Happy Times

1. In your own words, define supervision. It is the first level of management that is the liaison between, what the companies goals are as directed by upper management. The supervisor is responsible for accomplishing these goals through training, delegation and motivation. The supervisor's role is to insure that his employees are on board with the objectives of the business. It is the supervisor that sets the mode of his employees. It is his responsibility to convince his team through communication what it is that needs to be accomplished. He has to understand his team's weakness and strengths. Having this knowledge will help in the delegation of responsibilities. He is not the person that does the hands on work. He is the person that ensures that his team is motivated to perform the task at hand and he is also responsible for dealing with his peers and other specialists to ensure what his team is doing doesn't affect what the other departments are expecting to accomplish there goals. The supervisor is also responsible for planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling, and the safety of his employees...

2. Why is it usually a good idea to generate several alternatives when making a decision? This is a good idea, because you don't know if you have the facts when the decision is made orginally. It is improtant to have a back up plan or an altenate plan. You have to be ready when all the aspects of the decision are made.

3. Name and briefly discuss several traps that supervisors frequently fall into when making decisions. The traps that supervisors fall into when making decisions are:

a. Making all decisions big decisions, this style of decision making has a tendency of wasting a lot of time. A supervisor must have the ability to categorize where a decision fits in based on the impact of the decision. This type of decision making style may cause other more important decisions to be delayed. It can cost the company money.

b. Creating crisis situations- this style of decision making puts all decisions in on the same time restraint. It may be a situation that can be corrected with a phone call or a simple sign off. But the supervisors delay in reacting can cause the problem to be worsening. It could be as simple as ordering a part for a piece of equipment that will cost more then expected. In the meanwhile you continue to run the machine at a lower production rate. Then the machine breaks down. Son now because of your delay in buying the needed part. The machine will now cost more to fix. Because you let it continue to run at a lowered production rate and now you cannot run the equipment at all. And the repairs cost are tripled.

c. Failing to consult with others- There are times that you may be to close to a problem to see the big picture. You may feel that asking others for input is admitting a lack of ability on your part. It doesn't mean this. It is just another set of eyes on a problem. Consulting other is a good way of looking at all ways to correct a problem. The person that you speak to may have already gone through the same thing.

d. Never admitting a mistake- A supervisor that cannot admit to making a mistake loses the support of his team. When a mistake is made in the workforce due to a decision made my supervisor, the workforce knows and will do all they can to fix it. More so if the supervisor admits to the mistake. He will also earn his employees respect.

e. Constantly regretting decisions- This is the worst thing that a supervisor can do when making