Modern supervisor face internal and external pressures every day. They are concerned with quite a few environmental factors, including these ten. Number 1, technology, which is always changing. Number 2, legal restrictions, better know these to stay out of trouble. Number 3, organizational policies and procedures. Gotta follow these to get things done the right way. Number 4, quantity, quality, and cost control goals, which often compete with each other. Most of the time, you can make something good or something cheap, but not both. Number 5, competition with other supervisors for resources. Not everyone plays by the same rules, even your peers. Number 6, information overload. A huge amount of information, memos, reports, emails, etc., can really pile up if you don't keep up with it. One manager I know says she gets 1000 emails a day. That's insane. Number 7, employee expectations for meaningful work and work life balance. This is more important as younger people into the workforce. Number 8, globalized business. Coordinating groups of employees is in different time zones, can be a real hassle. Number 9, changes in the composition of the workforce. Younger workers aren't the same as older workers in many key areas, not better or worse, just different. Number 10, economic uncertainty. Ironically, of all things you can count on uncertainty. Higher level managers set the expectations for supervisors, but employees have needs and demands too. A supervisor has to handle pressure from both sides like the Keystone in a stone archway. Without the Keystone, the arch collapses. Likewise, the supervisors role is highly crucial. As a supervisor, you will be able to handle pressures best if you do a few key things. Don't be afraid to admit you need help. Seek it from peers, your boss, and employees. Provide a strong role model for employees. Demonstrate good work habits. Try to anticipate and prepare for changes in crises. Listen a lot and avoid getting into arguments. Learn to handle stress in a healthy manner. Try exercising, meditating, listening to music. Being with your family or pets, or anything else that relaxes you. Two key factors determine how people approach work and their coworkers, individual differences and perceptions. First, individual differences. Employees differ in their appearance, emotional makeup, and intelligence, which causes their desires for jobs and rewards to differ to. For example, a person who tends to be quiet and reserved may avoid any job that makes them the center of attention. Second, comes individual perceptions. Each employee has a unique set of perceptions about work, fellow employees and supervisors based on how they think about things and past experiences. For example, a person whose last supervisor was mean to them may treat a new supervisor with suspicion. Because of these differences, a good sized group will usually have a few chronically dissatisfied employees. A few who are extremely satisfied and the rest somewhere in between. The lesson is that no matter what you do as a supervisor, you can never please everyone, so it's important to be patient and use all of your skills to motivate workers and performance expected. Frankly, there isn't much you can do about employee individual differences, but you can do something about perceptions by taking advantage of certain programs that have been shown to increase employee satisfaction. The first of these is flex time, which means that employees are given a flexible work schedule. Employees are basically allowed to choose when they work and change that as they like to suit their needs and circumstances within reason. For instance, they may work extra hours, four days a week, on either have all day Friday or the afternoon off, or they may be allowed to come in two hours early at 6 AM and leave at 3. Job sharing is another option. Job sharing splits that asks for one job into two, so that two people satisfy all the work demands together. This is a good way to ensure neither workers stressed out, whereas more than they can do reasonably. Lastly, telecommuting allows employees to work remotely, usually from home, being connected by electronic means to their physical place of work. Some jobs these days or 100% done from home, while others require worker to come into the office only once or twice a week. Employees benefit from avoiding long commutes, fewer interruptions and may be able to spend more time with family members. The organization benefits as well, since telecommuters tend to be more productive. Of course, these systems won't work for every job or every worker. And automotive plant worker, for instance, can't very well build cars at home. Plus not all employees like working from home. These programs also do require supervisors to change how they do their jobs to some extent. Most supervisors find it harder to supervise remote workers, for instance, but when they are appropriate, all three can change perceptions and benefit the employee and the organization.
