Fundamentals of Supervision

Book: Supervision: Key Link to Productivity 8e, Rue, Leslie and Byaas, Lloyd
Chapter 4 - Ethics and Organizational Politics

1. Ethics in the Workplace
   Ethics are standards or principles of conduct that govern the behavior of an individual or a group of individuals. A major problem in discussing them is that not every one agrees what is or is not ethical. A majority of the people in the workforce have felt that they have been pressured into acting unethically.


2. Code of Ethics
   A Code of Ethics is a written statement of principles that should be followed in the conduct of business. It generally will include things like payments of questionable nature, meals, gifts, and involvement in political activities. This code must be communicated to all employees.


3. Setting the Tone
   A supervisor should be the one that sets the tone for things. He should not tell people what to do but should be the one to set the example of what is to be done.


4. Areas Requiring Ethical Conduct by Supervisors
   
   
   1. Loyalty
      Where does the loyalties of the supervisor lie. If a supervisor is perceived as being interested in his own self interest, he will not be able to get the cooperation of his employees
   
   
   2. Human Relations
      Is a supervisor consistent in the way he treats employees? Does he deal with employees differently depending on the situation or group? Does he play favorites? How about his supervisors. Is there ways that he treat different supervisors in different ways?
   
   
   3. Overt Personal Actions
      This covers all other ares, especially the ones that may not be covered by company policy.


5. Dealing with Dishonest Employees
   The first step in dealing with a dishonest employee is admitting that you have one. To many supervisors do not admit to it. The next step would be to gather proof that the employee is acting in a dishonest way. When facts are gathered: 1)recognize the problem, 2) confront the employee 3) follow established disciplinary system. In sealing with peers and other managers would be different, but you should still get evidence. In this case you should give it to a supervisor to handle, and if possible problems with your employees should be passed on to them as well. Do not do nothing. Problems start small and get bigger. It will not go away on its own.
   
   
   1. Whistle-Blowing
      Whistle-blowing is the attempt by an employee or former employee to disclose what they belive to be as wrongdoing in or by the organization. In doing so, the person puts them self at risk. Federal law is set up to protect the whistle-blower.


6. Building a Supervisory Power Base
   Power is the ability to get others to respond favorably to instructions and orders, the ability you have over others to do what you ask. How does one increase their power base (ethically):
   Gain the Respect of Subordinates
   If subordinates respect you they will stand up for you in a time of crisis. This will be interpreted as a sign of power by others.
   Help Employees Be Successful
   This also promotes loyalty by your employees. If they believe that their supervisors are supportive and want them to succeed, they will want to please the supervisor.
   Be "in Good" with Your Boss
   Subordinates and peers will notice if you are in good with your boss.
   Seek Responsibility
   Responsibility is accountability for reaching objectives, using resources properly and adhering to organizational policy. Seek it out rather than wait for it to come to you. Others will sense you have power when you seek accountability.


7. Organization Politics
   Organizational politics is the practice of using means other than merit or good performance for bettering your position or seeking favor in the organization. It does not have to be sneaky or under handed.
   
   
   1. How to Keep Your Boss Happy
      Know your boss What makes him or her tick? It will help you in helping him or her.
      Be Loyal Defend boss when criticized, even when you do not agree 100%. Do not talk about boss behind back (it always comes back to you).
      Show Respect for Your boss Be on time for meetings and things of that nature. Listen to him respectfully. If you disagree with him on a subject do so in a tactful way.
      Seize Opportunities to Make Your Boss Look Good
      Avoid Antagonizing Other Departments
      Insist on Feedback Be able to accept negative feedback as part of this. Seek out opinions on how you have done things on a project, right or wrong. Do not depend on formal reviews.
      Help Take the Load off Your Boss Volunteer solutions to a problem. Talk about what has been accomplished not how bad things are.


8. Socializing with Other Members of the Organization
   Let things, take there course. Use common sense. Be yourself. Do not try to use rank. Do not make work-related promises with subordinates while socializing. Do not date or become romantically involved with subordinates.

Systems Analysis and Design

Book: Systems Analysis and Design 6e Kendell & Kendall

Chapter 4 Information Gathering: Interactive Methods

1 Interviewing
The first step in interviewing is to discover where your own biases are. Interviews are in the question and answer format. But you do need to get the feelings of the interviewee. Seek their opinion. They know the organization better than you do. They have the information needed to make the project success. The interviewee is probably a stranger to you, so you will need to build up trust with them. This is done by preparation.
A. Five Steps in Interview Preparation
I. Read background material.
Check web sites, annual reports, etc. to get information on the organization.
II. Establishing Interviewing Objectives
Use the information to establish objectives.
III. Decide Whom to Interview
Strive for balance in whom you interview. Do it at many levels in the organizations.
IV. Prepare the Interviewee
Call or e-mail the person to prepare them. If detailed interview, send them questions to prepare.
V. Decide on Question Types and Structures
Decide on what type of questions and type of interview.
B. Question Types
I. Open-Ended Questions
Responses can be two words or two hundred. The interviewee responds how they feel best. Benefits include; interviewee is put at ease, interviewer can pick up jargon of interviewee, more interesting for the interviewee, more spontaneity, if caught unprepared it is a good technique. Drawbacks include; answers may contain too much and irrelevant information, chance of losing control of interview, looks like interviewer is unprepared, looks like interviewer is on 'fishing expedition'.
II. Closed Questions
The questions are answered with detailed facts. It limits the ability of the interviewee to respond. Special type is bipolar question. This is a yes or no type of question. Benefits include; saving time, ease in comparing interviews, control of interview, gets to relevant data. Drawbacks include; boring for the interviewee, missing the rich detail, no rapport built.
III. Third type is a probe question. You get the interviewee to clarify earlier question. Do not be afraid to use this question.
C. Arranging Questions in a Logical Sequence
I. Using a Pyramid Structure
Start with specific questions and go to the more general questions. Use it if interviewee needs to warm up to you
II. Using a Funnel Structure
Starts with the more open ended and ends with the specific ones. Good for the interviewee needs to have the freedom to express things because of emotional nature of interview.
III. Using a Diamond-Shaped Structure
Combines the two, starts with pyramid to get things go with closed questions. Works its way to pen questions and then starts the funnel and narrows them down to closed questions.
D. Writing the Interview Report
After you are done write up your notes on the interview. Type to review the report with the interviewee to make sure you got things correct and to show you are interested in their opinion.
2. Joint Application Design
Developed by IBM JAD is used when time (and money) is of the essence. It requires proper training to be able to run a session.
A. Conditions that support the use of JAD
I. Users want something new not standard answers
II. Organizational culture supports joint-problem solving behaviors across the organization
III. One on one interviews will not generate enough ideas
IV. Workflow allows for absence of key employees
B. Who is Involved
Several people will be involved. One IS analyst should be in the group. You as the project analyst will be there. Eight to a dozen people should be involved, including analysts, users and executives. They should be above clerical level. One scribe should be there from IS department.
C. Where to Hold JAD Meetings
They should not be held in the office but someplace where there will be few interruptions. It should only be held when all participants are available. If possible do a pre meeting about a week ahead so that everyone will know what is expected of them.
D. Accomplishing a Structured Analysis of Project Activities
All the questions brought forth should be asked the five Ws: Who, what, where, why and how.
E. Potential Benefits of Using JAD in Place of Traditional Interviewing
I. Time savings
II. Rapid development
III. Improves ownership of information system
IV. Creative development.
F. Potential Drawbacks of Using JAD
I. Large block of time commitment
II. If preparation is inadequate, or if follow up not done properly, results will be unsatisfactory
III. Organization may not be mature enough to do a JAD
3. Using Questionnaires
When people are wide spread or need to do things in their own time, a survey or questionnaire might be a good tool. In using those questions must generally be closed in nature if quick turn around time is desired.
1. Planning for the Use of Questionnaires
A proper questionnaire can take some time to develop. You must decide on what you are trying to find out. Once that is done decide on the type of questions
2. Writing Questions
Questions need to be really clear since interaction is generally impossible. Make sure that your questions if they are open ended are not too broad. Anticipate what they will answer. Use closed question whey you are able to list the items that they could respond with. One also has to be careful with the choice of words on a questionnaire. Make sure to use the language of the company (do they call them managers or supervisors). If necessary ask a test group to help you out with the correct wording.
3. Using Scales in Questionnaires
I Measurement - there are two different ways to scale your answers, nominal scales and interval scales. Nominal gives you a list and you pick from it. You then tally up the numbers for each item. Interval scales let the respondent chose from one extreme to the other, usually with a number scale.
II. Validity and Reliability - Make sure that the questions measure what they are intended to measure. If they do they are valid surveys. Reliability deals with consistency. If you took the survey again you should get the same results.
III. Constructing Scales - Problems are of three types
a) Leniency - easy raters which will move the average off of where it should be. This can be counteracted by moving the mid point to left or right of center.
b) Central Tendency - Everyone rates things as average.
c) Halo Effect - people take impressions formed and carry them on to the next question.
4. Designing the Questionnaires
Make sure there is enough white space, and allow ample room to write responses. Make it easy to mark their answers and be consistent in style. Cluster items of similar content together as well as put stuff important to respondent at the beginning. Controversial stuff should be at the end.
5. Administering Questionnaires
I. Respondents - Decide who will get the questionnaire. Make sure there is enough of a sample to be a fair representation. Remember many will not return the forms.
II. Methods of Administering Questionnaire - One should pick best way to distribute questionnaires. Most common is to let them self administer it, though this results in lower response rates. It is used the most because it allows the anonymity that many people want. Another method is to do it by email or web site.

Systems Analysis and Design

Book: Systems Analysis and Design 6e Kendell & Kendall

Chapter 3 Determing Feasability and Managing Analysis and Design Activities

Project Initiation
Can come from many different sources. They come because people see problems that need fixing and people see opportunities for improvement in the way things are done.
Problems in the Organization
It is wise not to think of problems as that, but as situations in which objectives can get help in being met. Many of these problems will be noticed when feedback is given in the system. The feedback can often come from outside the organization.
Selection of Projects
Projects should not be chosen for political purposes, or to gain power in the organization. Remember that any change in one part of an organization will affect other parts of the organization. Criteria for taking on a project should be as follows.
Backing from management - the people that pay the bills need to support the project
Appropriate timing of project - does the organization have the time to install the new system.
Possibility of improving the reaching of goals - it should not deter from reaching the goals, it should help reach them.
Do you and/or the organization have the skills to do the project?
Is it worthy compared to other projects?
Determining Feasibility
Not a full blown study but a quick look to see if organization should go on.
Defining Objectives
Projects should be taken on if they can cause improvements. Some standards that you can look at are some things that will speed up or streamlining a process, combining processes, reducing errors, reducing redundant storage or output and improving integration of systems. An analyst should take time to make a FIG (Feasibility Impact Grid) to see how the changes will affect not only the Process Objectives but the corporate objectives as well. The analyst should look to see that a project is necessary and not just another way to spend money on bells and whistles for the purpose of having the bells and whistles.
Determining Resources
In the process of determining if company has the resources they should look at three areas of feasibility: technical, economic and operational.
In technical feasibility we look to see if the technology is currently available is available to purchase.. Remember that patching an old system may wind up costing more than doing a new system.
In looking at economic feasibility, the cost of doing a full study is analyzed as well as the cost to the company to develop what is needed.
Do users want a new system or are they tied to the old system? This is the operational feasibility study.
Judging Feasibility
The preliminary study should cover all three of these aspects. Projects that pass the test should go on to the next stage and is not a commitment from management that they will be done.
Activity Planning and Control
Estimating Time Required
A systems analyst should break down the project into three parts: analysis, design and implementation. Each of these gets broken down further. Analysis - data gathering, data flow and decision analysis and proposal presentation. Design - data entry design, input and output design, and data organization. Implementation - implementation and evaluation. These steps can be broken down into further jobs as well. A hard part of the work can be planning how much time each one of these tasks is going to take.
Using Gantt Charts for Project Scheduling
A Gantt chart is a two-dimensional chart that shows activities on a horizontal axis. The horizontal axis represents the time frame of the project. Tasks are listed in boxes to represent the time frame that they will take and when they will take place. It has as an advantage, simplicity.
Using PERT Diagrams
Program (another word for a project) Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT) Diagrams are laid out as circles that have interconnecting lines. These lines show what tasks must be done before the next connecting circle can be done. In using Gantt charts it is unclear sometimes if a task needs to wait for another task before it can be done or if it just happens to end when another task begins. The circles are usually numbered in two digits to show the left to right progression of a task. By adding up the largest amounts of days in the progressions it is possible to determine how long it will take to do a job. This can be referred to as the critical path.
Computer-Based Project Scheduling
Computer software has made these charts easier to do. One major software that does this is Microsoft Project.
Timeboxing
This involves setting a due date for the project and what ever is not implemented will be left off for the time being. Another method used is PIM software and people's to do lists.
Managing Analysis and Design Activities
Communication Strategies for Managing Teams
Teams tend to have two leaders, one to accomplish the task at hand and another that shows concern for the socio-emotional needs of the members. Feedback must be a constant thing if the members of a group are to avoid friction. Groups form their own way of doing things, called norms. Most norms do not pass from one group to another or may even change over time. Some norms, though they have existed for a while may be counter-productive.
Setting Project Productivity Goals
Any goals that affect the team need to be agreed upon by the team.
Motivating Project Team Members
Goal setting is an excellent way to motivate people.
Managing Projects Using COTS Software
The use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software can allow for quick implementation if you can find ones that fit your needs easily or can be modified by the use of templates etc. It is wise to test these out though, because installing one COTS may break another.
Managing Ecommerce Projects
Ecommerce projects can cause problems because the information is scattered over many different departments and this can cause territorial battles over who owns the information. Ecommerce teams tend to need people with more and varied skills as well. Because of linking to outside world via the Internet, security becomes a major importance.
Avoiding Project Failures
Avoid the unrealistic dates problem when ever possible. Do not buy into the myth that more people will get the job done quicker. And if needed get outside help. These all will prevent projects from failing. If a group decides to take on a project it represents them if it is completed or not.
Extreme Programming Projects
XP is a system development approach taking good development practices to an extreme. Four variables that a developer can control are time, cost, quality and scope. They must balance out with the coding, testing, designing and listening activities of project development. By controlling the amount of each of these, a project is kept in balance. If we know what the time, cost and quality are, we can adjust for the scope as needed.
Extreme Programming Resource Trade-Offs
Time - you need enough time to complete the project. Running short on time may not be a bad thing if you can implement enough of the project to keep customer happy. Try not to extend deadline, the XP approach focuses on finish on time.
Cost - Increasing cost does not always add to the project, especially hiring more people. More people lead to more confusion and overtime leads to tired workers. It is possible to purchase better tools to do the job, but all projects should stay under the budget they have set up.
Quality - Internal quality (bug checking and the like) cannot be sacrificed but it is possible to let external quality to slide. In order to meet deadlines, some bugs may have to be accepted by the customer or the user interface may not be just right.
Scope - What the customer wants may have to be delayed for another version of the software in order to meet deadlines.
Extreme Programming Core Practices and Roles
Four XP core practices
1. Short release - get it out quick and on time, even if features missing.
2. 40 hour work week - keep your people rested and they work better
3. Onsite customer - customer should be heavily involved in the development team
4. Pair programming - team programmers together can work quite well in bouncing ideas back and forth and testing things.

Roles for People
Programmer
Customer - be clear what you want
Tester (sometimes done by programmer but better done separately)
Tracker - tracks progress of how well things are being done and kept on schedule
Coach - keep people motivated
Consultant - help them learn to solve their own problems.
Big Boss confidence in project and keep things flowing

The Planning Game
The metaphor of a game helps how one looks at a project. In any game you want to maximize your potential to help team or self win.

How project risks are handled by XP
Use a fishbone diagram to view the possible problems that could develop in a project and then do not let them happen.
Developmental Process for an XP Project
1. Explore - decide to take the project or not.
2. Planning - Once taken set up time frames.
3. Iterations - testing, feedback and change in repletion until done. Celebrate your progress points
4. Productionizing final features and release
5. Maintenance - keep running smoothly, add some features.