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Security Management
home > Unit 3: supervision
What
can a security firm learn from Starbucks?
The big challenge I want you to always think about: a company offering a generic service such as security cannot charge premium rates, and therefore cannot pay its employees well, offer exceptional training, attract and hold qualified applicants, etc., etc. Therefore, it is always at risk of losing business to a cheaper competitor and/or encountering a crisis because of a serious problem. This is not a tenable business strategy.
HOW CAN YOU BREAK THIS PATTERN, OFFER A PREMIUM SERVICE, CHARGE A PREMIUM PRICE, ATTRACT AND HOLD QUALIFIED PERSONNEL, AND OTHERWISE DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF?
Supervisory Roles
- One of most frequent problems with new supervisors is that they have a hard time stopping doing the work they previously did, and instead relying on the work of others to achieve company goals.
- One of most frequent roles is setting and monitoring subordinates' job tasks.
- Another is being responsible for subordinates' pay and promotions.
- Must maintain control of some
sort over processes and the employees who carry them out. Control
consists of:
- More than simply monitoring their actions.
- "Reading" and orchestrating workers movements, know what is needed, and when.
- Understanding the organization and its goals, products, customers, etc.
- Example of a firm where guards are doing what's required, at least in terms of basics, but supervisor must go beyond log books, etc. to see if they are really doing what they are supposed to.
- Span of Control
How many people should a supervisor control? Span of control refers to how many report to a single supervisor. Varies widely due to the nature of the company and how it is structured. Some believe that organizations that combine diverse functions have narrowed span of control, because a supervisor must interact with many types of individuals (vs. all who do same job, which allows more uniformity). - Time and Stability
- In a stable organization, a supervisor may not need to spend as much time training and supervising new employees. Companies with a lot of turn-over or where the nature of the business is changing rapidly (such as addition of new technology, may require more training).