The Roles of Leaders, Managers, & Supervisors; The Practices of Leadership, Management, & Supervision; and the Decisions of the Leader/Manager/Supervisor
Richard H. G. Field
University of Alberta, Canada
Volume 11: 2017, pp. 63-78; ABSTRACT
A stepwise progression of description and example is provided for each of: leader, manager, and
supervisor roles; leadership, management and supervision practices; and the decisions made by the leader/manager/supervisor. Taking leaders,
managers, and supervisors as hierarchical roles and integrating them into Sinek’s (2011) Start With Why concepts provides a novel and useful
distinction: Supervisors focus only on what is done; Managers target both what is done and how it is done; and Leaders have the threefold concern
of why the organization does what it does, how it does it, and what is done. Five other roles in the developed typology are considered, those of:
worker, dreamer, analyst, academic/consultant, and administrator. The leader, manager, and supervisor roles are enacted in organizations as
practices of leadership, management, and supervision. Leadership is focused on values first, then vision of what could be, the mission of how
to get to that vision, and strategies to achieve the mission. Management targets mission, strategy, and goals along the way. Supervision keys
on goals and tactics. All are concerned with building the organization. A particular person at work will enact parts of each practice and make
decisions as a leader/manager/supervisor. Central to this work is the task that will be chosen, the strategy to accomplish that task, and the
organization’s competitive advantage in the market.
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