Supervision

Satisfied employees, however, refers to a feeling when they have completed a job or something that feels that they have done their job well. Either side of the argument will somehow make money, promotion and/or will get benefits. They’re closely related that job satisfaction can be a motivation and/or they do it for the money, promotion and/or benefits but their satisfaction will come naturally. 2. Briefly discuss several specific actions that supervisors can take to improve employee motivation. No matter how big or small the company, motivating the team is really important to business.

When people lose their motivation can create less productive, less of an asset to the business. Either way, employees’ motivation will affect the overall success in a company. Praising them when they’re doing well is probably the most common and most effective as a motivation factor. Providing opportunities for growth such as adding responsibilities or challenges. 3. Explain why many managers frequently raise the following questions: “Why didn’t you do what I told you to do? ” Managers have higher position than the employees being managed.

Therefore, they have the privilege to make decisions and to say something like “Why didn’t you do what I told you to do? ” They are more experience and probably have the education to uphold the position. Since they are more experience and probably been there longer than the employees, they have gotten use to the methods they have been using. Some just don’t have the time to change the nature in workplace, why change something that is not broken. Or maybe because some managers has a superiority complex and thinks that the way he wants something done is the best way. 4.

Discuss the following statement: Meanings are in people, not in words. This can be explained in a lot of ways but I believe that Meanings is a personal preference. Just like the bible, it can be interpreted differently from other religion and culture even though the words are exactly the same. Don’t assume people know what you mean when you tell them something. The meaning is something that will depend on their own experiences, what was learnt by others. People is what gives words meaning.. Hopefully that made any sense but this is how I believe it can actually interpreted.

Supervision in terms of reflective practice can be defined as a steady cooperative reflection among a facility benefactor (either clinical or other) and supervisor that is being built upon the supervisee’s usage of his opinions, spirits, and beliefs in a facility happenstance. Reflective supervision accompaniments the aims and performance of an organization. It can be helpful to think about supervision both in terms of development (which is related to ongoing professional learning) and performance (which is related to clinical governance and standard setting).

Principles of Supervision

• Be clear about why there is a need for supervision and who has asked for it.
• Set a time frame for the supervision session; even a few minutes of focused time can be worthwhile.
• Protect the time and space where possible and appropriate; try to ensure there will be no interruptions and that there is privacy.
• Ensure that there is confidentiality
• Be transparent about the extent to which the supervision is about development or performance; this may need to be renegotiated or stated during the session.

Supervision is for:

• Students
• Contexts (professional networks in schools, department issues etc.)
• Career development

A Question-Based Approach to Supervision: The 7 C?s

The 7 C’s

• Conversations

It indicates that discussion is a working tool on its own. Effective conversations not only define the real views of people but these have the ability to generate its new accepting by providing opportunities to people of rethinking and reconstructing their levels.

• Curiosity

This is being used to encourage the story of pupils, coworkers and oneself. It includes giving careful devotion to both languages verbal and non-verbal. It also contains inquisitiveness of supervisor on his own responses; criticism sensation , dullness, nervousness, etc.

• Contexts

This develops an understanding of the RP’s networks, their sense of culture, faith, beliefs, community, values, history and geography, and how these affect teaching. An important framework is that of how authority is being understood (see below). Who is holding power and how this can be seen by others? The understanding of different contexts of people or administrations included is important in developing effective supervision dialogues and making them effective.

• Complexity

It includes understanding of belongings in multi directions. Becoming more interested in interactions/patterns between people and events producing a richer story.

• Creativity

It involves in searching means to generate a real version which creates wisdom. It suggests imaginative procedure of mutually building new variety of the story by supervision process.

• Caution

It includes the looking for clues by teaching. It involves working with a level of challenge. It is suitable to provide a direct advice.

• Care

It incorporates being humble, thoughtful and focused. It means that it ensures that reflective practice in educational environment is approved in a moral context.

Q2: What is a theory? Explain the aims of theory building. As a reflective practitioner, what could be the issues you have to face in developing your own personal theory?

Marks (2 + 4 + 4=10)

What is Theory?

An articulate standard of common proposals used as values of clarification of ostensible relations of definite perceived occurrences.

The aims of theory building

The aims of theory building are:

Explanation: Theory is to explain the concept about what we observe and relationships among concepts. It is to explain what we have seen and how to figure out the problem and to make plan a resource to bring about change. E.g., what produces bad behaviors?

Prediction: Theory is to make prediction related to teaching i.e. if the action A then what will be the reaction B or if A happens B will follow.
Issues in developing your personal theory

There is a lot of stuff that can be incorrect in a theory, and we have to keep an eye on that stuff to minimize errors. Few things are mentioned below to be observed:

Ethnocentrism: Everybody is being brought up in a culture which has been existing earlier than their birth. It effects our thinking very finely and meticulously that we create up discerning “this is the way things are,” rather than “this is the ways things are in this particular society”. As in our society, we have additional problems with sensitivity and dreading aged and loss. People are dubious to change their beliefs unless they have opportunities to critically reflect upon them.

Egocentrism: Next issue can be probable hazard within speculating is particularities of theorist as a person. Everyone elsewhere our culture, has precise facts for one’s life i.e. Genetics, special experiences, education, and so on they disturb our way of thinking, feeling and finally, the way we interpret others. The intention is to learn mechanisms from hitches experts in practice or wish to sustain exchange in knowledge.

Dogmatism: This is third hazard. As human beings, we have a natural conventional affinity: We always consider work done in the past and if we dedicate our subsists to develop a personal theory, pour our core to it, we can be very self-justifying about it.

Misunderstandings: one of the issues can be unintentional inferences: It can be like that you want to say something but loose words that makes your intentions susceptible. That’s why, people will misunderstand you. There are several things that can cause misunderstandings i.e.,

• Translation
• Neologisms
• Metaphors

The purpose of this study is to present the definition of clinical supervision and some basic concepts that are currently being used in the clinical supervision of public schools today. By having a clearer understanding of these definitions and concepts, prospective supervisors in public education will be better equipped to do their jobs.

A situation has occurred due to the ever-increasing demand for supervisors in public education today in which those entering supervisory positions may not be properly equipped to supervise. This is primarily due to the fact that they may not understand all that is expected of them. To use economic terminology, the “demand is exceeding the supply”. As a result, supervisors may be placed into supervisory positions without a clear understanding of some definitions and concepts which have come into the realm of education fairly recently. Supervisors cannot do their jobs effectively if they are not properly educated in the roles and responsibilities of the clinical supervisor. The following study may serve as a review of some current definitions and concepts.

The earliest supervisors in America’s schools were often nothing more than overly critical “snoops” whose main job was to find what a teacher was doing wrong and report it to the teacher’s superiors. Today we refer to this type of supervisor as a “snoopervisor”. It was more likely that a teacher would receive a reprimand or dismissal as a result of those supervisory visits.

The role of the school supervisor has changed drastically from the humble beginnings of America’s schools. Our public school system has gone through many different stages of development. Likewise, our educational supervisors have evolved as well.

Since our public school system has gone through so many changes, (and continues to do so), a clear understanding of the responsibilities of clinical supervision is needed in order to properly prepare those wishing to serve in that capacity. Today’s supervisors must know what is expected of them and some of the more current methods and concepts being used in clinical supervision.

The research information in this study is limited to the study of school supervisors in the public school system. This study focused on supervisors who oversee the grade levels of Kindergarten through the 12th grade of high school. This study does focus on supervisors of colleges or other secondary educational institutions although much of this information may apply in those areas as well.

It is, therefore, the primary goal of this study to collect, compile, and organize information that will help to prepare those wishing to serve as school supervisors so that they may better understand some of the terminology and concepts in clinical supervision.

One of the more common roles of today’s school supervisor is that of providing teachers with the support they need to become better teachers. Today’s supervisor must be a coach or mentor, a “teacher’s teacher”, so to speak. Where supervisors once tore down teachers and criticized them, today they build up teachers and edify them.

The first use of the term “clinical supervision” was in 1961 when Morris Cogan used it in a proposal entitled Case Studies and Research in Clinical Supervision at Harvard University. Cogan defined clinical supervision in the following way:

“Clinical supervision may therefore be defined as the rationale and practice designed to improve the teacher’s classroom performance. It takes its principal data from the events of the classroom. The analysis of these data and the relationship between teacher and supervisor form the basis of the program, procedures, and strategies designed to improve the student’s learning by improving the teacher’s classroom behavior.”

From Cogan’s definition of clinical supervision we can see that the emphasis is on improvement of the teacher’s performance. This makes the role of today’s supervisor more of a supportive role. With that definition in mind, how can supervisors help teachers to become better teachers? What can supervisors do to improve the educational system in which they work? In the following study are a few examples of contemporary practices and concepts being utilized today to answer those questions. First of all, supervisors are concerned with the quality of teachers they have in their school and school system.

It is the job of supervisors to make sure that the teachers working in their school system are the best teachers possible, and that they are working to the best of their ability. Once teachers have been selected and hired, they must know that the supervisor is there to support them and help them to improve their teaching skills. In an article in Educational Digest, Thomas Harvey and Larry Frase put it this way:

“Coaching is not an option for school leaders but a basic function, along with counseling, mentoring, tutoring, confronting, and supporting. All of these will increase the commitment to quality and productivity.”

This simply means that supervisors must engage the teachers (as well as themselves) in a never-ending process of improvement. That means keeping up with current changes in teaching styles and curriculum. Supervisors must be willing to set an example for teachers by showing that they are also willing to make changes in the way that they do things. Now that we are in a new millenium in education we see the education system in a state of constant change. Everything we do changes regularly. Teaching styles, the equipment that we use in schools, and even the schools themselves continuously go through new stages of development. It is no longer acceptable to simply achieve and maintain a status quo. Supervisors must recognize this and always be ready to lead their teachers into the future and new ways of educating students.

The first way supervisors must lead their teachers is to make sure that they are aware of the legal aspects of education. In a recent article in Education magazine the authors said, “First on the list of all things a beginning teacher must do is to learn the policies of the school system and local school. A teacher who is legally challenged by a parent will receive support from the board of education when the teacher’s actions follow policy”. For this reason, supervisors should tell their beginning teachers that board policies and the school handbook are required reading. Once this has been concluded, supervisors can move on to the matter of teacher evaluation.

One method being used by many supervisors to evaluate and support new teachers is the peer support method. This concept has been touted as a promising way to build a teacher’s sense of professionalism. Margaret Johnson and Lucy Brown described one study in which teachers in a large elementary school with about 42 teachers were organized into collegial support teams (CSTs) to ,”…supervise their teaching performance and promote their professional growth.”. Many of the teachers involved in the study said that it created,”…a “safe zone” in which they could admit shortcomings and work to improve their practice.”. This method follows the philosophy that the best people to evaluate the performance of teachers in a particular school system are other teachers in the same school system. This method is becoming very popular.

Sometimes the path into the future of a school system may not be clear and narrow. There may be many different directions the supervisor may have to choose from. While discussing teachers who pursue positions in administration, Roberta Bernstein writes:

“The position of curriculum developer requires working in teams and reporting to the central office. While following the directions of your superiors, you will also want to provide teachers with a curriculum that excites them. It’s a balancing act.”

Indeed, supervisors must often let their own preferences fall by the wayside in order to reach the compromise that is the best, overall solution for a situation. One driving motivator behind the decision-making process should always be “What is the best thing for the students?”

The same thing holds true when evaluating teachers. Unfortunately, sometimes supervisors realize that a teacher just isn’t performing at the minimal level necessary to remain in the system. Even after working very hard to help a teacher come up to the required standard of teaching to remain in their position, the supervisor asks “What is the best thing for the students?” and realizes that a replacement may be what is needed.

There are many different reasons for teachers becoming marginal. In an article in Education Digest Don L. Fuhr identifies three categories of teachers who become “marginal”:

“First is the helpless marginal teacher who doesn’t grasp the basic techniques of effective teaching. It may be because of poor training or of good training never absorbed. Second is the teacher with a pressing personal problem, the more common ones being serious illness of a loved one, marital problems, or financial difficulties. The third and most difficult type is the hardheaded marginal teacher who has developed ‘an attitude’. “

Regardless of the reason for a teacher becoming marginal, encouragement is the key to trying to help them improve. Supervisors must be willing to advise and help them. First, the teacher must be made aware of the specific problem. Then, a strategy can be developed for dealing with the problem.

Sometimes, the best time for strategies to be developed is after a classroom observation. According to C.H. Van der Linde, “The follow-up discussion sometimes provides the most important situation for the collection of further data, because the teachers are now in a situation where they are able to explain their behavior.” Van der Linde goes on to say, “The teacher should be encouraged to give attention to both strong points and deficiencies. Remedies that are realistic should be discussed and steps to promote continuing professional growth should be outlined.”

Some people, such as Francis Duffy, feel that we in education are going about staff development all wrong. Ms. Duffy says, ” Even though we understand that school districts function essentially as systems, we persists in trying to improve schools one teacher at a time.” According to Ms. Duffy’s Knowledge Work Supervision model, teaching would be improved by focusing on the performance of the entire school system rather than just individual teachers.

One thing is certain, no matter what model of evaluation or development a supervisor uses, it is still inevitable to occasionally come across marginal teachers which fail to meet minimal standards no matter what the supervisor does to try to help them improve.

One possible contributing factor to this situation is stress. Education, and particularly educational administration, are very high-stress professions. Clinical supervisors should encourage personal responsibility for stress management. Articulation of the expectation that individuals are to take the responsibility for control of their own stress levels also validates personal inclinations to do the same.

Supervision is vital as it entails human resource management to ensure productivity and profitability of an entity. Lack of supervision on the other hand has different and diverse effects on an organization as well as its employees. Most of the effects of lack of supervision are adverse to the productivity of employees and thus the profitability of an organization. Lack of supervision has been identified as a leading cause to injuries at workplaces, low productivity, absenteeism, employee conflicts, low job morale, crime and embezzlement of funds and goods in an organization and low job satisfaction (Wiles & Bondi, 1986).

One of the major effects of lack of supervision in an organization is that it leads to low productivity by employees. As mentioned earlier, a supervisor has a role of guiding and overseeing the work of an employee. Employees require guidance while performing their tasks especially newly recruited persons. Effective supervision also shows an organizations commitment to the welfare and tasks performance of the employees which improves the morale of employees’ thus increasing productivity.

When employees are faced with difficulties or problems while performing tasks, they need to be guided and helped out by supervisors to encourage them to do such tasks. Without supervision, employees usually leave out tasks they deem difficult and tedious thus reducing their productivity. Also, some people work well when they are guided and controlled than while left on their own. Such people require constant follow ups by the supervisor and lack of supervision would thus mean such people would have little being accomplished in terms of task performance and/ or completion.

Task evasion and procrastination would in turn lead to poor performance by employees thus the total productivity of an organization would fall. Lack of supervision is a contributor to poor performance by an organization hence overall decrease in profitability and growth (Dennis & Onion, 1990). Injuries in organizations are also associated with lack of or poor supervision. Workers require guidance from experienced personnel especially while dealing with machines and equipment which are harmful to their bodies or even other employees.

Effective supervision in the workplace

As mentioned above, newly recruited people need to be guided while handling some machines and/ or chemicals which can cause harm to their bodies or their colleagues. Without effective supervision in the workplace, more incidences and accidents are bound to be reported in workplaces. Responsibility over accidents and injuries rests with a supervisor who ensures that employees work carefully and handle different machines and chemicals with care. Injuries and damages have negative impacts on both the organization and employees in that the organization suffers in terms of treatment of the employees and/ or subsequent legal suits by employees for negligence.

Negligence is a serious offense in the labor laws which may be very costly for a company if an employee is able to prove negligence on part of the company. Negligence usually occurs due to lack of effective supervision or poor supervision in an entity and in cases where an employee is completely disabled to continue working in the future; a company may be obliged to sustain such an individual for the rest of his life despite the fact that the employee is no longer productive to the organization. In part of the employee, injuries and accidents may lead to complete incapacitation or even loss of life (Ashworth & Saxton, 1992).

Lack of supervision has also been proved to be the root cause of unethical behavior in workplaces. Without supervision, workers feel at liberty to carry out tasks with little regard to the policies and regulations of an organization as well as their colleagues. Supervision improves employees’ loyalty and commitment to an organization as well as the goals and objectives which is vital for productivity, growth and survival. Supervision is also viewed by the employees as a commitment by the management to workers tasks and also meets the psychological association needs of the employees.

Employees translate an organization’s lack of supervision as devaluation of their roles or tasks which in turn creates resentment and disloyalty. This lowers the employees morale and hence productivity. Also, since employees are neither committed nor loyal to an organization, they are forced to engage in unethical behaviors such as theft, embezzlement of funds, misuse of resources or collusion with an organization’s competitors. This can be costly to an organization as it reduces the overall profitability. Lowered productivity also reduced the competitive advantage of an organization hence the long term survival of an entity.

Commitment and employees loyalty are vital aspects which an organization should cultivate if it has to be successful and profitable. This is because committed and loyal employees tend to dedicate much of their time ensuring that organizational goals are achieved and also improves creativity and job satisfaction which are vital tools of improving productivity and competitive advantage of an entity. Lack of supervision reduces the morale, job satisfaction, loyalty, commitment and productivity of the employees (Savedra & Hawthorn, 1990).

Misuse of organizational resources is also another outcome of lack of supervision in an entity. One of the major aims of an organization is to minimize costs and to maximize shareholders wealth or profitability. Supervisors have a role of ensuring that the resources within an organization are used for the right purposes and in the right manner. They also ensure that such resources are not wasted or misused. Supervisors are charged with the responsibility of ensuring workers do not use organizational resources for personal endeavors and any loss of resources is counted on the supervisor and not the worker.

Without supervision, there is no one who is charged with overseeing the distribution and use of organizational resources and chances of misuse by the employees are high. Where there is no supervision, employees tend to take organizational resources for personal use thus increasing the overhead costs of the organization. For example, an employee may take a company vehicle and use it for to meet his or her personal needs. Fuel cost is then counted as an organizational expense thus reducing the overall profitability of an organization.

With supervision, any cost incurred by an employee while using a company’s resources is charged on the employee rather than the company thus reducing misuse and misappropriation of resources (Plunkett, 1979). Labor turnover is also another effect of lack of supervision in an organization. As mentioned earlier, supervision offers an avenue where employees can refer, learn from and be trained to improve their skills and knowledge in any profession. Supervisors acts as role models, coachers, leaders and trainers to their subordinates.

One of the major employee retention tools or strategies which can be employed by an organization is to make sure that employees are provided with avenues of career development and enhancement. Employees are more likely to be encouraged to stay in a work place if they get training opportunities. Also, supervision helps a worker to develop his or her creativity capabilities thus increasing job satisfaction. As stated previously, there is a relationship which is formed between the employee and his or her supervisor which enables them to discuss freely issues relating to employee task performance.

Other issues which could be affecting performance are also discussed which may include personal needs. Meeting such needs is vital for increasing morale and ensuring employee retention. Labor turnover is associated with job dissatisfaction and low morale which makes employees to seek for better employment opportunities. lack of supervision have the effect of lowering the satisfaction a worker feels from his or her job especially because this is seen as a devaluation of the employees tasks which “pushes” employees out of an organization.

This can be costly to the organization especially in cases where such employees hold valuable experience and/ or skills and their replacement would be costly. High labor turnover is also seen by the public as a weakness in the management of an organization thus tampering with such an organization’s public image and hence its competitiveness (Sergiovanni & Starratt, 1988). Supervision creates an avenue where conflicts between employees can be effectively solved in an organization. It is the role of a supervisor to resolve any dispute or disagreement which may arise between employees while they are performing their tasks.

Supervisors are the ones who issue out tasks to be carried out by employees and at times such tasks may overlap causing conflicts. Also, while working as a group, some employees may feel segregated or overworked by other members leading to conflicts. Employees also usually argue concerning performance of tasks which can erupt and become a major conflict if not handled at the initial stage. It is the role of a supervisor to ensure that labor relations problems do not get out of hand. Where there is no supervision, such problem solving avenues are absent which may lead to major conflicts erupting in an organization.

Also, lack of supervision may lead to major division being created between departments or work groups in an organization. Supervision entails monitoring of the functions of the whole organization thus ensuring coordination and cohesion of an organization. Without supervision, workers are divided as well as departments thus making it hard to meet the organizational goals. Lack of supervision as such affects the overall workers relationship in workplaces as well as departmental relationships (Duncan, 2006). Evaluation is one aspect which highly improves the morale and creativity of employees.

Supervision creates a platform which enables the evaluation of a workers performance and without it, creativity and morale of an employee are reduced. Evaluation also enables a company to implement reward systems which can be used as motivating factors. Without supervision, a worker extra efforts towards the achievement of organizational goals are not recognized and this demoralizes such an employee (Wiles & Bondi, 1986). People are egocentric and left on their own; they would carry out tasks which are in line with their own goals and not the goals of the organization.

A supervisor’s role is to ensure that tasks which are performed by the employees are in line with the goals and objectives of an organization. Usually, individuals’ goals conflict with organizational goals and when left alone, a person’s goals would supersede the organizational goals. The goal of an individual is to improve his ego through carrying out the tasks which are in line with his or her self actualization needs. Lack of supervision would thus lead to a deviation from the organizational goals to individual’s goals thus reducing the overall performance of an organization (Ferraro & Spain, 2006).

Despite the above negative impact of lack of supervision, it can also have a positive impact especially on the self driven individuals and teams. Self-propelled and highly skilled individuals hate to be supervised and any efforts to oversee their activities are met by resentment and low productivity. For individuals who prefer to work without being supervised, lack of supervision would increase their productivity, morale and creativity. It is also argued that lack of supervision enables workers to become better managers and to better manage resources at their exposure.

While workers are left to carry out their tasks with minimal interference, they are able to organize their work well and work at their pace to meet deadlines. Also, creativity is also likely to be enhanced as workers try to improve their performance and skills. Lack of supervision can also be translated by workers to mean that an organization or the management believes in the capabilities of the workers thus improving their loyalty and commitment to the organizational objectives.

This would in turn improve the employees’ productivity, motivation and creativity thus enhancing the overall productivity of employees (Dennis & Onion, 1990). Conclusion Supervision is a fundamental human resource management tool necessary for ensuring success and long term survival of an organization. After training, it is important to constantly oversee the performance of the employee and to establish a rapport for such evaluation. Lack of supervision has different and devastating effects on the employees’ motivation, productivity, loyalty, commitment, job satisfaction and creativity.

All these are vital in enhancing the overall productivity and profitability of an organization and their lack may lead to low profitability of an entity. Despite the argument that lack of supervision may increase motivation, creativity and production especially for highly skilled and self driven individuals, the overall impact of lack of supervision on employees as well as an organization are more distressing than beneficial. Effective supervision should be incorporated in the functions of management for productivity and profitability to be attained.

Reference:

• Ashworth, P. D. & Saxton, J.(1992): Managing Work Experience. ISBN 0415071267, Routledge Dennis, L. E. & Onion, M. L. (1990): Out in Front: Effective Supervision in the Workplace. ISBN 0879121440,
• National Safety Council Duncan, D. (2006): Effective Supervision Reduces Workplace Stress. Retrieved on 8th June 2009 from, http://www. safetyxchange. org/training-and-leadership/effective-supervision-reduces-workplace-stress.
• Ferraro, E. & Spain, N. M. (2006): Investigations in the Workplace. ISBN 0849316480, CRC Press Plunkett, W. R. (1979): Supervision: The Direction of People at Work. ISBN 0697080285, W. C. Brown Co.

The term motivation is derived from the Latin verb movere (to move). The idea of movement is reflected in such commonsense ideas about motivation as something that gets us going, keeps us moving, and helps us get jobs done. Conversely, we know we are not motivated when we cannot seem to get out of bed or off the sofa.

Despite these commonly held ideas, definitions of motivation are numerous and varied, and there is much disagreement over the precise nature of motivation. Although there is disagreement about the precise nature of motivation, this paper offer a general definition of motivation that is consistent with the cognitive focus of this paper on learners’ thoughts and beliefs and hat captures the elements considered by most researchers and practitioners to be central to motivation. Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained.

Motivation involves goals that provide impetus for and direction to action. Cognitive views of motivation are united in their emphasis on the importance of goals. Goals may not be well formulated and may change with experience, but the point is that individuals have something in mind that they are trying to attain (or avoid).

Motivation requires activity—physical or mental. Physical activity entails effort, persistence, and other overt actions. Mental activity includes such cognitive actions as planning, rehearsing, organizing, monitoring, making decisions, solving problems, and assessing progress. The activities that students engage in are geared toward attaining their goals.

Finally, we highlight that motivated activity is both instigated and sustained. Starting toward a goal is important and often difficult because it involves making a commitment to change and taking the first step. But motivational processes are critically important to sustain action. Many major goals are long-term, for example, earning a college degree, obtaining a good job, and saving money for retirement. Much of what we know about motivational processes comes from studying how people respond to the difficulties, problems, failures, and setbacks they encounter as they pursue goals over time.

II. Discussion

A. Motivation Research paradigms

Researchers employ different research paradigms to investigate motivational processes. For example, there is a distinction between correlational and experimental studies. Correlational research deals with relations that exist between variables. A researcher may hypothesize that motivation is positively correlated with (related to) perceived capabilities such that the more confidence individuals have in their learning abilities, the higher is their motivation. To test this relation, the researcher might measure individuals’ perceived capabilities and their motivation as demonstrated on a task. The researcher could statistically correlate the perceived capability and motivation scores to determine the nature and strength of the relation.

Pintrich and De Groot (2000a) conducted a correlational study that explored the relations among motivational, cognitive, and academic performance variables. The motivational beliefs component assessed three factors: self-efficacy, (perceptions of capabilities), intrinsic value (importance), and test anxiety. The learning strategies component comprised two factors: cognitive strategy use and self-regulation.

Correlations among intrinsic value, self-efficacy, strategy use, and self-regulation were positive and significant. Test anxiety showed a significant, negative correlation with self-efficacy; correlations of test anxiety with all other variables were nonsignificant.The researchers also computed correlations among these five variables and measures of academic performance: in-class seatwork and homework, quizzes and tests, essays and reports, grades. Intrinsic value, self-efficacy, and self-regulation correlated positively with academic measures except performance measures; strategy use correlated positively with all academic performance measures; strategy use correlated positively with academic measures except  for seatwork (nonsignificant); test anxiety was negatively correlated with grades and quiz/test scores.

This study was correlational because Pintrich and De Groot looked at the existing relations among variables and did not attempt to alter them. The results show that motivational variables relate in important ways to cognitive factors contributing to classroom success (strategy use-self-regulation) and to measures of academic performance.

In an experimental study, the researcher actually alters one or more variables and determines the effects on other variables. A researcher interested in the effects of perceived capabilities could conduct an experimental study by systematically altering these perceptions and gauging the effect on individual motivation. For example, the researcher might have a teacher systematically praise love-achieving individuals to raise their perceptions of capabilities and determine if this increase enhances motivation.

Schunk (2002) conducted an experimental study that investigated how forms of effort attributional feedback influenced individuals’ achievement outcomes during learning. Individuals in lower years who lacked subtraction skills received instruction and practice opportunities over sessions. While individuals solved problems individually, an adult proctor periodically walked up to each individual and asked on what page in the instructional packet he or she was working.

For some individuals (prior attribution), after they replied with the page number; the proctor linked their progress with effort by remarking, “You’ve been working hard.” For others (future attribution, the proctor stressed the value of future effort by stating, “You need to work hard.” Those in third condition (monitoring) were queried but the proctor departed without comment after the individual replied. Individuals in a fourth (control) condition were not monitored.

This study was an experiment because Schunk altered the type of feedback individuals received and looked to see whether differential effects on achievement outcomes resulted. Schunk hypothesized, that prior attribution would be the most effective because it supports individuals’ perceptions of their progress in acquiring skills and conveys that they can continue to improve through effort. This prediction was supported.

Prior-attribution individuals outperformed individuals in the other conditions on measures of self-efficacy and subtraction skill. Prior-attribution individuals also displayed higher motivation than did future-attribution and control individuals as assessed by the amount of problem solving during the independent practice portions of the sessions. The results of this study suggest that it is better to link individuals’ past success to effort than to stress the future benefits of hard work.

Each type of research has advantages and disadvantages. Correlational research helps clarify relations among variables. Correlational findings often suggest directions for experimental research. The positive correlation obtained by Pintrich and De Groot between intrinsic value and academic performance suggests further research exploring whether increasing intrinsic value leads to higher achievement. A disadvantage of correlational research is that it cannot identify cause and effect. The positive correlation between intrinsic value and academic performance could mean that (a) intrinsic value affects academic performance, (b) academic performance influences intrinsic value, (c) intrinsic value and academic performance are each influenced by other, unmeasured variables (e.g., home factors).

Experimental research can clarify cause-effect relations. By systematically varying type of feedback and eliminating other variables as potential causes, Schunk (2002) could specify how changes in attributional feedback affect achievement outcomes. Clarifying causal relations helps us understand the nature of motivation. At the same time, experimental research is often narrow is scope. Researchers typically vary only a few variables and try to hold all others constant, which is difficult to do and somewhat unrealistic.

B. Qualitative/Interpretative Research

In recent years, another type of paradigm has gained currency among researchers. The theories and methods used are referred to various labels, including qualitative, ethnographic, participant observation, phenomenological, constructivist, and interpretative (Erickson, 2003).  These approaches differ from one another characterized by intensive study, descriptions of events, and interpretation of meanings. Such a research model is not new in the social sciences, but only recently has it been applied increasingly in supervision.

Interpretative research is especially useful when researchers are interested in the structure of events rather than their overall distributions, when the meanings and perspectives of individuals are important, when actual experiments are impractical or unethical, and when there is a desire to search for new potential causal linkages that have not been unearthed by experimental methods, (Erickson, 2003).

Moreover, qualitative/interpretive research yields rich sources of data that are much more intensive and thorough than those typically obtained in correlational or experimental research. This research paradigm also has the potential of raising new questions and new slants on old questions that often are missed by traditional methods. Because this approach is not concerned with the aggregation of usable knowledge for teaching practice, it is not a means for providing practical answers to teaching problems (Shulman, 2004).

Studies usually are conducted with few participants, which raise the issue of whether findings are reliable and representative of the population being studied. Another concern is that if researchers do not attempt to interpret data in light of a theoretical framework, findings may not seem linked and interpretation may prove difficult. Nonetheless, as a research model, this tradition has provided much valuable data in the study of motivation, and its influence will continue to grow.

III. Conclusion

In conclusion and in addition to the differences among experimental, correlational, and qualitative research, another distinction exists between laboratory studies conducted in controlled settings and field studies conducted where was conducted in laboratories using such infrahuman species as cats, dogs, and rats. Such research was appropriate given the influence of conditioning theories which contended that common processes occurred in animals and humans and that controlled experiments could help isolate these processes and eliminate extraneous influences. Motivation research also has employed human subjects in controlled laboratory environments. With the increasing emphasis on schooling and other applied settings, however; most current research is conducted in field settings. The Pintrich and De Groot (2000a), and Schunk (2002) studies are examples of field studies.

Reference:

1.Pintrich, P.R. & De Groot, E. (2000a). Individual differences in early adolescents’ motivation and self-regulated learning. Journal of early Adolescence, 14, 139-161.

2.Schunk, D.H. (2002). Extended attributional feedback: Sequence effects during remedial reading instruction. Journal of Early Adolescence, 6, 55-66.

3.Erickson, F. (2003). Qualitative methods in research on supervision. In M.C. Wittrock (ED.), Handbook research on supervision (3rd ed., pp. 119-161). New York: Macmillan.

4.Shulman, L.S. (2004).  Paradigms and research programs in the study of teachings: A contemporary perspective. In M.C. Wittrock (ED.) Handbook of research on supervision (3rd) ed., pp. 3-36). New York: Macmillan.

Generally teamwork can be defined as a group of people working under supervision together to accomplish specified goals. In nursing the main goal is to improve the patient’s health and promote recovery. Supervision, according to Harries (1987), means “to be in charge of a group of workers or students and be responsible for making sure that they do their work properly” [Longman (1995, p. 1449)]. Working with a group of people has the potential for being a supportive and enriching experience.

It increases the nurse’s knowledge, acquired by sharing experiences, skills, ideas and techniques obtained by watching, observing and learning from other members of the team when performing a task. Nurses are required to work as part of multi-disciplinary teams (MDT). The care and management of individuals, relies heavily on the participation in team based efforts and requires individuals who share a common goal, in order to create a well managed health care system. The concept of team work within health care was created to “provide quality holistic healthcare to every patient”.

Each team member must have a clear role and contribute effectively in order to maintain a well balanced and supported environment. It gives the patient high standard of care: It creates an opportunity for every member of the team to provide information about the patient’s need which can be orally or written, this will allow the care team to have an insight and understanding of how to offer the best possible care for the patient. Teamwork makes the duties easier and faster: If every member of staff collaborates and works together, less time is required to carry out the job and it is easy.

In this case, the workload is well distributed and this relieves stress, saves useful time that can be used to observe patient needs, deterioration and improvement. There is less chance of inaccuracy because each member is focussed and co-ordinated on his or her work thereby enhancing effectiveness, whereas if it was one person doing the job the person is running from one point to the other in order to meet up with patient’s need thereby creating room for mistakes and disorganisation [Potter and Perry (1995)].

In conclusion teamwork is very important in nursing and can also be enjoyable if all members are actively and sincerely partakers to ensure that the work is rational to every member and also meet targets. [Potter and Perry (1995)] Working under supervision builds the nurse’s character, confidence and self-esteem knowing that the supervisor cares about the work done. This will stimulate the nurse to be of good conduct. In the same way, patients feel safeguarded and confident knowing that there is a competent person in charge.

According to Fowler (1995) Supervision involves a learning, supportive and monitoring process. The learning process exposes the nurse to liaise with other professional bodies such as the doctors, radiotherapists, porters, cleaners, healthcare assistants, and paramedics and so on, as well as the patients and family members. The monitoring process could be formal or informal to assure that the desired standard is achieved. The supportive process includes discussion of difficulties, challenges, dilemmas and solution of how to deal with them so that positive goals are achieved [Hinchliff S. 2008)]. These processes are essential and vital for the health and safety of the patient. The nurse can then learn how to deal with challenging situations which promotes the delivering of high standard of care to the client. In contrast, when there is no supervision there is no opportunity to update knowledge, develop and improve skills. The nurse might be implementing the wrong skill or technique in attending to a patient. This might have a dangerous effect on the patient and the overall team.