Factors in supervisors' perceptions of physical science research personnel.

How can the use of supervisor ratings as a criterion of productivity be improved? "Forty physical science research supervisors described the behavior of productive and nonproductive research personnel using a 250-item checklist derived from interviews with research supervisors. A factor analysis of the items comprising the checklist resulted in finding five significant factors. These factors have been tentatively named General Productivity, Affability, Motivation, Ability to Communicate, and Creative Ability." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accounting for Subordinate Perceptions of Supervisor Power: An Identity-Dependence Model.

The authors present a model that explains how subordinates perceive the power of their supervisors and the causal mechanisms by which these perceptions translate into subordinate outcomes. Drawing on identity and resource-dependence theories, the authors propose that supervisors have power over their subordinates when they control resources needed for the subordinates' enactment and maintenance of current and desired identities. The joint effect of perceptions of supervisor power and supervisor intentions to provide such resources leads to 4 conditions ranging from highly functional to highly dysfunctional: confirmation, hope, apathy, and progressive withdrawal. Each of these conditions is associated with specific outcomes such as the quality of the supervisor-subordinate relationship, turnover, and changes in the type and centrality of various subordinate identities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Black-white differences in leader behavior related to subordinates' reactions.

Investigated differences in 4 managerial leadership measures (managerial support, goal emphasis, work facilitation, and interaction facilitation) among 72 Black, 36 White, and 15 Chicano subordinates of 16 Black and 17 White supervisors in 3 industrial plants. The 10 supervisory leadership questions used are part of a larger instrument, the Survey of Organizations. Findings were analyzed to determine whether or not the subordinates' reactions to their supervisors on each managerial leadership measure varied with (a) the race of the supervisor, (b) the race of supervisor and subordinates, and (c) the majority or minority numerical status of subordinates in work groups with supervisor of the same or different race. Results indicate that the behavior of supervisors toward their subordinates is a complex function of (a) the supervisor's own race and role in combination with (b) the race of subordinates and (c) the majority or minority positions of racial groups within the group supervised. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A measure of supervisory quality.

A 50-item Supervisor's Problems Test was developed and tested in 3 companies against superior ratings of "good" and "poor" supervisors. Scores were also correlated with scores on verbal intelligence tests and on the F scales. "1. The test differentiates significantly between supervisors high in understanding of how to effectively supervise and those low in this understanding. 2… . [it] has a low relationship with verbal intelligence. 3… . [it] is substantially related to the democratic-authoritarian dimension of personality as measured by the F Scale." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coercive power and forces affecting conformity.

"In a laboratory experiment… Ss worked on a card sorting task under a supervisor who created various conditions of coercive power… . It was hypothesized that the supervisor's inductions would set up punishment forces and opposing resisting forces both of which would determine S's conformity… . It is concluded that punishment forces and resistance forces are independent determinants of conformity to coercive power." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex roles and power relationships in supervision.

Discusses the role of the supervisor based on gender issues. Issues in supervision of practitioners with a feminist perspective are explored, as well as how supervisors can assist the practitioner who has managerial aspirations. The role of supervision in dealing with stress and gender is considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When supervisors feel supported: Relationships with subordinates' perceived supervisor support, perceived organizational support, and performance.

The authors surveyed full-time retail employees and their supervisors to investigate relationships of supervisors' perceived organizational support (POS) with subordinates' perceptions of support from their supervisors (perceived supervisor support [PSS]), POS, and in-role and extra-role performance. The authors found that supervisors' POS was positively related to their subordinates' perceptions of supervisor support. Subordinates' PSS, in turn, was positively associated with their POS, in-role performance, and extra-role performance. Beyond these bivariate relationships, subordinates' perceptions of support from the supervisor mediated positive relationships of the supervisors' POS with the subordinates' POS and performance. These findings suggest that supervisors who feel supported by the organization reciprocate with more supportive treatment for subordinates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of differences in subordinate and supervisor age on attitudes and performance.

In a study of the influence of differences in employee age and the age of the employee's immediate supervisor, an age-difference variable was created and used to test 4 competing sets of predictions for performance and attitudinal outcomes within a sample of 292 high school teachers. Analyses revealed that employees who were older than their supervisors (1) reported better working relations with their supervisors, (2) evaluated their supervisors more favorably, and (3) received ratings from their supervisors that were not less favorable than other employees. The results suggest that bias does not necessarily operate against employees who are older than their supervisors and that a relational approach that is based on attribute similarity–dissimilarity offers an additional source of systematic variance that can aid in explaining individual responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of supervisor and supervisee degree level and gender on the supervisory relationship.

86 graduate counseling students and 92 supervisors rated their relationships 3 times during a semester. At the semester's end, supervisees decribed the perceived frequency of performance of supervisor behaviors. Supervisors and supervisees differed in their perceptions of the relationship and how it developed. Supervisees, in contrast to supervisors, saw improvement in their relationships over time. Male supervisees and supervisors both rated their relationships as better than females. Gender matching affected supervisees' perceptions of their relationships but not supervisors' perceptions. Semester-end ratings showed that supervisees discriminated between the quality of the relationship, which was affected by gender matching, supervisor gender, and supervisor behavior, and supervisor competence, which was affected only by supervisor behavior. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inservice training for clinical supervisors.

Clinical supervisors have had to rely heavily on their training as psychotherapists to meet their responsibilities as supervisors. A 2-day training program in supervision skills designed to broaden the repertoire and enhance the professional development of practicing supervisors is described. The training laboratory is divided into 3 parts: (a) examination of baseline supervisor behaviors, with particular attention given to focus and role; (b) presentation of 4 distinct models of supervision (Discrimination, Interpersonal Process Recall, Microtraining, and Live Supervision); and (c) training in ethical/legal issues, which includes evaluation, emergency situations, and ethical and/or legal dilemmas. The in-service training program is designed to give participants an opportunity to practice the skills presented. Furthermore, an attempt is made to integrate the laboratory materials so that the supervisor is trained to use different behaviors discriminately. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensionality of supervisor roles: Supervisors' perceptions of supervision.

Used a multidimensional scaling (MDS) research design (a) to assess the salient dimensions that supervisors rely on in their perceptions of supervisor roles and (b) to test empirically J. M. Bernard's (1979) 2-dimensional model and the unidimensional developmental model of supervision of J. M. Littrell et al (1979). 19 supervisors (mean age 31 yrs) of counselor trainees made the dissimilarity judgments of the 9 supervision role–functions (MDS stimuli) adapted from Bernard's model. Three dimensions with multiple interpretations emerged from the MDS solution. The dimensions could be interpreted based on supervisor roles, supervision environment, supervision function, and characteristics of supervisor roles. Results partially support Bernard's model and provide minimal support for the developmental model of Littrell et al. Both models were found to be rather simplistic because neither model accounts for the 3 dimensions. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedents and consequences of emotional display rule perceptions.

Central to all theories of emotional labor is the idea that individuals follow emotional display rules that specify the appropriate expression of emotions on the job. This investigation examined antecedents and consequences of emotional display rule perceptions. Full-time working adults (N = 152) from a variety of occupations provided self-report data, and supervisors and coworkers completed measures pertaining to the focal employees. Results using structural equation modeling revealed that job-based interpersonal requirements, supervisor display rule perceptions, and employee extraversion and neuroticism were predictive of employee display rule perceptions. Employee display rule perceptions, in turn, were related to self-reported job satisfaction and coworker ratings of employees' emotional displays on the job. Finally, neuroticism had direct negative relationships with job satisfaction and coworker ratings of employees' emotional displays. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervisory procedures and work-team productivity.

"A complex task setting provided by the simulation of a radar air traffic control system was the context employed to evaluate the extent to which work-team productivity is modifiable as a consequence of different supervisors and supervisory procedures under different task loads. Six two-man teams were observed. Each team worked under each of three supervisors. The supervisors shifted from team to team. Three techniques were adopted alternately: laissez-faire, active monitoring, and direct participation. It was observed that the individual supervisor was a more consistent influence on performance than the particular role he employed. The effect of role per se was significant but interpretable only in light of the particular performance criterion used. For example, processing speed was greatest under laissezfaire conditions, while error avoidance was superior under the conditions which required more overt supervisory activity. Task load was not found to be an interactive factor." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Escalation bias in performance appraisals: An unintended consequence of supervisor participation in hiring decisions.

The tendency of supervisors to escalate their commitment of a previously expressed opinion by biasing performance ratings was examined in the context of a "real" organization. The hypotheses of the study were (a) that supervisors who participate in a hiring or promotion decision and agree with the eventual decision would positively bias subsequent performance appraisal ratings for that employee, and (b) that supervisors who participate in the original decision but disagree with the decision would bias subsequent performance appraisal ratings in a negative direction. Cases in which the supervisor had not participated in the hiring or promotion decision were used as a control condition. The study was conducted in a large public-sector organization with a sample of 354 clerical employees. Data provide strong support for both hypotheses, demonstrating both positive and negative escalation biases. The implications of these findings for research on escalation and for organizational policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role diffusion in the supervisory relationship.

Discusses problems stemming from the supervisor's role and the power structure of the trainee–supervisor relationship when the trainees are clinical psychology graduate students. The tenets of systems theory, which present supervision as a dynamic process involving the triad of supervisor, therapist, and client, are reviewed. Ways in which supervisors are in dominant or deferent positions to their students are reviewed, parallels between the supervisory process and relationships between diagnosticians and patients, and therapists and clients, are explored. Mutuality in a mature supervisory relationship is also discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job content and worker's opinions.

A 71-item questionnaire was used to survey opinions of automotive assembly operators toward supervisor and the general work situation. In 4 production departments "no difference was observed in the favorableness of opinions… on two jobs of clearly different content… . The instrument… sensitive enough to show differences between assembly operators and utility men when utility men were singled out by management for special treatment and had their jobs further expanded." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment processes in the supervisory relationship: An exploratory investigation.

How do relational characteristics of clinical trainees and supervisors influence the supervisory relationship? Following suggestions that attachment theory might shed light on this question, the authors asked doctoral-level psychology interns (N = 87) to complete an online survey about attachment processes and supervision experiences. Findings indicated that perceived supervisor attachment style was significantly associated with supervision task and bond. Regardless of their own attachment style, participants reporting secure supervisors rated the supervisory bond higher than participants reporting insecure supervisors. Results of path analyses suggested that parental indifference, compulsive self-reliance, and perceived supervisor attachment style may be particularly important in shaping the supervisory alliance. Implications for training and supervision are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blacks supervising whites: A study of interracial difficulties in working together in a simulated organization.

Investigated interracial difficulties of blacks and whites working together, when blacks are in a supervisory position over whites. 45 groups of male undergraduates were supervised by blacks, and 45 were supervised by whites. In each group, 2 subordinates played a business game with either a black or a white supervisor and were observed by 2 white Os. Results indicate that (a) the performance ratings of black supervisors were significantly poorer than those of white supervisors; (b) subordinates supervised by blacks behaved differently than subordinates supervised by whites, and some of these behaviors appeared to hinder the effectiveness of the black supervisor; and (c) subordinates with negative racial bias gave poorer ratings to black supervisors than subordinates with liberal racial attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervisor countertransference: A qualitative investigation into its identification and description.

Interviews were conducted with 11 psychotherapy supervisors about an experience of supervisor countertransference with a predoctoral intern. On the basis of a qualitative analysis, results revealed that supervisor countertransference manifestations consisted of affective (e.g., emotional distress), cognitive (e.g., questioning one's own competence), and behavioral (e.g., disengagement) components. Sources of supervisor countertransference always included both the intern's interpersonal style and the supervisor's unresolved personal issues and at times pertained to intern–supervision environment interactions, problematic client–intern interactions, intern–supervisor interactions, and supervisor–supervision environment interactions. Supervisors typically believed their supervisor countertransference initially weakened but eventually strengthened the supervisory relationship. Most supervisors managed their supervisor countertransference reaction by talking with colleagues, and most acknowledged they had received little or no training in addressing supervisor countertransference issues with trainees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)