Question

Eighth edition Administrative office management An Introduction Zane K. Quible Ph.D.

Mary Brown, the supervisor of the word processing center in Delta Corporation in San Antonio, recently retired because of her age. During the years she had been supervisor, various managers felt that Brown should be dismissed because of her laxness in supervising the ten employees in the center. Because she reaching retirement age, however she was not dismissed. The employees were often late to work, took longer breaks that was permissible, took advantage of the corporation in terms of sick days, and so forth. Mary was repeatedly asked to be stricter in her supervisory efforts, but no noticeable changes were ever made. When the qualifications for the replacement for Mary brown were developed, the decision was made that the new supervisor should be more authoritarian and should require the employees in the word processing center to conform with existing company policy. The replacement, Annabell Jackson, was hired primarily because of her authoritarian characteristics. All of her former employers who were contacted regarding Jackson’s performance mentioned her authoritarian personality. Because of the laxness of brown and the hope that Jackson could improve the situation, she was offered the job. As the administrative office manager, you are aware that the first day Jackson is on the job will probably determine whether or not the employees in the word processing center will cooperate with her. Thus, you feel a necessity to discuss several things with her before her first day on the job.

Identify the types of information she should know about the employees in the word processing center.

Answer 1

Transition is quite an important aspect in business organizations and it is an aspect in which organizations need to be very careful so that they maintain the basic norms and hygiene while the transition takes place. In this case the selection of Annabell Jackson as the supervisor replacing Mary Brown is because the organization require authoritarian action and Annabell Jackson is considered to be fittest in this position. The types of information she should know about the employees before her first day are:

1. Characteristics of the employees and their role in the organization.

2. What are the factors that the organization is expecting for her as the supervisor.

3. The characteristics of the former supervisor and the role she played.

4. Performance of the employees under the former supervisor.

5. Working nature of the employees and what do they expect from their new supervisor.