A supervisor, to be effective should follow the following elements:

1. Planning is the basic supervisor function:

He should plan his work scientifically and systematically for effective performance.

2. Organising the Resources:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Another supervisory step is the systemar – arrangement of organisational resources and activities.

3. Staffing the units:

Supervisors role in staffing depends upon the policies are practices of the organisation. They must be involved in the staff functions of selection, interview and orientation.

4. Training and development of employees:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The responsibility of training new entrants is given to supervisors. They must decide the suitable training methods.

5. Disciplining the employees:

Discipline refers to controlling employee behaviour to achieve organisational goals. He should ensure discipline of workers under his fold.

6. Appraising the performance:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

A supervisor should be familiar with various appraising methods.

7. Labour relations and grievance procedure:

A supervisor should know how to deal with labour problems and maintain sound labour relations. He should know various grievance procedures.

8. Increased perceptual capacities:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The supervisor must be able to respond to various types of external stimuli to an increased degree. These stimuli may come from the physical environment and from the individuals. It is important to have a greater perceptual capacity for responding to stimuli from employees or workers.

9. Increased action flexibility:

This denotes the ability of the supervisor to adopt his behaviour, reaction, response etc. in dealing with different problems or situations. The larger his range of such behaviours, the more flexible his approach is, the better is his chance to tackle situations and groups of varying character.

10. Ability to evolve effective communication channels:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The supervisor should develop direct and personal communication channels with employees below him. He should judiciously employ both written and verbal modes of communication. It is through communication alone that the supervisor can widen his perceptual abilities and add to his action flexibility.

11. Ability to use effectively informal organisation:

Within every formal organisations lie embedded informal organisations. These informal organisations have their own patterns of group behaviour and response. Such behaviour and response are denoted by the phase group dynamics. The supervisor must be able to get into the informal groups and understand their behavioural and operational dynamics.

12. Ability to secure participation from workers:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

A leader has to get the best out of the human resources at his disposal. The workers can yield their full potential only if they are encouraged to do so. The supervisor must, therefore, solicit the participation of workers in all matters directly affecting them or their work.

13. Ability to take quick and correct decisions:

The supervisor, too, has to take decisions in relation to his own work-situation and work-group. He should be able to lead his men through effective and timely decisions. It is ability which will enable the supervisor to gain confidence amongst his subordinates.

14. Ability to achieve coordinated action:

Within his limited sphere of activity, the supervisor will have to see that his group is contributing towards the overall objectives of the concern in accordance with the plan outlined.

15. Ability to make workers self-directing and self-controlling:

This implies that the supervisor- has to motivate the workers to be conscious of their abilities. He should cultivate in him the new concepts about human relations, namely, that workers like to work, that they seek responsibility, and that satisfaction of their fundamental ego needs makes them work more.