Supervision Today!

by Robbins, Stephen P.; Decenzo, David A.

• ISBN13: 9780131118201
• ISBN10: 013111820X
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

For courses in Supervisory Management, Supervision, and First-Line Management. Written by well-respected educators in the field, this skills-focused introduction to supervision captures the reality of supervising in the 2000s. It takes students on the job by first explaining the job of supervisor and then featuring a wide range of examples of how supervisors operate in real situations. The focus is on key skills needed for effective supervisione.g., goal-setting, delegating, budgeting, interviewing, negotiating, counseling, coaching, conducting groups meetings, and handling grievances. Rich in instructional aids and experiential opportunities, it features lots of vignettes and visual stimuli to make concepts come alive. NOW PACKAGED WITH EACH NEW STUDENT TEXT! Self-Assessment Library v. 2.0 CD-ROM now accompanies each Robbins, Supervision Today! 4e textbook. This unique easy-to-use assessment tool allows you to assess your knowledge, beliefs, feelings, and actions in regard to a wide range of personal skills, abilities, and interests. Automatically graded, self-scoring exercises. Generates individual analysis, which can be printed or emailed. The 45 exercises located on CD-Rom are divided into three parts - What About Me?, Working With Others, and Life in Organizations as listed in the Table of Contents.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Supervisor's Job and Challenges for the 21st Century

Planning and Control

Supervisory Planning and Time Management

Designing and Implementing Controls

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Total Quality Management

Organizing, Staffing, and Employee Development

Organizing an Effective Department

Acquiring the Right People

Appraising Employee Performance

Developing Your People

Stimulating Individual and Group Performance

Motivating Your People

Providing Leadership

Communicating Effectively

Managing Groups and Work Teams

Coping With Workplace Dynamics

Managing Conflict and Politics

Managing Change and Stress

Counseling Employees

Disciplining Employees

The Supervisor's Role in Labor Relations

Personal Development

Managing Your Career

Job Guide

Glossary

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

From the Desks of Steve Robbins and Dave DeCenzo Welcome to the fourth edition ofSupervision Today!We believe you'll find that we have continued to reflect what our users have wanted. Many of you helped make the third edition of this book a resounding success. In this edition, we want to continue that trend, and make it even better. In our quest to make this the most complete supervision text currently available, we've taken into account a lot of feedback from our readers. We continue to present a book that focuses on the basic elements of supervision--one that covers the essential and traditional concepts in effectively supervising employees; that has a strong applied, practical, and skill focus; and that is user friendly. This new edition continues to be rich in instructional aids and experiential opportunities. Let's highlight some of these elements: specifically, the basis for the contents, the new features, and the "student-friendly" approach of this edition. FOUNDATIONS OF THE FOURTH EDITION Most of us understand concepts better when we can relate them to our everyday lives. We help the reader build an understanding of supervising through real-life concepts, examples, and practice. We believe that when learners have an opportunity to apply what they are learning--in a classroom setting where risk-taking can be encouraged--they will perform more effectively on the job. Moreover, in the process they are building their supervisory skills portfolio! We recognize that the supervisor's job has changed dramatically in recent years. Supervisors now work with a more diverse workforce in terms of race, gender, and ethnic background. Supervisors' jobs are also being affected by technological changes, a more competitive marketplace, and corporate restructuring and workflow redesign. Despite all of these changes, supervisors still need to understand the traditional elements of directing the work of others and the specific skills required: goal setting, budgeting, scheduling, delegating, interviewing, negotiating, handling grievances, counseling employees, and evaluating employees' performance. A good supervision text captures traditional and contemporary issues. We believe we've done this by focusing on issues that are relevant to the reader and by including lots of examples and visual stimuli to make concepts come alive. We've included a full-color design format to visually capture the reality and the excitement of the supervisor's job. We've also spent years developing a writing style that has been called "lively, conversational, and interesting." That's just another way of saying that our readers can understand what we are saying and feel as if we're actually in front of them giving a lecture. Of course, only you can judge this text's readability. We ask you to read a few pages at random. We think you'll find the writing style both informative and lively. WHAT'S NEW FOR THE FOURTH EDITION? No authors can simply put a new cover on a book and call it a new edition. But changing for the sake of changing can also be bothersome. There needs to be some logical reasoning behind the changes, and the new elements need to add value to the text. We believe we've met these conditions in this new edition. Organization The book is organized to help the reader learn the role of the supervisor. It is divided into four parts: Part One, Introduction; Part Two, Planning, Organizing, Staffing, and Controlling; Part Three, Stimulating Individual and Group Performance; and Part Four, Coping with Workplace Dynamics. We believe you'll find the chapters listed in the table of contents for each of these parts to present a thorough and logical means of learning about supervision. Several features and content topics have been added or expanded in this revision. Summarized in the following sections are the general and specific chapter chan