Typical Responsibilities of a Supervisor

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision.

(This page is referenced from Basic Overview of Supervision.)

The following major responsibilities are described more fully in the document Basic Guide to Management and Supervision.

Sections of This Topic Include:

Before Reviewing Responsibilities, There are Two Considerations
Personnel Policies and Procedures
Staffing
Employee Training and Development
Employee Performance Management (goals, delegating, feedback, performance reviews, etc.)

Supervisors are usually responsible for the progress and productivity of their employees, whether the supervisor is an executive supervising a middle manager or a first-time supervisor supervising a new employee. Information on this page provides an overview of the typical responsibilities of a supervisor.

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Before Reviewing Responsibilities, Two Considerations:

Often, Supervisors Hold Two Jobs

Note that in some types of organizations, e.g., a matrix organization, the supervisor attends solely to the responsibilities of the supervisoral role. However, in many organizations, the supervisor is responsible not only for supervisoral responsibilities, but also for product-line responsibilities, that is, to get a product or service out the door. Products and services generate revenue. Consequently, the role of supervision sometimes takes a "background" role to the product-line role.

Support of Human Resources Department

Note that if the organization is large enough, the supervisor is fortunate to have a staff department, e.g., Human Resources (HR) Department, that directs or supports many of the activities carried out by supervisors. The supervisor still carries out the supervisory responsibilities, but HR is a tremendous help. For example, HR guides and supports activities in staffing, development and management of personnel policies and records, training and development, performance appraisals and performance problems, career counseling, organization development, etc. HR provides this help and ensures that all activities conform to current rules and regulations.

Personnel Policies and Procedures

The supervisor is usually responsible to ensure that employees follow the organization's policies and procedures, e.g., for sick time, personal leave, overtime, contact with the media or press, confidentiality about organization information, etc. Concurrently, the supervisor must follow policies and procedures for carrying out supervisory responsibilities, e.g., policies and procedures for hiring, firing, promotions, etc. (See Personnel Policies, Handbooks and Records.)

Staffing

Supervisors regularly review the needs of their employees. Consequently, they're often the first to notice the need for a new position in the organization. In this case, the supervisor opens a new role by getting authorization from upper management. This often requires communication and justification for funds to fill the new position. The supervisor reviews advertisements for job candidates, reviews resumes and conducts interviews. The supervisor recommends who should be hired from among job candidates and ensures a job offer is made to the most suitable candidate. There's usually a great deal of paperwork, e.g., a job application, starting a personnel file, providing an employee manual, salary and tax forms, etc. Finally, the supervisor must ensure the new employee has adequate facilities, e.g., desk, computer,office supplies, etc. (See Staffing.)

Employee Training and Development

Supervisors ensure new employees are oriented to the organization, its policies, facilities, etc. They develop training plans with employees to ensure employees have the necessary expertise to carry out their jobs. They provide ongoing guidance to employees, often in the forms of ongoing coaching and counseling. Supervisors often provide career counseling, as well, to help employees develop and advance in their careers. (Note that there's a trend that employees are being help responsible for their own career planning, while supervisors provide career counseling to help the employee in their effort.) (See Training Basics for Supervisors and Learners.)

Employee Performance Management

Supervisors ensure that job descriptions accurately record the primary responsibilities, qualifications and terms for each job role in their group. They set performance standards for tasks, jobs and roles of their employees. They ensure employees have appropriate and realistic job goals. They provide ongoing feedback about the employee's performance. They conduct performance appraisals on a regular basis, including assessing how the employee has performed and what they can do to improve in their jobs. They develop performance improvement plans if an employee's performance is not adequate. In addition, supervisors provide rewards for employee accomplishments. (See Employee Performance Management.)

Return to Basic Overview of Supervision

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For the Category of Supervision:

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

For Supervising Yourself, See
Personal Development -- Related Books

For Developing Individuals, See
Training and Development -- Recommended Books

For Supervising Teams, See
Facilitation and Teams -- Related Books

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General Information About Supervising Other Individuals

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

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Also See

Human Resources -- Recommended Books

Leadership -- Recommended Books

Management -- Recommended Books

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