Superior Supervision

Loen ( Manage More by Doing Less ) notes that supervising employees is a critically important, but generally little understood managerial task. Here he outlines 14 strategies and procedures supervisors can follow ``to perform in the upper ten percent of supervisory performance.'' He sees the supervisory position as an often underutilized opportunity for supervisors to counsel employees, and he adds a list of early warning signs often displayed by employees with a pressing need for counseling, along with intercession techniques. In covering motivation and staffing arrangements, he observes that ``one of the worst hiring practices is to make hiring decisions based primarily on the results of daisy-chain interviewing'' after which executives vote on whom to hire. His discussion of cooperation, instruction and improving worker performance is uninspired, a repackaging of familiar concepts. (Feb.)