Untrained supervisors are a liability

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda

MANY organisations struggle to meet set performance targets because supervisors and managers have no skills in managing human capital.

There is a general assumption that once someone is appointed to the position of a manager or supervisor he or she automatically acquires the relevant skills in people management.

This is wrong, just like managers needing training in other areas of business management, they need training in human capital management if people are to add maximum value.

Managers can be trained in all aspects of human capital management, but if they are not adequately trained in labour relations, they will hardly succeed in meeting work objectives. John had been appointed the new engineering manager of a mining house.

He had worked in technical services before but had never worked in an environment where he supervised a large number of workers working in varied areas of engineering.

After two weeks, the workers committee representatives approached him and asked him to address workers in the department over a number of workers grievances that were listed on a piece of paper. John got upset and threatened the workers committee representatives with dismissal.

Three days later the trade union filed a case of unfair labour practice with the NEC over issues that were listed on the paper that had been presented to John and in addition there was a case of victimisation of members of the workers committee.

The human resources manager was furious as to why the matter had not been tabled at works council first.

The workers committee chairperson explained that they tried to talk to the head of department but realised it was too risky thus they gave the matter to the union representative who is not an employee.

On investigation, it was discovered the workers grievances were genuine and that John had not been trained in Labour Relations, he had rudimentary knowledge of human capital management.

There are many organisations with managers and supervisors like John.

Managers with problems in human capital management can be identified in many ways including having too many disciplinary cases from one’s department, too many resignation from department, targets being met when the boss is away, too much sick leave, high levels of absenteeism, frequent conflict with workers leaders, frequent conflict with individual workers, subordinates frequenting the human resources department, too many works council agenda items from department, collective job action originating from department, too many lost and reinstatement cases from department, workers from department afraid of joining the workers committee, workers sabotaging departmental work and many others.

While there could be other causes for the above to occur, in most cases it’s a reflection of poor management of labour relations.

For a manager or supervisor to be effective in human capital management, he has to undergo appropriate training that covers areas such as performance management, employee rights and limits, basic labour laws, discipline laws, grievance handling, relations with workers committees and trade unions and supervising for value addition.

In conclusion, where managers and supervisors are trained, targets are easily met,workers do not visit the human resources department to seek help, supervisors and workers leaders work together in helping employees add value to the business, works council meeting become an effective business and labour relations management tool.

– Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: Email: [email protected]