Yak - Chapter 9 The Supervisor's Function in Organization, Administration, and Management

Why cannot ultimate responsibility be delegated?

"The police role is much too ambiguous to become totally standardized, but it is also much too serious and important to be left completely to the total discretion of the officer."

How do delegation, the exception principle, and the principle of completed staff work interrelate?

*Discussion topic* All are under the delegation section of the chapter.

What is the exception principle?

Developing subordinates to take over in the boss's absence involves training, just as does the exception principle, which specifies that the head of an organization or unit within it should not find it necessary to act personally on each matter coming under his general jurisdiction. Rather, he should have to act only on those exceptional matters that require his personal attention.

List the various elements of the chief executive's activities as described by Gulick, and discuss how each applies to the first-line supervisor.

Gulick's POSDCORB 1. Planning-working out in broad outline the things that need to be done and the methods for doing them to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise; 2. Organizing-that is the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which work subdivisions are arranged, defined, and coordinated for the defined objective; 3. Staffing-that is the whole personnel function of bringing in and training the staff and maintaining favorable conditions of work; 4. Directing-continuous task of making decisions and embodying them in specific and general orders and instructions and serving as the leader of the enterprise; 5. Coordinating-all-important duty of interrelating the various parts of the work; 6. Reporting-keeping those to whom the executive is responsible for informed as to what is going on, which includes keeping himself and his subordinates informed through records, research, and inspection; 7. Budgeting-all that goes with budgeting in the form of fiscal planning, accounting, and control.

Define unity of command, and discuss the factors that affect its application.

In addition to providing a logical arrangement or work, structure should provide clear-cut channels of authority. Requires that every employee should be under the direct command of but one supervisor. It applies to those that are commanded, not those who command. It does not relieve the supervisor from the responsibility for taking action in emergency situations that require immediate supervisory attention, decision, or disciplinary action (even against a subordinate assigned to another unit). This exception does not justify the specialist assuming command over line personnel in normal operations, although the practice is occasionally permitted if only by implication. Neither does the exception make more acceptable the routine practice of some superior officers of dealing directly with operating personnel instead of through their immediate supervisors. Such practices will cause friction and tend to undermine the supervisor's authority over his own subordinates. It will invariably cause confusion, insecurity, and a lowering of confidence of workers subjected to such habitual breaches of the principle if normal operations.

What is meant by the word "organization"?

Organization is a medium through which work is accomplished by individuals or groups associated with each other in doing something. Organization involves not only physical matters but psychological ones as well since it involves individual and group relationships welded together through the coordinating activities and leadership of managers.

What are the four main bases for dividing work in the police service? Give two examples of each.

Organizational structures are established to designate how work is to be divided among the various components of the establishment. Regardless of what basis is used for this division-whether work is apportioned according to function performed, as in the laboratory; by area, as in a system of precincts, geographic divisions, or beats; by clientele activities, traffic control, or the like-the division must be logical and practicable.

Discuss the benefits the supervisor can derive from effective delegation.

Proper delegation frees the supervisor from many routine tasks and enables him to devote more of his time to broader planning activities. In addition, it provides other worthwhile benefits to employees whom jobs are delegated. It gives them an opportunity to increase their job knowledge by performing new tasks that are not ordinarily their responsibility. It is an excellent tool for developing personnel for positions of greater responsibility and for increasing their initiative in accomplishing new tasks.

How may a supervisor best utilize the talents of the natural leaders in the organization even though they are not officially designated as such? What are these natural leaders called?

The major portion of the supervisor's job may be categorized into three broad areas: leading, directing, and controlling individuals and groups that are formally or informally arranged. Those formally structured and recognized relationships within the organization will have superimposed on them the informal groups, with their own indigenous leader or leaders, unrecognized on the charts. Through these natural leaders, often without bars or stripes, the wise supervisor will accomplish many of his objectives.

Define the essential nature of completed staff work.

The principle of completed staff projects requires that the person to whom work has been assigned through the delegation process complete it so that the only thing left to be done by the person who delegated it is to approve it.

Discuss how failure to delegate causes bottlenecks in an organization. Give examples.

The principle of delegation relates to the process of committing an activity to another's care. It is closely related to the principle of span of control in that even thought the span is excessive, the harm from it can be reduced by the delegation of much detail to subordinates. Those supervisors who refuse to allow anything to be done except under their direct control are the primary causes of the crippling bottlenecks that slow or stop effective operations. The tendency in modern police operations is to exceed the bounds of effective control. Chiefs of police and other high administrative officers too frequently attempt to exert direct control over too many subordinates. Field supervisors at the operational level are expected to do likewise. The results are delay and confusion because of the bottlenecks the practice causes. Rather than delegate some of his functions to subordinates, the top administrator too often attempts to retain close contact with every phase of the operation and will not relinquish his control until he comes to realize the limits of his capabilities; until then, the total organizations suffers. Superior officers should make every to avoid requiring their supervisors to spread themselves so thin that they find it necessary to neglect their primary job of supervising because of the excessive number of details associated with the job they are given to oversee.

What is meant by "span of control"? How is it affected by organizational structure? What are some of the other factors that affect span of control?

The principle of span of attention, initially adopted from psychologists, refers to the number of persons one individual can supervise effectively. The principle has been applied to military and administrative organizations as the span of control, which relates to the number of subordinates who can be supervised effectively by one supervisor. This limit is small, from 3 to 5 at the top level of the organization, and broadens at the lower levels, depending on such factors as the capacities of the supervisor and those supervised, the types of work being performed, the complexity of the work, the area covered by it, the distances between elements, the time needed to perform the tasks, the homogeneity of operations, the types of persons served, and the effectiveness of managers.

What is the law of productivity?

The principle of specialization and the law of productivity, as stated by Alford, require assigning to each worker the fewest possible kinds of tasks or operations in order to improve the quality and increase the quantity of his work and giving him the highest class of work for which his natural abilities fit him. Only then is the greatest individual productivity possible.

What is the principle of specialization?

The principle of specialization and the law of productivity, as stated by Alford, require assigning to each worker the fewest possible kinds of tasks or operations in order to improve the quality and increase the quantity of his work and giving him the highest class of work for which his natural abilities fit him. Only then is the greatest individual productivity possible.