Study of Supervision

The supervision of employees undertaking work activities is not a new concept, and research has been conducted focusing on different forms of supervision and supervisory behaviors and their effects on employee performance. Many classical studies in the field of occupational psychology, for example, have demonstrated that the quality of supervision is directly related to worker productivity (e.g., Mowry, 1957). A series of seminal studies focusing on leadership undertaken at the Personnel Research Board of Ohio State University investigated the description and assessment of leadership and its effects on employee performance, one of the outputs of which was the Supervisory Behavior Description Questionnaire (SBDQ) (Fleishman, 1953). 

Based on this study and a literature review. Brazier et al. (2004) identified the following five primary safety assessment principles relating to supervision  

When Bono, Jackson-Foldes, Vinson, and Muros (2007) exantined the effects of supervisors and managers on employee emotions, they found that supervisors and managers have a powerful impact on employee emotions. Bono et al. (2007) posited that employees may feel anxious when interacting with supervisors, as supervisors are individuals who directly validate performance (which leads to employees becoming anxious about their own performance during supervisor interactions) and because individuals have a need for autonomy that tends to be limited by supervisors. Glaso and Einarsen (2006) found four affective factors relevant to the supervisor-subordinate relationship, of which three were negative (frustration, violation, and uncertainty). 

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One factor to keep in mind when evaluating disulfiram is that its effects may be enhanced considerably if its u.se is combined with a behavioral program that in part consists of supervised administration of the disulfiram (e.g., by the patient s spouse) to the patient (Hughes Cook, 1997). This apparently addresses a major practical problem with using disulfiram clinically It typically requires daily administration of the prescribed dose, and patients tend to show poor compliance with such a regimen. Disulfiram implants have been tried as another w ay to solve the compliance problem, but their effectiveness has not been shown clearly, and the bioavailability of the implanted disulfiram has not been demonstrated in clinical trials. Additional well-controlled studies of supervised disulfiram therapy would allow us to specife the conditions under which its administration is most likely to enhance outcomes. 

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