Dealing with people is definatly not an easy thing to do, especaily when you are trying to make these people to do things. This is the job of the man we are going to meet today,this man has been working as a supervisor in one of the biggest companies in Egypt . He was and still is the best supervisor in all the branches of this company and got awarded several times for saving this company from catastophies. The owner came up to him right infront of me to thank him for being so commited as a supervisor and said “you know Mr Ahmad if only you comitment was contagoues , and you passed it to everyone in this company we would have been one of the leading companies worldwide.”
I went to meet him in his office and it was obvious that he was swamped with work, which made me appreciate so much that he didn’t let down my request to meet him. He orderd us somthing to drink, and we started the interveiw. The first question I wanted to ask for so long was
Øwhat are your main principles at work?
Ø“First of all my main principle is “do not work hard, work smart”, the second principle I believe in is “do not come late to work and do not leave early or late”, by this I mean that if you do not come late to work the I (as a supervisor) wouln’t want you to stay after your working hours. I also believe so much in commitment, the feeling that you belong to place you work for, most people don’t have this, they are always unsatisfied with thier company, supervisors and managers, but this all depends on the way you persieve them, if you make youself feel that you belong to the place you work for your life is going to be much easier, control your mind make it percieve things in a way that will comfort you, because if you not happy with your work now, and you changed your job but still unsatisfied then the problem is in the way you view work and not in the place or the people you work with.”
ØWhat are the areas that require ethical conducts for a supervisor?
ØHe stared at the sealing for a while to organize what he was going to say, and confidently said “loyalty, regardless what the supervisor skills are the supervisor will never be viewed positevly by the employees unless the supervisor is loyal, it is important that the supervisor doesn’t do thimng only for his own good, he or she should consider the employees and the organization ahead of him/her.”
ØHow could a supervisor improve an employee’s motivation?
ØHe seemed that he like the qeustion because it was proffetionally his field and answerd “first make the work more intresting by trying to avoid negative tasks if they are not going to produce much., second by treating the imployees as individual, and respect each one as long as he/she does her /his job perfectly, no matter how his/her way is, third by ofcourse encouraging participation which makes the employees feel that we are one team ”
ØFrom your piont of view, what are the main funtions of a supervisor?
Ø“The first function of a supervisor is planning, and this is done by 3 steps ,step number one is by determining the present situation,the second step is put a head the objective and the third dtep would obviuosly be determing the ways for achieving this objective.. Another very important function of the supervisor is organizing. In other word arranging distributing the work among employees. A supervisor carries out work arranged by managers..staffing is also an essential function of the supervisor for a supervisor accomplish his work through other people. Psychologically the supervisor’s funtion is to motivate and control the employees, getting them to put thier maximum effort . finally the supervisor is supposed to check how good the work was done compared to what was planned.”
ØWhat are the potential benefits of improving work methods?
Ø“You gain alot from improving the methods, ofcourse you are going to have higher productivity, and better quality. You are going to reduce delays and waste, have satisfied employees and provide a sence of safty for them and the customers.”
ØWhat are the mistakes you may be to commit while making a decision at work?
“He smiled almost telling me with his smile that he learnd it the tough way
Ø“Decision making is such a tough task at work because of the huge responsibilty that is on a supervisor or even an employee, personally the mistake I made was that creating a crisis situation that prevents me from thinking logically.
But from my experience with mployees is that they always fail in gathering enough data and utelizing policies. A terrible mistake is also to make all decisions big decisions and failing to consult with others. It is very important that you hear other people opinions and respect them, while also accepting the fact that you could benefit from them.”
ØWhat do you believe was your best accomplishment in this company?
Ø“That I managed to reduce the company’s costs almost 45% since I got promoted although the compamny was in debt , and that I managed create a sence of belonging for all the employees.”
ØAnd how did you manage to reduce the costs?
Ø“I had a written plan and my objective was to make it happen no matter what.
I was just going to ask him what the paln was but he interrupter me and continued by saying:
If all those point were done completely the company’s costs will definatly reduce.”
ØThank you so much for the useful lesson you tought me and the readers and finally I would like to conclude with a simple question “are you satisfied with you accomplishments?”
ØYes I am but I wont stop here. I still want to do much more, I am still as enthusiastic as when I started work.
Although he was a very serious man he was very entertaining and friendly, his personlity is the kind of personality that you might not lo love but admire. He is very charismatic and answed every question I asked clearly as if he knew the questions. He knew exactly what to say, his words were to organized that you can notice most of the questions were answered by points (first, second….ect).he is the type of man who you wish that he could be your supervisor to learn from his deep mind. We finished our bueatiful interview, he gave me a serious hand shake and I left. With an intention of spending more time with this person in the future.
