Preliminary Validation and Training of Supervisory Interactional Skills

Abstract

Employee job satisfaction and performance are critical to the effectiveness of an organization. Although satisfaction and performance are not determined in total by a supervisor's interactional skills, it appears that interactional skills can significantly influence employee satisfaction and productivity. This research was conducted to further validate the types of interpersonal skills important in supervisory interactions, and then to evaluate the effectiveness of a supervisory training workshop in improving these aspects of managers' repertoires. In the first study social validation and survey procedures were used to identify supervisory behavior that employees judge to either facilitate or inhibit their job satisfaction and performance. Based on these results, the workshop training program was developed and tested in a second study which revealed a significant improvement in the group of supervisors who underwent training versus a no-training control group. This study provided a preliminary demonstration of the efficacy of using a behavioral training program to improve supervisors' interactional skills judged to be related to an organization's level of satisfaction and performance.