The Practice of Supervision and Management [antikvár]

The old saying that the supervisor is the person caught in the middle is true. The supervisor plays the pivotal role between largely abstract top management on the one hand and largely operational personnel on the other. How supervisors perform in this often frustrating but nevertheless crucial role is probably the biggest single factor in the success or failure of modern organizations. In recent years, an emerging body of knowledge and practical experience clearly points to certain concepts and techniques that can be used to make supervision more effective. This book presents, analyzes, and demonstrates these basic concepts and specific skills. After defining the role of modern supervisors and discussing the increasingly complex and changing internal and external environment facing them, the book is broken down into two major parts. The first part concentrates on the basic functions and related techniques of effective supervision (planning, delegating, organizing, staffing, training, controlling, disciplining, and appraising). The second part then gives more direct attention to the human relations aspects of effective supervision (communicating, motivating, and leading). Having grasped this blend of conceptual/functional and human relations insights and skills, the present or potential supervisor should be able to meet the challenges of supervision as effectively as possible. We have given our "best shot" to making this book as up to date and relevant to the effective practice of supervision and management as possible. We have drawn from the rapidly expanding research literature and our own practical experiences in a wide variety of organizations. We have made a concerted effort to take the very best, and often very sophisticated, research and experience and write it up in a very straightforward, readable manner. Our goal throughout has been to make our text understandable, interesting, and applicable. To