Conclusion on Supervisory Management
We have reached the conclusion of the course on supervisory management. We learned the qualities and characteristics needed to develop a manager. We explored the process by which management is expressed, planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. We learned the various philosophies approaches to management, autocratic, participative or a conjunction of both. We uncovered the various approaches to complete objectives, through team work with authority, responsibility and accountability, to just do which you are told attitude. We learned how a manager can motivate his or her employees. And last we learned the process of disciplining employees.
Yes, as it was expressed in class, it is strange that there is a need for discipline. It is my belief that man should command himself as Pythagoras said: “No one is free who cannot command himself.” The problem is not with employees, but with a human condition. Man lost the ability to think. He needs to be told how to live. Only a few still think. Some of them become managers, leaders or just philosophers. However, the majority needs laws and disciplinary policies to work in harmony.
The disciplinary process encompasses three aspects, self-control, conditions that lead to self-discipline, and punishment. Within that environment the employees labored. The authority that comes with discipline creates an atmosphere of stability and security. When all members of an organization know the behavioral policies and the consequences in breaking their rules and respect them, the organization is the stable and can grow. However, if there is the occurrence of many disciplinary actions against employees, the organization is not efficient. Most of the blame is on the managers. The managers are involved in the process from recruiting to training the employees and promoting them through the hierarchy. It is my belief that even in some cases the blame would fall on top management. Most of the manager job must follow the management philosophy of the organization. In this course, I have learned that some approaches are counter productive.
I will opt for empowering employees and requiring excellence. A job will not be a way to satisfy the physiological, safety and even social needs only, but also to satisfy the craving for self recognition. The job is the channel for creative expressions. However, this is ideology and not reality. One works to fulfill basic needs, one may take any kind of jobs, one must survive. However, through my years, I have learned that if one focuses into what one is doing, it does not matter what it is, one gains a sense of self-fulfillment. One is satisfied with one’s action. However, as stated at the beginning of the entry, one must command oneself.