Supervisors Place Decision-Making Authority

4 (b) Evaluate the argument that managers controlling large companies might follow policies which do not necessarily maximise the profits of the owners.

When it comes to working within a system and dealing with supervisors in their leadership roles, I always found them to be a little difficult at times to bear with. I have supervisor named Liv with whom work with. I first found out about her working style through other employees who have worked with her in different departments. Liv was an extreme micromanager as well as a person who would demand some of the employees to stay past their work hours for work that was her own responsibility. Interpersonal conflicts quickly arose at work with everyone feeling that this working for her is not exactly a treat. What I found interesting while researching and observing my supervisor's way of managing and working was that she was always under stress from upper management.

Analyze your most commonly used mental models/mindsets that guide your decision making in the workplace. How do these models influence your decision making?

1. You work for an organisation that does not actively encourage its employees to participate in decision-making processes, and to assume responsibility and exercise initiative as appropriate. What would you say to convince the organisation’s management that they should actively encourage employees to assume responsibility and initiative? Write a transcript of what you would say.

Authority control is a method of controlling and limiting where the object in the catalogue gets shelved under, and what terminology can be used to search for said objects. There are two types of authority control for this database and those are name and subject.

A further aspect of leadership, which can also be believed to have a direct link with communication, is decision-making. Both leadership styles are similar in the way that ideas need to be stored before making a business decision. In an autocratic work place “decisions are made independently with little or no input from the rest of the group” (Riley, 2012 n.p.). However, in a democratic society “employees have greater involvement in decision making” (Riley, 2012 n.p.). Both these types of leadership have their benefits and disadvantages with respect to decision-making. In his research on different types of leadership, Joseph, (n.d.) stated that autocratic leadership style could be effective in a business environment as decisions can be made quickly without consulting with workers. According to Cherry, (n.d.) this type of leadership would be advantageous in situations such as the military where decisions need to be taken quickly. Though quick decision-making can be beneficial, it could be argued that it can lead to a demotivated workforce. Employees’ motivation decreases

Making prodigious decisions is an everyday challenge. A great deal of the time, those tough decisions is dependent on who it affects. Thus, when the impact of that decision touches thousands of individuals, the pressure is multiplied beyond measure. Moreover, there are several key factors that a great leader should keep in mind when the decision making time is ready. Firstly, will this pronounced decision compromise the safety of anyone? Secondly, how can the decision made by the leader be communicated throughout the workgroup?

“Ideal supervisors possess the depth of knowledge and practical expertise necessary for training clinicians” (Greer, 2003, p. 136). I chose this quote because as soon as I read it I was in complete agreement with the statement. Personally, I experienced excellent supervisors who truly passed on their academic and professional wisdom, which enhanced my confidence in my professional interactions with my clients and the tasks I performed for the agency. When my supervisor took the time to explain, teach me step by step, and provide me feedback on my own performance that is when my skills accelerated in client assessments and bereavement phone calls.

In the early sections of “Looking Up and Looking Around” Jackall seeks to explain the reasons behind inadequate decision making processes and ability. The circumstances and environments that cultivate ‘decision-making paralysis’ and a lack of individual decision making ability are explained. Numerous examples and reasons are outlined to communicate a manager’s fear of failure, reluctance to make decisions and inability to make effective decisions when required at all hierarchical levels. If a decision must be made, particularly for an unexpected situation or problem, there is a tendency to look up, at

I always encourage decision making by city staff and department heads as part of each person taking ownership of their respective position.

Some supervisors believe that their employees are hardworking, committed, and responsible. Others view their employees as essentially lazy, irresponsible, and lacking ambition. This observation led Douglas McGregor to propose his Theory X -Theory Y. Theory X and Theory Y represent two sets of assumptions about human nature and human behavior that are relevant to the practice of management. Theory X represents a negative view of human nature that assumes individuals are generally dislike work, are irresponsible, and require close supervision to do their jobs. Theory Y denotes a positive view of human nature and assumes individuals are generally industrious, creative, and able to assume responsibility and exercise self-control in their jobs. One would expect, then, that managers holding assumptions about nature that are consistent with Theory X might exhibit a managerial style that is quite different than managers who hold assumptions consistent with Theory Y.

Leader’s choices and actions are the result of the leader’s experiences (Bennis & Goldsmith, 1997). Leadership in organizations is driven by uncertainty. How leaders make decisions based on that uncertainty determines the performance of an organization (Hatch, 1997). Decisions are made on the basis of information available about various environmental variables. However, the variables are many and complex in nature. They may be related to political, economic, social, or other unknown variables. It is not possible to study all such variables in depth because of inadequate information or data. This leads to inaccuracy in decision-making.

Authority is fundamental to a business structure as it provides individuals in senior positions to make decisions and give orders to employee’s orders to fulfil the requirements of the organisation (Mar, 2013). The role of any individual in a managerial position cannot be under-estimated, firms cannot forecast or execute plans without a strong authoritative manager.

Making decisions is a manager's job and at times difficult choices have to be made with little or no information available. One of the most difficult skills of management is knowing how to hand over assignments to employees. The manager meticulous considers which employee should be allowed to work on the project. The employee needs to know they will have the freedom to make a decision and can expect feedback (DeVita, 2010).

One of the manager’s most important jobs is to determine the outcome for a task. He has to decide on goals and provide assignments for employees to complete. However, it is just as important for the manager to be clear about how decisions related to these goals will be made. In leadership and management theory, decision making power can be examined using a visual model called the decision making continuum or the Tannenbaum and Schmidt continuum. This model shows how decisions can be made by the leader’s authority or democratically from subordinates. It is seen that as the team’s freedom in the decision making increases, the manager’s authority decreases.