CHAPTER 3
SUPERVISION AND TRAINING
As you advance to ET1 or ETC, you will function
as a first-line supervisor. In other words, you will be
in immediate control of workers. You will also act as the
liaison between your superiors and the workers. You will
be responsible for planning the work, issuing jobs,
instructing personnel, checking the work, and reporting
to your superiors on the progress of assigned tasks.
You will have many more responsibilities added to
those you had at your previous paygrade. You have
acquired much valuable job-related knowledge. Now it
is your turn to pass that knowledge onto others. In this
chapter, we will discuss the management (supervision
and training) of an electronics shop and some of the
problems that are found in technical ratings. In no way
can we cover all areas of supervision and training, but
we can provide you with a solid foundation of
knowledge on which to build. If you desire other good
sources of information on this subject, obtain copies of
the military requirements training manuals and Navy
Leader Development Program courses.
As an electronics supervisor, you will be
responsible for maintaining electronics systems
equipment. Maintaining this equipment is a job of vital
importance. It requires a leadership ability that can be
developed only by personnel who have a high degree of
technical competence and a deep sense of personal
responsibility. These responsibilities range from
satisfying the needs of the “users,” to notifying upper
management of equipment status and problems. A user,
in this instance, is anyone who requires the services of
the equipment maintained by your shop, such as
Operations Specialists, Radioman, or Air Controllers.
An electronics supervisor spends less time working
on equipment and more time ensuring that the shop is
running smoothly. Instead of working on a specific
equipment, you will spend time on such jobs as updating
a personnel qualification standard (PQS) progress chart
or scheduling next week’s maintenance. As a senior
petty officer, you will find more people asking your
opinion on technical matters. Your responsibilities for
technical leadership are special to your rating and are
directly related to the nature of your work.
The electronic systems field is growing rapidly,
caused in part by the swift pace of development in
modern technology. This requires that you keep up with
the latest developments. As technology advances, you
will find yourself involved with equipment and systems
much more complex than any you have previously
encountered. Sometimes you may need to develop a
method or procedure to check out the operation of a new
piece of equipment because the technical information or
technical manual has limited information for isolating a
malfunction. You must then be able to direct your
subordinates in using these specially developed
methods or procedures as an interim maintenance
procedure. You must acquire the technical and
leadership skills required to translate these ideas into
actions.
SUPERVISION
As a shop supervisor, you must be aware of the
greater scope of your duties and responsibilities. You
must also learn and practice the characteristics of a good
supervisor. You should continue this learning process as
you attempt to master all phases of supervision and
management. The following pages discuss many of the
elements of shop management that you will encounter
as an electronics supervisor.
MANAGEMENT
As an ET1 or ETC, you will normally be a work
center supervisor or shop supervisor. In either position,
you will be confronted with the many responsibilities of
management. As a shop supervisor or work center
supervisor, your primary job will be to ensure that the
shop or work center functions smoothly. You and your
maintenance personnel will have to meet both technical
and military requirements. The skills required to
manage a maintenance shop are not acquired overnight.
You will need to spend time and effort to develop the
management ability necessary to accomplish all of your
shop’s goals.
The problems and responsibilities that an
electronics shop supervisor must face are similar to
those encountered in other functional areas of any
command. For example, increasing productivity while
reducing cost is a goal of all shop supervisors.
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