employee introduces a new employee to the company and the new job. This is an ongoing process, not just a one-time obligation. Most new hires learn the general aspects of the new job and company during the hiring process. More often than not, this will entail the job duties, rate of pay, and the general working conditions. Both the human resources department and the supervisor are included in the orientation process and share the responsibilities in larger companies. Orientation programs not only improve the rate at which employees are able to perform their new jobs, they also introduce the employee into the company’s social fabric. Simply hiring and placing a new employee into the job will not ensure their success. After the specific training goals have been established, the actual training process needs to be scheduled. Usually this is outlined in five steps. The five steps in training new employees are: getting the trainee’s ready to learn, break down the work into components and identify the key points, demonstrate the proper way the work is to be done, let the trainees perform the work, and gradually put the trainees on their own.(The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004) The supervisors main role falls in the category of On-The-Job Training (OJT). This is usually done through the manager or a senior employee of the company. The major advantage of on-the-job training is that the newly hired staff is doing productive work and learning at the same time. One disadvantage of on-the-job training is that, work place pressures can cause the manager to either neglect the new employee or, give him/her less than stellar training. Another method used by many organizations is called, cross-training or job rotation. This is training the new employee in several jobs and/or departments for a specific amount of time. This method is used because the task of a person who is absent from work or, leaves the organization can be readily performed by the cross-trained employee. Other benefits in job rotation or cross-training include building a better team and individual skill development. Supervisors, however, need to realize that different people learn at different rates, some more rapidly than others, and others more slowly. A supervisor should not think that everyone will pick the job up right away. The rate and pace of training should be adjusted accordingly to the trainee. The attitude of the supervisor should be that all people can and want to learn. Increasing productivity is key to competing at the local, national, and international levels and because of this, both supervisors and labor leaders publicly urge high productivity in the work force. Productivity is defined as, units of output per employee hour and, is the result of three separate and major components: efficiency of technology, the efficiency of labor, and the effectiveness of management. However, over the years, much attention, although probably not enough, has been given to the improvement of recruitment and hiring techniques, while little has been said about an equally important question of how to retain a new employee, until and beyond the time he or she becomes productive. Nevertheless, in view of some experts, training alone will not do the trick. On-boarding or, the process of quickly and efficiently integrating a new employee into the company must also be accomplished and, unless it is accomplished, the newly hired employee will not feel valued, trusted, and invited to become a part of the group and, they are far more likely to quit the job. This can cut down on a team’s productivity. “The process of On-boarding should begin before the new hires first day on the job. You don’t get a second chance at making a first impression”, say’s Alan Richman of Wood Digest.(Wood Digest, Jan. 2008, Vol. 39). Another good way to recognize that work methods need improvement and to improve productivity is identifying tasks needing methods improvement, which requires periodic reviews of output and budget data. Out-of-line costs, slow service, unmet production schedules, excessive waste, and high accident rates usually show up in this data. A good approach is to develop a priority list of tasks targeted for methods improvement. The methods that are utilized in each task that is listed can be improved upon as resources, and time allow. I might also recommend that, the first and last task selected for methods improvement is identified clearly. This will limit the scope of the methods improvement study as well as the specific tasks to be studied. With productivity comes performance and appraising employee performance is one of the most difficult, yet important jobs, done by the supervisor. Conducting a performance appraisal is the process that involves communicating to an employee how well he or she is performing their jobs and also involves establishing an improvement plan. However, we must ask, “What is performance'” It refers to how well an employee is fulfilling their job requirements. These appraisals are used for many purposes such as, wage and salary increases, job promotions, employee counseling, and even for lay-off’s. The first method of appraisal that I recommend is, a Critical-Incident Appraisal. With this, the supervisor keeps a written record of unusual incidents that show both positive and negative actions by an employee. The employee is then evaluated based on actual behavior. However, in using this method, the employee must be able to give their personal views on each incident. In order for this method to work, supervisors must record actions, positive or negative, as they occur. The second method of appraisal I find useful is, The Work Standards Approach. With this, attempts are made to establish objective measures of an employee’s work performance. The work-standards approach is used more frequently for operative workers in production jobs than of other types of employees. Never, at any time, should the appraisal be conducted with any biases. They need to be kept on a professional level at all times. Appraisals are not an easy task for any supervisor, but they need too be fair and, information needs to be precise. Resolving conflicts is yet another task that may not be the easiest for a supervisor to undertake. But first, the supervisor needs to understand and recognize what conflict is. Conflict is a condition of friction or opposition resulting from actual or perceived differences or incompatibilities. This conflict generally passes through a few cycles or stages. These stages are latent conflict, perceived conflict, felt conflict, manifest conflict, and conflict aftermath. Although some conflict may be beneficial to an organization, if the conflict is not managed properly, they can result in negative consequences. Forcing the conflict to a solution, is one way of resolving conflict by a supervisor. For example, two employee’s are engaged in a personal conflict with one another. As the supervisor, you should tell them that this enough, and this is the way things are going to be, and this will be the end of the conflict. Yes, this could lead to the conflict arising in the future, but, the employee’s will know where the supervisor stands on the subject. Another strategy is, a confrontation between the employees. However, in order for this to succeed, there are guidelines that must be followed. Before the confrontation begins, review the past actions of the employees and, make it clear the issues causing the conflict. Encourage the employees to communicate openly, and freely. Allow them to air their feelings and not hold back their grievances. Don’t place blame, as this only polarizes the employees. Don’t surprise the employees with the confrontations if they are not prepared. Have nothing to do with the specific conflict and never attack sensitive areas of either employee. And, encourage the employees to examine their own biases and feelings. Confrontation has proven to be the most effective and long-lasting method for resolving conflicts. Resolving these conflicts can also improve employee relations. Maintaining and improving healthy employee relations in an organization is essential for the organizations’ success. Strong employee relations are required for high productivity and human satisfaction. Employee relations generally deal with avoiding and resolving issues concerning individuals which might arise out of or, influence the work scenario. Healthy employee relations lead to more efficient, motivated, and productive employees which further lead to an increase in sales levels as well. Improving employee relations must be a strength in any organization. To do so, the following points must be taken care of. First, an employee has the expectation of fair and just treatment, by management. Thus, management must treat all employees as individuals and treat them in a fair and just manner. Never allow for employee favoritism. Next, maintain a continuous interaction with the employees and, always keep the lines of communication open. Also, keep the employees well-informed as informed employees will make sound decisions and remain motivated and productive. Finally, employees need to be rewarded and appreciated for a job well-done, or even achieving and meeting their targets. Recognition comes in many forms, and maintains a happy staff environment. This will boost them and most often, promote better and healthy team-work, within the organization. In conclusion, this best practices manual for new supervisors is an essential tool for long lasting success in their career. Demonstrating communication skills, determining effective orientation and training methods, improving productivity for your teams, conducting performance appraisals, resolving conflict, and improving employee relations will help the supervisor develop the best outcomes for their organizations and the employees that you supervise. Reference: www.managementstudies.com , 2010-2011, Employee Relations-Importance and Ways of Improving Employee Relations. www.cliffsnotes.com Orientation and Training Programs. 15 Jan. 2011, Topic Article ID-8944, Article ID-8895, HTML. www.credoreference.com/.entry/estpeace/communications_studies_Overview Communication Studies, Overview (2008). In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict. Wood Digest: Richman, Alan. (Auth) Jan. 2008, Vol. #39 – Issue # 1, Pg. 20-21 Rue: Supervision, Eighth Edition, The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004 Text