Supervisor - what is it? Meaning

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The word "supervisor" or "supervisor", as it is often pronounced in Russian, appeared in America at the end of the twentieth century. It denotes a job title, but is not highly specialized, such as "baker" or "dentist". At the same time, it is quite common to find a vacancy for a supervisor without specifying what kind of education or personal characteristics are needed.

In this article we will talk in detail about the meaning of the word "supervisor", what it is, in what industries such people work, what responsibility they have and what salary this specialist can expect.

Meaning of the word

If we refer directly to the English language, the word "supervisor" is translated as "controller", "supervisor", "supervisor". Initially, it was applicable to employees of the marketing department who were engaged in expanding the market for goods or services. What it is? The supervisor controlled his subordinates, most often sales agents, stimulated them to increase sales, coordinated the work of outlets and marketing campaigns. Today there is also a position of a supervisor of the marketing department. However, this position includes several other responsibilities. However, you may come across an open position for a hotel supervisor or food supervisor. Below we will talk about what these specialists do.

Supervisor in Marketing

If we are talking about a supervisor in the marketing department, then most often we mean holding exhibition events and promotions. Let's say the advertising department wants to hold a tasting of a new instant coffee. Of course, you can put a commercial on TV, but it would be much more effective to give ordinary people the opportunity to try the drink. For this purpose, a stand is placed in large retail chains of the city, where coffee is brewed right on the spot. Guests of the store, that is, ordinary customers, can try it for free. Surely you yourself have come across similar promotions. And you must admit that our mentality is such that sometimes we buy a product just out of politeness, because we tried it, but it’s somehow embarrassing to refuse to buy it. Sometimes we really like the product that we just tasted. Or a gift encourages the purchase, for example: "Buy this drink, and get a cup as a gift." One way or another, such promotions really stimulate sales. But imagine what an inconspicuous to us, but important work. In each store you need to agree on the time of the promotion, conditions. Those who will offer coffee to people must have medical books, as well asa well-suspended tongue so that they do not just stand around during the day, but actively invite people to taste coffee. In addition, those conducting the tasting should treat people, and not safely pick up the drink at the end of the working day. Well, besides this, someone has to calculate the difference between the sales of the store during the tasting and on a normal day, not a promotional one. That's what the Marketing Supervisor does.

Supervisor at the hotel

If you meet an open vacancy for the position of a supervisor in a hotel, then here we will talk about something else. Most often, managers with experience from any field of activity can get a job in such a position. What is a supervisor in a service industry?

The hotel has several departments that require a middle manager, a controller of a certain process. For example, it can be a maid supervisor, a waiter supervisor, a food supervisor. This specialist must know from and to the work of his subordinates in order to be able to adequately and efficiently deliver and control the process. For example, the supervisor of maids checks the cleanliness and quality of cleaning, and also trains newcomers, teaches them how to work, supervises general cleaning, and invites technicians to renovate rooms. The supervisor of waiters is engaged in similar work - trains newcomers, manages the work of current staff.

Food Responsible

What is a nutrition supervisor? He can work in a hotel or restaurant. This specialist tastes dishes and noticesdeterioration or deviation from the quality standard. Why is such a worker needed in production? Most often, the supervisor is placed on the current and monotonous work. Agree, when you have to do the same thing, the eye is “blurred”, and you can even imperceptibly worsen the quality, skip some important details in the work. The Supervisor makes sure that the standards are met and the work of the unit does not suffer day by day.

Supervision in psychiatry

You may also encounter the concept of a supervisor in psychology. This implies the expansion of the practical and theoretical experience of the psychiatrist with the help of a more experienced colleague - supervisor. And this process is called "supervision".

Why do you need the help of such a professional psychiatrist? First of all, the supervisor helps the younger colleague not to take over the problems of clients and not to transfer them into his personal life. In addition, working with people is not a template and it is not always possible to act according to the same methods and programs. A supervisor in psychiatry leads by example a younger colleague, allowing him to grow as a specialist through observation of practice.

What techniques are used

Supervisor is primarily a controller. A person who must coordinate the work of his subordinates and make sure that it is done flawlessly. If the supervisor treats work coldly, subordinates will feel itin an instant and, perhaps, they will begin to hack. Most often in the CIS countries, supervisors use the carrot and stick technique, that is, they are praised for a job well done, but if there were any violations, the offenders receive a reprimand or a fine. Also, supervisors often conduct trainings. These are small speeches during which the supervisor reminds the goals and objectives of the work, talks about the plan of the working day, about any innovations in the work, lists the mistakes he noticed in the tasks and emphasizes that they should not be done again.

Supervisor mode

Supervisor's work schedule can be either free or normal. If we are talking about the work of a supervisor in the marketing department, then such a specialist is on his feet all day, goes around the outlets and visits his subordinates. A supervisor in a restaurant or hotel is at work all day with his subordinates, supervising their work. The salary of the supervisor should be higher than that of his subordinates, as he fully determines and is responsible for their work.

Somehow, being a supervisor is easier than, for example, being a sales agent or a waiter. After all, this specialist does not do the work, but only observes and corrects. On the other hand, he must be experienced in this area in order to look authoritative and really be able to teach, show, know all the "appearances and passwords" in his field. A supervisor is a senior, foreman, foreman, who not only controls, but directs. And besides, onhe is fully responsible for doing the work.