Supervisors and Employees - Essay Example

?Should Supervisors and Employees be Friends? The relationship between supervisors and employees is always a sensitive one. This is because the supervisors are seen with a sense of fright that the employees usually have within their minds. It is for this reason that the relation between the supervisors and employees has been seen with a confused perspective. The employees believe that it is in their best interest to keep a safe distance from their supervisors because the latter would not appreciate their proximity and hence a formal relationship develops within a workplace setting. However in order to build informal relationships across the board within an organization, it is significant that the employees look up the debate of befriending the supervisors in a very serious way, as it shall draw upon a good amount of positives for the workplace realms. Should supervisors and employees be friends? If this was ought to be a question that one could ask, the answer to this would be in the positive. And there are reasons to prove how optimistic one could be with regards to the friendship factor between the supervisors and the employees in the workplace settings. This paper discusses the basis of supervisors and employees as being friends and how this relationship highlights the basis of success for the sake of the organization in the long run. Moving ahead with the understanding that the supervisors and the employees should be friends, one should delve deep into how this friendship could work to good effect for the sake of the employees and indeed the organization itself. The supervisors can extract the best possible value out of their employees if they know beforehand that their employees would be treated as friends and the same case could be applied backwards as well; where employees would know that their supervisors would take care of their lawful requests and pay heed to their problems which arise every now and then. If the supervisors and employees are friends, this means that they are on the same wavelength as far as work domains are concerned. It also implies that they know what exactly their work manifestation is and how they would go about resolving the disputes that come about within the workplace settings. On the flip side, if the employees and supervisors have an edgy relationship this could mean that both of them do not believe in building the organizational value over a period of time, and thus want to run away from the organizational discourse in essence. Similarly if they have egoistic issues at each other’s ends, this would become very difficult for the organization to cater to the needs and requirements of both of them as well as their linkage that has come about with the passage of time (Ladany, 2001). One should believe that the balance should come about if the organizational employees are sure about their own selves, and the manner in which they would be treated by other individuals that are present in any organization in the time and age of today. Good supervisors are very rare to find and this has been proven with the passage of time. The statement suggests that good supervisors are not born and thus they must not be looked within people right from their onset of starting their supervisory positions. What this means is that the supervisors need to be grown on the job. They might have the relevant talent to make it big within this field but what they direly need is polishing up on these skills so that their strengths benefit not only their respective bases but also of the organization for which they work. Just like good leaders who instill the much needed pride and confidence within the people who work within them, the supervisors have to carry out the tasks and delegate jobs to people who are best suited for the performance of the same. Supervisors need a good amount of time before they could be remarked as successful ones. This is because these supervisors require understanding of different nuances, working regimes, process handling tasks and overall hands-on training to get acquainted with the supervisory roles which they have been assigned. Supervision is a difficult thing to master and thus the benefits these supervisors gets once they assume the said positions are immense. This is pretty much in line with the performance of their jobs since they have to become managers as well as leaders yet they are called neither at the end of the day. Their role is of a supervisory nature yet they manage as well as lead in certain conditions. At times, their role is more pertinent than that of a leader or a manager so to speak (Kirkpatrick, 2001). The cultivation of skills within supervisors is also an important attribute and more so because the supervisors’ role is always highlighted within the contexts of different events and situations. The sub-ordinates working within these supervisors are told about the might and responsibility that lies on the shoulders of these supervisors and thus they must remain obliged at all times towards them. The supervisors know that their respective tasks are difficult to perform; therefore they try their best to make effective and efficient use of the resources which are available at their disposal. This helps the supervisors in maneuvering the troops, taking care of the funding mechanisms, allocating tasks and making the people perform with encouragement and support all the way. It is definitive to understand that supervisors need resources for their employees who work under their folds so that they could best exploit at bringing out positive results for the work which they are undertaking. Within the organizational control, supervisors must be given the room to enact changes as and when required. Also these supervisors need to be encouraged and given incentives every now and so often so that they remain contented and happy with their respective tasks. A supervisory role is not easy and thus requires only the people who have grown on this job to undertake it with a sense of earnestness and desire. Thus a good supervisor will instill the forgotten belief within his employees and direct sub-ordinates, work towards achieving goals in the wake of adversity, look to turn weaknesses into strengths, thwart the issues which come in the wake of the performance of the tasks leading towards the eventual goals and lastly continue to provide ‘value’ to the supervisory role under which he is working in essence. When the supervisors give the employees their much needed resources, the employees in return understand that the supervisors are doing something out of their way, and thus appreciate the fact nonetheless. This is an important undertaking that must be understood because it pinpoints quite a few areas, as well as highlights the opportunities which could be worked upon by these employees in the long run. The resource utilization is termed as quintessential because it takes care of the problems which the employees might face from time to time and how the supervisors could play their active role at turning the tide their own way. This is deemed as significant because it pinpoints the basis of the grey areas and finds out where these shortcomings within the allotment of resources are basically coming in from. The role of the organization is very necessary to find out under such settings. This is because any organization would dearly require a climate which shall foster good relations between the employees and their supervisors. The role of one such organization would mean that it is positive and it creates more for growth and development within its ranks. If the top management understands its role well, then this would mean that the tasks are being cut out well and the people within its aegis are handling their jobs well, as is apparent in the case of supervisors being friends with the employees, and vice versa. If the organization believes that the supervisors and employees are not getting along well, and if it sees that there are problems of sorts, the element of mentoring and counseling could be used to good effect. This will have a very positive influence over the employees and supervisors, and both of them would feel that they are taken care of within the organizational domains, and thus should be given the respect that they richly deserve. However, if the top management forgets its responsibilities and does not dedicate its time towards the relationship building measures of the supervisors with their employees, then this could mean long lasting issues to surface within the organizational regimes, and the role of the HR department becomes essential here. However, one must remember that the proactive role of the HR department is all the more necessary because it dictates how success could be envisioned within the business enterprise and how the people within it resonate well with the organizational rules and policies. Similarly the top management can hold the HR department accountable for the gross irregularities that might crop up within the ranks of the supervisors as they deal with the employees and how the latter react to the supervisors’ roles which keep on changing every now and then (Howard, 1998). The situational efforts and endeavors are usually taken into study so that every scenario is comprehended in a better way, a way that signifies organizational growth more than anything else. Hence a clear cut role of the organization is indeed in the best interests of one and all, and shall be the foundation stone of achieving success within the related ranks. This success is imperative because it touches quite a few bases and takes care of the negatives that exist within the workplace scenarios to become even bigger in the times to come. If the supervisors believe that the employees should be kept at a safe distance and indulging in informal acts with them would mean nothing less than calling for disharmony within the work settings, then this is one mistake that they are falling into. They must not think in such a pessimistic way as it could bring about a complete downfall in the relations between the supervisors and their employees. Informal relations should always be encouraged within the organizational ranks as the organizations wish to move ahead further and mend their ways in the coming times. The supervisors shall always aim to build strong ties with the employees because it is the employees themselves who will bring in value and quality towards the undertakings of the supervisors in the end. The manner in which supervisors deal with the employees is an important one because it dictates the way under which employees should carry on performing work ethos and thus manifest their truest basis on a consistent level. Having an informal culture at times helps shape up the congeniality within the workplace settings, which is much aspired and brings in value for the sake of the organization in the long run. If this congeniality is at the expense of the changing work dynamics, then it might just be a case of conflicting interest here. Any business enterprise would dearly want its resources to understand that their work processes should be resolved amicably yet there must not be any breakdown within these at the cost of informal relations getting out of hands. A classic case would be to foster positive relations within the workplace which look at building the capacity regimes in the workplace settings and then realizing the same through encouragement from the top management domains. The supervisory role is such that the employees should always understand the role of their heads without being unreasonable. If the supervisors believe in hard work and commitment that needs to be derived from the employees’ realms, then this means that the supervisors are asking for something which is very reasonable and should be accounted for, as far as the organizational values and work ethos within the related departments are concerned (Somerick, 2003). It is a fact that these supervisors are always bent upon deriving the best work tenets from their employees and for that they make every possible effort to remain on track. For this, they often arrange parties and different events on an organizational level, which cultivates a culture that is built upon trust, friendship and commitment at the end of the day. The organization sees all these measures in a very positive manner, because it wants to make sure that the supervisors and employees are touching the right bases on most of the occasions. There is a dire need to realize here that an organization would absolutely be taken aback if its employees and supervisors are termed as two different tangents and this manifests in them hanging out separately rather than together. These domains must be taken care of by the top management early on before it starts getting out of hands, and develops into something very negative within the workplace realms. The aspects of the supervisors coming together ahead with the employees is also important because the former have to create new team leaders and even supervisors for the future. This cannot be done if the employees are not groomed for the job yet are taken for task at every possible opportunity. What is required here is a clean cut vision that asks for a lot of understanding and foresight – one that helps build up the linkage between the supervisors and employees from the long term standpoint. Understanding each others’ needs and requirements is the first step towards becoming friends with one another. However this shall not cease here and the friendship factor will continue to move ahead out of the workplace domains as well, as the employees would meet and interact with their supervisors without any fear or concern coming to their fore. This shall mean a great amount of success for the organization in the long run because this was envisaged by it inherently when the organization was established. The 21st century supervisor is a much improved version of how a 20th century supervisor looked like. The frontline leaders are these supervisors who have come to the reckoning that their most prized resources are indeed the employees themselves and none other. What is needed now is an approach that shall set the difference between the good and the just acceptable tenets. Reason is more important now than other aspects which were deemed as significant in the yesteryears. For the future, one can envision that the friendship factor between the supervisors and the employees will pave the way for organizational success in the long run, as well as discuss the finer aspects between work ethos and tasks that are assigned to these employees through their supervisors (Stokes, 2000). Therefore the 21st century supervisors know that they are responsible enough to make the best use of their employees by providing them resources and eventually being friends with them to create an environment that is based on harmony and cultivation of optimism at the workplace. Success should always be derived from the domains of building positive links and friendships across the board, as far as organizations of today are concerned. Works Cited Howard, Carole M. How Your Employee Communications Programs can Boost Productivity and Pride. Public Relations Quarterly, Vol. 43, 1998 Kirkpatrick, Donald L. Developing Supervisors and Team Leaders. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001 Ladany, Nicholas. Supervisory Style: Its Relation to the Supervisory Working Alliance and Supervisor Self-Disclosure. Counselor Education and Supervision, Vol. 40, 2001 Somerick, Nancy M. Strategies for Improving Employee Relations by Using Performance Appraisals More Effectively. Public Relations Quarterly, Vol. 38, 1993 Stokes, Jeff. The 21st Century Supervisor: Nine Essential Skills for Frontline Leaders. Jossey-Bass, 2000 Read More