What are the three roles of a supervisor?

If you are a supervisor, even if not officially recognised as such, you are responsible for the carrying out of work in a safe manner in the workplace.

Your duties include:

• making decisions about health and safety that may affect work activities or other people
• ensuring legal requirements regarding health and safety are met
• actioning safety reports and carrying out workplace inspections
• ensuring safe work method statements are completed
• ensuring safe work practices
• conducting inductions and regular safety briefings
• participating in incident investigations
• leading by example and promoting health and safety at every opportunity.

Supervisor, being the manager in a direct contact with the operatives, has got multifarious function to perform. The objective behind performance of these functions is to bring stability and soundness in the organization which can be secured through increase in profits which is an end result of higher productivity. Therefore, a supervisor should be concerned with performing the following functions -

1. Planning and Organizing - Supervisor’s basic role is to plan the daily work schedule of the workers by guiding them the nature of their work and also dividing the work amongst the workers according to their interests, aptitudes, skills and interests.
2. Provision of working conditions - A supervisor plays an important role in the physical setting of the factory and in arranging the physical resources at right place. This involves providing proper sitting place, ventilation, lighting, water facilities etc. to workers. His main responsibility is here to provide healthy and hygienic condition to the workers.
3. Leadership and Guidance - A supervisor is the leader of workers under him. He leads the workers and influences them to work their best. He also guides the workers by fixing production targets and by providing them instruction and guidelines to achieve those targets.
4. Motivation - A supervisor plays an important role by providing different incentives to workers to perform better. There are different monetary and non-monetary incentives which can inspire the workers to work better.
5. Controlling - Controlling is an important function performed by supervisor. This will involve
6. Linking Pin - A supervisor proves to be a linking pin between management and workers. He communicates the policies of management to workers also passes instructions to them on behalf of management. On the other hand, he has a close contact with the workers and therefore can interact the problems, complaints, suggestions, etc to the management. In this way, he communicates workers problems and brings it to the notice of management.
7. Grievance Handling - The supervisor can handle the grievances of the workers effectively for this he has to do the following things :-
8. Reporting - A supervisor has got an important role to report about the cost, quality and any such output which can be responsible for increasing productivity. Factors like cost, output, performance, quality, etc can be reported continually to the management.
9. Introducing new work methods - The supervisor here has to be conscious about the environment of market and competition present. Therefore he can innovate the techniques of production. He can shift the workers into fresh schedules whenever possible. He can also try this best to keep on changing and improving to the physical environment around the workers. This will result in
10. Enforcing Discipline - A supervisor can undertake many steps to maintain discipline in the concern by regulating checks and measures, strictness in orders and instructions, keeping an account of general discipline of factory, implementing penalties and punishments for the indiscipline workers. All these above steps help in improving the overall discipline of the factory.

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The article is Written By “Prachi Juneja” and Reviewed By Management Study Guide Content Team. MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider. To Know more, click on About Us. The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.

Not everyone is qualified to supervise others, but many find themselves in that very position by virtue of working in a certain field for a while. Luckily, there are plenty of resources out there to help prepare you to oversee others effectively. There are several major responsibilities that will likely be part of your everyday life now, but you can easily tackle the challenges associated with each.

When you think about supervising, you likely think of the big-picture aspects of the job like hiring and firing. If you come in with a great team already in place, you’ll skip the hiring process initially but eventually, someone will leave. Hiring new employees is a fairly involved process that includes recruiting, interviewing and handling due diligence activities like calling references and ordering background checks.

Eventually, you’ll also deal with the tough task of disciplining and possibly even terminating an employee. Hopefully you’ll have HR’s support as you do this, because you’ll need to be sure you handle things legally. Make sure your business has a documented process in place for handling such situations so that you can show that you treated each employee equally.

Supervisors can often work as mentors to employees, especially those with years of experience in the field. One big challenge you’ll face as a superior is in always serving as a positive role model for your team. Stay far away from a “Do as I say, not as I do” mentality, and make sure you always set a good example through your daily actions.

Training is also an important part of any supervisor’s day-to-day activities. This is especially important when you hire someone new to the team. Having documented step-by-step processes can help you quickly onboard new employees and answer any questions they have as they do their work.

Ideally, team members will always get along, but, unfortunately, that probably won’t happen. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to handle these conflicts gracefully. It’s usually best to pull all involved team members aside and work with them in private to come to a resolution.

But what happens when that conflict is with you? When that happens, it’s important to put personal feelings aside and handle the situation as an objective professional. If possible, get someone from human resources involved, especially if the conflict relates to your own management style.

Many businesses use a top-down organizational structure, which means decisions are made at the top and passed down. You’ll be somewhere in that chain. No matter which organizational type you’re in, though, you’ll likely find that top management likes to meet to discuss things, then have supervisors pass the information to lower-tier employees.

As a supervisor, it’s your responsibility to keep an open line of communication with your employees. If you know something that will affect them, you need to schedule a meeting or send an email to share it. It can be easy to put this off and eventually forget, but employees will eventually get wind of the information and feel resentful that they aren’t in the loop.

At the heart of any business is the work its employees do on a daily basis. As a supervisor, it’s your role to set goals for your team and monitor performance. If there’s a bigger project, you’ll be tasked with making sure you’re hitting all your milestones and staying on track to meet your deadline.

In some cases, you’ll find that one team member may be working harder than another, at which point you’ll have to take action. As a manager, you can try to motivate each employee by setting individual goals and following up, but if the lazy behavior continues, you may have to consider disciplinary action. Document every conversation and visible signs of slacking, and keep it on file for later reference.

This Supervisor job description template is optimized for posting on online job boards or careers pages and easy to customize for your company.

Supervisor responsibilities include:

• Setting goals for performance and deadlines in ways that comply with company’s plans and vision
• Organizing workflow and ensuring that employees understand their duties or delegated tasks
• Monitoring employee productivity and providing constructive feedback and coaching

Job brief

We are looking for a responsible Supervisor to oversee the workflow at our facilities. The role is a complex one. He/She will not just be someone who supervises the work of others. A supervisor is also responsible for coaching, resolving issues and serving as a link between subordinates and upper management.

The ideal candidate will be a competent individual who will be able to guide and train employees. He/She will be well-versed in processes under the role’s responsibility and will be results-driven and focused.

The goal is to ensure that operations are carried out productively so as to ensure profitability and sustainable growth.

Responsibilities

• Set goals for performance and deadlines in ways that comply with company’s plans and vision and communicate them to subordinates
• Organize workflow and ensure that employees understand their duties or delegated tasks
• Monitor employee productivity and provide constructive feedback and coaching
• Receive complaints and resolve problems
• Maintain timekeeping and personnel records
• Pass on information from upper management to employees and vice versa
• Prepare and submit performance reports
• Decide on reward and promotion based on performance
• Hire and train new employees
• Ensure adherence to legal and company policies and procedures and undertake disciplinary actions if the need arises

Requirements and skills

• Proven experience as supervisor or relevant role
• Familiarity with company policies and legal guidelines of the field
• Ability to learn a variety of job descriptions
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Outstanding organizational and leadership skills
• Good knowledge of MS Office
• Diploma/Certificate in first line management or relevant field
• High school diploma; BSc/BA in management or relevant discipline will be considered an advantage

Supervisors communicate organizational needs and oversee staff performance to provide guidance and support for individual development needs. These responsibilities lead them towards success within their positions or careers altogether.

A Supervisor is responsible for managing the workflow and training new hires on how they can best serve customers and teams of employees. They also create schedules that keep everyone busy with deadlines met to prevent gaps or downtime while giving direction and feedback about what needs improvement.

A good Supervisor will always have the ability to problem-solve, manage time pressures calmly and be approachable. They should also possess a relationship of respect and trust between themself as well as their staff members.

Supervisors often cooperate with members of Office Administration and report the accurate data to their Manager.

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