Empowering the Supervisory Role Available to Purchase

Despite all the changes over the past decade in how organizations are designed and managed, the role of the first‐line manager or supervisor remains crucial. Surveys have shown that today, just as 20 years ago,supervisors are regarded as more central to effective organizational performance than anybody else, with the possible exception of the general manager. Especially in manufacturing companies, supervisors are typically felt to have more influence, for both good and bad, than other groups of employees on such outcomes as absenteeism, product quality, cost reduction and labour relations. Despite this, the role of the supervisor has suffered a marked decline over this period. In this article, the reasons for this decline are analysed, and a series of recommendations developed for reversing the trend. What these suggestions for improving the situation have in common is that they involve supervisors being given more chance to employ the “levers of influence” inherent in their position than is typically the case at present.