Improving First - Level Supervision of Federal Employees

Attention PE engineers in the States of Ohio, Indiana, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

This course can not be used as a continuing education course to renew your license in any of the above States. The course material of this course is not within the guidelines of States requirements.

Course Summary

Federal supervisors are the nexus between Government policy and action and the link between management and employees. They ensure that the decisions made by the President and Congress are implemented through the information and services provided by employees to the American public. Organizational research consistently demonstrates that supervisory proficiency is a major determinant of individual and organizational performance and employee motivation, engagement, and retention. However, numerous studies conducted over the past three decades by both Federal agencies and nonprofit organizations have concluded that there is a strong need to improve the effectiveness of Federal first-level supervisors. Although there has been some overall improvement in employees’ perceptions of their supervisors’ performance in recent years, our research shows that many supervisors continue to demonstrate levels of supervisory skill substantially lower than what is needed to effectively engage employees and manage their performance.

Learning Objectives

In this report by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), we identify and discuss specific needs for improvement in the selection, development, guidance, and management of Federal first-level supervisors. Our analysis is based on the results of the 2007 Merit Principles Survey, past studies of first-level supervisors by MSPB and others, and additional research we have conducted. Following our findings, we offer our recommendations to address each area identified for improvement. Some of those recommendations are new; others have appeared in previous MSPB reports or been made previously by other organizations. Not all of our recommendations will work for all agencies. We call upon each agency to select those recommendations that can be aligned with their goals, business strategies, and organizational cultures and act to meet the challenge of equipping its supervisory workforce to engage employees and achieve high performance. Because first-level supervisors play a vital role in the success of every Federal agency, investments in the improvement of supervision could yield enormous positive returns through improved workforce productivity and performance.

Course Author

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

Review the quiz before studying the course.

Certificate of completion of the course

This course comes with a multiple-choice quiz. You can view the quiz and take the quiz if you are logged in your account. You can take the quiz for this online PDH course as many times until passed. The passing grade is 70% and above. After you pass the quiz simply follow the page, to pay for the course and print your certificate instantly. A copy of the certificate and receipt for this course will always be in your account.

Acrobat Reader is required to view this document. Click here to download a free copy of Acrobat Reader.

This online PDH course can also be used as a continuing education course for the following.

Business Skills