1. SUPERVISION DEFINED The key to success for any organization whether it be a business, a government agency, a human services system, or and educational establishment is good supervision. In the past twenty years as a result of good supervision in America, the national output doubled (George, 1970). How has this minor miracle happened? Simply put, supervisors get things done through the efforts of other people. They accomplish the objectives of their organizations by directing the efforts of others. Whether the supervisory role is simple or complex, the goal is still the same: to get others to perform tasks up to their potential to maximize output and achieve results which support the mission of the organization. Who are these supervisors? What do they do? What are their specific responsibilities? What kinds of qualities do the most effective supervisors possess? How do they use these qualities to "get others to perform tasks?" What are the present and future challenges facing supervisors as the world moves toward the 21st Century? It is the purpose of this paper to answer these questions. There are three main levels of supervision. Top-level supervisors are the "big bosses" in charge of the whole operation. A CEO or the owner-manager of a small firm are examples of this level of supervision. Middle supervisors are above the first-line supervisors but are below the top-line supervisor. A principal in a school is a middle supervisor; he is below the Superintendent of a school system, but above the "head teacher" or chairperson of a department within a school. First-line supervisors are the key people in the managerial family who carry out the policies and directives of middle and top management through face-to-face contact with the workers. Within the Abraxas Foundation, my own organization, first-line supervisors are the individual treatment supervisors who manage staff members who in turn, provide treatment for the clients within the facility. What are the daily tasks the first-line supervisor faces? Here are some of them: * Talks to employees about job-related problems. * Gives directions to employees. * Dictates letters, memos, shift plans. * Sets treatment direction. * Interviews new employees. * Reads mail, reports, etc. * Attends supervisory meetings. * Makes decisions regarding residents' treatment direction. * Decides who will be promoted. These are just a few of the many tasks which the first-line supervisor might confront on any given work day. He or she may also perform many nonsupervisory activities such as typing on the computer, studying a case file, doing case file reviews, or copying reports or other information for employees. All these activities require two types of activities on the part of the supervisor: 1) Physical, or 2) Mental. Physical activities involve some form of communication, like telling someone face-to-face to do something or talking on the telephone to them, writing to them, or communicating by gestures. Mental activities cannot be seen by anyone. They are acts performed by the supervisor like thinking about a new project, a problem child, or developing goals and objectives for the treatment unit. To be a successful supervisor at any level several competencies are necessary. These three key areas are: 1. Technical skills. 2. Human skills. 3. Conceptual skills. In the treatment field, supervisors must possess the technical skills to role model the kinds of behaviors that the employees can see, hear, and feel, and then mirror themselves in their interventions with the clients they treat. The supervisor must understand the technical skills necessary to use a computer to assist the employees in producing progress reports, treatment plans, discharge summaries, and aftercare plans. He or she must also be able to write well enough to demonstrate how the employees should write these documents. Human skills are those required to effectively work with people. These involve being aware of ones own feelings, beliefs, and attitudes about others. By maintaining a full measure of self-awareness, he or she can understand and accept the beliefs, and viewpoints that differ from his or her own. By recognizing these differences, a supervisor can do a better job of communicating his or her ideas to others. With human skills, a supervisor can be sensitive to the motivations and needs of others and can judge the probable effects various courses of action may have on employees. These skills need to be so much a part of the supervisor that he or she applies them continuously; they cannot be separated from him or her. Supervisors need conceptual skills. These enable a person to visualize something in its entirety. A person with good conceptual skills can "see" and understand all parts of the business and how each part contributes to the whole organization. Again, using the treatment program in which I work, supervisors must be able to conceptualize the entire treatment milieu to which residents are exposed. He or she needs to understand the role of the counselors who provide direct care to the client, the life skills workers who oversee milieu management during the daytime and evening hours, and how these separate individuals all interact to provide the client with the fullest measure of treatment possible for the client. With good conceptual and human skills, a supervisor will be able to visualize the effect that would result from giving a relatively new clinician a caseload he or she is not prepared to handle. The supervisor can see that it might cause him or her to feel inadequate in undertaking such a task. He or she will then provide guidance and support as the new counselor assumes responsibilities one step at a time thus ensuring that the new employee will not become initially overwhelmed. An effective supervisor needs all three skills: technical skills so that he can understand and perform the technical activities required, human skills so that he can both motivate others and understand individual (and group) feelings and actions, and conceptual skills so that he can clearly understand and coordinate all the activities of the agency through wise decision making. Technical skills are in greatest need in the lower levels of an agency. Human skills, on the other hand, are in real need throughout every level of a firm. Conceptual skills are more critical at the higher levels (George, 1970). Given this discussion, the question is, what does a supervisor actually do to perform his or her work? How does he or she go about accomplishing the mission of the agency? George (1959) listed several key steps the supervisor engages in while performing his responsibilities: 1. He must plan his work and establish objectives. This is called the planning function. 2. He must organize people and materials in order to coordinate activities and actions. This is the organizing function. 3. He must secure qualified personnel to do the work--the staffing function. 4. He must direct the efforts of his employees--the directing function. 5. He must control the activities of his employees--the controlling function (p. 10). Let's examine these functions to see what is necessary for the supervisor to effectively perform them. Planning is a process of developing a course of action to accomplish something. It is a process of developing and formulating the course of action needed to accomplish agency objectives. Planning is not a function reserved for top and middle management alone. First-line supervisors are actively engaged every day in planning, although theirs is not as complex or extended into the future as the higher levels of management. A successful supervisor plans what needs to be done, who will do it, when it will be done, how it will be done, and so on. Without this planning by the supervisor, his or her treatment unit may well become disorganized, confused, and ineffective. Thoughtful and careful planning by a supervisor can do much to change him or her from a mediocre supervisor to an outstanding one ready for newer and greater challenges. Organizing consists of: 1. Determining what activities need to be accomplished to get the job done. 2. Grouping and assigning these activities to employees. 3. Giving the employees the necessary authority to carry out the activities in a coordinated manner (George, 1970, p. 11). All supervisors perform the function of organizing. Those at the top level are interested in the broader aspects of the firm, whereas, the first-line supervisor is primarily interested in organizing his or her own department so that the work can be accomplished in the most effective manner possible. The staffing function covers all activities needed to recruit, hire, and retain individuals in the agency. In ours, this function is done primarily by the Human Resources Department. However, the actual staffing patterns within a given treatment unit are overseen by the treatment supervisor. Staffing means putting people with skills and growth potential in spots where their skills are needed and they can grow. Directing deals with influencing, guiding, or supervising subordinates in their jobs. It consists not only of telling them what to do, but most importantly, of explaining why the job needs to be done. It also involves a large amount of communication and, in most supervisory positions, consumes a greater part of a supervisor's workday. The essence of controlling from a supervisory standpoint is simply that a supervisor must control people. If people are controlled properly, then actions and events will conform to plans. Essentially, control is the check-up part of managing. There are many theories of controlling employees. Theory X and Theory Y management are just two which have received extensive review in all endeavors of management theory. McGregor (1960) contrasted two general modes of thought about how a manager should manage people. Theory X was his term for the traditional and still largely current philosophy of management. Theory Y was the emerging concept that promised to integrate the goals of the organization and its members. Theory X holds that the so-called average person is inherently immature, that he or she is innately lazy, irresponsible, gullible, resistant to change, self-centered, and thus indifferent to organizational needs. The managerial practice in dealing with such persons is to apply external controls (harshly, or paternalistically or firmly but fairly). External control is clearly appropriate for dealing with truly immature individuals. While conceding that such behavior and attitudes are not manifestations of their inborn nature but the product of their experiences. Treat people as if they were children, he said--and thus chronically underestimate them, distrust them, refrain from delegating authority--and they will respond as children. Thus, in reacting to a myth (people are unchangeable and immature) with external controls, managers have stimulated subordinates' behavior, and this in turn perpetuated the myth and seemingly justified their practice, for the more one controls, the more one has to control and, as goes the old Chines expression, "He or she who rides a tiger can never dismount." It was the success and failure of Henry Ford that led McGregor to propose the Theory Y management concept. Ford was successful in getting men to work for twice the going wage doing menial work that for a period of time proved satisfactory for those living below subsistence levels. But as the base of wealth broadened, these needs began to be fulfilled to the extent that the workers no longer were satisfied to work under such "purgatory" existence. McGregor (1957) cited Maslow's (1954) hierarchy of needs to justify a need to change the focus for managers. He wrote: Management by direction and control, whether implemented with the hard, soft, or the firm but fair approach--fails under today's conditions to provide effective motivation of human effort toward organizational objectives. It fails because direction and control are useless methods of motivating people whose physiological and safety needs are predominant. Thus a new management theory was necessary, one based on more valid premises about human nature and motivation. Whereas Theory X held that the average person was unalterably immature, Theory Y holds that humans are essentially or at least potentially mature. Supporting this new theory, Kerzner (1982) wrote that the motivation, the potential for development, the capacity for assuming responsibility, the readiness to direct behavior toward organizational goals are present in people (p. 351). Theory Y would lead to management practices that would work with rather than against the grain of human nature. The goal of management under Theory Y then, is to "arrange organizational conditions and methods of operations so that people can achieve their own goals best by directing their own efforts toward organizational objectives" (Kerzner, 1982, p. 355). For a time, Theory Y was misconstrued by some as the soft version of Theory X. Theory Y permits access to the full range of management approaches from external to self-control. Where on the spectrum to peg one's approach depends on the supervisor's judgement of the subordinate's current state of development. For example, if the employee is new and inexperienced, rather close supervision and guidance may be necessary initially. But external control gradually decreases as the individual learns to make decisions and takes independent action (Haney, 1986). A complete discussion of McGregor's work is not within the scope or purpose of this paper, but his premise is certainly one which continues to promote significant discussion in managerial circles in America and around the world. The characters and qualities that make a successful supervisor are difficult to pinpoint precisely because some are more important than others. A Supervisor must be able to inspire his or her employees, motivate them, and direct their work. As described earlier, a supervisor must possess technical, human, and conceptual competence. Being open-minded is certainly essential. He or she must be able to search outside the everyday rut for a better method, a new policy, an improved way of doing things. A successful supervisor must be able to discover what a problem is in times of trouble. Many unsuccessful supervisors treat the symptom of the problem and not the problem. They may give aspirin for a headache (the symptom), when the real cause of the headache is eyestrain. The cure is to purchase glasses and not give aspirin. George (1979) described the successful supervisor as possessing the following qualities. He or she should have/be: 1. Ambition - the desire to manage and grow. He should always be willing to learn, to develop new skills, to broaden his job. He should not be afraid to take a chance but instead should possess confidence that he will succeed. 2. A self-starter. He should think and move on his own initiative and not wait to be told by others to do something. To do this he needs self-confidence and courage to move ahead. 3. Able to think. This is perhaps the hardest task most people face. Most of us find it easy to do, to act, to perform. We have difficulty, however, in thinking clearly about a problem--our minds wander, we are distracted by noises or other problems, or we prefer to do things rather than think about how to solve problems. 4. Able to express himself clearly. The best idea in the world is worthless unless it is communicated well. Most supervisors spend most of their time communicating. Therefore, they need to do it well. We aren't talking about great speaking or great writing. What we are talking about instead is the basic ability that a supervisor needs to get ideas across clearly to his employees so that they can understand what he wants them to do. 5. A salesman, or possess the ability to "sell" an idea to his employees. Any idea that you think up and communicate to others needs to be "sold." Selling an idea--convincing others of its worth--is one of the supervisor's prime tasks. Selling a plan of action is a vital part of a supervisor's job of communicating to his employees. 6. Moral integrity. Truthfulness, honesty, and integrity should be so much a part of a supervisor that his subordinates will have total confidence in him and his actions. 7. Able to organize effectively. This is another very important attribute, because a supervisor is constantly called on to organize his own work as well as the work of his men in order to maximize output. 8. Willing to tackle hard problems and make tough decisions. Anyone can make an easy decision, but a good supervisor must be willing to tackle the hard problems and make tough or unpopular decisions. 9. The ability to work with and through other people. He has to be able to get along with others and to get them to do what needs to be done for the organization. 10. Dynamic and have the ability to inspire others. This is that special something, which you can't put your finger on, that makes you want to follow the directions of and work with some leader. 11. The ability to size up others and recognize individual strengths and weaknesses. This is a critical ability needed by supervisors in order to get the right man in the job, as well as to reject the unqualified applicant. 12. Like people. He should like to be with people and work with people. In fact, it is hard to visualize a supervisor who doesn't like his people, who doesn't have a sense of loyalty and feeling for his employees. 13. A balanced person. This means that he should be levelheaded, understanding, firm, able to laugh, and fair. 14. The ability to delegate authority to others. He should get satisfaction from seeing things done through the independent efforts of his employees. 15. A willingness to subordinate his own desires and wishes to those of the supervisors or bosses. He will have to realize that he cannot have his own way over every matter but must instead submit to his bosses' wishes. 16. Levelheadness and wisdom. He will need to mediate difficult situations and render fair and impartial answers to petitions. 17. A thorough understanding of what his job is and what he is supposed to do. Knowing the technical aspects of his job will give him confidence and assurance in dealing with problems and in talking with employees. 18. Be able to win the friendship, loyalty, and support of his employees as well as of his other associates. He will need to possess and show a spirit of willing cooperation with other supervisors in his division as well as in other areas of the firm. 19. A good mind and a good education. A good mind is reflected in an open and willing-to-learn attitude in tackling problems. A good education is not reflected in the number of years spent in school, but in the quality and amount of information he has absorbed. Experience in many instances can compensate for formal education. 20. To see the whole picture using conceptual skills in order to understand what top and middle management want done and why. To be a successful supervisor, he will need to understand the whole picture and communicate this in an understandable way to his fellow employees. 21. Patience. This is a virtue the supervisor will need to be successful. Patience to listen to and understand employees; patience to spend whatever time is needed to understand and improve work situations and worker relations; patience to take the time necessary to plan the total work flow and organize it in such a way that employees will feel comfortable in doing their jobs. 22. Flexible. Resisting change is one of the surest ways to slow down progress. Successful supervisors are the ones with open and receptive minds who do not resist change. They welcome new ideas, new ways to performing old jobs, and new concepts about how things can be improved. 23. Self-confident. A supervisor needs to have faith and confidence in his abilities and his capacity to plan, organize, and direct the efforts of others. 24. Initiative and the desire to succeed. If his desire to be a successful supervisor is strong enough, he may well overcome shortcomings that he sees in himself. Determination, willingness, and the strong desire to be a successful supervisor will put him well on the way to achieving his goal (pp. 14-16). After reviewing these qualities, is it facetious to believe that one person can and must possess all of them to be successful? No, because no person can possess all of them at the same time immediately. These are a catalogue of all the qualities that George (1979) believed were a condition for success. Initially, most individuals will not possess all or most of them. Like any other profession, a developmental period of time will be necessary for the individual to become successful, and effective. To develop these qualities, hard work, motivation, and formal and informal education will be necessary. Experience will become a valuable teacher. Rolemodeling other successful, effective supervisors will produce noticeable results. Desire and passion will motivate the individual to succeed where the more passive, timid individual will undeniably fail (Robbins, 1985). Study, hard work, and on-the-job training will, in the long run, produce success and lead to a rewarding work experience. Not everyone is willing to commit to this type of regimented lifestyle even though the prize sought is financial or other less measurable rewards.