How to Achieve Desired Supervision in your Company?
“Subordinates who are skilled, efficient, trained and competent require less supervision, and therefore a supervisor may have a wider span of control. ”
Nobody can manage and supervise others in each and every task with complete authority. The term span means the space between two supports of a structure, e.g. the space between two pillars. This space should neither be too large nor too small. Similar is the case with the span of supervision. If you want your business to be effectively supervised, just make the span of supervision to be of a practical level.In an organization, span refers to the number of subordinates a manager can manage effectively. There are a number of factors that influence the span of the supervision in a particular business.
A person having better abilities can manage effectively a large number of subordinates. Subordinates who are skilled, efficient, trained and competent require less supervision, and therefore a supervisor may have a wider span of control. Nature and importance of work to be supervised is also an important factor in deciding the span of control and supervision.
The capacity of the supervisor to supervise a large number of personnel is also limited on account of time available at his disposal to supervise the subordinates. The span of control would generally narrow down at the top level of the management because top managers have to spend their major time on planning, organizing, and directing and the time available at their disposal for supervision is lesser.
If a manager clearly delegates authority to undertake a well-defined task, well-trained subordinates can do it with even a minimum number of supervisory controls. The span of control is also influenced by the effectiveness of communication system of the organization. Faulty communication puts a heavy burden on the manager and reduces the span of control.
If plans and policies are clear and easily understandable, the task of the supervisor becomes very easy. Effective planning helps to reduce frequent calls on the superior for explanation, instructions and guidance.
In this way valuable time is saved and the supervisor gets the opportunity to widen the span of his task. On the other hand if there is incongruity in the formulation of policies itself, nothing much can be expected from the supervisor.
Author - DeeKay
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