Key Differences Between Supervisor and Manager

Key Differences Between Supervisor and Manager

Key Differences Between Supervisor and Manager

Definition of Supervisor

A supervisor is an employee and the head of the front line management who watches the employees and their activities working under him/her. He/She has the authority to delegate the task to the individual workers, approve working hours and to resolve the payroll issues. The duty of the supervisor is to oversee his men working at the workplace and analyze their performance and productivity.

The major responsibility of a supervisor is to look after his men that they reach the targeted production level in the stipulated time. They help in the smooth functioning of the day to day operations of the enterprise. The given are some tasks performed by the supervisor in general:

To implement the policies made by the upper-level management.

To make short action plans as a stepping stone to achieve targets.

Assigning work to workers.

Coordinate the people at work.

Motivating, guiding and training subordinates.

Preparing timely reports regarding the performance of the employees.

Listening and resolving the worker complaints and grievances.

Definition of Manager

A manager is a person who manages the resources of the organization. By resources, we mean men, money, material, method and machinery. But not only the resources, but a manager is in charge of the entire management of the organization.

There are mainly five functions of a manager, indicated below:

Planning

Organizing

Staffing

Motivating & Leading

ControllingCoordination.

Between Supervisor and Manager

The supervisor is someone who oversees the employees and regulates them to work assigned to them. A manager is a person who manages the resources of the whole organization and the organization as well.

The supervisor is a top position in the lower level management, whereas in the middle-level management the top position is of the manager.

The supervisor is answerable to the manager for the performance of his team while the manager is answerable to the board of directors for the performance of his department.

The supervisor has an entirely introverted approach as he has to look after his men and their work only. Conversely, the manager has an ambivert approach because he has to look after his department along with the external environment.

The supervisor’s task is to supervise people at work, but a manager manages the 5 M’s of the organization, i.e. men, money, machinery, material, method.

The supervisor is responsible for people working under him and their activities while a manager is responsible for people and things as well.

A supervisor has no right to hire or fire employees, but he can recommend it. In contrast to the manager, he can hire or fire employees.