Supervisors and Managers Responsibilities

Many organizations and establishments have philosophies in how an organization is to be functioning and which positions are necessary to execute the plan. One of the crucial positions that make the establishment function is that of a Supervisor. The term supervisor is a word with Latin roots which means “to look over,” however, a supervisor is viewed as a person who is an immediate overseer to an employee at a workplace. The supervisor is the person an employee would directly report to for any work related situation. A supervisor plays an essential part of the management team that gives an organization purpose and leadership by being responsible for employees’ progress and productivity (Bittel & Newstrom, 1992).

Supervisors and Managers share some similarities in that they oversee people however they have clear differences that can distinguish one from the other. Managers are usually occupied in four areas which include: planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities for the organization. Like supervisors, managers give an organization purpose and leadership however their responsibilities are traditionally greater than that of a supervisor by executing responsibilities such as identifying goals, objectives, methods, resources needed to carry out methods, responsibilities and dates for completion of tasks (McNamara, 2010). Managers are considered to be the organizational group above supervisors and have supervisors carry out their mandates and have the goals reach out to the staff through the supervisors.

Supervisors carry out many activities in order to keep their portion of the organization functioning. Supervisors are responsible for their direct reports' progress and productivity in the organization. Sup...

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...s the chance for biased pay scales. A second use for a job description is to serve as a reference when the employee is due for a performance appraisal (McNamara, 2010). A rater can reference the job description if an employee feels that he or she did not think that a certain task that was asked of them was part of the job description.

An employee should be familiar with the job description as well as the performance appraisal procedures before being evaluated. A rater can always reference the job description for the basis of a review and an employee can reference the job description if they feel as though they are being rated unfairly (McNamara, 2010). Both are vital as the job description allows for the employee to understand what is expected of him or her and the performance review states whether the worker fulfilled those expectations asked of him or her.