Maybe There’s A Good Reason Your Boss Is So Lousy

ST. PETERSBURG, FL (September 12 , 2007) – Almost everyone has a "bad boss" story, but a new survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) suggests that these “bad bosses” may not be to blame; chances are, they never got the training they needed. The study found that, of the 338 companies polled, nearly half (47%) do not have a New Supervisor Training Program in place. And even where the programs are in place, most companies don't measure their effectiveness.

However, for many organizations, help is on the way. Among the companies that don't have a training program in place for new supervisors, 45% plan to implement one within the next 12 months.

“Companies know they should do better in this area," says Jay Jamrog, Senior Vice President of Research at i4cp, "and many have big plans for improvement. But the bottom line is that companies are moving faster than ever, and in the U.S. we are experiencing talent shortages. Many workers are given supervisory jobs they didn’t expect and then are just thrown out there to sink or swim. It's no wonder so many wind up floundering."

For the organizations that already have such a program, most (77%) consider it important enough to make it mandatory, and most pour considerable resources into it. Fully 83% of those conducting training for new supervisors do so for nine or more hours. The most common subjects include introducing managers to management and leadership principles and providing them with practical knowledge of the company's policies and procedures.

But even among those that have such programs, 57% say they don't measure their effectiveness. "A lot of companies just go on faith," adds Jamrog. "Admittedly, measuring the effectiveness of these programs is difficult, but still it's amazing that more companies don't even try. Can you imagine if we applied the same principle to quality control in our manufacturing processes? We'd make some of the worst products on earth."

The training approaches used by companies fall into two main areas. Forty-three percent use “phased learning experiences” offered over the course of the first year of the new supervisor’s job, while 32% provide a brief overview of basic information on responsibilities such as safety, payroll and computer systems. A full 65% of companies keep the training in-house, using managers or company trainers to conduct courses.

The New Supervisor Training Program Practitioner Consensus Survey was conducted by i4cp, in conjunction with HR.com, in August 2007.

For more information about this study, please contact Greg Pernula at Greg.Pernula@i4cp.com or via phone at (727) 345-2226.

About i4cp, inc.

Building on the 35-year history of its predecessor (the Human Resource Institute), the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) improves corporate productivity through a combination of research, community, tools and technology focused on the management of human capital. With more than 100 leading organizations as members, including many of the best-known companies in the world, i4cp draws upon one of the industry’s largest and most experienced research teams and executives-in-residence to produce more than 10,000 pages annually of rapid, reliable and respected research and analysis surrounding all facets of the management of people in organizations. Additionally, i4cp identifies and analyzes the upcoming major issues and future trends that are expected to influence workforce productivity and provides member clients with tools and technology to execute leading-edge strategies and “next practices” on these issues and trends. i4cp is a for-profit company with its headquarters in Seattle, WA, and research offices in St. Petersburg, FL.