Front Line Supervisor’s Challenge Research Paper

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Nowadays, front line supervisors play an essential role in employees’ performance by following the directions set by the organizations’ top management. Their primary responsibility is to ensure that the company’s staff properly does all planned job following the instructions and timeframes. High performance of any enterprise can hardly be achieved without modern front line supervisors. They monitor the allocation of tasks, duties, equipment, and the entire chain of activities that should be designed to minimize costs and simultaneously improve performance (Gunyung, Masanobu, & Nagasaki, 2017). In this particular case, the supervisor faced some issues regarding supplies, logistics, and planning that should not be allowed to happen again. The leading causes will be identified and presented, whereas appropriate management techniques to improve the managerial functions in the department will be suggested afterward.

The root cause analysis methods help to find the main causes and obstacles that hamper a company’s activities and management. In the given scenario, the Five Whys analysis tool can be used to investigate ideas on why it happened. In this case, the business to business delivery failed as it brings extra costs for the company who ordered it. Then if one asks why it allegedly incurs more costs, the answer will be because it was planned for the next weekend, and materials are not needed right now. Why was it not delivered next weekend as the supervisor planned? Because the employee who placed the order mixed up the delivery dates. If we ask why he/she made such a mistake, the list of causes will be wide. Lack of expertise, the employee’s physical condition at the time due to work overload, or lack of checks and balances, inferior communication between department’s employees who perform different duties can be part of it.

It seems that in the given scenario, the supervisor should not accept the delivery and reschedule it instead. However, there is no mistake of the supplier; thus, if the manager refuses, the company will have to pay a penalty that significantly increases logistics costs. In the case of reassigning employees to unload the trucks, the department will deliver lower productivity and increase labor/inventory costs. The pallets of materials now have to be stored in the general warehouse inventory and be turned back to the department’s inventory holding area in a week. Hence, both options lead to adverse consequences regarding both the weekly and monthly performance of the particular department.

The situation cannot be mitigated by rescheduling the delivery date; thus, the supervisor needs to order workers to unload the materials. They should be those whose current tasks have the most extended deadlines that will decrease the chance of lagging behind the plan. This decision will protect the company from the penalty; however, expected higher labor and inventory costs still should be addressed. The unloaded materials can be stored in the department’s inventory holding area for one week, avoiding its round trip to the general warehouse. It is the sole short-term option to correct the current situation.

Nevertheless, the steps needed to ensure that the issue does not happen again should also be prioritized. The supervisor must apply special managerial techniques that will especially improve the organizing and controlling phases. The systems management theory states that every business consists of elements that work in synergy and interdependence between its subsystems is essential for its optimal functioning (McGrath & Bates, 2017). This way of looking at business hints that employees are essential components of the organization. The human relations theory is another useful management theory that shows that personal attention from managers is more motivational than changes in workplace conditions and higher monetary rewards. These two management theories make it clear that staff is a crucial element of every company, and proper Human Resources (HR) management techniques are needed to maintain or improve an enterprise’s performance.

Moreover, it is important to measure business performance in order to monitor overall progress and compare actual numbers with intended goals. Quantitative key performance indicator (KPI) is a ratio, percentage, number, or index that gives an apparent measure of things, such as financial performance numbers, out-of-stocks, and inventory levels (Gunyung et al., 2017). The main advantage of such indicators is that they are numerically comparable what allows managers to see the quality of change. For instance, an inventory level is a number that tells how many products or materials the company has in stock. Managers utilize this number together with the sales rate of a product to define the time when more products should be produced or ordered.

On the contrary, qualitative KPIs put things into classifications, not gauging the amount. Although they are not pure performance measures, they help to assess quantitative ones. For instance, client satisfaction levels can give a hint which products should be prioritized, improved, or abandoned, while employee satisfaction levels shed light on a company’s workplace management quality. Both quantitative and qualitative KPIs should be gathered and compared to see the big picture of the overall business performance.

Locke’s goal-setting technique is suitable for improving managerial functions in a particular department. According to McGrath and Bates (2017), clear targets can be used to encourage, monitor, and control employees by the managers. There is less room for misunderstanding when staffers know their tasks, aware of timeframes, and the company’s standards. It is also essential to maintain open communication between them and supervisors to align the company’s goals to their own ones. Very often, the problem of team underperformance lies with the supervisor. The SMART goals should be both challenging and clear for employees. This technique is expected to facilitate planning and organizing stages, making personnel fully aware of their responsibilities. In terms of leading, the integrated set of the department’s and personal goals helps managers to keep everybody motivated and committed.

Moreover, the supervisor has to be sure that employees are not overwhelmed, especially those who are less experienced. Regular conversations may help to assess their conditions, while periodic feedbacks to both team and individuals improve the management function of control. The HR management techniques such as the development and implementation of an effective communication system, employee appraisal, and balanced scorecard also may help the supervisor to avoid similar issues in the future (Gunyung et al., 2017). For instance, the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS), what is a measuring system, can be applied to rate employees to their performance upon clear standards. It will facilitate the control function of management and reduce the number of mistakes made by personnel.

To conclude, in a particular scenario, the new supervisor can only minimize costs caused by the earlier delivery issue. The short-term action plan includes the reassignment of employees to unload the trucks and store material in the department’s inventory instead of transferring it to the general warehouse. The root cause analysis showed that individual mistake made by the employee ordering materials was caused by lack of goal alignment and checks and balances system. Locke’s goal-setting technique, BARS employee appraisal, and effective communication system are able to eliminate such types of mistakes by encouraging staff to follow standards.

References

Gunyung, L., Masanobu, K., & Nagasaki, Y. (2017). Holistic business process management: Theory and practice. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.

McGrath, J., & Bates, B. (2017). The little book of big management theories: And how to use them (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

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IvyPanda. (2022, September 7). Front Line Supervisor’s Challenge. https://ivypanda.com/essays/front-line-supervisors-challenge/

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Front Line Supervisor’s Challenge." September 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/front-line-supervisors-challenge/.

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