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Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
8-1
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Chapter 08
The Supervisor as Leader
I. CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Supervisors must be leaders. Leading is the management function of influencing people to act or not
act in a certain way. This chapter describes a variety of leadership styles and discusses how to give
directions. It also discusses how supervisors can effectively relate with the various people in an
organization.
To find out whether people are natural leaders, researchers have looked for traits commonly found in
effective leaders. Although research has been inconsistent, the conclusion is that traits alone do not
predict success as a leader. Traits that are often suggested as useful include a sense of responsibility,
self-confidence, high energy level, empathy, internal locus of control, and a sense of humor.
Leadership styles are categorized in several ways. When categorized by the amount of authority
retained by the supervisor, supervisors can be authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire. Another way
to look at differences in leadership styles is to consider what supervisors focus on in making decisions
and evaluating accomplishments. Supervisors may focus on the task at hand (task-oriented approach),
the people involved (people-oriented), or on both.
The contingency theories of leadership like Fiedler’s contingency model, life cycle theory, and the
path-goal theory of leadership are based on the view that the best style of leadership depends on the
situation. According to Fiedlers’ contingency model, the performance of a particular leadership style
depends on three characteristics of the situation: leader–member relations, task structure, and the
position power of the leader. Hershey-Blanchard’s life cycle theory suggests that the leadership style
should reflect the maturity of the followers. The path–goal theory of leadership suggests that the
primary activities of a leader are to make desirable and achievable rewards available to organization
members who attain organizational goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed
to earn those rewards. Servant and entrepreneurial leadership styles are relevant to different situations.
Servant leadership style is well suited for leaders whose primary task is to serve people around them
while entrepreneurial leadership is based on the attitude that the leader is self-employed.
The text discusses the factors that should be kept in mind when selecting a leadership style. These
factors include characteristics of the leader, the subordinates, and the situation itself.
Successful supervisors need to work effectively and maintain good relations with their employees,
boss, and peers. With employees, supervisors should set a good example, be ethical, and develop trust.
Supervisors should give their boss loyalty, cooperation, information, and results and be aware of and
respond to the boss’s style. With peers, supervisors should keep competition fair and as friendly as
possible and offer support or criticism in a constructive way.
II. TEACHING THE CONCEPTS BY LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Learning Objective 8.1: Discuss the possible link between personal traits and leadership ability.
1. Key terms.
Leading: Influencing people to act or not act in a certain way.
Internal Locus of Control: The belief that you are the primary cause of what happens to yourself.
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
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© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
2. Teaching notes.
The text makes the distinction between managers and leaders in a quote from consultant and
author Paul Taffinder, “Managers seek and follow direction. Leaders inspire achievement.”
The terminology of leading and leadership may be confusing to the student. The terms leading or
leadership are often used in place of the word managing with little or no distinction between the
terms. (“Manage–1. To direct or control the use of. 2. a. To exert control over. b. To make
submissive to one’s authority, discipline, or persuasion.”). In some cases a distinction is
emphasized with leadership described as a more dynamic activity toward meeting the needs and
goals of the organization. The dictionary definitions of lead and manage indicate that “lead” is
going in advance, or guiding, while “manage” is directing and controlling. The supervisor’s job is
a blend of both, sometimes going in advance and sometimes directing and controlling.
Organizations seek to hire or promote employees who will be successful and an asset to the
organization. Is it possible to predict success or leadership ability from personality type, or are
there traits that are associated with a supervisor’s success? Traits that might be considered
significant include:
a. Sense of responsibility. Supervisors must be willing to take seriously the responsibility that
goes with the job.
b. Self confidence. Supervisors who believe in their ability to get the job done will convey
confidence to employees.
c. High energy level. Many organizations expect supervisors to willingly put in long hours in
order to handle the variety of duties that come with the job.
d. Empathy. Supervisors need to be sensitive to the feelings of employees and higher
management. Supervisors who have difficulty understanding what makes people tick will be at
a disadvantage.
e. Internal locus of control. People with an internal locus of control are thought to be better
leaders because they try harder to take charge of events.
f. Sense of humor. People with a good sense of humor are more fun to work with or for.
3. Teaching examples to discuss the possible link between personal traits and leadership ability.
There are many books on leadership. They provide diverse reasons of leadership success including
personal traits, structural systems, and behavioral explanations. Stephen R. Covey, in The 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People, looks at personal characteristics or habits. An argument is made for
deep fundamental truths that act as guidelines to deal with a wide variety of situations. The seven
habits are not separate but act together to provide a basis of behavior or action. A review of the
seven habits provides additional support for many of the characteristics presented in the text.
The seven habits are summarized below. However, if Covey’s work is used as a basis for the
lecture it may be useful to read more of the book. There are excellent examples to illustrate the
principles.
Habit 1–Be proactive. This refers to the taking of responsibility to make things happen.
Habit 2–Begin with the end in mind. Start with a clear picture of where you are going and what
the destination will look like. It also implies you know where you are right now.
“Begin with the end in mind” is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a
mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
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© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Habit 3–Put first things first. This principle is based on two factors–importance and urgency.
Priority is given to those things that are important and working toward the position where there is
sufficient time to avoid high urgency. This is achieved by minimizing the unimportant things.
THE TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX
Urgent Not Urgent
Important I
Activities
Crises
Pressing problems
Deadline-driven projects
II
Activities
Prevention, PC activities
Relationship building
Recognizing new
opportunities
Planning, recreation
Not Important III
Activities
Interruptions, some calls
Some mail, some reports
Some meetings
Proximate, pressing matters
Popular activities
IV
Activities
Trivia, busy work
Some mail
Some phone calls
Time wasters
Pleasant activities
Habit 4–Think win/win. This principle means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial.
A supervisor’s success is not achieved at the expense of another person.
Habit 5–Seek first to understand, then to be understood. First listen with the intent to understand.
Empathetic listening gives you the data for understanding. This is the key to effective
interpersonal communications.
Habit 6–Synergize. Synergy is the essence of principle-centered leadership. Simply defined, the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Habit 7–Sharpen the saw. This habit makes the other habits possible.
4. Exercise for discussing the possible link between personal traits and leadership success.
Split class into teams of three members each. Each team should be asked to pick and represent one
industry. The teams should then discuss the personal traits that are most important for leadership
success in the industry that they represent. Are there industry-specific personal traits important for
leadership?
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
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© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Learning Objective 8.2: Explain democratic vs. authoritarian leadership.
1. Key terms.
Authoritarian Leadership: A leadership style in which the leader retains a great deal of
authority.
Democratic Leadership: A leadership style in which the leader allows subordinates to participate
in decision making and problem solving.
Laissez-faire Leadership: A leadership style in which the leader is uninvolved and lets
subordinates direct themselves.
2. Teaching notes.
There are different leadership styles. Supervisors may instinctively use a style they are
comfortable with, or they may consciously try to develop a style. Knowledge of different
leadership styles will help the supervisor determine the best style for results. Leadership styles are
categorized in several ways. Listed below are three separate ways to categorize leadership styles:
a. Amount of authority retained. One method of looking at leadership styles is by the amount of
authority retained by the supervisor. Although a supervisor seldom exhibits just one style, he
or she may use one style more than the other.
(1) The authoritarian leader retains a great deal of authority. Essentially it is a style where the
supervisor gives orders and employees are expected to follow orders. An example would
be a military commander who expects unquestioned obedience. An advantage of this type
of leadership is that decisions are made quickly. It works best in an emergency or crisis or
where employees lack maturity. A disadvantage is that employees may become dependent
on decisions from the supervisor and will not do anything on their own.
(2) Democratic leadership allows participation by employees. This type of leadership is
exhibited in organizations that have employee teams for problem solving. An advantage is
that employees may feel they have a say in the way things are done, and therefore be more
satisfied with their jobs. A disadvantage is that decisions take longer. A supervisor who
leaves most decisions up to the group may be viewed by some employees as weak.
(3) Laissez-faire leadership lets employees do what they want. This type of leadership is
seldom practiced by supervisors. This type of leadership works best in an atmosphere
where creativity or innovation is required. This type of leadership may be seen by
employees as no leadership at all.
b. Task oriented or people oriented. Another way of looking at leadership styles is to consider
what supervisors focus on in making decisions and evaluating accomplishments. Generally,
supervisors are task oriented or people oriented. Most organizations prefer a combination of
both in supervisors.
(1) Task-oriented leadership focuses on the jobs to be done and the goals to be accomplished.
(2) People-oriented leadership focuses on the well-being of the people managed. Morale, job
satisfaction, and relationships among employees are emphasized.
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
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© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
c. Researchers Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton developed a Managerial Grid® (see text
Figure 8.2 “The Managerial Grid”) that identifies seven styles of leadership by managers.
Along one axis is the manager’s concern for people and along the other is the manager’s
concern for production. Their research led them to conclude that productivity, job satisfaction,
and creativity are highest with a (9, 9), or team management, style of leadership.
3. Teaching examples to describe leadership styles that a supervisor might adopt.
The following are situations where authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire style are used or
might be appropriate.
a. Authoritarian style of leadership–organizations or departments that require a regimented
method of performance, quick response, or employees need a lot of direction. The military,
and military-type organizations such as correction facilities, would be an example. Fire
fighting would be another. This style would also be appropriate in organizations where
employees require a lot of direction, such as a fast-food restaurant where there is high turnover
of personnel.
b. Democratic style of leadership–organizations and departments that require input from
employees for problem solving or product and process improvement. This style works in
organizations where there is a highly skilled work force, especially if work requires teamwork
to complete work effectively. An example may be companies that supply the auto industry
with parts and materials. These companies are being driven by competitive forces to improve
quality and reduce prices through continuous improvement.
c. Laissez-faire style of leadership–organizations or departments that require innovative
employees where creativity is important. Examples include research and development
departments, software companies, and design departments. Beauty salons might be another
type of company where this style of leadership works best.
4. Exercise to describe leadership styles that a supervisor might adopt.
Text figure 8.2 “The Managerial Grid” illustrates the managerial grid developed by Blake and
Mouton. Use this grid to identify management styles. To apply this model of leadership,
supervisors identify where their current style of leadership falls on the managerial grid, then
determine the kinds of changes they must make to adopt the (9, 9) style, which is high in concern
for both people and production.
Ask students to identify two or three firms they are familiar with. After scoring these firms on
their concern for production and concern for people, use the Management Grid to locate the
leadership style of the firm.
Learning Objective 8.3: Explain major leadership theories.
1. Teaching notes.
Contingency theories of leadership maintain that the best style of leadership depends on the
circumstances. There are two models: Fiedler’s model and the Hersey-Blanchard model.
a. Fiedler’s model. Supervisors will be relationship oriented (people oriented) or task oriented
depending on:
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
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© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
(1) leader-member relations, or the extent to which the leader has group members’ support
and loyalty.
(2) task structure, or whether there are specified procedures to follow in carrying out the task.
(3) position power, or the leader’s formal authority granted by the organization.
Fiedler recommends that a leader determine whether his or her preferred leadership style fits
the situation, and, if not, the leader should try to change the characteristics of the situation.
(See text Figure 8.3.)
b. The Hersey-Blanchard Life Cycle theory is similar to Fiedler’s model except it believes that
the leadership style should reflect the maturity of the followers as measured by such traits as
ability to work independently. Leaders should adjust the degree of task and relationship
behavior in response to the growing maturity of their followers. As followers mature, leaders
should move through a combination of behaviors:
(1) High task and low relationship behavior
(2) High task and high relationship behavior
(3) Low task and high relationship behavior
(4) Low task and low relationship behavior
c. The path–goal theory of leadership suggests that the primary activities of a leader are to make
desirable and achievable rewards available to organization members who attain organizational
goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards.
According to the theory of path–goal leadership, a leader should exhibit the following
behaviors:
(1) Directive behavior–involves telling followers what to do and how they are to do it.
(2) Supportive behavior–involves recognizing that above all, followers are human beings.
Therefore, it’s important to be friendly and encouraging to followers.
(3) Participative behavior–involves seeking input from followers about methods for
improving business operations.
(4) Achievement behavior–involves setting a challenging goal for a follower to meet, and
expressing confidence that the follower can meet this challenge.
Servant leadership involves putting other people’s needs, aspirations, and interests above your
own. In fact, a servant leader deliberately chooses to serve other people. More recent research
on servant leadership has indicated that a servant leader meets the following description:
(1) A good listener
(1) Empathic
(2) Healing
(3) Aware
(4) Persuasive
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
8-7
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Entrepreneurial leadership is based on the attitude that the leader is self-employed. An
entrepreneurial leader often has the following characteristics:
(1) Visionary
(2) Problem solver
(3) Decision maker
(4) Risk taker
2. Teaching examples to explain contingency theories of leadership.
The contingency models are not inconsistent with the categories of leadership styles in Learning
Objective 8.2. As noted above, a supervisor seldom exhibits purely one type of leadership style.
A simple example of how the Hersey-Blanchard model can be interpreted is to look at the needs
and response of the supervisor to a new employee.
a. The new employee needs a lot of help in learning the job.
High task and low relationship behavior–provide the technical training associated with the job.
b. The new employee has been trained and is working on the job.
High task and high relationship behavior–coach and follow-up on the technical parts of the job
and feedback to maintain self-esteem during a time when employees may feel unsure of
themselves.
c. The new employee is coming along and seems to have mastered the technical part of the job.
He or she may not have the speed or skill level of a more experienced employee.
Low task and high relationship–most of the attention is aimed at assuring the employee he or
she is doing what is expected and is satisfactory as an employee.
d. The new employee is now up to speed, has mastered the technical part of the job, and feels
comfortable doing the job.
Low task and low relationship behavior–the supervisor can reduce the amount of both the task
and relationship behavior focused on this employee.
3. Exercise to explain contingency theories of leadership.
See the “Exercise” below for Learning Objective 8.4. Identify criteria for choosing a leadership
style. The exercise includes an application of contingency theories of leadership.
Learning Objective 8.4: Identify criteria for choosing a leadership style.
1. Teaching notes.
Since no single type of personality is associated with good leadership, different leaders prefer
different styles of leading. Situational characteristics include the supervisor’s characteristics such
as values and strengths, the level of competency of the employees, and the environment in which
they both work. The list below includes some of the characteristics that influence how supervisors
feel about various approaches to leading.
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
8-8
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Supervisor characteristics:
a. The manager’s values. What is most important to the supervisor in carrying out his or her job?
Department’s contribution to company profits? The supervisor’s own growth and
development? Developing employees?
b. Level of confidence in employees. The more confident the supervisor is in employees, the
more he or she will involve employees.
c. Personal leadership strengths. Effective leaders capitalize on their strengths.
d. Tolerance for ambiguity. When the supervisor involves employees in solving problems or
making decisions, he or she cannot always be sure of the outcomes. Will he or she be
comfortable with the uncertainty?
Employee characteristics:
a. Need for independence. Employees who want a lot of direction will welcome autocratic
leadership.
b. Readiness to take responsibility. Employees eager to assume responsibility appreciate
democratic or laissez-faire styles of leadership.
c. Tolerance for ambiguity. Employees tolerant of ambiguity will accept the leadership style that
gives them more input.
d. Interest in the problem. Employees interested in a problem and think it is important will want
to help solve it.
e. Understanding of and identification with goals. Employees who understand and identify with
the organization’s or department’s goals will want an active role in meeting these goals.
f. Knowledge and experience. Employees with the knowledge necessary to solve a problem are
more apt to want to help come up with a solution.
g. Expectations. Some employees expect to participate in making decisions and solving
problems.
Growing diversity in the work place means that supervisors may have a more difficult time
determining where the employees are in regard to these characteristics. There is the additional
danger that supervisors have preconceived ideas about how employees think and behave.
Supervisors need to get involved and know their employees.
Characteristics of the situation:
a. Type of organization. The organization lends itself to a type of leadership. For example, if
supervisors are expected to manage large numbers of employees, a democratic leadership style
may be time consuming and relatively challenging to use. When there are a large number of
employees to manage or they are dispersed over a large area, laissez-faire style leadership may
be the result whether it is intended or not.
b. Effectiveness of the group. Regardless of the characteristics of individual employees, some
groups are more successful in handling decisions than others. When employees have little
experience making decisions, authoritarian style leadership may be easier to use.
c. The problem or task. Problems range from simple to complex. Tasks range from structured to
relatively unstructured. Although it appears that each of these variables suggests a specific
type of leadership, such as a structured task is best handled with more control by the
supervisor, in reality each problem or task is also related to the other characteristics of the
situation.
d. Time available. An autocratic leader is in a position to make decisions quickly. Group
decision making usually requires more time for discussion and sharing ideas.
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
8-9
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
2. Teaching examples for identifying criteria for choosing a leadership style.
Use Figure 8.3 “Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership” to illustrate how different
characteristics will justify a leadership style depending on the variation in the characteristics.
Figure 8.3 lists most of the characteristics in this learning objective with the extreme ends of the
continuum listed under either authoritarian or democratic leadership. This chart is meant to be
representative, not conclusive. Remind students that again they are looking at one variable at a
time and not the possible combinations that exist in organizations.
To include students in a discussion about situations and leadership style, ask them for knowledge
or experience in organizations that exemplify some of the comparisons.
3. Exercise for identifying criteria for choosing a leadership style.
This exercise is designed to give students a feel for how some of the characteristics discussed in
the text dictate the most effective leadership style that a leader might choose. Included are
characteristics of supervisors, employees, and the situation or organization.
This exercise can be done in the classroom as a small group exercise or as homework for
individual students. If done in the classroom, allow about 15 minutes for students to read, discuss,
and decide on the appropriate leadership style. To use the exercise:
Make a copy of Figure 8.4A “What Leadership Style Is Best?” for each student.
a. Explain to the students they are to determine the best leadership style at this time. For some of
the descriptions, a different leadership style may be appropriate at a later time.
b. Discuss the choices made with the entire class.
FIGURE 8.4A
What Leadership Style Is Best?
What type of leadership style–authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire–would be best for the
following situations” Explain why.
1. There are several new cashiers in the sales staff. This is bad news for Jose, the supervisor. It would
be easier if they were all in the same area, but they are widely dispersed throughout the store.
Fortunately, they are inexperienced so he will not have to untrain any bad practices. He had high
confidence that they would learn fast and soon be on their own.
2. Rashell was happy to see how the major projects of her department, a large graphic arts
department of an advertising department, were progressing. She felt very fortunate that the
employees of the department were talented and quickly assumed responsibility for the new jobs.
Of course, she had been working hard for five years to develop the staff. She had a right to be
proud.
3. Larry hoped the evening would be a quiet one with few emergencies. He had been on the job only
for four months and he still was not as familiar with all of the procedures. Larry supervised a
group of volunteers on “hot lines” for a crisis center. They were great people to work with, but
many lacked the confidence that would take the heat off from him during busy times.
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
8-10
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
4. Martha had been with the company for 15 years. She looked out over her department and wished
the employees would assume more responsibility for their jobs and the future of the company.
They seemed to be interested in one thing–the end of the day. The company was trying to develop
improvement teams. But Martha had little confidence in the employees’ ability to work in teams.
They did their jobs, but when they reorganized the department last year to put teams together and
to increase production and quality, they acted like a bunch of cats each going their own way.
5. Fidencio, the supervisor of receiving for a large department store, was pleased with his recent
performance review. His department was rated very efficient. He was thankful for the employees
he supervised and he told them how pleased he was with their hard work. His employees were
always the first to volunteer for whatever came along. They would always take over when
someone was out sick. Even in a crisis, like when the sales items didn’t come in until hours before
the sale started, he could count on them.
FIGURE 8.4B
Answers to What Leadership Style Is Best?
What type of leadership style–authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire–would be best for the
following situations? Explain why.
1. There are several new cashiers in the sales staff. This is bad news for Jose, the supervisor. It would
be easier if they were all in the same area, but they are widely dispersed throughout the store.
Fortunately, they are inexperienced so he will not have to untrain any bad practices. He had high
confidence that they would learn fast and soon be on their own. (Authoritarian. The employees are
new and inexperienced and they are scattered throughout the store.)
2. Rashell was happy to see how the major projects of her department, a large graphic arts
department of an advertising department, were progressing. She felt very fortunate that the
employees of the department were talented and quickly assumed responsibility for new jobs. Of
course, she had been working hard for five years to develop the staff. She had a right to be proud.
(Laissez-faire. The department is creative and employees are talented and assume responsibility.
They don’t need much supervision.)
3. Larry hoped the evening would be a quiet one with few emergencies. He had been on the job only
for four months and he still was not as familiar with all of the procedures. Larry supervised a
group of volunteers on “hot lines” for a crisis center. They were great people to work with, but
many lacked the confidence that would take the heat off from him during busy times.
(Authoritarian. Volunteers are not confident in their ability, and Larry doesn’t have confidence in
them. A crisis may need a very quick decision, and Larry is ultimately responsible. He is also not
very confident in his own ability in this situation.)
4. Martha had been with the company for 15 years. She looked out over her department and wished
the employees would assume more responsibility for their jobs and the future of the company.
They were good workers but they seemed to be interested in one thing–the end of the day. The
company was trying to develop improvement teams. They did their jobs, but when they
reorganized the department last year to put teams together to increase production and quality, they
acted like a bunch of cats each going their own way. (Authoritarian. It would be better if the
conditions were right for team involvement and a democratic leadership style, but the conditions
call for an authoritarian style. There is low interest in involvement or responsibility, and
employees don’t work well as a group.)
Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader
8-11
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whole or part.
5. Fidencio, the supervisor of receiving for a large department store, was pleased with his recent
performance review. His department was rated very efficient. He was thankful for the employees
he supervised and he told them how pleased he was with their hard work. His employees were
always the first to volunteer for whatever came along. They would always take over when
someone was out sick. Even in a crisis, like when the sales items didn’t come in until hours before
the sale started, he could count on them. (Democratic. Employees want to be involved and he had
confidence in them.)
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain how supervisors can develop and maintain good relations with
their employees, manager, and peers.
1. Teaching notes.
A supervisor needs support from many people in the organization to be successful. First, they need
the support of their employees. They also need the support of their boss and co-workers. Ways to
get along with almost everyone include projecting a positive attitude, taking an interest in other
people, and helping out.
A supervisor who is liked and respected by employees will inspire them to work harder and better.
This does not mean that the supervisor should be friends with employees. Rather, the supervisor
should consistently treat them in a way that reflects his or her role as a part of management
Supervisors should be role models for employees by following the rules of the company. They
should also be fair in the treatment of employees and ethical.
Employees work most cooperatively with a supervisor they trust. Building trust takes time and
effort, yet it can be lost with a single act that is unreasonable. Trust is built by fair and predictable
behavior.
No matter how good you are at planning, organizing, and leading, your ability to get along with
your boss can determine the course of your career within the organization. That may not always
seem fair, but the fact is that your boss is the one who most often decides whether you will be
promoted, get a raise, or even have a job next week. A boss who likes to work with you is more
likely to take a favorable view of your performance. A supervisor can assume that his or her boss
expects the following:
a. Loyalty. This means that the supervisor says only positive things about the company and his or
her boss.
b. Cooperation. This means that the supervisor works with others in the organization to achieve
organizational goals.
c. Communication. This means that the boss expects to be kept informed about the department’s
performance.
d. Results. This means that the supervisor should see to it that the department meets or exceeds
its objectives.
You can better meet your boss’s expectations if you understand him or her as an individual. Notice
what issues are important to your boss and as much as you can adapt your own style to match his
or hers. Also ask your boss what his or her expectations are for you and how your performance
will be measured.
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
If you are dissatisfied or unhappy with your boss, consider what the source of the problem is. Most
interpersonal problems arise from the behavior and attitudes of two people, so are there changes
you can make to improve the situation? If you can’t improve the situation enough by changing
your own behavior, talk to your boss. If you can’t resolve the problem with your boss, your best
bet probably is to hunt for another job.
If you get along well with your peers in the same and other departments, they will help you look
good and get your job done. If they resent or dislike you, the poor relations can cause an endless
stream of problems. Sometimes your peers will be competing with you for raises, bonuses, or
promotions. Remember that the more you can cooperate, the better you will all look.
2. Teaching examples to explain how supervisors can develop and maintain good relations with their
employees, boss, and peers.
One of the most important tasks of the supervisor is meeting the department and organizational
goals. Meeting the goals is intimately tied to the relationships the supervisor develops within the
organization. Simply put, this means effectively managing your employees by using both
relationship and technical skills. The outcome will affect the relationship with your boss. Success
in meeting the goals will make you and your boss look good; failure will make you and your boss
look bad.
Since departments do not act alone in the success or failure to meet goals, it is important that
supervisors get the support necessary from others. This is especially true when there are problems
to be solved. Manufacturing companies may find quality problems in the departments that produce
parts. The cause of the problem may be the purchase and receiving of poor quality material. By
working together, departments can identify material characteristics necessary for quality results
and purchase material with these characteristics in the future. Neither the purchasing nor the
production department can solve this problem alone. Another source of material problems may be
in the storage of raw materials. If another department handles this, then that department should be
included in the solution to the problem also.
Relationships with employees:
Gunther Heinz was the new supervisor of accounting in the local hospital. Smoking was not
allowed in hospital offices, so he held meetings with employees in the smoking lounge to “kill two
birds with one stone.” He did not take any other breaks. He was surprised when his boss told him
he had had complaints about him taking too many breaks. Gunther was also surprised to find that
the employees were angry about sitting in the smoking lounge. Gunther explained he was using
the time to bring them up to date on the latest instruction. Why were they unhappy? He was
making good use of his time.
Think of your relationship with your employee as a long-term investment. In the short term you
may get the work done with demands, hostility, threats, and scare tactics, but what will be the
long-term effect of this type of behavior? Think about the golden rule of supervision: Do unto
others as you want to be done unto. Provide the tools, information, and support for your
employees to do a good job. Let them know they can depend on you by your actions. Provide a
role model of the expected behavior. If you return late from coffee breaks, you can be sure your
employees will follow your example.
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Relationships with the boss:
You can be successful in reaching the department’s goals but unsuccessful with your boss. Kim
Wong, a supervisor in an electronics service company, was proud of herself. Productivity in her
department was the highest in the company. She had tried a new method of replacing all suspected
components rather than wasting time doing extensive and unnecessary testing. Sure it cost a little
more, but she was sure her boss would appreciate her effort. She was surprised when her boss was
unhappy and told her to go back to the old way.
You cannot take for granted that being a good supervisor in the eyes of your employees will
guarantee your success in the eyes of the boss. You must actively seek to understand what your
boss expects and what he or she thinks of you and your performance. Failure to understand the
importance of meeting the expectations of your boss can result in loss of wages, promotions, better
assignments, and ultimately your job.
We tend to like people who are like us. It helps to be aware of your boss’s characteristics and
style. In your boss’s presence, mirror his or her preferences and style. Sometimes you can’t be like
your boss. If there is a wide difference in age, education, and background, you cannot change what
you are. On the other hand, don’t emphasize the differences. For example, if your boss is much
older than you are, refrain from remarks that emphasize your relative youth. If your boss has no
formal education and you are formally educated, refrain from emphasizing theory over experience.
Relationships with peers:
Supervisors should not neglect their relationship with their peers. It takes the combined effort of
everyone to attain the organizational goals. Failure to recognize the interdependency of the
departments in meeting organizational goals may result in reaching one department’s goals at the
expense of another department.
Peers can help a supervisor in many ways. Gunther was bewildered by the smoking problem. He
had just moved here from another state. He had always worked for a hospital and understood the
smoking issues, but he was trying to be helpful to his employees and not waste time. He turned to
his peers to find out the expectations of others in the hospital. They clued him in. Take quick
smoke breaks, not too many, and don’t take anyone else in with you.
There are many specific interpersonal relation techniques. Several are covered in the text In
addition, take the initiative to learn about these and any others that will help you be successful
with the members of your organization.
3. Exercise to explain how supervisors can develop and maintain good relations with their
employees, boss, and peers.
Getting along with others is a necessary component of success for the supervisor. New supervisors
and students may have taken interpersonal relationships for granted in the past. There are many
instruments available to identify personal characteristics. In the future they may be asked to fill out
a questionnaire to determine their strengths and weaknesses as defined by the company.
The exercises suggested are meant to sensitize students to what they are and how that may be
different than what is expected. Recognizing differences may help them adjust behavior to meet
the expectations of bosses and others. The exercises are not intended to be personality or style
indicators.
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
a. Recognize differences between you and your boss. This exercise can be used as homework or
as a small group exercise in the classroom. If used as a small group exercise, each student
should fill out the chart characteristics for him- or herself. Arrange for a photocopy of Figure
8.6 “How Are You Different?” for each student.
(1) Have students compare themselves to their boss. If they are not employed, the instructor
of the class can be used for the comparison.
(2) Determine specific actions to be taken by the supervisor or student to minimize
differences where they occur. It is useful to have others in the group discuss ways to
minimize differences.
(3) Discuss with the entire class some of the ways students would minimize differences
between employees and their boss.
FIGURE 8.6
How Are You Different?
Characteristic You Boss
Action If
Different Risk If Different
Age
Gender
Culture
Style
Communication:
Preferred method
to receive
information
Sense of humor
Willingness to
risk
Willingness to
change
Grooming habits:
Style of dress
Other (list)
Other (list)
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
III. ANSWERS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Describe the six traits that researchers believe may indicate a good leader. However, research has
not established a clear link between personality traits and leadership success. What other factors
do you think might contribute to success or failure?
Sense of responsibility; self-confidence (a person believes in his or her ability to get the job done);
high energy level (willing to work hard, take on challenges); empathy (ability to understand
others); internal locus of control (the belief that one is the primary cause of what happens to
oneself); sense of humor.
Answers will vary. However, some students may focus on issues covered throughout the chapter:
leadership style, circumstances, human relations, and so forth.
2. Claire Callahan supervises the camping department of a large outdoor equipment store. The store
manager (Claire’s boss) has given her the objective of increasing sales by 10 percent during the
next quarter. Choose one of the three leadership styles for Clair (authoritarian, democratic, or
laissez-faire). Then state three or more steps that she might take to influence her employees to
meet the new sales objective.
Answers will vary. If she’s authoritarian, she will probably dictate instructions to her employees,
such as requirements for working longer hours, scripts for new sales pitches to customers (for
instance, while they are at the cash register), and the like. If she’s democratic, she may hold a staff
meeting to get ideas from employees on how to increase sales, and then help them choose the most
workable ideas and implement them. If she’s laissez-faire, she may fail to meet the objectives.
She might take the following steps to influence her employees to meet the new sales objective:
• Post the new goal where employees can see it, or hold a staff meeting to inform them of the
goal.
• Use rewards (cash, if available, or at least recognition) to spur employee productivity.
• Use competition as a tool for motivating employees by asking the employees to compete
against other departments or other stores in the vicinity.
3. Ann Wong is the accounts payable supervisor at an insurance company. During a time of layoffs,
she decides that she should adopt a more people-oriented leadership style than the style she
normally uses. What does this change mean?
Ann will become less task oriented, a style that focuses on the jobs to be done and the goals to be
accomplished, and more people oriented, a leadership style that focuses on the well-being of the
people managed such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships among people in the
department. This change might help Ann because layoffs usually result in low employee morale
and that, in turn, affects productivity.
4. Do you think it is more realistic to expect supervisors to adjust the situation to meet their preferred
leadership style, as suggested by Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership, or to adjust their
leadership style to fit the situation, as suggested by Hersey and Blanchard? Explain your
reasoning.
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
In the short term, the supervisor should adjust leadership style to fit the situation. There are many
variables in the situation that may have to be changed. Some of the conditions may be beyond the
control of the supervisor. In the long run, the supervisor may be able to develop employees and
have some impact on the organization, so they may be able to change the situation to better fit
their preferred style.
5. Do you think it would be more satisfying to be a path-goal leader, a servant leader, or an
entrepreneurial leader? Explain your thoughts.
Student answers will vary. It is understandable that different situations require different
approaches. The path–goal theory of leadership suggests that the primary activities of a leader are
to make desirable and achievable rewards available to organization members who attain
organizational goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those
rewards. This leadership style is especially relevant in organizations where employees are highly
skilled, employee turnover is relatively low, and supervisor-employee relationships are good.
Servant leadership involves putting other people’s needs, aspirations, and interests above your
own. The servant leader’s primary task is to serve the people around them, rather than lead. A
servant leadership style is most likely to fit well and be satisfying for a leader in a non profit
organization. Entrepreneurial leadership is based on the attitude that the leader is self-employed.
In other words, entrepreneurial leadership involves believing that one plays a very important role
at a company rather than an unimportant one. An entrepreneurial leadership is most likely to work
best and provide satisfaction to a leader in a rapidly growing startup organization.
6. In which of the following situations would you recommend the supervisor use an authoritarian
style of leadership? In which situation would you recommend a democratic style? Explain your
choices.
a. The supervisor’s boss says, “Top management wants us to start getting employees to suggest
ways to improve quality in all areas of operations.” Each department has wide latitude in how
to accomplish this.
Democratic. The democratic style invites input from employees within the department.
b. A supervisor is uncomfortable in meetings and likes to be left alone to figure out solutions to
problems. The supervisor’s employees believe that a good supervisor is able to tell them
exactly what to do.
Authoritarian. The supervisor likes to work out solutions to problems by him- or herself. The
employees also believe that the supervisor is responsible for telling them exactly what to do.
c. A shipment of hazardous materials is on its way to a warehouse. The supervisor is responsible
for instructing employees in how to handle the materials when they arrive later that day.
Authoritarian. There is not much time to get ready to receive the hazardous materials. Both the
lack of time and the type of material call for a take-charge style.
7. Identify the leader relationships error in each of the following situations. Suggest a better way to
handle each.
a. Carole Fields’s boss compliments her on the report she submitted yesterday. She says, “It was
no big deal.”
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
Thank him or her for being observant. It’s nice to hear the boss is satisfied. Carole now has a
benchmark to judge future work.
b. When Rich Peaslee was promoted to supervisor, he told the other employees, “Now,
remember, I was one of the gang before this promotion, and I’ll still be one of the gang.”
While the supervisor can be friendly, he or she is no longer one of the gang. The tasks,
attitudes, are different from those of the employee. The employee may be removed physically
and psychologically from management, but the supervisor is management.
c. The second-shift supervisor observes that the first-shift employees haven’t left their work
areas clean for the last three days. He complains to his boss about the lax supervision on the
first shift.
The supervisor from the second shift must communicate to the first-shift supervisor what is
happening and how it affects his or her department before going to the boss. Going to the boss
first will antagonize the other supervisor and the boss probably does not want to get involved
in housekeeping problems.
8. Carla Santos doesn’t get along with her new manager; the two have disliked each other since the
first day they met. Santos was transferred to a new department when the previous supervisor left
the company, so neither Santos nor her manager actually chose to work together. Santos doesn’t
want her job as a supervisor to be jeopardized by an unpleasant relationship. What steps might she
take to improve the situation?
Answers will vary. Some students may focus on making sure Carla is loyal, cooperative,
communicates information, tries to get results, and tries to learn more about her boss. Others
might emphasize that Carla should examine her own behavior, talk with her boss about the
problem, even look for a new job if necessary.
IV. SKILL-BUILDING
You Solve The Problem
Reflecting back on page 207 (A Supervisor’s Problem: Leading in Customer Call Centers), consider
how the leadership theories and principles from this chapter might help you advise a call center
supervisor on how to lead more effectively.
1. What actions and personal qualities could help the supervisor deliver to employees the skills and
authority they need to satisfy customers?
Supervisors can support their employees by using their skills and relationships to provide critical
resources. Some significant traits and qualities required are:
Sense of responsibility
Self-confidence
High energy level
Empathy
Internal locus of control
Sense of humor
Supervisors are expected to be fair and ethical toward their subordinates.
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
2. What behaviors and actions could the supervisor use to create positive work environment?
Building trust is an essential part of leadership. Conviction is important for establishing trust
because seeing conviction in a leader energizes the followers. The most important way to build
trust is to engage in fair, predictable behavior. The supervisor should fulfill promises and give
employees credit when they do something well. Keeping the lines of communication open also
builds trust.
3. What qualities and actions should the supervisor model in order to set a good example for
employees to follow?
To set a good example for employees, the supervisor should follow all the rules and regulations
that cover employees. They use the supervisor’s behavior as a benchmark for how they should act.
If a supervisor takes long lunch breaks, employees will either think that the use of the supervisor’s
time is unimportant or believe that the company unfairly lets managers get away with violating
rules.
Problem-Solving Case: Leadership Training on the Program at Insight Communications
Suggested Answers to Case
1. Insight Communications promotes employees with good technical skills into supervisory positions
and then teaches them leadership skills. Is this the best way for Insight to get supervisors to lead
well? Why or why not?
Student answers will vary. Promoting employees with good technical skills into supervisory
positions and then teaching them leadership skills is a better way for Insight to get supervisors to
lead well than say, appointing supervisors who have exemplary leadership skills but have minimal
technical expertise. Nevertheless, Insight could improve upon this strategy by first training groups
of employees with leadership potential, testing their leadership skills, and then promoting them to
supervisory positions. This will ensure that only those employees who have both good technical
skills and a natural flair for leadership get promoted to such positions further improving the
effectiveness of the training program.
2. Identify three principles of leadership from this chapter that you think would be most important to
include in the training for supervisors at Insight. Briefly explain why you selected these principles.
Student answers will vary. The training for supervisors at Insight should include the following:
• Identify and encourage development of personal traits in employees that help in leadership
success.
• Identify the most effective leadership style in context of Insight and the particular role that the
supervisors will perform. Train employees on how to adopt the leadership style and how to
stay flexible in terms of the leadership style and choose a style that best meets the
requirements of a particular situation.
• Train employees on how to maintain relationships with subordinates, peers, bosses, and
customers in order to be effective leaders.
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distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
3. Supervisor Matt Stephens feels that he knows more about leading, and managers see improved
performance in the trained supervisors’ teams. If you were one of Insight’s supervisors, how else
would you be able to tell if you were leading effectively?
Student answers will vary. Apart from measuring performance, another way of finding out if a
supervisor is leading effectively is to analyze employee morale and employee turnover rates.
Assessing Yourself: Could You Be a CEO?
The quiz offers the students an opportunity to see can they be a CEO based on the qualities/criteria
offered in the quiz such as marriage, education, age, industry, etc.
Class Skills Exercise: Practicing Human Relations Principles
The answers to this exercise depend on the examples students come up with to demonstrate the items
on the checklist.
Building Supervision Skills: Leading a Team
This exercise provides a means for students to try out some of the new knowledge they’ve acquired in
the chapter.
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
east of here. How he got there I can't tell you. The natives said he
just walked up unaccompanied, unbounded, unpursued. He's got a
bullet or something in the top of his head and I'm going to lug it out.
And then, my boy, with any luck at all, he'll very soon be able to
answer you any question you like to put him. Speech and memory
will return at the moment the pressure on the brain ceases."
"Will he remember up to the time the bullet hit him, or since, or
both?" asked Strong.
"All his life, up to the moment the bullet hit him, certainly," was
the reply. "What happened since will, at first, be remembered as a
dream, probably. If I had to prophesy I should say he'd take up his
life from the second in which the bullet hit him, and think, for the
moment, that he is still where it happened. By-and-by, he'll realise
that there's a gap somewhere, and gradually he'll be able to fill it in
with events which will seem half nightmare, half real."
"Anyhow, he'll be certain of his identity and personal history and
so forth?" asked Strong.
"Absolutely," said the surgeon. "It will be precisely as though he
awoke from an ordinary night's rest.... It'll be awfully interesting to
hear him give an account of himself.... All this, of course, if he
doesn't die under the operation."
"I hope he will," said Strong.
"What do you mean, my dear chap?"
"I hope he'll die under the operation."
"Why?"
"He'll be better dead.... And it will be better for three other
people that he should be dead.... Is he likely to die?"
"I should say it's ten to one he'll pull through all right.... What's
it all about, Strong?"
"Look here, old chap," was the earnest reply. "If it were
anybody else but you I shouldn't know what to say or do. As it's you,
my course is clear, for you're the last thing in discretion, wisdom and
understanding.... But don't ask me his name.... I know him.... Look
here, it's like this. His wife's married again.... There's a kid....
They're well known in Society.... Awful business.... Ghastly
scandal.... Shockin' position." Captain Strong took Doctor John
Williams by the arm. "Look here, old chap," he said once again.
"Need you do this? It isn't as though he was 'conscious,' so to speak,
and in pain."
"Yes, I must do it," replied the doctor without hesitation, as the
other paused.
"But why?" urged Strong. "I'm absolutely certain that if M----,
er--that is--this chap--could have his faculties for a minute he would
tell you not to do it.... You'll take him from a sort of negative
happiness to the most positive and acute unhappiness, and you'll
simply blast the lives of his wife and the most excellent chap she's
married.... She waited a year after this chap 'died' in--er--that last
Polar expedition--as was supposed.... Think of the poor little kid
too.... And there's estates and a ti---- so on...."
"No good, Strong. My duty in the matter is perfectly clear, and it
is to the sick man, as such."
"Well, you'll do a damned cruel thing ... er--sorry, old chap, I
mean do think it over a bit and look at it from the point of view of
the unfortunate lady, the second husband, and the child.... And of
the chap himself.... By God! He won't thank you."
"I look at it from the point of view of the doctor and I'm not out
for thanks," was the reply.
"Is that your last word, Williams?"
"It is. I have here a man mentally maimed, mangled and
suffering. My first and only duty is to heal him, and I shall do it."
"Right O!" replied Strong, who knew that further words would
be useless. He knew that his friend's intelligence was clear as crystal
and his will as firm, and that he accepted no other guide than his
own conscience....
As the three men sat in the moonlight that night, after dinner,
Captain Strong was an uncomfortable man. That tragedy must find a
place in the human comedy he was well aware. It had its uses like
the comic relief--but for human tragedy, undilute, black, harsh, and
dreadful, he had no taste. He shivered. The pretty little comedy of
Lord Huntingten and Sir Montague and Lady Merline, of two years
ago, had greatly amused and deeply interested him. This tragedy of
the same three people was unmitigated horror.... Poor Lady Merline!
He conjured up her beautiful face with the wonderful eyes, the rose-
leaf complexion, the glorious hair, the tender, lovely mouth--and saw
the life and beauty wiped from it as she read, or heard, the ghastly
news ... bigamy ... illegitimacy....
The doctor's "bearer" came to take the patient to bed. He was a
remarkable man who had started life as a ward-boy in Madras. He it
was who had cut the half-witted white man's hair, shaved his beard
and dressed him in his master's spare clothes. When the patient was
asleep that night, he was going to endeavour to shave the top of his
head without waking him, for he was to be operated on, in the
morning....
"Yes, I fully understand and I give you my solemn promise,
Strong," said the doctor as the two men rose to go in, that night.
"The moment the man is sane I will tell him that he is not to tell me
his name, nor anything else until he has heard what I have to say. I
will then break it to him--using my own discretion as to how and
when--that he was reported dead, that his will was proved, that his
widow wore mourning for a year and then married again, and had a
son a year later.... I undertake that he shall not leave this house,
knowing that, unless he is in the fullest possession of his faculties
and able to realise with the utmost clearness all the bearings of the
case and all the consequences following his resumption of identity.
And I'll let him hide here for just as long as he cares to conceal
himself--if he wishes to remain 'dead' for a time."
"Yes ... And as I can't possibly stay till he recovers, nor, in fact,
over to-morrow without gross dereliction of duty, I will leave a letter
for you to give him at the earliest safe moment.... I'll tell him that I
am the only living soul who knows his name as well as his secret.
He'll understand that no one else will know this--from me."
As he sat on the side of his bed that night, Captain Strong
remarked unto his soul, "Well--one thing--if I know Monty Merline as
well as I think, 'Sir Montague Merline' died two years ago, whatever
happens.... And yet I can't imagine Monty committing suicide,
somehow. He's a chap with a conscience as well as the soul of
chivalry.... Poor, poor, old Monty Merline!..."
THE WAGES OF VIRTUE
CHAPTER I
SOAP AND SIR MONTAGUE MERLINE
Sir Montague Merline, second-class private soldier of the First
Battalion of the Foreign Legion of France, paused to straighten his
back, to pass his bronzed forearm across his white forehead, and to
put his scrap of soap into his mouth--the only safe receptacle for the
precious morsel, the tiny cake issued once a month by Madame La
République to the Legionary for all his washing purposes. When
one's income is precisely one halfpenny a day (paid when it has
totalled up to the sum of twopence halfpenny), one does not waste
much, nor risk the loss of valuable property; and to lay a piece of
soap upon the concrete of Le Cercle d'Enfer reservoir, is not so much
to risk the loss of it as to lose it, when one is surrounded by
gentlemen of the Foreign Legion. Let me not be misunderstood, nor
supposed to be casting aspersions upon the said gentlemen, but
their need for soap is urgent, their income is one halfpenny a day,
and soap is of the things with which one may "decorate oneself"
without contravening the law of the Legion. To steal is to steal, mark
you (and to deserve, and probably to get, a bayonet through the
offending hand, pinning it to the bench or table), but to borrow
certain specified articles permanently and without permission is
merely, in the curious slang of the Legion, "to decorate oneself."
Contrary to what the uninitiated might suppose, Le Cercle
d'Enfer--the Circle of Hell--is not a dry, but a very wet place, it being,
in point of fact, the lavabo where the Legionaries of the French
Foreign Legion stationed in Algeria at Sidi-bel-Abbès, daily wash
their white fatigue uniforms and occasionally their underclothing.
Oh, that Cercle d'Enfer! I hated it more than I hated the peloton
des hommes punis, salle de police, cellules, the "Breakfast of the
Legion," the awful heat, monotony, flies, Bedouins; the solitude,
hunger, and thirst of outpost stations in the south; I hated it more
than I hated astiquage, la boîte, the chaussettes russes, hospital,
the terrible desert marches, sewer-cleaning fatigues, or that
villainous and vindictive ruffian of a cafard-smitten caporal who
systematically did his very able best to kill me. Oh, that accursed
Cercle d'Enfer, and the heart-breaking labour of washing a filthy
alfa-fibre suit (stained perhaps with rifle-oil) in cold water, and
without soap!
Only the other day, as I lay somnolent in a long chair in the
verandah of the Charmingest Woman (she lives in India), I heard the
regular flop, flop, flop of wet clothes, beaten by a distant dhobi upon
a slab of stone, and at the same moment I smelt wet concrete as
the mali watered the maidenhair fern on the steps leading from Her
verandah to the garden. Odours call up memories far more distinctly
and readily than do other sense-impressions, and the faint smell of
wet concrete, aided as it was by the faintly audible sound of wet
blows, brought most vividly before my mind's eye a detailed picture
of that well-named Temple of Hygiea, the "Circle of Hell." Sleeping,
waking, and partly sleeping, partly waking, I saw it all again; saw Sir
Montague Merline, who called himself John Bull; saw Hiram Cyrus
Milton, known as The Bucking Bronco; saw "Reginald Rupert"; the
infamous Luigi Rivoli; the unspeakable Edouard Malvin; the
marvellous Mad Grasshopper, whose name no one knew; the truly
religious Hans Djoolte; the Russian twins, calling themselves Mikhail
and Feodor Kyrilovitch Malekov; the terrible Sergeant-Major Suicide-
Maker, and all the rest of them. And finally, waking with an actual
and perceptible taste of soap in my mouth, I wished my worst
enemy were in the Cercle d'Enfer, soapless, and with much rifle-oil,
dust, leather marks and wine stains on his once-white uniform--and
then I thought of Carmelita and determined to write this book.
For Carmelita deserves a monument (and so does John Bull),
however humble.... To continue....
Sir Montague Merline did not put his precious morsel of soap
into his pocket, for the excellent reason that there was no pocket to
the single exiguous garment he was at the moment wearing--a
useful piece of material which in its time played many parts, and
knew the service of duster, towel, turban, tablecloth, polishing pad,
tea-cloth, house-flannel, apron, handkerchief, neckerchief, curtain,
serviette, holder, fly-slayer, water-strainer, punkah, and, at the
moment, nether garment. Having cached his soup and having
observed "Peste!" as he savoured its flavour, he proceeded to
pommel, punch, and slap upon the concrete, the greyish-white tunic
and breeches, and the cotton vest and shirt which he had
generously soaped before the hungry eyes of numerous soapless but
oathful fellow-labourers, who less successfully sought that virtue
which, in the Legion, is certainly next to, but far ahead of, mere
godliness.
In due course, Sir Montague Merline rinsed his garments in the
reservoir, wrung them out, bore them to the nearest clothes-line,
hung them out to dry, and sat himself down in their shadow to stare
at them unwaveringly until dried by the fierce sun--the ancient
enemy, for the moment an unwilling friend. To watch them
unwaveringly and intently because he knew that the turning of his
head for ten seconds might mean their complete and final
disappearance--for, like soap, articles of uniform are on the list of
things with which a Legionary may "decorate" himself, if he can,
without incurring the odium of public opinion. (He may steal any
article of equipment, clothing, kit, accoutrement, or general utility,
but his patron saint help him and Le Bon Dieu be merciful to him, if
he be caught stealing tobacco, wine, food, or money.)
Becoming aware of the presence of Monsieur le Légionnaire
Edouard Malvin, Sir Montague Merline increased the vigilance of his
scrutiny of his pendent property, for ce cher Edouard was of pick-
pockets the very prince and magician; of those who could steal the
teeth from a Jew while he sneezed and would steal the scalp from
their grandmamma while she objected.
"Ohé! Jean Boule, lend me thy soap," besought this stout and
dapper little Austrian, who for some reason pretended to be a
Belgian from the Congo. "This cursed alfa-fibre gets dirtier the more
you wash it in this cursed water," and he smiled a greasy and
ingratiating grin.
Without for one second averting his steady stare from his
clothes, the Englishman slowly removed the soap from his mouth,
expectorated, remarked "Peaudezébie,"[#] and took no further
notice of the quaint figure which stood by his side, clad only in
ancient red Zouave breeches and the ingratiating smile.
[#] An emphatic negative.
"Name of a Name! Name of the Name of a Pipe! Name of the Name
of a Dirty Little Furry Red Monkey!" observed Monsieur le
Légionnaire Edouard Malvin as he turned to slouch away, twirling the
dripping grey-white tunic.
"Meaning me?" asked Sir Montague, replacing the soap in its
safe repository and preparing to rise.
"But no! But not in the least, old cabbage. Thou hast the cafard.
Mais oui, tu as le cafard," replied the Belgian and quickened his
retreat.
No, the grey Jean Boule, so old, so young, doyen of
Légionnaires, so quick, strong, skilful and enduring at la boxe, was
not the man to cross at any time, and least of all when he had le
cafard, that terrible Legion madness that all Legionaries know; the
madness that drives them to the cells, to gaol, to the Zephyrs, to the
firing-party by the open grave; or to desertion and death in the
desert. The grey Jean Boule had been a Zephyr of the Penal
Battalions once, already, for killing a man, and Monsieur Malvin,
although a Legionary of the Foreign Legion, did not wish to die. No,
not while Carmelita and Madame la Cantinière lived and loved and
sold the good Algiers wine at three-halfpence a bottle.... No, bon
sang de sort!
M. le Légionnaire Malvin returned to the dense ring of labouring
perspiring washers, and edged in behind a gigantic German and a
short, broad, burly Alsatian, capitalists as joint proprietors of a fine
cake of soap.
Sacré nom de nom de bon Dieu de Dieu de sort! Dull-witted
German pigs might leave their soap unguarded for a moment, and, if
they did not, might be induced to wring some soapy water from
their little pile of washing, upon the obstinately greasy tunic of the
good M. Malvin.
Légionnaire Hans Schnitzel, late of Berlin, rinsed his washing in
clean water, wrung it, and took it to the nearest drying line.
Légionnaire Alphonse Dupont, late of Alsace, placed his soap in the
pocket of the dirty white fatigue-uniform which he wore, and which
he would wash as soon as he had finished the present job.
Immediately, Légionnaire Edouard Malvin transferred the soap from
the side pocket of the tunic of the unconscious Légionnaire Alphonse
Dupont to that of his own red breeches, and straightway begged the
loan of it.
"Merde!" replied Dupont. "Nombril de Belzébutt! I will lend it
thee peaudezébie. Why should I lend thee soap, vieux dégoulant?
Go decorate thyself, sale cochon. Besides 'tis not mine to lend."
"And that is very true," agreed M. Malvin, and sauntered toward
Schnitzel, who stood phlegmatically guarding his drying clothes. In
his hand was an object which caused the eyebrows of the good M.
Malvin to arch and rise, and his mouth to water--nothing less than
an actual, real and genuine scrubbing-brush, beautiful in its
bristliness. Then righteous anger filled his soul.
"Saligaud!" he hissed. "These pigs of filthy Germans! Soap and
a brush. Sacripants! Ils me dégoutant à la fin."
As he regarded the stolid German with increasing envy, hatred,
malice and all uncharitableness, and cast about in his quick and
cunning mind for means of relieving him of the coveted brush, a
sudden roar of wrath and grief from his Alsatian partner, Dupont,
sent Schnitzel running to join that unfortunate man in fierce and
impartial denunciations of his left-hand and right-hand neighbours,
who were thieves, pigs, brigands, dogs, Arabs, and utterly merdant
and merdable. Bursting into the fray, Herr Schnitzel found them, in
addition, bloedsinnig and dummkopf in that they could not produce
cakes of soap from empty mouths.
As the rage of the bereaved warriors increased, more and more
Pomeranian and Alsatian patois invaded the wonderful Legion-
French, a French which is not of Paris, nor of anywhere else in the
world save La Légion. As Dupont fell upon a laughing Italian with a
cry of "Ah! zut! Sacré grimacier," Schnitzel spluttered and roared at a
huge slow-moving American who regarded him with a look of pitying
but not unkindly contempt....
"Why do the 'eathen rage furious together and imagine a vain
thing?" he enquired in a slow drawl of the excited "furriner," adding
"Ain't yew some schafs-kopf, sonny!" and, as the big German began
to whirl his arms in the windmill fashion peculiar to the non-boxing
foreigner who meditates assault and battery, continued--
"Now yew stop zanking and playing versteckens with me, yew
pie-faced Squarehead, and be schnell about it, or yew'll git my goat,
see? Vous obtiendrez mon chèvre, yew perambulating prachtvoll
bierhatte," and he coolly turned his back upon the infuriated German
with a polite, if laborious, "Guten tag, mein Freund."
Mr. Hiram Cyrus Milton (late of Texas, California, the Yukon, and
the "main drag" generally of the wild and woolly West) was
exceeding proud of his linguistic knowledge and skill. It may be
remarked, en passant, that his friends were even prouder of it.
At this moment, le bon Légionnaire Malvin, hovering for
opportunity, with a sudden coup de savate struck the so-desirable
scrubbing-brush from the hand of Herr Schnitzel with a force that
seemed like to take the arm from the shoulder with it. Leaping round
with a yell of pain, the unfortunate German found himself, as Malvin
had calculated, face to face with the mighty Luigi Rivoli, to attack
whom was to be brought to death's door through that of the
hospital.
Snatching up the brush which was behind Schnitzel when he
turned to face Rivoli, le bon M. Malvin lightly departed from the
vulgar scuffle in the direction of the drying clothes of Herren
Schnitzel and Dupont, the latter, last seen clasping, with more
enthusiasm than love, a wiry Italian to his bosom. The luck of M.
Malvin was distinctly in, for not only had he the soap and a brush for
the easy cleansing of his own uniform, but he had within his grasp a
fresh uniform to wear, and another to sell; for the clothing of ce bon
Dupont would fit him to a marvel, while that of the pig-dog Schnitzel
would fetch good money, the equivalent of several litres of the thick,
red Algerian wine, from a certain Spanish Jew, old Haroun Mendoza,
of the Sidi-bel-Abbès ghetto.
Yes, the Saints bless and reward the good Dupont for being of
the same size as M. Malvin himself, for it is a most serious matter to
be short of anything when showing-down kit at kit-inspection, and
that thrice accursed Sacré Chien of an Adjudant would, as likely as
not, have spare white trousers shown-down on the morrow. What
can a good Légionnaire do, look you, when he has not the article
named for to-morrow's Adjutant's inspection, but "decorate
himself"? Is it easy, is it reasonable, to buy new white fatigue-
uniform on an income of one halfpenny per diem? Sapristi, and
Sacré Bleu, and Name of the Name of a Little Brown Dog, a litre of
wine costs a penny, and a packet of tobacco three-halfpence, and
what is left to a gentleman of the Legion then, on pay-day, out of his
twopence-halfpenny, nom d'un pétard? As for ce bon Dupont, he
must in his turn "decorate" himself. And if he cannot, but must
renew acquaintance with la boîte and le peloton des hommes punis,
why--he must regard things in their true light, be philosophical, and
take it easy. Is it not proverbial that "Toutes choses peut on souffrir
qu'aise"? And with a purr of pleasure, a positive licking of chops, and
a murmur of "Ah! Au tient frais," he deftly whipped the property of
the embattled Legionaries from the line, no man saying him nay. For
it is not the etiquette of the Legion to interfere with one who, in the
absence of its owner, would "decorate" himself with any of those
things with which self-decoration is permissible, if not honourable.
Indeed, to Sir Montague Merline, sitting close by, and regarding his
proceedings with cold impartial eye, M. Malvin observed--
"'Y a de bon, mon salop! I have heard that le bon Dieu helps
those who help themselves. I do but help myself in order to give le
bon Dieu the opportunity He doubtless desires. I decorate myself
incidentally. Mais oui, and I shall decorate myself this evening with a
p'tite ouvrière and to-morrow with une réputation d'ivrogne," and he
turned innocently to saunter with his innocent bundle of washing
from the lavabo, to his caserne. Ere he had taken half a dozen steps,
the cold and quiet voice of the grey Jean Boule broke in upon the
resumed day-dreams of the innocently sauntering M. Malvin.
"Might one aspire to the honour of venturing to detain for a
brief interview Monsieur le Légionnaire Edouard Malvin?" said the
soft metallic voice.
"But certainly, and without charge, mon gars," replied that
gentleman, turning and eyeing the incomprehensible and dangerous
Jean Boule, à coin de l'oeil.
"You seek soap?"
"I do," replied the Austrian "Belgian" promptly. The possession
of one cake of soap makes that of another no less desirable.
"Do you seek sorrow also?"
"But no, dear friend. 'J'ai eu toutes les folies.' In this world I
seek but wine, woman, and peace. Let me avoid the 'gros bonnets'
and lead my happy tumble life in peaceful obscurity. A modest violet,
I. A wayside flow'ret, a retiring primrose, such as you English love."
"Then, cher Malvin, since you seek soap and not sorrow, let not
my little cake of soap disappear from beneath the polishing-rags in
my sack. The little brown sack at the head of my cot, cher Malvin.
Enfin! I appoint you guardian and custodian of my little cake of
soap. But in a most evil hour for le bon M. Malvin would it disappear.
Guard it then, cher Malvin. Respect it. Watch over it as you value,
and would retain, your health and beauty, M. Malvin. And when I
have avenged my little piece of soap, the true history of the last ten
minutes will deeply interest those earnest searchers after truth,
Legionaries Schnitzel and Dupont. Depart in peace and enter upon
your new office of Guardian of my Soap! Vous devez en être joliment
fier."
"Quite a speech, in effect, mon drôle," replied the stout Austrian
as he doubtfully fingered his short beard au poinçon, and added
uneasily, "I am not the only gentleman who 'decorates' himself with
soap."
"No? Nor with uniforms. Go in peace, Protector of my Soap."
And smiling wintrily M. Malvin winked, broke into the wholly
deplorable ditty of "Pére Dupanloup en chemin de fer," and pursued
his innocent path to barracks, whither Sir Montague Merline later
followed him, after watching with a contemptuous smile some mixed
and messy fighting (beside the apparently dead body of the
Legionary Schnitzel) between an Alsatian and an Italian, in which the
Italian kicked his opponent in the stomach and partly ate his ear,
and the Alsatian used his hands solely for purpose of throttling.
Why couldn't they stand up and fight like gentlemen under
Queensberry rules, or, if boxing did not appeal to them, use their
sword-bayonets like soldiers and Legionaries--the low rooters, the
vulgar, rough-and-tumble gutter-scrappers....
Removing his almost dry washing from the line, Sir Montague
Merline marched across to his barrack-block, climbed the three
flights of stone stairs, traversed the long corridor of his Company,
and entered the big, light, airy room wherein he and twenty-nine
other Legionaries (one of whom held the very exalted and important
rank of Caporal) lived and moved and had their monotonous being.
Spreading his tunic and breeches on the end of the long table
he proceeded to "iron" them, first with his hand, secondly with a tin
plate, and finally with the edge of his "quart," the drinking-mug
which hung at the head of his bed ready for the reception of the
early morning jus, the strong coffee which most effectively rouses
the Legionary from somnolence and most ineffectively sustains him
until midday.
Anon, having persuaded himself that the result of his labours
was satisfactory, and up to Legion standards of smartness--which
are as high as those of the ordinary piou-piou of the French line are
low--he folded his uniform in elbow-to-finger-tip lengths, placed it
with the paquetage on the shelf above his bed, and began to dress
for his evening walk-out. The Legionary's time is, in theory, his own
after 5 p.m., and the most sacred plank in the most sacred platform
of all his sacred tradition is his right to promenade himself at
eventide and listen to the Legion's glorious band in the Place Sadi
Carnot.
Having laid his uniform, belt, bayonet, and képi on his cot, he
stepped across to the next but one (the name-card at the head of
which bore the astonishing legend "Bucking Bronco, No. 11356.
Soldat 1ère Classe), opened a little sack which hung at the head of
it, and took from it the remains of an ancient nail-brush, the joint
property of Sir Montague Merline, alias Jean Boule, and Hiram Cyrus
Milton, alias Bucking Bronco, late of Texas, California, Yukon, and
"the main drag" of the United States of America.
Even as Sir Montague's hand was inserted through the neck of
the sack, the huge American (who had been wrongfully accused and
rashly attacked by Legionary Hans Schnitzel) entered the barrack-
room, caught sight of a figure bending over his rag-sack, and crept
on tiptoe towards it, his great gnarled fists clenched, his mouth
compressed to a straight thin line beneath his huge drooping
moustache, and his grey eyes ablaze. Luckily Sir Montague heard the
sounds of his stealthy approach, and turned just in time. The
American dropped his fists and smiled.
"Say," he drawled, "I thought it was some herring-gutted weevil
of a Dago or a Squarehead shenannikin with my precious jools. An' I
was jest a'goin' ter plug the skinnamalink some. Say, Johnnie, if yew
hadn't swivelled any, I was jest a'goin' ter slug yew, good an' plenty,
behind the yeer-'ole."
"Just getting the tooth-nail-button-boot-dandy-brush, Buck,"
replied Sir Montague. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm feelin' purty mean," was the reply. "A dirty Squarehead of a
dod-gasted Dutchy from the Farterland grunted in me eye, an' I
thought the shave-tail was fer rough-housin', an' I slugged him one,
just ter start 'im gwine. The gosh-dinged piker jest curled up. He jest
wilted on the floor."
The Bucking Bronco, in high disgust, expectorated and then chid
himself for forgetting that he was no longer on the free soil of
America, where a gentleman may spit as he likes and be a
gentleman for a' that and a' that.
"I tell yew, Johnnie," he continued, "he got me jingled, the
lumberin' lallapaloozer! There he lay an' lay--and then some. 'Git up,
yew rubberin' rube,' I ses, 'yew'll git moss on your teeth if yew lie so
quiet; git up, an' deliver the goods,' I ses, 'I had more guts then yew
when I was knee high to a June bug.' Did he arise an' make good? I
should worry. Nope. Yew take it from Uncle, that bonehead is there
yit, an' afore I could make him wise to it thet he didn't git the bulge
on Uncle with thet bluff, another Squarehead an' a gibberin' Dago
put up a dirty kind o' scrap over his body, gougin' and kickin' an'
earbitin' an' throttlin', an' a whole bunch o' boobs jined in an' I give
it up an' come 'ome." And the Bucking Bronco sat him sadly on his
bed and groaned.
"Cheer up, Buck, we'll all soon be dead," replied his comrade,
"don't you go getting cafard," and he looked anxiously at the angry-
lugubrious face of his friend. "What's the ordre du jour for walking-
out dress to-day?" he added. "Blue tunic and red trousers? Or tunic
and white? Or capote, or what?"
"It was tunic an' white yesterday," replied the American, "an' I
guess it is to-day too."
"It's my night to howl," he added cryptically "Let's go an' pow-
wow Carmelita ef thet fresh gorilla Loojey Rivoli ain't got 'er in 'is
pocket. I'll shoot 'im up some day, sure...."
A sudden shouting, tumult, and running below, and cries of "Les
bleus! Les bleus!" interrupted the Bronco's monologue and drew the
two old soldiers to a window that overlooked the vast, neat,
gravelled barrack-square, clean, naked, and bleak to the eye as an
ice-floe.
"Strike me peculiar," remarked the Bucking Bronco. "It's another
big gang o' tenderfeet."
"A draft of rookies! Come on--they'll all be for our Company in
place of those poumpists,[#] and there may be something Anglo-
Saxon among them," said Legionary John Bull, and the two men
hastily flung their capotes over their sketchy attire and hurried from
the room, buttoning them as they went.
[#] Deserters.
Like Charity, the Legionary's overcoat covers a multitude of sins--
chiefly of omission--and is a most useful garment. It protects him
from the cold dawn wind, and keeps him warm by night; it protects
him from the cruel African sun, and keeps him cool by day, or at
least, if not cool, in the frying-pan degree of heat, which is better
than that of the fire. He marches in it without a tunic, and relies
upon it to conceal the fact when he has failed to "decorate" himself
with underclothing. Its skirts, buttoned back, hamper not his legs,
and its capacious pockets have many uses. Its one drawback is that,
being double-breasted, it buttons up on either side, a fact which has
brought the grey hairs of many an honest Legionary in sorrow to the
cellules, and given many a brutal and vindictive Sergeant the chance
of that cruelty in which his little tyrant soul so revels. For, incredible
as it may seem to the lay mind, the ingenious devil whose military
mind concocts the ordres du jour, changes, by solemn decree, and
almost daily, the side upon which the overcoat is to be buttoned up.
Clattering down the long flights of stone stairs, and converging
across the barrack-square, the Legionaries came running from all
directions, to gaze upon, to chaff, to delude, to sponge upon, and to
rob and swindle the "Blues"--the recruits of the Légion Étrangère,
the embryo Légionnaires d'Afrique.
In the incredibly maddeningly dull life of the Legion in peace
time, the slightest diversion is a god-send and even the arrival of a
batch of recruits a most welcome event. To all, it is a distraction; to
some, the hope of the arrival of a fellow-countryman (especially to
the few English, Americans, Danes, Greeks, Russians, Norwegians,
Swedes, and Poles whom cruel Fate has sent to La Légion). To
some, a chance of passing on a part of the brutality and tyranny
which they themselves suffer; to some, a chance of getting civilian
clothes in which to desert; to others, an opportunity of selling
knowledge of the ropes, for litres of canteen wine; to many, a hope
of working a successful trick on a bewildered recruit--the time-
honoured villainy of stealing his new uniform and pretending to buy
him another sub rosa from the dishonest quartermaster, whereupon
the recruit buys back his own original uniform at the cost of his little
all (for invariably the alleged substitute-uniform costs just that sum
of money which the poor wretch has brought with him and
augmented by the compulsory sale of his civilian kit to the clothes-
dealing harpies and thieves who infest the barrack-gates on the
arrival of each draft).
As the tiny portal beside the huge barrack-gate was closed and
fastened by the Corporal in charge of the squad of "blues" (as the
French army calls its recruits[#]), the single file of derelicts halted at
the order of the Sergeant of the Guard, who, more in sorrow than in
anger, weighed them and found them wanting.
[#] In the days of the high, tight stock and cravat, the recruit was supposed to be
livid and blue in the face until he grew accustomed to them.
"Sweepings," he summed them up in passing judgment. "Foundlings.
Droppings. Crumbs. Tripe. Accidents. Abortions. Cripples. Left by the
tide. Blown in by the wind. Born pékins.[#] Only one man among
them, and he a pig of a Prussian--or perhaps an Englishman. Let us
hope he's an Englishman...."
[#] Civilians.
In speaking thus, the worthy Sergeant was behaving with
impropriety and contrary to the law and tradition of the Legion.
What nouns and adjectives a non-commissioned officer may use
wherewith to stigmatise a Legionary, depend wholly and solely upon
his taste, fluency and vocabulary. But it is not etiquette to reproach
a man with his nationality, however much a matter for reproach that
nationality may be.
"Are you an Englishman, most miserable bleu?" he suddenly
asked of a tall, slim, fair youth, dressed in tweed Norfolk-jacket, and
grey flannel trousers, and bearing in every line of feature and form,
and in the cut and set of his expensive clothing, the stamp of the
man of breeding, birth and position.
"By the especial mercy and grace of God, I am an Englishman,
Sergeant, thank you," he replied coolly in good, if slow and careful
French.
The Sergeant smiled grimly behind his big moustache. Himself a
cashiered Russian officer, and once a gentleman, he could appreciate
a gentleman and approve him in the strict privacy of his soul.
"Slava Bogu!" he roared. "Vile bleu! And now by the especial
mercy and grace of the Devil you are a Légionnaire--or will be, if you
survive the making...." and added sotto voce, "Are you a degraded
dog of a broken officer? If so, you can claim to be appointed to the
élèves caporaux as a non-commissioned officer on probation, if you
have a photo of yourself in officer's uniform. Thus you will escape all
recruit-drill and live in hope to become, some day, Sergeant, even as
I," and the (for a Sergeant of the Legion) decent-hearted fellow
smote his vast chest.
"I thank you, Sergeant," was the drawled reply. "You really
dazzle me--but I am not a degraded dog of a broken officer."
"Gospodi pomilui!" roared the incensed Sergeant. "Ne me
donnez de la gabatine, pratique!" and, for a second, seemed likely to
strike the cool and insolent recruit who dared to bandy words with a
Sergeant of the Legion. His eyes bulged, his moustache bristled, and
his scarlet face turned purple as he literally showed his teeth.
"Go easy, old chap," spoke a quiet voice, in English, close beside
the Englishman. "That fellow can do you to death if you offend him,"
and the recruit, turning, beheld a grey-moustached, white-haired
elderly man, bronzed, lined, and worn-looking--a typical French army
vielle moustache--an "old sweat" from whose lips the accents of a
refined English gentleman came with the utmost incongruity.
The youth's face brightened with interest. Obviously this old
dear was a public-school, or 'Varsity man, or, very probably, an ex-
British officer.
"Good egg," quoth he, extending a hand behind him for a
surreptitious shake. "See you anon, what?"
"Yes, you'll all come to the Seventh Company. We are below
strength," said Legionary John Bull, in whose weary eyes had shone
a new light of interest since they fell upon this compatriot of his own
caste and kidney.
A remarkably cool and nonchalant recruit--and surely unique in
the history of the Legion's "blues" in showing absolutely no sign of
privation, fear, stress, criminality, poverty, depression, anxiety, or
bewilderment!
"Now, what'n hell is he doin' in thet bum outfit?" queried the
Bucking Bronco of his friend John Bull, who kept as near as possible
to the Englishman whom he had warned against ill-timed causticity
of humour.
"He's some b'y, thet b'y, but he'd better quit kickin'. He's a way-
up white man I opine. What's 'e a'doin' in this joint? He's a gay-cat
and a looker. He's a fierce stiff sport. He has sand, some--sure. Yep,"
and Mr. Hiram Cyrus Milton checked himself only just in time from
defiling the immaculate and sacred parade-ground, by "signifying in
the usual manner" that he was mentally perturbed, and himself in
these circumstances of expectoration-difficulty by observing that the
boy was undoubtedly "some" boy, and worthy to have been an
American citizen had he been born under a luckier star--or stripe.
"I can't place him, Buck," replied the puzzled John Bull, his quiet
voice rendered almost inaudible by the shouts, howls, yells and cries
of the seething mob of Legionaries who swarmed round the line of
recruits, assailing their bewildered ears in all the tongues of Europe,
and some of those of Asia and Africa.
"He doesn't look hungry, and he doesn't look hunted. I suppose
he is one of the few who don't come here to escape either
starvation, creditors, or the Law. And he doesn't look desperate like
the average turned-down lover, ruined gambler, deserted husband,
or busted bankrupt.... Wonder if he's come here in search of
'Romance'?"
"Wal, ef he's come hyar for his health an' amoosement he'd go
to Hell to cool himself, or ter the den of a grizzly b'ar fer gentle
stimoolation and recreation. Gee whiz! Didn't he fair git ole
Bluebottle's goat? He sure did git nixt him."
"Bit of a contrast to the rest of the gang, what?" remarked John
Bull, and indeed the truth of his remark was very obvious.
"Ain't they a outfit o' dodgasted hoboes an' bindlestiffs!" agreed
his friend.
Straight as a lance, thin, very broad in the shoulders and narrow
of waist and hip; apparently as clean and unruffled as when leaving
his golf-club pavilion for a round on the links; cool, self-possessed,
haughty, aristocratic and clean-cut of feature, this Englishman
among the other recruits looked like a Derby winner among a string
of equine ruins in a knacker's yard; like a panther among bears--a
detached and separated creature, something of different flesh and
blood. Breed is a very remarkable thing, even more distinctive than
race, and in this little band of derelicts was another Englishman, a
Cockney youth who had passed from street-arab and gutter-snipe,
via Reformatory, to hooligan, coster and soldier. No man in that
collection of wreckage from Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and the
four corners of Europe looked less like the tall recruit than did this
brother Englishman.
To Sir Montague Merline, fallen and shattered star of the high
social firmament, the sight of him was as welcome as water in the
desert, and he thanked Fate for having brought another Englishman
to the Legion--and one so debonair, so fine, so handsome, cool and
strong.
"There's Blood there," he murmured to himself.
"His shoulders hev bin drilled somewheres, although he's
British," added the Bucking one. "Yep. He's one o' the flat-backed
push."
"I wonder if he can be a cashiered officer. He's drilled as you
say.... If he has been broke for something it hasn't marked him
much. Nothing hang-dog there," mused Legionary John Bull.
"Nope. He's a blowed-in-the-glass British aristocrat," agreed the
large-minded Hiram Cyrus, "and I opine an ex-member of the
commishunned ranks o' the British Constitootional Army. He ain't
niver bin batterin' the main-stem for light-pieces like them other
hoodlums an' toughs an' smoudges. Nope. He ain't never throwed
his feet fer a two-bit poke-out.... Look at that road-kid next 'im! Ain't
he a peach? I should smile! Wonder the medicine-man didn't turn
down some o' them chechaquos...."
And, truly, the draft contained some very queer odd lots. By the
side of the English gentleman stood a big fat German boy in knicker-
bockers and jersey, bare-legged and wearing a pair of button-boots
that had belonged to a woman in the days when they still possessed
toe-caps. Pale face, pale hair, and pale eyes, conspired to give him
an air of terror--the first seeming to have the hue of fright, the
second to stand en brosse with fear, and the last to bulge like those
of a hunted animal.
Presumably M. le Médicin-Major must have been satisfied that
the boy was eighteen years of age, but, though tall and robust, he
looked nearer fifteen--an illusion strengthened, doubtless, by the
knickerbockers, bare calves, and button-boots. If he had enlisted in
the Foreign Legion to avoid service in the Fatherland, he had quitted
the frying-pan for a furnace seven times heated. Possibly he hoped
to emulate Messieurs Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. In point
of fact, he was a deserter (driven to the desperate step of fleeing
across the French frontier by a typical Prussian non-commissioned
officer), and already wishing himself once more zwei jahriger in the
happy Fatherland.
Already, to his German soul and stomach, the lager-bier of
Munich, the sausage, zwieback, and kalte schnitzel of home, seemed
things of the dim and distant past, and unattainable future.
Next to him stood a gnarled and knotted Spaniard, whose face
appeared to be carven from his native mahogany, and whose ragged
clothing--grimy, oily, blackened--proclaimed him wharfside coal-
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  • 5. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-1 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Chapter 08 The Supervisor as Leader I. CHAPTER OVERVIEW Supervisors must be leaders. Leading is the management function of influencing people to act or not act in a certain way. This chapter describes a variety of leadership styles and discusses how to give directions. It also discusses how supervisors can effectively relate with the various people in an organization. To find out whether people are natural leaders, researchers have looked for traits commonly found in effective leaders. Although research has been inconsistent, the conclusion is that traits alone do not predict success as a leader. Traits that are often suggested as useful include a sense of responsibility, self-confidence, high energy level, empathy, internal locus of control, and a sense of humor. Leadership styles are categorized in several ways. When categorized by the amount of authority retained by the supervisor, supervisors can be authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire. Another way to look at differences in leadership styles is to consider what supervisors focus on in making decisions and evaluating accomplishments. Supervisors may focus on the task at hand (task-oriented approach), the people involved (people-oriented), or on both. The contingency theories of leadership like Fiedler’s contingency model, life cycle theory, and the path-goal theory of leadership are based on the view that the best style of leadership depends on the situation. According to Fiedlers’ contingency model, the performance of a particular leadership style depends on three characteristics of the situation: leader–member relations, task structure, and the position power of the leader. Hershey-Blanchard’s life cycle theory suggests that the leadership style should reflect the maturity of the followers. The path–goal theory of leadership suggests that the primary activities of a leader are to make desirable and achievable rewards available to organization members who attain organizational goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards. Servant and entrepreneurial leadership styles are relevant to different situations. Servant leadership style is well suited for leaders whose primary task is to serve people around them while entrepreneurial leadership is based on the attitude that the leader is self-employed. The text discusses the factors that should be kept in mind when selecting a leadership style. These factors include characteristics of the leader, the subordinates, and the situation itself. Successful supervisors need to work effectively and maintain good relations with their employees, boss, and peers. With employees, supervisors should set a good example, be ethical, and develop trust. Supervisors should give their boss loyalty, cooperation, information, and results and be aware of and respond to the boss’s style. With peers, supervisors should keep competition fair and as friendly as possible and offer support or criticism in a constructive way. II. TEACHING THE CONCEPTS BY LEARNING OBJECTIVES Learning Objective 8.1: Discuss the possible link between personal traits and leadership ability. 1. Key terms. Leading: Influencing people to act or not act in a certain way. Internal Locus of Control: The belief that you are the primary cause of what happens to yourself.
  • 6. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-2 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 2. Teaching notes. The text makes the distinction between managers and leaders in a quote from consultant and author Paul Taffinder, “Managers seek and follow direction. Leaders inspire achievement.” The terminology of leading and leadership may be confusing to the student. The terms leading or leadership are often used in place of the word managing with little or no distinction between the terms. (“Manage–1. To direct or control the use of. 2. a. To exert control over. b. To make submissive to one’s authority, discipline, or persuasion.”). In some cases a distinction is emphasized with leadership described as a more dynamic activity toward meeting the needs and goals of the organization. The dictionary definitions of lead and manage indicate that “lead” is going in advance, or guiding, while “manage” is directing and controlling. The supervisor’s job is a blend of both, sometimes going in advance and sometimes directing and controlling. Organizations seek to hire or promote employees who will be successful and an asset to the organization. Is it possible to predict success or leadership ability from personality type, or are there traits that are associated with a supervisor’s success? Traits that might be considered significant include: a. Sense of responsibility. Supervisors must be willing to take seriously the responsibility that goes with the job. b. Self confidence. Supervisors who believe in their ability to get the job done will convey confidence to employees. c. High energy level. Many organizations expect supervisors to willingly put in long hours in order to handle the variety of duties that come with the job. d. Empathy. Supervisors need to be sensitive to the feelings of employees and higher management. Supervisors who have difficulty understanding what makes people tick will be at a disadvantage. e. Internal locus of control. People with an internal locus of control are thought to be better leaders because they try harder to take charge of events. f. Sense of humor. People with a good sense of humor are more fun to work with or for. 3. Teaching examples to discuss the possible link between personal traits and leadership ability. There are many books on leadership. They provide diverse reasons of leadership success including personal traits, structural systems, and behavioral explanations. Stephen R. Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, looks at personal characteristics or habits. An argument is made for deep fundamental truths that act as guidelines to deal with a wide variety of situations. The seven habits are not separate but act together to provide a basis of behavior or action. A review of the seven habits provides additional support for many of the characteristics presented in the text. The seven habits are summarized below. However, if Covey’s work is used as a basis for the lecture it may be useful to read more of the book. There are excellent examples to illustrate the principles. Habit 1–Be proactive. This refers to the taking of responsibility to make things happen. Habit 2–Begin with the end in mind. Start with a clear picture of where you are going and what the destination will look like. It also implies you know where you are right now. “Begin with the end in mind” is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.
  • 7. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-3 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Habit 3–Put first things first. This principle is based on two factors–importance and urgency. Priority is given to those things that are important and working toward the position where there is sufficient time to avoid high urgency. This is achieved by minimizing the unimportant things. THE TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX Urgent Not Urgent Important I Activities Crises Pressing problems Deadline-driven projects II Activities Prevention, PC activities Relationship building Recognizing new opportunities Planning, recreation Not Important III Activities Interruptions, some calls Some mail, some reports Some meetings Proximate, pressing matters Popular activities IV Activities Trivia, busy work Some mail Some phone calls Time wasters Pleasant activities Habit 4–Think win/win. This principle means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial. A supervisor’s success is not achieved at the expense of another person. Habit 5–Seek first to understand, then to be understood. First listen with the intent to understand. Empathetic listening gives you the data for understanding. This is the key to effective interpersonal communications. Habit 6–Synergize. Synergy is the essence of principle-centered leadership. Simply defined, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Habit 7–Sharpen the saw. This habit makes the other habits possible. 4. Exercise for discussing the possible link between personal traits and leadership success. Split class into teams of three members each. Each team should be asked to pick and represent one industry. The teams should then discuss the personal traits that are most important for leadership success in the industry that they represent. Are there industry-specific personal traits important for leadership?
  • 8. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-4 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Learning Objective 8.2: Explain democratic vs. authoritarian leadership. 1. Key terms. Authoritarian Leadership: A leadership style in which the leader retains a great deal of authority. Democratic Leadership: A leadership style in which the leader allows subordinates to participate in decision making and problem solving. Laissez-faire Leadership: A leadership style in which the leader is uninvolved and lets subordinates direct themselves. 2. Teaching notes. There are different leadership styles. Supervisors may instinctively use a style they are comfortable with, or they may consciously try to develop a style. Knowledge of different leadership styles will help the supervisor determine the best style for results. Leadership styles are categorized in several ways. Listed below are three separate ways to categorize leadership styles: a. Amount of authority retained. One method of looking at leadership styles is by the amount of authority retained by the supervisor. Although a supervisor seldom exhibits just one style, he or she may use one style more than the other. (1) The authoritarian leader retains a great deal of authority. Essentially it is a style where the supervisor gives orders and employees are expected to follow orders. An example would be a military commander who expects unquestioned obedience. An advantage of this type of leadership is that decisions are made quickly. It works best in an emergency or crisis or where employees lack maturity. A disadvantage is that employees may become dependent on decisions from the supervisor and will not do anything on their own. (2) Democratic leadership allows participation by employees. This type of leadership is exhibited in organizations that have employee teams for problem solving. An advantage is that employees may feel they have a say in the way things are done, and therefore be more satisfied with their jobs. A disadvantage is that decisions take longer. A supervisor who leaves most decisions up to the group may be viewed by some employees as weak. (3) Laissez-faire leadership lets employees do what they want. This type of leadership is seldom practiced by supervisors. This type of leadership works best in an atmosphere where creativity or innovation is required. This type of leadership may be seen by employees as no leadership at all. b. Task oriented or people oriented. Another way of looking at leadership styles is to consider what supervisors focus on in making decisions and evaluating accomplishments. Generally, supervisors are task oriented or people oriented. Most organizations prefer a combination of both in supervisors. (1) Task-oriented leadership focuses on the jobs to be done and the goals to be accomplished. (2) People-oriented leadership focuses on the well-being of the people managed. Morale, job satisfaction, and relationships among employees are emphasized.
  • 9. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-5 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. c. Researchers Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton developed a Managerial Grid® (see text Figure 8.2 “The Managerial Grid”) that identifies seven styles of leadership by managers. Along one axis is the manager’s concern for people and along the other is the manager’s concern for production. Their research led them to conclude that productivity, job satisfaction, and creativity are highest with a (9, 9), or team management, style of leadership. 3. Teaching examples to describe leadership styles that a supervisor might adopt. The following are situations where authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire style are used or might be appropriate. a. Authoritarian style of leadership–organizations or departments that require a regimented method of performance, quick response, or employees need a lot of direction. The military, and military-type organizations such as correction facilities, would be an example. Fire fighting would be another. This style would also be appropriate in organizations where employees require a lot of direction, such as a fast-food restaurant where there is high turnover of personnel. b. Democratic style of leadership–organizations and departments that require input from employees for problem solving or product and process improvement. This style works in organizations where there is a highly skilled work force, especially if work requires teamwork to complete work effectively. An example may be companies that supply the auto industry with parts and materials. These companies are being driven by competitive forces to improve quality and reduce prices through continuous improvement. c. Laissez-faire style of leadership–organizations or departments that require innovative employees where creativity is important. Examples include research and development departments, software companies, and design departments. Beauty salons might be another type of company where this style of leadership works best. 4. Exercise to describe leadership styles that a supervisor might adopt. Text figure 8.2 “The Managerial Grid” illustrates the managerial grid developed by Blake and Mouton. Use this grid to identify management styles. To apply this model of leadership, supervisors identify where their current style of leadership falls on the managerial grid, then determine the kinds of changes they must make to adopt the (9, 9) style, which is high in concern for both people and production. Ask students to identify two or three firms they are familiar with. After scoring these firms on their concern for production and concern for people, use the Management Grid to locate the leadership style of the firm. Learning Objective 8.3: Explain major leadership theories. 1. Teaching notes. Contingency theories of leadership maintain that the best style of leadership depends on the circumstances. There are two models: Fiedler’s model and the Hersey-Blanchard model. a. Fiedler’s model. Supervisors will be relationship oriented (people oriented) or task oriented depending on:
  • 10. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-6 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. (1) leader-member relations, or the extent to which the leader has group members’ support and loyalty. (2) task structure, or whether there are specified procedures to follow in carrying out the task. (3) position power, or the leader’s formal authority granted by the organization. Fiedler recommends that a leader determine whether his or her preferred leadership style fits the situation, and, if not, the leader should try to change the characteristics of the situation. (See text Figure 8.3.) b. The Hersey-Blanchard Life Cycle theory is similar to Fiedler’s model except it believes that the leadership style should reflect the maturity of the followers as measured by such traits as ability to work independently. Leaders should adjust the degree of task and relationship behavior in response to the growing maturity of their followers. As followers mature, leaders should move through a combination of behaviors: (1) High task and low relationship behavior (2) High task and high relationship behavior (3) Low task and high relationship behavior (4) Low task and low relationship behavior c. The path–goal theory of leadership suggests that the primary activities of a leader are to make desirable and achievable rewards available to organization members who attain organizational goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards. According to the theory of path–goal leadership, a leader should exhibit the following behaviors: (1) Directive behavior–involves telling followers what to do and how they are to do it. (2) Supportive behavior–involves recognizing that above all, followers are human beings. Therefore, it’s important to be friendly and encouraging to followers. (3) Participative behavior–involves seeking input from followers about methods for improving business operations. (4) Achievement behavior–involves setting a challenging goal for a follower to meet, and expressing confidence that the follower can meet this challenge. Servant leadership involves putting other people’s needs, aspirations, and interests above your own. In fact, a servant leader deliberately chooses to serve other people. More recent research on servant leadership has indicated that a servant leader meets the following description: (1) A good listener (1) Empathic (2) Healing (3) Aware (4) Persuasive
  • 11. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-7 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Entrepreneurial leadership is based on the attitude that the leader is self-employed. An entrepreneurial leader often has the following characteristics: (1) Visionary (2) Problem solver (3) Decision maker (4) Risk taker 2. Teaching examples to explain contingency theories of leadership. The contingency models are not inconsistent with the categories of leadership styles in Learning Objective 8.2. As noted above, a supervisor seldom exhibits purely one type of leadership style. A simple example of how the Hersey-Blanchard model can be interpreted is to look at the needs and response of the supervisor to a new employee. a. The new employee needs a lot of help in learning the job. High task and low relationship behavior–provide the technical training associated with the job. b. The new employee has been trained and is working on the job. High task and high relationship behavior–coach and follow-up on the technical parts of the job and feedback to maintain self-esteem during a time when employees may feel unsure of themselves. c. The new employee is coming along and seems to have mastered the technical part of the job. He or she may not have the speed or skill level of a more experienced employee. Low task and high relationship–most of the attention is aimed at assuring the employee he or she is doing what is expected and is satisfactory as an employee. d. The new employee is now up to speed, has mastered the technical part of the job, and feels comfortable doing the job. Low task and low relationship behavior–the supervisor can reduce the amount of both the task and relationship behavior focused on this employee. 3. Exercise to explain contingency theories of leadership. See the “Exercise” below for Learning Objective 8.4. Identify criteria for choosing a leadership style. The exercise includes an application of contingency theories of leadership. Learning Objective 8.4: Identify criteria for choosing a leadership style. 1. Teaching notes. Since no single type of personality is associated with good leadership, different leaders prefer different styles of leading. Situational characteristics include the supervisor’s characteristics such as values and strengths, the level of competency of the employees, and the environment in which they both work. The list below includes some of the characteristics that influence how supervisors feel about various approaches to leading.
  • 12. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-8 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Supervisor characteristics: a. The manager’s values. What is most important to the supervisor in carrying out his or her job? Department’s contribution to company profits? The supervisor’s own growth and development? Developing employees? b. Level of confidence in employees. The more confident the supervisor is in employees, the more he or she will involve employees. c. Personal leadership strengths. Effective leaders capitalize on their strengths. d. Tolerance for ambiguity. When the supervisor involves employees in solving problems or making decisions, he or she cannot always be sure of the outcomes. Will he or she be comfortable with the uncertainty? Employee characteristics: a. Need for independence. Employees who want a lot of direction will welcome autocratic leadership. b. Readiness to take responsibility. Employees eager to assume responsibility appreciate democratic or laissez-faire styles of leadership. c. Tolerance for ambiguity. Employees tolerant of ambiguity will accept the leadership style that gives them more input. d. Interest in the problem. Employees interested in a problem and think it is important will want to help solve it. e. Understanding of and identification with goals. Employees who understand and identify with the organization’s or department’s goals will want an active role in meeting these goals. f. Knowledge and experience. Employees with the knowledge necessary to solve a problem are more apt to want to help come up with a solution. g. Expectations. Some employees expect to participate in making decisions and solving problems. Growing diversity in the work place means that supervisors may have a more difficult time determining where the employees are in regard to these characteristics. There is the additional danger that supervisors have preconceived ideas about how employees think and behave. Supervisors need to get involved and know their employees. Characteristics of the situation: a. Type of organization. The organization lends itself to a type of leadership. For example, if supervisors are expected to manage large numbers of employees, a democratic leadership style may be time consuming and relatively challenging to use. When there are a large number of employees to manage or they are dispersed over a large area, laissez-faire style leadership may be the result whether it is intended or not. b. Effectiveness of the group. Regardless of the characteristics of individual employees, some groups are more successful in handling decisions than others. When employees have little experience making decisions, authoritarian style leadership may be easier to use. c. The problem or task. Problems range from simple to complex. Tasks range from structured to relatively unstructured. Although it appears that each of these variables suggests a specific type of leadership, such as a structured task is best handled with more control by the supervisor, in reality each problem or task is also related to the other characteristics of the situation. d. Time available. An autocratic leader is in a position to make decisions quickly. Group decision making usually requires more time for discussion and sharing ideas.
  • 13. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-9 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 2. Teaching examples for identifying criteria for choosing a leadership style. Use Figure 8.3 “Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership” to illustrate how different characteristics will justify a leadership style depending on the variation in the characteristics. Figure 8.3 lists most of the characteristics in this learning objective with the extreme ends of the continuum listed under either authoritarian or democratic leadership. This chart is meant to be representative, not conclusive. Remind students that again they are looking at one variable at a time and not the possible combinations that exist in organizations. To include students in a discussion about situations and leadership style, ask them for knowledge or experience in organizations that exemplify some of the comparisons. 3. Exercise for identifying criteria for choosing a leadership style. This exercise is designed to give students a feel for how some of the characteristics discussed in the text dictate the most effective leadership style that a leader might choose. Included are characteristics of supervisors, employees, and the situation or organization. This exercise can be done in the classroom as a small group exercise or as homework for individual students. If done in the classroom, allow about 15 minutes for students to read, discuss, and decide on the appropriate leadership style. To use the exercise: Make a copy of Figure 8.4A “What Leadership Style Is Best?” for each student. a. Explain to the students they are to determine the best leadership style at this time. For some of the descriptions, a different leadership style may be appropriate at a later time. b. Discuss the choices made with the entire class. FIGURE 8.4A What Leadership Style Is Best? What type of leadership style–authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire–would be best for the following situations” Explain why. 1. There are several new cashiers in the sales staff. This is bad news for Jose, the supervisor. It would be easier if they were all in the same area, but they are widely dispersed throughout the store. Fortunately, they are inexperienced so he will not have to untrain any bad practices. He had high confidence that they would learn fast and soon be on their own. 2. Rashell was happy to see how the major projects of her department, a large graphic arts department of an advertising department, were progressing. She felt very fortunate that the employees of the department were talented and quickly assumed responsibility for the new jobs. Of course, she had been working hard for five years to develop the staff. She had a right to be proud. 3. Larry hoped the evening would be a quiet one with few emergencies. He had been on the job only for four months and he still was not as familiar with all of the procedures. Larry supervised a group of volunteers on “hot lines” for a crisis center. They were great people to work with, but many lacked the confidence that would take the heat off from him during busy times.
  • 14. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-10 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 4. Martha had been with the company for 15 years. She looked out over her department and wished the employees would assume more responsibility for their jobs and the future of the company. They seemed to be interested in one thing–the end of the day. The company was trying to develop improvement teams. But Martha had little confidence in the employees’ ability to work in teams. They did their jobs, but when they reorganized the department last year to put teams together and to increase production and quality, they acted like a bunch of cats each going their own way. 5. Fidencio, the supervisor of receiving for a large department store, was pleased with his recent performance review. His department was rated very efficient. He was thankful for the employees he supervised and he told them how pleased he was with their hard work. His employees were always the first to volunteer for whatever came along. They would always take over when someone was out sick. Even in a crisis, like when the sales items didn’t come in until hours before the sale started, he could count on them. FIGURE 8.4B Answers to What Leadership Style Is Best? What type of leadership style–authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire–would be best for the following situations? Explain why. 1. There are several new cashiers in the sales staff. This is bad news for Jose, the supervisor. It would be easier if they were all in the same area, but they are widely dispersed throughout the store. Fortunately, they are inexperienced so he will not have to untrain any bad practices. He had high confidence that they would learn fast and soon be on their own. (Authoritarian. The employees are new and inexperienced and they are scattered throughout the store.) 2. Rashell was happy to see how the major projects of her department, a large graphic arts department of an advertising department, were progressing. She felt very fortunate that the employees of the department were talented and quickly assumed responsibility for new jobs. Of course, she had been working hard for five years to develop the staff. She had a right to be proud. (Laissez-faire. The department is creative and employees are talented and assume responsibility. They don’t need much supervision.) 3. Larry hoped the evening would be a quiet one with few emergencies. He had been on the job only for four months and he still was not as familiar with all of the procedures. Larry supervised a group of volunteers on “hot lines” for a crisis center. They were great people to work with, but many lacked the confidence that would take the heat off from him during busy times. (Authoritarian. Volunteers are not confident in their ability, and Larry doesn’t have confidence in them. A crisis may need a very quick decision, and Larry is ultimately responsible. He is also not very confident in his own ability in this situation.) 4. Martha had been with the company for 15 years. She looked out over her department and wished the employees would assume more responsibility for their jobs and the future of the company. They were good workers but they seemed to be interested in one thing–the end of the day. The company was trying to develop improvement teams. They did their jobs, but when they reorganized the department last year to put teams together to increase production and quality, they acted like a bunch of cats each going their own way. (Authoritarian. It would be better if the conditions were right for team involvement and a democratic leadership style, but the conditions call for an authoritarian style. There is low interest in involvement or responsibility, and employees don’t work well as a group.)
  • 15. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-11 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 5. Fidencio, the supervisor of receiving for a large department store, was pleased with his recent performance review. His department was rated very efficient. He was thankful for the employees he supervised and he told them how pleased he was with their hard work. His employees were always the first to volunteer for whatever came along. They would always take over when someone was out sick. Even in a crisis, like when the sales items didn’t come in until hours before the sale started, he could count on them. (Democratic. Employees want to be involved and he had confidence in them.) Learning Objective 8.5: Explain how supervisors can develop and maintain good relations with their employees, manager, and peers. 1. Teaching notes. A supervisor needs support from many people in the organization to be successful. First, they need the support of their employees. They also need the support of their boss and co-workers. Ways to get along with almost everyone include projecting a positive attitude, taking an interest in other people, and helping out. A supervisor who is liked and respected by employees will inspire them to work harder and better. This does not mean that the supervisor should be friends with employees. Rather, the supervisor should consistently treat them in a way that reflects his or her role as a part of management Supervisors should be role models for employees by following the rules of the company. They should also be fair in the treatment of employees and ethical. Employees work most cooperatively with a supervisor they trust. Building trust takes time and effort, yet it can be lost with a single act that is unreasonable. Trust is built by fair and predictable behavior. No matter how good you are at planning, organizing, and leading, your ability to get along with your boss can determine the course of your career within the organization. That may not always seem fair, but the fact is that your boss is the one who most often decides whether you will be promoted, get a raise, or even have a job next week. A boss who likes to work with you is more likely to take a favorable view of your performance. A supervisor can assume that his or her boss expects the following: a. Loyalty. This means that the supervisor says only positive things about the company and his or her boss. b. Cooperation. This means that the supervisor works with others in the organization to achieve organizational goals. c. Communication. This means that the boss expects to be kept informed about the department’s performance. d. Results. This means that the supervisor should see to it that the department meets or exceeds its objectives. You can better meet your boss’s expectations if you understand him or her as an individual. Notice what issues are important to your boss and as much as you can adapt your own style to match his or hers. Also ask your boss what his or her expectations are for you and how your performance will be measured.
  • 16. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-12 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. If you are dissatisfied or unhappy with your boss, consider what the source of the problem is. Most interpersonal problems arise from the behavior and attitudes of two people, so are there changes you can make to improve the situation? If you can’t improve the situation enough by changing your own behavior, talk to your boss. If you can’t resolve the problem with your boss, your best bet probably is to hunt for another job. If you get along well with your peers in the same and other departments, they will help you look good and get your job done. If they resent or dislike you, the poor relations can cause an endless stream of problems. Sometimes your peers will be competing with you for raises, bonuses, or promotions. Remember that the more you can cooperate, the better you will all look. 2. Teaching examples to explain how supervisors can develop and maintain good relations with their employees, boss, and peers. One of the most important tasks of the supervisor is meeting the department and organizational goals. Meeting the goals is intimately tied to the relationships the supervisor develops within the organization. Simply put, this means effectively managing your employees by using both relationship and technical skills. The outcome will affect the relationship with your boss. Success in meeting the goals will make you and your boss look good; failure will make you and your boss look bad. Since departments do not act alone in the success or failure to meet goals, it is important that supervisors get the support necessary from others. This is especially true when there are problems to be solved. Manufacturing companies may find quality problems in the departments that produce parts. The cause of the problem may be the purchase and receiving of poor quality material. By working together, departments can identify material characteristics necessary for quality results and purchase material with these characteristics in the future. Neither the purchasing nor the production department can solve this problem alone. Another source of material problems may be in the storage of raw materials. If another department handles this, then that department should be included in the solution to the problem also. Relationships with employees: Gunther Heinz was the new supervisor of accounting in the local hospital. Smoking was not allowed in hospital offices, so he held meetings with employees in the smoking lounge to “kill two birds with one stone.” He did not take any other breaks. He was surprised when his boss told him he had had complaints about him taking too many breaks. Gunther was also surprised to find that the employees were angry about sitting in the smoking lounge. Gunther explained he was using the time to bring them up to date on the latest instruction. Why were they unhappy? He was making good use of his time. Think of your relationship with your employee as a long-term investment. In the short term you may get the work done with demands, hostility, threats, and scare tactics, but what will be the long-term effect of this type of behavior? Think about the golden rule of supervision: Do unto others as you want to be done unto. Provide the tools, information, and support for your employees to do a good job. Let them know they can depend on you by your actions. Provide a role model of the expected behavior. If you return late from coffee breaks, you can be sure your employees will follow your example.
  • 17. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-13 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Relationships with the boss: You can be successful in reaching the department’s goals but unsuccessful with your boss. Kim Wong, a supervisor in an electronics service company, was proud of herself. Productivity in her department was the highest in the company. She had tried a new method of replacing all suspected components rather than wasting time doing extensive and unnecessary testing. Sure it cost a little more, but she was sure her boss would appreciate her effort. She was surprised when her boss was unhappy and told her to go back to the old way. You cannot take for granted that being a good supervisor in the eyes of your employees will guarantee your success in the eyes of the boss. You must actively seek to understand what your boss expects and what he or she thinks of you and your performance. Failure to understand the importance of meeting the expectations of your boss can result in loss of wages, promotions, better assignments, and ultimately your job. We tend to like people who are like us. It helps to be aware of your boss’s characteristics and style. In your boss’s presence, mirror his or her preferences and style. Sometimes you can’t be like your boss. If there is a wide difference in age, education, and background, you cannot change what you are. On the other hand, don’t emphasize the differences. For example, if your boss is much older than you are, refrain from remarks that emphasize your relative youth. If your boss has no formal education and you are formally educated, refrain from emphasizing theory over experience. Relationships with peers: Supervisors should not neglect their relationship with their peers. It takes the combined effort of everyone to attain the organizational goals. Failure to recognize the interdependency of the departments in meeting organizational goals may result in reaching one department’s goals at the expense of another department. Peers can help a supervisor in many ways. Gunther was bewildered by the smoking problem. He had just moved here from another state. He had always worked for a hospital and understood the smoking issues, but he was trying to be helpful to his employees and not waste time. He turned to his peers to find out the expectations of others in the hospital. They clued him in. Take quick smoke breaks, not too many, and don’t take anyone else in with you. There are many specific interpersonal relation techniques. Several are covered in the text In addition, take the initiative to learn about these and any others that will help you be successful with the members of your organization. 3. Exercise to explain how supervisors can develop and maintain good relations with their employees, boss, and peers. Getting along with others is a necessary component of success for the supervisor. New supervisors and students may have taken interpersonal relationships for granted in the past. There are many instruments available to identify personal characteristics. In the future they may be asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine their strengths and weaknesses as defined by the company. The exercises suggested are meant to sensitize students to what they are and how that may be different than what is expected. Recognizing differences may help them adjust behavior to meet the expectations of bosses and others. The exercises are not intended to be personality or style indicators.
  • 18. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-14 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. a. Recognize differences between you and your boss. This exercise can be used as homework or as a small group exercise in the classroom. If used as a small group exercise, each student should fill out the chart characteristics for him- or herself. Arrange for a photocopy of Figure 8.6 “How Are You Different?” for each student. (1) Have students compare themselves to their boss. If they are not employed, the instructor of the class can be used for the comparison. (2) Determine specific actions to be taken by the supervisor or student to minimize differences where they occur. It is useful to have others in the group discuss ways to minimize differences. (3) Discuss with the entire class some of the ways students would minimize differences between employees and their boss. FIGURE 8.6 How Are You Different? Characteristic You Boss Action If Different Risk If Different Age Gender Culture Style Communication: Preferred method to receive information Sense of humor Willingness to risk Willingness to change Grooming habits: Style of dress Other (list) Other (list)
  • 19. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-15 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. III. ANSWERS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Describe the six traits that researchers believe may indicate a good leader. However, research has not established a clear link between personality traits and leadership success. What other factors do you think might contribute to success or failure? Sense of responsibility; self-confidence (a person believes in his or her ability to get the job done); high energy level (willing to work hard, take on challenges); empathy (ability to understand others); internal locus of control (the belief that one is the primary cause of what happens to oneself); sense of humor. Answers will vary. However, some students may focus on issues covered throughout the chapter: leadership style, circumstances, human relations, and so forth. 2. Claire Callahan supervises the camping department of a large outdoor equipment store. The store manager (Claire’s boss) has given her the objective of increasing sales by 10 percent during the next quarter. Choose one of the three leadership styles for Clair (authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire). Then state three or more steps that she might take to influence her employees to meet the new sales objective. Answers will vary. If she’s authoritarian, she will probably dictate instructions to her employees, such as requirements for working longer hours, scripts for new sales pitches to customers (for instance, while they are at the cash register), and the like. If she’s democratic, she may hold a staff meeting to get ideas from employees on how to increase sales, and then help them choose the most workable ideas and implement them. If she’s laissez-faire, she may fail to meet the objectives. She might take the following steps to influence her employees to meet the new sales objective: • Post the new goal where employees can see it, or hold a staff meeting to inform them of the goal. • Use rewards (cash, if available, or at least recognition) to spur employee productivity. • Use competition as a tool for motivating employees by asking the employees to compete against other departments or other stores in the vicinity. 3. Ann Wong is the accounts payable supervisor at an insurance company. During a time of layoffs, she decides that she should adopt a more people-oriented leadership style than the style she normally uses. What does this change mean? Ann will become less task oriented, a style that focuses on the jobs to be done and the goals to be accomplished, and more people oriented, a leadership style that focuses on the well-being of the people managed such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships among people in the department. This change might help Ann because layoffs usually result in low employee morale and that, in turn, affects productivity. 4. Do you think it is more realistic to expect supervisors to adjust the situation to meet their preferred leadership style, as suggested by Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership, or to adjust their leadership style to fit the situation, as suggested by Hersey and Blanchard? Explain your reasoning.
  • 20. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-16 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. In the short term, the supervisor should adjust leadership style to fit the situation. There are many variables in the situation that may have to be changed. Some of the conditions may be beyond the control of the supervisor. In the long run, the supervisor may be able to develop employees and have some impact on the organization, so they may be able to change the situation to better fit their preferred style. 5. Do you think it would be more satisfying to be a path-goal leader, a servant leader, or an entrepreneurial leader? Explain your thoughts. Student answers will vary. It is understandable that different situations require different approaches. The path–goal theory of leadership suggests that the primary activities of a leader are to make desirable and achievable rewards available to organization members who attain organizational goals and to clarify the kinds of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards. This leadership style is especially relevant in organizations where employees are highly skilled, employee turnover is relatively low, and supervisor-employee relationships are good. Servant leadership involves putting other people’s needs, aspirations, and interests above your own. The servant leader’s primary task is to serve the people around them, rather than lead. A servant leadership style is most likely to fit well and be satisfying for a leader in a non profit organization. Entrepreneurial leadership is based on the attitude that the leader is self-employed. In other words, entrepreneurial leadership involves believing that one plays a very important role at a company rather than an unimportant one. An entrepreneurial leadership is most likely to work best and provide satisfaction to a leader in a rapidly growing startup organization. 6. In which of the following situations would you recommend the supervisor use an authoritarian style of leadership? In which situation would you recommend a democratic style? Explain your choices. a. The supervisor’s boss says, “Top management wants us to start getting employees to suggest ways to improve quality in all areas of operations.” Each department has wide latitude in how to accomplish this. Democratic. The democratic style invites input from employees within the department. b. A supervisor is uncomfortable in meetings and likes to be left alone to figure out solutions to problems. The supervisor’s employees believe that a good supervisor is able to tell them exactly what to do. Authoritarian. The supervisor likes to work out solutions to problems by him- or herself. The employees also believe that the supervisor is responsible for telling them exactly what to do. c. A shipment of hazardous materials is on its way to a warehouse. The supervisor is responsible for instructing employees in how to handle the materials when they arrive later that day. Authoritarian. There is not much time to get ready to receive the hazardous materials. Both the lack of time and the type of material call for a take-charge style. 7. Identify the leader relationships error in each of the following situations. Suggest a better way to handle each. a. Carole Fields’s boss compliments her on the report she submitted yesterday. She says, “It was no big deal.”
  • 21. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-17 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. Thank him or her for being observant. It’s nice to hear the boss is satisfied. Carole now has a benchmark to judge future work. b. When Rich Peaslee was promoted to supervisor, he told the other employees, “Now, remember, I was one of the gang before this promotion, and I’ll still be one of the gang.” While the supervisor can be friendly, he or she is no longer one of the gang. The tasks, attitudes, are different from those of the employee. The employee may be removed physically and psychologically from management, but the supervisor is management. c. The second-shift supervisor observes that the first-shift employees haven’t left their work areas clean for the last three days. He complains to his boss about the lax supervision on the first shift. The supervisor from the second shift must communicate to the first-shift supervisor what is happening and how it affects his or her department before going to the boss. Going to the boss first will antagonize the other supervisor and the boss probably does not want to get involved in housekeeping problems. 8. Carla Santos doesn’t get along with her new manager; the two have disliked each other since the first day they met. Santos was transferred to a new department when the previous supervisor left the company, so neither Santos nor her manager actually chose to work together. Santos doesn’t want her job as a supervisor to be jeopardized by an unpleasant relationship. What steps might she take to improve the situation? Answers will vary. Some students may focus on making sure Carla is loyal, cooperative, communicates information, tries to get results, and tries to learn more about her boss. Others might emphasize that Carla should examine her own behavior, talk with her boss about the problem, even look for a new job if necessary. IV. SKILL-BUILDING You Solve The Problem Reflecting back on page 207 (A Supervisor’s Problem: Leading in Customer Call Centers), consider how the leadership theories and principles from this chapter might help you advise a call center supervisor on how to lead more effectively. 1. What actions and personal qualities could help the supervisor deliver to employees the skills and authority they need to satisfy customers? Supervisors can support their employees by using their skills and relationships to provide critical resources. Some significant traits and qualities required are: Sense of responsibility Self-confidence High energy level Empathy Internal locus of control Sense of humor Supervisors are expected to be fair and ethical toward their subordinates.
  • 22. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-18 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 2. What behaviors and actions could the supervisor use to create positive work environment? Building trust is an essential part of leadership. Conviction is important for establishing trust because seeing conviction in a leader energizes the followers. The most important way to build trust is to engage in fair, predictable behavior. The supervisor should fulfill promises and give employees credit when they do something well. Keeping the lines of communication open also builds trust. 3. What qualities and actions should the supervisor model in order to set a good example for employees to follow? To set a good example for employees, the supervisor should follow all the rules and regulations that cover employees. They use the supervisor’s behavior as a benchmark for how they should act. If a supervisor takes long lunch breaks, employees will either think that the use of the supervisor’s time is unimportant or believe that the company unfairly lets managers get away with violating rules. Problem-Solving Case: Leadership Training on the Program at Insight Communications Suggested Answers to Case 1. Insight Communications promotes employees with good technical skills into supervisory positions and then teaches them leadership skills. Is this the best way for Insight to get supervisors to lead well? Why or why not? Student answers will vary. Promoting employees with good technical skills into supervisory positions and then teaching them leadership skills is a better way for Insight to get supervisors to lead well than say, appointing supervisors who have exemplary leadership skills but have minimal technical expertise. Nevertheless, Insight could improve upon this strategy by first training groups of employees with leadership potential, testing their leadership skills, and then promoting them to supervisory positions. This will ensure that only those employees who have both good technical skills and a natural flair for leadership get promoted to such positions further improving the effectiveness of the training program. 2. Identify three principles of leadership from this chapter that you think would be most important to include in the training for supervisors at Insight. Briefly explain why you selected these principles. Student answers will vary. The training for supervisors at Insight should include the following: • Identify and encourage development of personal traits in employees that help in leadership success. • Identify the most effective leadership style in context of Insight and the particular role that the supervisors will perform. Train employees on how to adopt the leadership style and how to stay flexible in terms of the leadership style and choose a style that best meets the requirements of a particular situation. • Train employees on how to maintain relationships with subordinates, peers, bosses, and customers in order to be effective leaders.
  • 23. Chapter 08 - The Supervisor as Leader 8-19 © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 3. Supervisor Matt Stephens feels that he knows more about leading, and managers see improved performance in the trained supervisors’ teams. If you were one of Insight’s supervisors, how else would you be able to tell if you were leading effectively? Student answers will vary. Apart from measuring performance, another way of finding out if a supervisor is leading effectively is to analyze employee morale and employee turnover rates. Assessing Yourself: Could You Be a CEO? The quiz offers the students an opportunity to see can they be a CEO based on the qualities/criteria offered in the quiz such as marriage, education, age, industry, etc. Class Skills Exercise: Practicing Human Relations Principles The answers to this exercise depend on the examples students come up with to demonstrate the items on the checklist. Building Supervision Skills: Leading a Team This exercise provides a means for students to try out some of the new knowledge they’ve acquired in the chapter.
  • 24. Another Random Scribd Document with Unrelated Content
  • 25. east of here. How he got there I can't tell you. The natives said he just walked up unaccompanied, unbounded, unpursued. He's got a bullet or something in the top of his head and I'm going to lug it out. And then, my boy, with any luck at all, he'll very soon be able to answer you any question you like to put him. Speech and memory will return at the moment the pressure on the brain ceases." "Will he remember up to the time the bullet hit him, or since, or both?" asked Strong. "All his life, up to the moment the bullet hit him, certainly," was the reply. "What happened since will, at first, be remembered as a dream, probably. If I had to prophesy I should say he'd take up his life from the second in which the bullet hit him, and think, for the moment, that he is still where it happened. By-and-by, he'll realise that there's a gap somewhere, and gradually he'll be able to fill it in with events which will seem half nightmare, half real." "Anyhow, he'll be certain of his identity and personal history and so forth?" asked Strong. "Absolutely," said the surgeon. "It will be precisely as though he awoke from an ordinary night's rest.... It'll be awfully interesting to hear him give an account of himself.... All this, of course, if he doesn't die under the operation." "I hope he will," said Strong. "What do you mean, my dear chap?" "I hope he'll die under the operation." "Why?" "He'll be better dead.... And it will be better for three other people that he should be dead.... Is he likely to die?"
  • 26. "I should say it's ten to one he'll pull through all right.... What's it all about, Strong?" "Look here, old chap," was the earnest reply. "If it were anybody else but you I shouldn't know what to say or do. As it's you, my course is clear, for you're the last thing in discretion, wisdom and understanding.... But don't ask me his name.... I know him.... Look here, it's like this. His wife's married again.... There's a kid.... They're well known in Society.... Awful business.... Ghastly scandal.... Shockin' position." Captain Strong took Doctor John Williams by the arm. "Look here, old chap," he said once again. "Need you do this? It isn't as though he was 'conscious,' so to speak, and in pain." "Yes, I must do it," replied the doctor without hesitation, as the other paused. "But why?" urged Strong. "I'm absolutely certain that if M----, er--that is--this chap--could have his faculties for a minute he would tell you not to do it.... You'll take him from a sort of negative happiness to the most positive and acute unhappiness, and you'll simply blast the lives of his wife and the most excellent chap she's married.... She waited a year after this chap 'died' in--er--that last Polar expedition--as was supposed.... Think of the poor little kid too.... And there's estates and a ti---- so on...." "No good, Strong. My duty in the matter is perfectly clear, and it is to the sick man, as such." "Well, you'll do a damned cruel thing ... er--sorry, old chap, I mean do think it over a bit and look at it from the point of view of the unfortunate lady, the second husband, and the child.... And of the chap himself.... By God! He won't thank you."
  • 27. "I look at it from the point of view of the doctor and I'm not out for thanks," was the reply. "Is that your last word, Williams?" "It is. I have here a man mentally maimed, mangled and suffering. My first and only duty is to heal him, and I shall do it." "Right O!" replied Strong, who knew that further words would be useless. He knew that his friend's intelligence was clear as crystal and his will as firm, and that he accepted no other guide than his own conscience.... As the three men sat in the moonlight that night, after dinner, Captain Strong was an uncomfortable man. That tragedy must find a place in the human comedy he was well aware. It had its uses like the comic relief--but for human tragedy, undilute, black, harsh, and dreadful, he had no taste. He shivered. The pretty little comedy of Lord Huntingten and Sir Montague and Lady Merline, of two years ago, had greatly amused and deeply interested him. This tragedy of the same three people was unmitigated horror.... Poor Lady Merline! He conjured up her beautiful face with the wonderful eyes, the rose- leaf complexion, the glorious hair, the tender, lovely mouth--and saw the life and beauty wiped from it as she read, or heard, the ghastly news ... bigamy ... illegitimacy.... The doctor's "bearer" came to take the patient to bed. He was a remarkable man who had started life as a ward-boy in Madras. He it was who had cut the half-witted white man's hair, shaved his beard and dressed him in his master's spare clothes. When the patient was asleep that night, he was going to endeavour to shave the top of his head without waking him, for he was to be operated on, in the morning....
  • 28. "Yes, I fully understand and I give you my solemn promise, Strong," said the doctor as the two men rose to go in, that night. "The moment the man is sane I will tell him that he is not to tell me his name, nor anything else until he has heard what I have to say. I will then break it to him--using my own discretion as to how and when--that he was reported dead, that his will was proved, that his widow wore mourning for a year and then married again, and had a son a year later.... I undertake that he shall not leave this house, knowing that, unless he is in the fullest possession of his faculties and able to realise with the utmost clearness all the bearings of the case and all the consequences following his resumption of identity. And I'll let him hide here for just as long as he cares to conceal himself--if he wishes to remain 'dead' for a time." "Yes ... And as I can't possibly stay till he recovers, nor, in fact, over to-morrow without gross dereliction of duty, I will leave a letter for you to give him at the earliest safe moment.... I'll tell him that I am the only living soul who knows his name as well as his secret. He'll understand that no one else will know this--from me." As he sat on the side of his bed that night, Captain Strong remarked unto his soul, "Well--one thing--if I know Monty Merline as well as I think, 'Sir Montague Merline' died two years ago, whatever happens.... And yet I can't imagine Monty committing suicide, somehow. He's a chap with a conscience as well as the soul of chivalry.... Poor, poor, old Monty Merline!..." THE WAGES OF VIRTUE
  • 29. CHAPTER I SOAP AND SIR MONTAGUE MERLINE Sir Montague Merline, second-class private soldier of the First Battalion of the Foreign Legion of France, paused to straighten his back, to pass his bronzed forearm across his white forehead, and to put his scrap of soap into his mouth--the only safe receptacle for the precious morsel, the tiny cake issued once a month by Madame La République to the Legionary for all his washing purposes. When one's income is precisely one halfpenny a day (paid when it has totalled up to the sum of twopence halfpenny), one does not waste much, nor risk the loss of valuable property; and to lay a piece of soap upon the concrete of Le Cercle d'Enfer reservoir, is not so much to risk the loss of it as to lose it, when one is surrounded by gentlemen of the Foreign Legion. Let me not be misunderstood, nor supposed to be casting aspersions upon the said gentlemen, but their need for soap is urgent, their income is one halfpenny a day, and soap is of the things with which one may "decorate oneself" without contravening the law of the Legion. To steal is to steal, mark you (and to deserve, and probably to get, a bayonet through the offending hand, pinning it to the bench or table), but to borrow certain specified articles permanently and without permission is merely, in the curious slang of the Legion, "to decorate oneself." Contrary to what the uninitiated might suppose, Le Cercle d'Enfer--the Circle of Hell--is not a dry, but a very wet place, it being, in point of fact, the lavabo where the Legionaries of the French
  • 30. Foreign Legion stationed in Algeria at Sidi-bel-Abbès, daily wash their white fatigue uniforms and occasionally their underclothing. Oh, that Cercle d'Enfer! I hated it more than I hated the peloton des hommes punis, salle de police, cellules, the "Breakfast of the Legion," the awful heat, monotony, flies, Bedouins; the solitude, hunger, and thirst of outpost stations in the south; I hated it more than I hated astiquage, la boîte, the chaussettes russes, hospital, the terrible desert marches, sewer-cleaning fatigues, or that villainous and vindictive ruffian of a cafard-smitten caporal who systematically did his very able best to kill me. Oh, that accursed Cercle d'Enfer, and the heart-breaking labour of washing a filthy alfa-fibre suit (stained perhaps with rifle-oil) in cold water, and without soap! Only the other day, as I lay somnolent in a long chair in the verandah of the Charmingest Woman (she lives in India), I heard the regular flop, flop, flop of wet clothes, beaten by a distant dhobi upon a slab of stone, and at the same moment I smelt wet concrete as the mali watered the maidenhair fern on the steps leading from Her verandah to the garden. Odours call up memories far more distinctly and readily than do other sense-impressions, and the faint smell of wet concrete, aided as it was by the faintly audible sound of wet blows, brought most vividly before my mind's eye a detailed picture of that well-named Temple of Hygiea, the "Circle of Hell." Sleeping, waking, and partly sleeping, partly waking, I saw it all again; saw Sir Montague Merline, who called himself John Bull; saw Hiram Cyrus Milton, known as The Bucking Bronco; saw "Reginald Rupert"; the infamous Luigi Rivoli; the unspeakable Edouard Malvin; the marvellous Mad Grasshopper, whose name no one knew; the truly
  • 31. religious Hans Djoolte; the Russian twins, calling themselves Mikhail and Feodor Kyrilovitch Malekov; the terrible Sergeant-Major Suicide- Maker, and all the rest of them. And finally, waking with an actual and perceptible taste of soap in my mouth, I wished my worst enemy were in the Cercle d'Enfer, soapless, and with much rifle-oil, dust, leather marks and wine stains on his once-white uniform--and then I thought of Carmelita and determined to write this book. For Carmelita deserves a monument (and so does John Bull), however humble.... To continue.... Sir Montague Merline did not put his precious morsel of soap into his pocket, for the excellent reason that there was no pocket to the single exiguous garment he was at the moment wearing--a useful piece of material which in its time played many parts, and knew the service of duster, towel, turban, tablecloth, polishing pad, tea-cloth, house-flannel, apron, handkerchief, neckerchief, curtain, serviette, holder, fly-slayer, water-strainer, punkah, and, at the moment, nether garment. Having cached his soup and having observed "Peste!" as he savoured its flavour, he proceeded to pommel, punch, and slap upon the concrete, the greyish-white tunic and breeches, and the cotton vest and shirt which he had generously soaped before the hungry eyes of numerous soapless but oathful fellow-labourers, who less successfully sought that virtue which, in the Legion, is certainly next to, but far ahead of, mere godliness. In due course, Sir Montague Merline rinsed his garments in the reservoir, wrung them out, bore them to the nearest clothes-line, hung them out to dry, and sat himself down in their shadow to stare at them unwaveringly until dried by the fierce sun--the ancient
  • 32. enemy, for the moment an unwilling friend. To watch them unwaveringly and intently because he knew that the turning of his head for ten seconds might mean their complete and final disappearance--for, like soap, articles of uniform are on the list of things with which a Legionary may "decorate" himself, if he can, without incurring the odium of public opinion. (He may steal any article of equipment, clothing, kit, accoutrement, or general utility, but his patron saint help him and Le Bon Dieu be merciful to him, if he be caught stealing tobacco, wine, food, or money.) Becoming aware of the presence of Monsieur le Légionnaire Edouard Malvin, Sir Montague Merline increased the vigilance of his scrutiny of his pendent property, for ce cher Edouard was of pick- pockets the very prince and magician; of those who could steal the teeth from a Jew while he sneezed and would steal the scalp from their grandmamma while she objected. "Ohé! Jean Boule, lend me thy soap," besought this stout and dapper little Austrian, who for some reason pretended to be a Belgian from the Congo. "This cursed alfa-fibre gets dirtier the more you wash it in this cursed water," and he smiled a greasy and ingratiating grin. Without for one second averting his steady stare from his clothes, the Englishman slowly removed the soap from his mouth, expectorated, remarked "Peaudezébie,"[#] and took no further notice of the quaint figure which stood by his side, clad only in ancient red Zouave breeches and the ingratiating smile. [#] An emphatic negative.
  • 33. "Name of a Name! Name of the Name of a Pipe! Name of the Name of a Dirty Little Furry Red Monkey!" observed Monsieur le Légionnaire Edouard Malvin as he turned to slouch away, twirling the dripping grey-white tunic. "Meaning me?" asked Sir Montague, replacing the soap in its safe repository and preparing to rise. "But no! But not in the least, old cabbage. Thou hast the cafard. Mais oui, tu as le cafard," replied the Belgian and quickened his retreat. No, the grey Jean Boule, so old, so young, doyen of Légionnaires, so quick, strong, skilful and enduring at la boxe, was not the man to cross at any time, and least of all when he had le cafard, that terrible Legion madness that all Legionaries know; the madness that drives them to the cells, to gaol, to the Zephyrs, to the firing-party by the open grave; or to desertion and death in the desert. The grey Jean Boule had been a Zephyr of the Penal Battalions once, already, for killing a man, and Monsieur Malvin, although a Legionary of the Foreign Legion, did not wish to die. No, not while Carmelita and Madame la Cantinière lived and loved and sold the good Algiers wine at three-halfpence a bottle.... No, bon sang de sort! M. le Légionnaire Malvin returned to the dense ring of labouring perspiring washers, and edged in behind a gigantic German and a short, broad, burly Alsatian, capitalists as joint proprietors of a fine cake of soap. Sacré nom de nom de bon Dieu de Dieu de sort! Dull-witted German pigs might leave their soap unguarded for a moment, and, if they did not, might be induced to wring some soapy water from
  • 34. their little pile of washing, upon the obstinately greasy tunic of the good M. Malvin. Légionnaire Hans Schnitzel, late of Berlin, rinsed his washing in clean water, wrung it, and took it to the nearest drying line. Légionnaire Alphonse Dupont, late of Alsace, placed his soap in the pocket of the dirty white fatigue-uniform which he wore, and which he would wash as soon as he had finished the present job. Immediately, Légionnaire Edouard Malvin transferred the soap from the side pocket of the tunic of the unconscious Légionnaire Alphonse Dupont to that of his own red breeches, and straightway begged the loan of it. "Merde!" replied Dupont. "Nombril de Belzébutt! I will lend it thee peaudezébie. Why should I lend thee soap, vieux dégoulant? Go decorate thyself, sale cochon. Besides 'tis not mine to lend." "And that is very true," agreed M. Malvin, and sauntered toward Schnitzel, who stood phlegmatically guarding his drying clothes. In his hand was an object which caused the eyebrows of the good M. Malvin to arch and rise, and his mouth to water--nothing less than an actual, real and genuine scrubbing-brush, beautiful in its bristliness. Then righteous anger filled his soul. "Saligaud!" he hissed. "These pigs of filthy Germans! Soap and a brush. Sacripants! Ils me dégoutant à la fin." As he regarded the stolid German with increasing envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness, and cast about in his quick and cunning mind for means of relieving him of the coveted brush, a sudden roar of wrath and grief from his Alsatian partner, Dupont, sent Schnitzel running to join that unfortunate man in fierce and impartial denunciations of his left-hand and right-hand neighbours,
  • 35. who were thieves, pigs, brigands, dogs, Arabs, and utterly merdant and merdable. Bursting into the fray, Herr Schnitzel found them, in addition, bloedsinnig and dummkopf in that they could not produce cakes of soap from empty mouths. As the rage of the bereaved warriors increased, more and more Pomeranian and Alsatian patois invaded the wonderful Legion- French, a French which is not of Paris, nor of anywhere else in the world save La Légion. As Dupont fell upon a laughing Italian with a cry of "Ah! zut! Sacré grimacier," Schnitzel spluttered and roared at a huge slow-moving American who regarded him with a look of pitying but not unkindly contempt.... "Why do the 'eathen rage furious together and imagine a vain thing?" he enquired in a slow drawl of the excited "furriner," adding "Ain't yew some schafs-kopf, sonny!" and, as the big German began to whirl his arms in the windmill fashion peculiar to the non-boxing foreigner who meditates assault and battery, continued-- "Now yew stop zanking and playing versteckens with me, yew pie-faced Squarehead, and be schnell about it, or yew'll git my goat, see? Vous obtiendrez mon chèvre, yew perambulating prachtvoll bierhatte," and he coolly turned his back upon the infuriated German with a polite, if laborious, "Guten tag, mein Freund." Mr. Hiram Cyrus Milton (late of Texas, California, the Yukon, and the "main drag" generally of the wild and woolly West) was exceeding proud of his linguistic knowledge and skill. It may be remarked, en passant, that his friends were even prouder of it. At this moment, le bon Légionnaire Malvin, hovering for opportunity, with a sudden coup de savate struck the so-desirable scrubbing-brush from the hand of Herr Schnitzel with a force that
  • 36. seemed like to take the arm from the shoulder with it. Leaping round with a yell of pain, the unfortunate German found himself, as Malvin had calculated, face to face with the mighty Luigi Rivoli, to attack whom was to be brought to death's door through that of the hospital. Snatching up the brush which was behind Schnitzel when he turned to face Rivoli, le bon M. Malvin lightly departed from the vulgar scuffle in the direction of the drying clothes of Herren Schnitzel and Dupont, the latter, last seen clasping, with more enthusiasm than love, a wiry Italian to his bosom. The luck of M. Malvin was distinctly in, for not only had he the soap and a brush for the easy cleansing of his own uniform, but he had within his grasp a fresh uniform to wear, and another to sell; for the clothing of ce bon Dupont would fit him to a marvel, while that of the pig-dog Schnitzel would fetch good money, the equivalent of several litres of the thick, red Algerian wine, from a certain Spanish Jew, old Haroun Mendoza, of the Sidi-bel-Abbès ghetto. Yes, the Saints bless and reward the good Dupont for being of the same size as M. Malvin himself, for it is a most serious matter to be short of anything when showing-down kit at kit-inspection, and that thrice accursed Sacré Chien of an Adjudant would, as likely as not, have spare white trousers shown-down on the morrow. What can a good Légionnaire do, look you, when he has not the article named for to-morrow's Adjutant's inspection, but "decorate himself"? Is it easy, is it reasonable, to buy new white fatigue- uniform on an income of one halfpenny per diem? Sapristi, and Sacré Bleu, and Name of the Name of a Little Brown Dog, a litre of wine costs a penny, and a packet of tobacco three-halfpence, and
  • 37. what is left to a gentleman of the Legion then, on pay-day, out of his twopence-halfpenny, nom d'un pétard? As for ce bon Dupont, he must in his turn "decorate" himself. And if he cannot, but must renew acquaintance with la boîte and le peloton des hommes punis, why--he must regard things in their true light, be philosophical, and take it easy. Is it not proverbial that "Toutes choses peut on souffrir qu'aise"? And with a purr of pleasure, a positive licking of chops, and a murmur of "Ah! Au tient frais," he deftly whipped the property of the embattled Legionaries from the line, no man saying him nay. For it is not the etiquette of the Legion to interfere with one who, in the absence of its owner, would "decorate" himself with any of those things with which self-decoration is permissible, if not honourable. Indeed, to Sir Montague Merline, sitting close by, and regarding his proceedings with cold impartial eye, M. Malvin observed-- "'Y a de bon, mon salop! I have heard that le bon Dieu helps those who help themselves. I do but help myself in order to give le bon Dieu the opportunity He doubtless desires. I decorate myself incidentally. Mais oui, and I shall decorate myself this evening with a p'tite ouvrière and to-morrow with une réputation d'ivrogne," and he turned innocently to saunter with his innocent bundle of washing from the lavabo, to his caserne. Ere he had taken half a dozen steps, the cold and quiet voice of the grey Jean Boule broke in upon the resumed day-dreams of the innocently sauntering M. Malvin. "Might one aspire to the honour of venturing to detain for a brief interview Monsieur le Légionnaire Edouard Malvin?" said the soft metallic voice. "But certainly, and without charge, mon gars," replied that gentleman, turning and eyeing the incomprehensible and dangerous
  • 38. Jean Boule, à coin de l'oeil. "You seek soap?" "I do," replied the Austrian "Belgian" promptly. The possession of one cake of soap makes that of another no less desirable. "Do you seek sorrow also?" "But no, dear friend. 'J'ai eu toutes les folies.' In this world I seek but wine, woman, and peace. Let me avoid the 'gros bonnets' and lead my happy tumble life in peaceful obscurity. A modest violet, I. A wayside flow'ret, a retiring primrose, such as you English love." "Then, cher Malvin, since you seek soap and not sorrow, let not my little cake of soap disappear from beneath the polishing-rags in my sack. The little brown sack at the head of my cot, cher Malvin. Enfin! I appoint you guardian and custodian of my little cake of soap. But in a most evil hour for le bon M. Malvin would it disappear. Guard it then, cher Malvin. Respect it. Watch over it as you value, and would retain, your health and beauty, M. Malvin. And when I have avenged my little piece of soap, the true history of the last ten minutes will deeply interest those earnest searchers after truth, Legionaries Schnitzel and Dupont. Depart in peace and enter upon your new office of Guardian of my Soap! Vous devez en être joliment fier." "Quite a speech, in effect, mon drôle," replied the stout Austrian as he doubtfully fingered his short beard au poinçon, and added uneasily, "I am not the only gentleman who 'decorates' himself with soap." "No? Nor with uniforms. Go in peace, Protector of my Soap." And smiling wintrily M. Malvin winked, broke into the wholly deplorable ditty of "Pére Dupanloup en chemin de fer," and pursued
  • 39. his innocent path to barracks, whither Sir Montague Merline later followed him, after watching with a contemptuous smile some mixed and messy fighting (beside the apparently dead body of the Legionary Schnitzel) between an Alsatian and an Italian, in which the Italian kicked his opponent in the stomach and partly ate his ear, and the Alsatian used his hands solely for purpose of throttling. Why couldn't they stand up and fight like gentlemen under Queensberry rules, or, if boxing did not appeal to them, use their sword-bayonets like soldiers and Legionaries--the low rooters, the vulgar, rough-and-tumble gutter-scrappers.... Removing his almost dry washing from the line, Sir Montague Merline marched across to his barrack-block, climbed the three flights of stone stairs, traversed the long corridor of his Company, and entered the big, light, airy room wherein he and twenty-nine other Legionaries (one of whom held the very exalted and important rank of Caporal) lived and moved and had their monotonous being. Spreading his tunic and breeches on the end of the long table he proceeded to "iron" them, first with his hand, secondly with a tin plate, and finally with the edge of his "quart," the drinking-mug which hung at the head of his bed ready for the reception of the early morning jus, the strong coffee which most effectively rouses the Legionary from somnolence and most ineffectively sustains him until midday. Anon, having persuaded himself that the result of his labours was satisfactory, and up to Legion standards of smartness--which are as high as those of the ordinary piou-piou of the French line are low--he folded his uniform in elbow-to-finger-tip lengths, placed it with the paquetage on the shelf above his bed, and began to dress
  • 40. for his evening walk-out. The Legionary's time is, in theory, his own after 5 p.m., and the most sacred plank in the most sacred platform of all his sacred tradition is his right to promenade himself at eventide and listen to the Legion's glorious band in the Place Sadi Carnot. Having laid his uniform, belt, bayonet, and képi on his cot, he stepped across to the next but one (the name-card at the head of which bore the astonishing legend "Bucking Bronco, No. 11356. Soldat 1ère Classe), opened a little sack which hung at the head of it, and took from it the remains of an ancient nail-brush, the joint property of Sir Montague Merline, alias Jean Boule, and Hiram Cyrus Milton, alias Bucking Bronco, late of Texas, California, Yukon, and "the main drag" of the United States of America. Even as Sir Montague's hand was inserted through the neck of the sack, the huge American (who had been wrongfully accused and rashly attacked by Legionary Hans Schnitzel) entered the barrack- room, caught sight of a figure bending over his rag-sack, and crept on tiptoe towards it, his great gnarled fists clenched, his mouth compressed to a straight thin line beneath his huge drooping moustache, and his grey eyes ablaze. Luckily Sir Montague heard the sounds of his stealthy approach, and turned just in time. The American dropped his fists and smiled. "Say," he drawled, "I thought it was some herring-gutted weevil of a Dago or a Squarehead shenannikin with my precious jools. An' I was jest a'goin' ter plug the skinnamalink some. Say, Johnnie, if yew hadn't swivelled any, I was jest a'goin' ter slug yew, good an' plenty, behind the yeer-'ole."
  • 41. "Just getting the tooth-nail-button-boot-dandy-brush, Buck," replied Sir Montague. "How are you feeling?" "I'm feelin' purty mean," was the reply. "A dirty Squarehead of a dod-gasted Dutchy from the Farterland grunted in me eye, an' I thought the shave-tail was fer rough-housin', an' I slugged him one, just ter start 'im gwine. The gosh-dinged piker jest curled up. He jest wilted on the floor." The Bucking Bronco, in high disgust, expectorated and then chid himself for forgetting that he was no longer on the free soil of America, where a gentleman may spit as he likes and be a gentleman for a' that and a' that. "I tell yew, Johnnie," he continued, "he got me jingled, the lumberin' lallapaloozer! There he lay an' lay--and then some. 'Git up, yew rubberin' rube,' I ses, 'yew'll git moss on your teeth if yew lie so quiet; git up, an' deliver the goods,' I ses, 'I had more guts then yew when I was knee high to a June bug.' Did he arise an' make good? I should worry. Nope. Yew take it from Uncle, that bonehead is there yit, an' afore I could make him wise to it thet he didn't git the bulge on Uncle with thet bluff, another Squarehead an' a gibberin' Dago put up a dirty kind o' scrap over his body, gougin' and kickin' an' earbitin' an' throttlin', an' a whole bunch o' boobs jined in an' I give it up an' come 'ome." And the Bucking Bronco sat him sadly on his bed and groaned. "Cheer up, Buck, we'll all soon be dead," replied his comrade, "don't you go getting cafard," and he looked anxiously at the angry- lugubrious face of his friend. "What's the ordre du jour for walking- out dress to-day?" he added. "Blue tunic and red trousers? Or tunic and white? Or capote, or what?"
  • 42. "It was tunic an' white yesterday," replied the American, "an' I guess it is to-day too." "It's my night to howl," he added cryptically "Let's go an' pow- wow Carmelita ef thet fresh gorilla Loojey Rivoli ain't got 'er in 'is pocket. I'll shoot 'im up some day, sure...." A sudden shouting, tumult, and running below, and cries of "Les bleus! Les bleus!" interrupted the Bronco's monologue and drew the two old soldiers to a window that overlooked the vast, neat, gravelled barrack-square, clean, naked, and bleak to the eye as an ice-floe. "Strike me peculiar," remarked the Bucking Bronco. "It's another big gang o' tenderfeet." "A draft of rookies! Come on--they'll all be for our Company in place of those poumpists,[#] and there may be something Anglo- Saxon among them," said Legionary John Bull, and the two men hastily flung their capotes over their sketchy attire and hurried from the room, buttoning them as they went. [#] Deserters. Like Charity, the Legionary's overcoat covers a multitude of sins-- chiefly of omission--and is a most useful garment. It protects him from the cold dawn wind, and keeps him warm by night; it protects him from the cruel African sun, and keeps him cool by day, or at least, if not cool, in the frying-pan degree of heat, which is better than that of the fire. He marches in it without a tunic, and relies upon it to conceal the fact when he has failed to "decorate" himself with underclothing. Its skirts, buttoned back, hamper not his legs,
  • 43. and its capacious pockets have many uses. Its one drawback is that, being double-breasted, it buttons up on either side, a fact which has brought the grey hairs of many an honest Legionary in sorrow to the cellules, and given many a brutal and vindictive Sergeant the chance of that cruelty in which his little tyrant soul so revels. For, incredible as it may seem to the lay mind, the ingenious devil whose military mind concocts the ordres du jour, changes, by solemn decree, and almost daily, the side upon which the overcoat is to be buttoned up. Clattering down the long flights of stone stairs, and converging across the barrack-square, the Legionaries came running from all directions, to gaze upon, to chaff, to delude, to sponge upon, and to rob and swindle the "Blues"--the recruits of the Légion Étrangère, the embryo Légionnaires d'Afrique. In the incredibly maddeningly dull life of the Legion in peace time, the slightest diversion is a god-send and even the arrival of a batch of recruits a most welcome event. To all, it is a distraction; to some, the hope of the arrival of a fellow-countryman (especially to the few English, Americans, Danes, Greeks, Russians, Norwegians, Swedes, and Poles whom cruel Fate has sent to La Légion). To some, a chance of passing on a part of the brutality and tyranny which they themselves suffer; to some, a chance of getting civilian clothes in which to desert; to others, an opportunity of selling knowledge of the ropes, for litres of canteen wine; to many, a hope of working a successful trick on a bewildered recruit--the time- honoured villainy of stealing his new uniform and pretending to buy him another sub rosa from the dishonest quartermaster, whereupon the recruit buys back his own original uniform at the cost of his little all (for invariably the alleged substitute-uniform costs just that sum
  • 44. of money which the poor wretch has brought with him and augmented by the compulsory sale of his civilian kit to the clothes- dealing harpies and thieves who infest the barrack-gates on the arrival of each draft). As the tiny portal beside the huge barrack-gate was closed and fastened by the Corporal in charge of the squad of "blues" (as the French army calls its recruits[#]), the single file of derelicts halted at the order of the Sergeant of the Guard, who, more in sorrow than in anger, weighed them and found them wanting. [#] In the days of the high, tight stock and cravat, the recruit was supposed to be livid and blue in the face until he grew accustomed to them. "Sweepings," he summed them up in passing judgment. "Foundlings. Droppings. Crumbs. Tripe. Accidents. Abortions. Cripples. Left by the tide. Blown in by the wind. Born pékins.[#] Only one man among them, and he a pig of a Prussian--or perhaps an Englishman. Let us hope he's an Englishman...." [#] Civilians. In speaking thus, the worthy Sergeant was behaving with impropriety and contrary to the law and tradition of the Legion. What nouns and adjectives a non-commissioned officer may use wherewith to stigmatise a Legionary, depend wholly and solely upon his taste, fluency and vocabulary. But it is not etiquette to reproach
  • 45. a man with his nationality, however much a matter for reproach that nationality may be. "Are you an Englishman, most miserable bleu?" he suddenly asked of a tall, slim, fair youth, dressed in tweed Norfolk-jacket, and grey flannel trousers, and bearing in every line of feature and form, and in the cut and set of his expensive clothing, the stamp of the man of breeding, birth and position. "By the especial mercy and grace of God, I am an Englishman, Sergeant, thank you," he replied coolly in good, if slow and careful French. The Sergeant smiled grimly behind his big moustache. Himself a cashiered Russian officer, and once a gentleman, he could appreciate a gentleman and approve him in the strict privacy of his soul. "Slava Bogu!" he roared. "Vile bleu! And now by the especial mercy and grace of the Devil you are a Légionnaire--or will be, if you survive the making...." and added sotto voce, "Are you a degraded dog of a broken officer? If so, you can claim to be appointed to the élèves caporaux as a non-commissioned officer on probation, if you have a photo of yourself in officer's uniform. Thus you will escape all recruit-drill and live in hope to become, some day, Sergeant, even as I," and the (for a Sergeant of the Legion) decent-hearted fellow smote his vast chest. "I thank you, Sergeant," was the drawled reply. "You really dazzle me--but I am not a degraded dog of a broken officer." "Gospodi pomilui!" roared the incensed Sergeant. "Ne me donnez de la gabatine, pratique!" and, for a second, seemed likely to strike the cool and insolent recruit who dared to bandy words with a
  • 46. Sergeant of the Legion. His eyes bulged, his moustache bristled, and his scarlet face turned purple as he literally showed his teeth. "Go easy, old chap," spoke a quiet voice, in English, close beside the Englishman. "That fellow can do you to death if you offend him," and the recruit, turning, beheld a grey-moustached, white-haired elderly man, bronzed, lined, and worn-looking--a typical French army vielle moustache--an "old sweat" from whose lips the accents of a refined English gentleman came with the utmost incongruity. The youth's face brightened with interest. Obviously this old dear was a public-school, or 'Varsity man, or, very probably, an ex- British officer. "Good egg," quoth he, extending a hand behind him for a surreptitious shake. "See you anon, what?" "Yes, you'll all come to the Seventh Company. We are below strength," said Legionary John Bull, in whose weary eyes had shone a new light of interest since they fell upon this compatriot of his own caste and kidney. A remarkably cool and nonchalant recruit--and surely unique in the history of the Legion's "blues" in showing absolutely no sign of privation, fear, stress, criminality, poverty, depression, anxiety, or bewilderment! "Now, what'n hell is he doin' in thet bum outfit?" queried the Bucking Bronco of his friend John Bull, who kept as near as possible to the Englishman whom he had warned against ill-timed causticity of humour. "He's some b'y, thet b'y, but he'd better quit kickin'. He's a way- up white man I opine. What's 'e a'doin' in this joint? He's a gay-cat and a looker. He's a fierce stiff sport. He has sand, some--sure. Yep,"
  • 47. and Mr. Hiram Cyrus Milton checked himself only just in time from defiling the immaculate and sacred parade-ground, by "signifying in the usual manner" that he was mentally perturbed, and himself in these circumstances of expectoration-difficulty by observing that the boy was undoubtedly "some" boy, and worthy to have been an American citizen had he been born under a luckier star--or stripe. "I can't place him, Buck," replied the puzzled John Bull, his quiet voice rendered almost inaudible by the shouts, howls, yells and cries of the seething mob of Legionaries who swarmed round the line of recruits, assailing their bewildered ears in all the tongues of Europe, and some of those of Asia and Africa. "He doesn't look hungry, and he doesn't look hunted. I suppose he is one of the few who don't come here to escape either starvation, creditors, or the Law. And he doesn't look desperate like the average turned-down lover, ruined gambler, deserted husband, or busted bankrupt.... Wonder if he's come here in search of 'Romance'?" "Wal, ef he's come hyar for his health an' amoosement he'd go to Hell to cool himself, or ter the den of a grizzly b'ar fer gentle stimoolation and recreation. Gee whiz! Didn't he fair git ole Bluebottle's goat? He sure did git nixt him." "Bit of a contrast to the rest of the gang, what?" remarked John Bull, and indeed the truth of his remark was very obvious. "Ain't they a outfit o' dodgasted hoboes an' bindlestiffs!" agreed his friend. Straight as a lance, thin, very broad in the shoulders and narrow of waist and hip; apparently as clean and unruffled as when leaving his golf-club pavilion for a round on the links; cool, self-possessed,
  • 48. haughty, aristocratic and clean-cut of feature, this Englishman among the other recruits looked like a Derby winner among a string of equine ruins in a knacker's yard; like a panther among bears--a detached and separated creature, something of different flesh and blood. Breed is a very remarkable thing, even more distinctive than race, and in this little band of derelicts was another Englishman, a Cockney youth who had passed from street-arab and gutter-snipe, via Reformatory, to hooligan, coster and soldier. No man in that collection of wreckage from Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and the four corners of Europe looked less like the tall recruit than did this brother Englishman. To Sir Montague Merline, fallen and shattered star of the high social firmament, the sight of him was as welcome as water in the desert, and he thanked Fate for having brought another Englishman to the Legion--and one so debonair, so fine, so handsome, cool and strong. "There's Blood there," he murmured to himself. "His shoulders hev bin drilled somewheres, although he's British," added the Bucking one. "Yep. He's one o' the flat-backed push." "I wonder if he can be a cashiered officer. He's drilled as you say.... If he has been broke for something it hasn't marked him much. Nothing hang-dog there," mused Legionary John Bull. "Nope. He's a blowed-in-the-glass British aristocrat," agreed the large-minded Hiram Cyrus, "and I opine an ex-member of the commishunned ranks o' the British Constitootional Army. He ain't niver bin batterin' the main-stem for light-pieces like them other hoodlums an' toughs an' smoudges. Nope. He ain't never throwed
  • 49. his feet fer a two-bit poke-out.... Look at that road-kid next 'im! Ain't he a peach? I should smile! Wonder the medicine-man didn't turn down some o' them chechaquos...." And, truly, the draft contained some very queer odd lots. By the side of the English gentleman stood a big fat German boy in knicker- bockers and jersey, bare-legged and wearing a pair of button-boots that had belonged to a woman in the days when they still possessed toe-caps. Pale face, pale hair, and pale eyes, conspired to give him an air of terror--the first seeming to have the hue of fright, the second to stand en brosse with fear, and the last to bulge like those of a hunted animal. Presumably M. le Médicin-Major must have been satisfied that the boy was eighteen years of age, but, though tall and robust, he looked nearer fifteen--an illusion strengthened, doubtless, by the knickerbockers, bare calves, and button-boots. If he had enlisted in the Foreign Legion to avoid service in the Fatherland, he had quitted the frying-pan for a furnace seven times heated. Possibly he hoped to emulate Messieurs Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. In point of fact, he was a deserter (driven to the desperate step of fleeing across the French frontier by a typical Prussian non-commissioned officer), and already wishing himself once more zwei jahriger in the happy Fatherland. Already, to his German soul and stomach, the lager-bier of Munich, the sausage, zwieback, and kalte schnitzel of home, seemed things of the dim and distant past, and unattainable future. Next to him stood a gnarled and knotted Spaniard, whose face appeared to be carven from his native mahogany, and whose ragged clothing--grimy, oily, blackened--proclaimed him wharfside coal-
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