Operations Supervisors in Manufacturing and Service Sectors in the United States: Are they Different?

Manufacturing and service supervisors share many similarities in their day‐to‐day activities, their beliefs about employees and their concern for doing a good job. However some fundamental differences in attitudes are revealed by the National Survey of Supervisory Management Practices which surveyed over 8,000 supervisors in 564 different organisational units in 37 states in the USA. Service supervisors perceive themselves as having more authority, stronger management support and a broader and better developed range of skills. They also have stronger career aspirations. Manufacturing supervisors are less positive. The majority believe that people gain most of their satisfaction from non‐work activity. Few believe that good work results in promotion. They are inclined to accept traditional ways of doing things and less inclined to be confident with newer ways of management. The implications for manufacturing companies in the future are that they must invest in increasing the skills and confidence of their current supervisors, provide more attractive career paths in manufacturing management and recruit new talent from universities and in‐house.