EXERCISE 41

Two Supervisors-A Study in Style*

Floor One and Floor Two are located in the same building and are very similar in physical features and workforce size. Employees on both floors make pacemakers, highly technical and delicate devices that are surgically implanted in a user's chest. Reliable performance ofthe device is often a life-and-death matter for the user.

FLOOR ONE
Conversation is minimal on Floor One. Mr. Martin, the supervisor, sits at his desk in a glass-front office where he is able to see much of the rest of the floor. A sign on Mr. Martin 's wall read s: "There is too much at stake for mistakes." Mr. Martin runs a tight ship on Floor One. He is known throughout the company as an organized and systematic manager: strict, but fair; court eous, but not exceptionally warm. He takes his work very seriously, telling new employees that they "each playa small role in the large endeavor of saving lives." No one doubts Mr. Martin's commitment to his work. On his walks around the floor his mann er is formal and detached, but keenly observant. When asked a question or for directions , his responses are always crisp , concise , and unambiguous. His technic al knowledge of the work is highly regarded by all. Mr. Martin is extremely thorough in doing everythin g pos sible to ensure that noth ing leaves his shop with any defects. Whenever possible, he personally oversees the end-line inspection of the product-what he calls "the last and by far most important step in the process." . Asked once about why he doesn't loosen up the reins, Martin responded: "We're in the business of making device s that keep people alive. There can be no question about final quality of product-s-every defect that leaves here is a potential killer . There will always be human error, and no matter how good these folks may be, I can 't let their mistakes endanger our customers. My job is to make sure that everyone follows procedure to the letter , and that if mistakes are made they are caught before they go out the door .': Martin delegates almost no authority to his assistant, Mr. Smith. When Martin is away and Smith is in charge, the atmosphere on the floor changes. There is a good deal of chatting and gossiping, and at times even some horseplay. Some of the older workers are concerned that the lack of tight discipline when Smith is in charge might lead to mistakes. The attitude among the younger workers towar d Martin's supervision is expressed in the following statements: "Martin runs a very strict floor, and the workers resent him because he treats them like trainees ." "When Lcarne here, Mart in checked up on everything I did, and that was hard to adjust to. I felt like a rookie all over again."

Copyrigh t 1992 by Organizational Dynamics, Inc. (ODl), 25 Mall Road, Burlington, MA 0 1803. Spec ial thanks to George H. Labovitz, Ph.D ., President and CEO, ODl , for permissi on to reprint this training exercise .

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41: Two Supervisors- A Study in Style

"I' ve had what I thought were some pretty good ideas of how we might improve what we do around here and maybe even do some things differently that would save a few bucks. But I guess Martin feels that he' s the only one who should be thinking about how we might make things better." "When Martin is off, the workers are in a more sociable frame of mind. The whole atmosphere seems more relaxed." "I was hired as a quality inspector and am more than adequately trained for my job. But I feel here that I' m the one being inspected." Martin keeps the younger workers on Floor One under rigid discipline, and they complain to their supervisor that they are not being given responsibility. They are being asked to do only 'r outine work. This makes them feel that they are not learning as much as they might in other places. Younger workers ask few questions of either Martin or the older workers; they rarely talk to anyo ne. Th e older workers' attitude is different, as the following statements show: "I like working with Mr. Martin . I know a lot of the workers complain about him because he' s particular and checks on them. Personally, I' d rather work on this floor than anywhere else for exactly that reason. Everything here is done properly." "I picked this floor because I liked the supervision here. I worked with Mr. M artin while I was a trainee and I knew what to expect. I honestly feel I still need a responsible person nearby to supervise me. I need guidance, and therefore I prefer to work on a floor where there is a fairly stric t supervisor. On some of the other floors things are too slipshod." " I like things done in an orderly fashion. I prefer to work hard and get it don e with, and then rela x. Mr. Ma rtin doesn 't believe in relaxation at all, but I can see his point. After all, you have these orders that have to be taken care of as quickly as possible. He's got to lay down the law to us to a certain extent I keep telling my wife how lucky she is to be in her line of work. Everything in her place is buddy-buddy. But I guess with this work it j ust can 't be that way. The hea d man has to be strict in order to get the work done. Isn ' t that right?" "Some of the supervisors are great to work with, but others just aren' t good at supervising. They don 't know how to communicate. Now when Martin is on, it is altogeth er different. He knows how to get things done right the first time." The relationships on Floor One tend to be formal and impersonal. There is very little give-andtake or camar aderie . Martin equitabl y divide s and clearly assigns the work, and no one complains that his workers are slack in carrying out 'their tasks . Yet when Martin is off the floor, there is evidence of antagonism betwe en the older workers and the younger workers.

FLOOR TWO
The atmosphere on Floor Two is informal and friendly. Workers discuss their problems with one another, and there is a good deal of talk and good-natured horseplay.

Mr. Franklin, the shop manager, spends much of his time on the floor helping with problems and informally chatting with workers. He often consults with workers about quality problems and changes in procedures. ' .
Franklin expresses his attitude about supervision as follows: "The shop has changed since I was a trainee. At that time, it was just losing the old milita ry discipline and becoming more reasonable in its approach. Nowadays you ' ve got to trust that your employees can and will accept

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41: Two Supervisors- A Study in Style

responsibility for the quality of their own work. If ! was always lookin g over their shoulders, I'd go nuts, and they'd rebel." Franklin encourages interaction among the workers and a group approach to prob lem solvin g. He set up a task team to study the process of end-line inspection and rubber -stamped their recommendations to cut back resources at that point. He also set up a system in which quality . control responsibility is rotated to the various members within each, work group . The system seems to work well because the workers are happy with it. There is some concern, however, that more supervision and tracking of the system may be necessary. Franklin delibera tely shares authority with his assistant, allowing him to order supp lies and supervise certain tasks. He consults with him when making decisions. When Franklin is absen t, the assistant supervises much as Franklin does . There is little difference in the atmo sphere on the . floor whether Franklin or his assistant is in charge. One of the younger workers on Frankli n's floor describes the situation as follows: "I like it here . On this floor we can all speak up whenever we feel like it, and we get along fine. The workers on this floor are very good to work with. Mr. Franklin is an excellent manager, and there is good spirit." The older workers feel somewhat differently: "Franklin is a very nice person, and everyone has been great to me, but I don 't think the organization is as strict as it used to be. I get nervous about mistakes being mad e. It's very easy to forget something. It happe ned to me once." "I don't know whether I'm doing a good job or not. Maybe there are complaints about my work. If so, I never hear about it. I just have to assume that I'm doing all right. Sometimes I wish that somebody would co me along to check up and let me know when I do things wrong and how I can impro ve. I must have plenty of room for improvement." Frankl in says that he enjoys training new workers but has some problems in maintaining discipline. Trainees seem to be accepted as an integral part of the social grou p. They take part in informal discussions and are free to ask questions. The relationships among the different groups of workers on Franklin 's floor are easy and informal, and there is a strong spirit of camara derie. On the other hand, there is some confusion as to who is accountab le for what. One worker explains it as follows: "Franklin be lieves we should all be responsible for our own work and make sure that we don 't pass mistake s on to the next guy. Personally, I'm glad I' m not poli ced, but I wonder how many folks out there aren ' t just sliding by, figuring no one 's looking that closely and that whatever happen s 'the group' will take care of its own anyway. I don't know ; seems to me someone 's gotta be the one to take the fall if something's not right. Right?" The workers do say that if they had a problem they would feel comfortable taking it straight to Franklin.

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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

I. 2. 3. What are the major characteristics of the two floors? What are the major differences in management styles between Floor One and Floor Two? If you were purchasing a pacemaker, would you prefer one made on Flo or One or Floor Two ? Why? Assuming you could design a new floor-Floor Three- what attributes of Floors One and Two would you use? Why?

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