Supervisory Role

The supervisor’s primary responsibility is to achieve certain production goals. As such, he must firstly have a thorough technical knowledge of and skill in the work in his section. He must know which procedures and which methods must be followed to do the work correctly. The supervisor must be able to solve practical problems in the workplace and must train employees to do their work.

A person is, however, not appointed to a supervisory position to continue to spend his time doing production/functional work. He must achieve a specific objective (i.e. deliver production) by making the best use of the means of production at his disposal. The supervisor, therefore, secondly also has an administrative responsibility, as he must steer the means of production in such a manner that the right thing is done by the right person and at the right time and in the right place. Knowledge of the administrative processes, generally known as management functions, are therefore essential.

The supervisor is the coordinator of his division’s/section’s activities. He co-ordinates the activities of the individuals in his group as well as possible, to achieve the accepted production objective within a given time. As above-mentioned objectives must be achieved by people (being the most important means of production), it is essential for the supervisor to also have a thorough knowledge of human management.

Production objectives will be achieved if the means entrusted to the supervisor are used to the maximum efficiency.

Each supervisor should, besides the person as a means of production, also handle and have handled all machinery, material and equipment under his control, as if it were his own, and it must therefore be looked after, used sparingly, serviced regularly, stored safely, inspected regularly, etc.