ABSTRACT
Through the years, knowledge, skills, and competencies of management and supervision have been expanding and improving, becoming more complex. As a general description, managers or supervisors are the individuals who are designated and responsible for directing and overseeing overall individuals’, teams’, and departments’ production, activities, and performance. Supervision is easily defined based on word origin. The prefix super means over. The word vision means to see. Supervision is thus exercising oversight. By this definition, supervisors oversee the activities of employees reporting to them. Supervision may also be defined by law. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 defines supervisors as those devoting no more than 20 percent of their time to doing the same work as the people they supervise. Supervision may also be defined based on the duties and the activities performed. Finally, supervision may be defined based on the competencies demonstrated by successful supervisors.
