I-O psychology research on first-line supervisors suggests that supervisors with the most productive work groups have the following qualities:

If a first-line supervisor has a superior, the work of the superior must derive from the supervisor.

Since the teams perform many of the functions of foremen in conventional plants, fewer first-line supervisors are needed as well.

"We were thinner on first-line supervisors than we would have liked," he said.

Did first-line supervisors, such as lieutenants and sergeants, lose control of their personnel?

Mr. Brooks takes my breath away when he blithely excuses behavior that any first-line supervisor with any ethical instinct knows is wrong.

Most of the remaining foremen, now called first-line supervisors, focus on training.

Staff sergeants are expected to be technically proficient and function as first-line supervisors within a 'workcenter'.

It also sends instructors into factories to teach first-line supervisors - often newly promoted - how to manage and motivate workers.

So they are looking for ways to train first-line supervisors in up-to-date people-handling methods.