Some of the importance and role of supervision in an Organization are as follows:

The supervision means instructing, guiding, monitoring and observing the employees while they are performing jobs in the
organisation.

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The word supervision is the combination of two words, i.e., supervision where super means over and above and vision
means seeing. So, supervision means seeing the activities of employees from over and above.

Role of Supervisor:
Supervisor plays two important roles:

1. Role of Mediator or Linking Pin:

Supervisor plays the role of linking pin as he communicates the plans, policies, decisions and strategies of management to
subordinates and complaints, grievances and suggestions of subordinates to management.

2. Role of a guide:
Whenever subordinates are in doubt and need help the supervisor guides them to come out from their problematic
situations.

Importance of Supervision/Functions of Supervisor:

1. Ensures Issuing of Instructions:
The supervisor makes sure that all the instructions are communicated to each and every employee. The top level and middle
level, plan out all the instructions but the instructions are issued only by supervisory level management.

2. Facilitates Control:
Control means match between actual and planned output. Whenever the workers are under constant supervision or
monitoring then step by step check is kept and if they are deviating from plan then immediate instructions are issued by the
supervisor. By this constant monitoring, the supervision function ensures strict control over the activities of subordinates.

3. Optimum Utilisation of Resources:

When the workers are constantly monitored or observed then they always use the resources in the best possible manner
which leads to minimum wastage. But if there is no supervision or check on workers they may result in wastage of
resources.

4. Discipline:

The strict supervision and guidance of supervisor encourages the employees and workers to be more disciplined in their
activities. Under the guidance of supervisor the workers follow a fixed or strict time-table and execute the plans in right
directions.

5. Feedback:
The supervisors are directly dealing with the subordinates. So they are the best persons to give feedbacks of subordinates.
They give the report regarding the working of every worker which becomes the base for the performance appraisal for the
employees. The supervisor gives the feedback regarding complaints, grievances and problems of subordinates to superiors.

6. Improves Communication:
Supervisors issue instructions and orders to all the subordinates and make sure that these instructions and orders are clear
to all the members.
While playing the role of the linking pin or mediator the supervisor tries to remove the communication gap between the
superiors and subordinates as he passes on the complaints and problems of subordinates to superiors and instructions of
superiors to subordinates.

7. Improves Motivation:
The relationship with the supervisor is a very good incentive to improve the motivation level of the employees. While guiding
the employees the supervisors encourage the subordinates to perform to their best capacity.

8. Maintain group unity:

Supervisor plays a key role in maintaining group unity among workers working under him he maintains harmony among
workers by solving their disputes.

Managing practice
Supervision and team leadership
Introduction
Effective supervision and team management involves:

organisation of time and team participation

effective facilitation of team meetings

team leadership
Individual and group supervision are important parts of the first-line manager's job as a manager of practice. However, managing practice
involves more than formal supervision, as it looks at the best use of the whole team's resources. This means that the first line manager
should know what staff are doing and how they are doing it and be able to give consistent, judicious leadership to the team. Supervision is
often thought of as a one-to-one activity. However, many of the principles and aims of individual supervision can be applied to group
supervision. If you supervise a group of colleagues you are likely to find some of the skills and techniques of team
development useful. The difference between the two is probably one of emphasis: group supervision is likely to focus more on direct
work with service users and carers, looking at the inter-personal skills, judgements and approaches used by group members. In supporting
and leading the professional work of your team, you are likely to use all three approaches: the table below sets out some of their
characteristics to help you decide which approach to use when. A mixture of all three will probably be most effective. For example a statutory
team used to thinking in terms of individual allocated cases may find group supervision very helpful. A day care team, used to collective
direct work may find the change of emphasis provided by a team development session just as stimulating.

Individual supervision

Ensures line-manager attention to the quality of work, including issues of accountability and formal decision
making.

Offers a semi-private setting

Provides time and focus for the individual worker

Reflects the individual case-load approach of statutory services

Focuses on direct work with users and carers

ROLES OF SUPERVISORS
Coach
A good supervisor places a high priority on coaching employees. Good coaching involves working with employees to establish suitable goals, action plans
and time lines. The supervisor delegates and also provides ongoing guidance and support to the employee as they complete their action plans. Rarely can
job goals be established without considering other aspects of an employee's life, e.g., time available for training, career preferences, personal strengths
and weaknesses, etc. A supervisor is sometimes confronted with walking a fine line between being a supervisor and the employee's confidant.

Mentor

Usually the supervisor understands the organization and the employee's profession better than the employee. Consequently, the supervisor is in a unique
position to give ongoing advice to the employee about job and career. The employee can look to the supervisor as a model for direction and development.
An effective mentor-mentee relationship requires the supervisor to accept the responsibility of mentorship. A good supervisor can be a priceless addition
to the career of an employee.

Advocate for Organization

Often, the supervisor is the first person to tell employees about new policies and programs from management. It's not uncommon that employees are
confused or frustrated by these new actions, and need further clarification and support from supervisors. In the rapidly changing world of today's
organizations, it can be a major challenge to present new programs to employees without their being frustrated or even cynical. The supervisor must be
authentic, yet tactful.

Advocate for Employee

The supervisor is often responsible to represent the employee's requests and to management, along with also representing the employee's case for
deserving a reward. For example, if an employee deserves a promotion, the supervisor often must justify the case for promotion to the supervisor's
supervisor, as well. If the employee has a rather unique personal situation that warrants special consideration by the rest of management, the supervisor
must explain this situation and how it can be handled. It's not unusual for employees to sometimes see the supervisor as part of "management" while at
other times seeing the supervisor as a personal friend.

Return to Basic Overview of Supervision

RESPONSIBILITIES OF SUPERVISORS
Before Reviewing Responsibilities, There Are 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.)

What is the difference between 'supervision' and 'management'?

2 Answers

Bill Welsh
487 Views

I think it's semantics,pure and simple. Look in any reputable dictionary. Look in any good thesaurus, and they're synonyms. I've seen a lot of this sort
of thing lately. Few small things irritate me more. In an attempt to be...well, I guess they're trying to appear knowledgable, people in my field are
trying to make a distinction between "assessment" and "evaluation". Hey, folks, get a dictionary, or book on the English language. PLEASE. Over
many years, and if they can gather enough disciples, they might wangle a difference in meaning through popular usage. Enough usage can turn a nondistinction into a distinction, and a non-word into a word. Maybe, one day, using "Hopefully" or "Thankfully'", or things like that will be considered
correct in the ludicrously incorrect way they are currently used most often. Until then, people just make up differences to appear knowledgable.