Snoopervisor or Supervisor?
A Humanistic View
of Management

by Michael Clark

It doesn't matter where you fall in the organizational hierarchy, in our profession we are all managers, and the key ingredient is people.

Every manager deals with the issue of personnel. What makes personnel management challenging is people. They bring unique values, goals, interests, and backgrounds with them. Whether they are employees, clients, shareholders, board members, or public patrons the concept remains the same. People are the largest and the most important asset of any public recreation agency.

People want to know that you practice what you preach. Are your staff members made to feel this is important? Most managers can't answer this question in the affirmative. One major reason is that it is just plain hard work, requiring a concerted effort on a continual basis.

One characteristic that is really necessary is creativity. A manager needs to develop ways of maintaining high morale and efficiency to create motivated and satisfied employees. Managers must remember to be flexible when dealing with human beings.

Secondly, a degree of intuition and risk-taking needs to be incorporated into the manager's style. This process is further complicated by wage restrictions compared to private industry, and new tax cap legislation that restricts available resources.

Keep in mind how you perceive your employees and how they perceive you. Administrative staff, volunteers, coaches, program instructors, and seasonal support staff are all included in this process, and are all a crucial part of the operations of an agency. Without them we might as well drain the pools and chain the doors of our facilities.

What makes this premise even more critical is a trend within our profession that might be labelled "job specificity." More technically oriented jobs are being developed. You now see agencies hiring public information/relations coordinators.

Support staff job descriptions and responsibilities are also becoming more technical in nature. Facility managers are required to know every inch of a facility and all aspects and procedures that relate to the facility, from maintenance to fire alarm systems. More diverse facilities are being built with cutting edge technological equipment. On-site specifics are becoming more complex every year. This creates the "job specificity" syndrome. That is, managers tend to get bogged down with the technical work, routine tasks and general managerial functions of planning, organizing and control, while less time is available to develop and utilize the humanistic, encouraging skills necessary to keep personnel happy.

Of course time management is part of it. More efficient time management allows you to adopt a more personable style within your management portfolio. How you perceive people's motives and abilities, however, will determine the final result. Your assessment of people and the role you feel you play as a manager is crucial. The required mix of task-orientated skills and humanistic personnel skills is becoming more difficult for a manager to acquire and maintain at a high level.

Consider the following ideas to understand the implications of humanistic, encouraging skills.

Theory X and Theory Y
Before defining management theories, let's consider a perspective that may explain several related points, First, a manager must be enthusiastic about the kind of staff he or she wants to hire, and must take pride in the team he or she develops. This enthusiasm must be genuine and perceived as valid by peers and employees.

As a manager, do not be satisfied with just filling a position with a warm body. Take pride in developing a strong screening, interviewing and training program. This will result in a satisfied staff with a strong teamwork ethic, which will ease the process of problem-solving and personnel management. Open communication lines and a basic creed of worth and trust will develop, resulting in optimum performance and retention of your employees. This enthusiasm and pride is contagious to support staff, if utilized and reinforced correctly.

Theory X and Y involves how you perceive your employees. The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves. Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the applicant's interest in the job is money. They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame.

Furthermore, they cannot trust any employee, and they reveal this to their support staff unconsciously via their communications. This kind of manager might be called a "snoopervisor."

Theory Y managers generally view people as good job prospects. They tend to think that people like interesting and challenging jobs and will attempt to be successful at any given task. Theory Y managers have a preference, and may feel they have an obligation, to really find out what each person is all about. This goes beyond the background and reference checks, which are important. A thorough interview of each applicant is a strong characteristic of the Theory Y manager.

A level of trust develops during this process and is maintained unless the individual proves the manager wrong. These managers will explore the symptoms of a problem before blaming an employee. Therefore, Theory Y managers are usually more successful in their hiring and training skills. They have a tendency to hire motivated individuals and retain employees who work well within the team concept. Theory Y managers are the supervisors.

Theory X or Y: which one describes you? Furthermore, which one do your employees think you are: a snoopervisor or a supervisor?

Expectation Theory and Incentives
All people have expectations of jobs, along with a list of responsibilities that go with them. These may be developed before a job is offered. It is important as a manager to realize that this is an evolving process, and one must be flexible enough to help it evolve in the right direction.

The expectations an individual develops about a job or task become the driving force as to whether a positive or negative experience occurs.

Supervisors utilize data instruments or surveys to investigate the expectations of their staff, and show an interest in meeting or at least becoming aware of their needs. There is a genuine awareness of these expectations, and an open line of communication.

A snoopervisor, on the other hand, is a manager who distributes job descriptions and explains the rules and criteria involved, then throws the new person into the position. This individual communicates strict expectations quite well (usually he or she is a very task-oriented manager). However, the communication goes only one way. The only feedback the employees receive is usually a written reprimand or other disciplinary action.

Incentive programs
This area relates to the expectation theory, as the rewards and reinforcement of a job well done are beneficial to an employee's performance. The key element, again, is open communication.

An extension of the expectation theory might involve a snoopervisor distributing the incentive program rules and procedures and integrating the people into the process. The supervisor's aim would be to find out what incentives the staff would desire, and to develop a program around them.

Giving your support staff the opportunity to offer input on incentives will also assist in many other areas of personnel management. This can grow out of control, of course, if ground rules and limitations are not set or promises are not kept. If planned and reinforced correctly, however, incentives can become a creative and effective tool.

MBC or MBWA
Finally, problem-solving is a task managers face every day. A majority of problem-solving tasks may involve personnel or people-related issues. The acronyms above stand for "management by crisis" and "management by walking around," respectively. Both may involve visiting on site, but again it is the perspective you impart to your staff that is critical.

The snoopervisor uses the MBC style. Although no manager can avoid having to deal with crisis, this kind of manager uses the MBC technique all the time. A constant rescuing preference is what motivates this manager to act. Every time a crisis occurs or is communicated to this manager, he or she automatically applies corrective action, utilizing a Theory X approach without hesitation. This corrective action is negative in connotation and is usually completed via a one-way communication channel.

Furthermore, this process is completed without thought or investigation, regardless of the source. Characteristically, the snoopervisor only appears or communicates with staff when a crisis appears.

The supervisor, in contrast, employs the MBWA style from the start. He or she understands it is important for employees to see the manager involved continually through the good and bad times. A supervisor is one who influences, motivates, encourages and is involved with the team process right down to the dirty work. The corporate business hierarchies are flattening out, and more managers are finding themselves involved in the everyday tasks along with their subordinates.

The supervisor also creates a base of trust with the support staff and makes them feel a crucial part of the team. The MBWA style of the supervisor is reinforced continually with positive, encouraging behavior that meets the expectations and needs of support staff. Snoopervisor or supervisor; which one are you?

Conclusion
Although it is inappropriate to label managers, terms such as snoopervisor and supervisor can help to prioritize the importance of the humanistic and encouraging efforts necessary in personnel management. Understanding how you and your behavior impacts your employees' performance, motivations and reliability is a vital ingredient of success. As a supervisor and manager you must keep current on how you perceive your employees and how they perceive you. Take time to take care of the people who take care of you.

About the Author

Michael dark is Facilities Supervisor of the Glencoe Park District.