A critical incidents study of the role of the first-level supervisor in applications developmen

Two groups of programmers, systems analysts, their supervisors and their managers, and applications users participated in a study of the role of the first-level supervisor in applications development. The first group participated in a critical incidents study. The second group participated in a survey designed to test the legitimacy of the dimensions of the supervisor's role developed from the incidents reported by the first group of participants.;Respondents in the critical incidents study completed a questionnaire or responded to a structured interview. They were asked to describe incidents of supervisor behavior they had observed and believed to be important to the job performance of the supervisor. These incidents were classified into 20 dimensions of the supervisor's role in applications development.;The second group of participants completed a questionnaire evaluating the viability of the 20 dimensions developed in the first part of the study. These respondents were asked to rate the importance of each of the individual dimensions and to list the five most important dimensions. They were also asked to list any dimensions of the role they believed to be missing. In addition, for each dimension they were asked to indicate the extent to which supervisors presently engaged in the class of behavior described by the dimension and the extent to which they would like for the supervisor to engage in that class of behavior.;The results indicate that all but one of the 20 dimensions (Systems Development) developed are very important in the supervisor's role. Dimensions involving role definition and feedback to subordinates appeared to be most important. The respondents were most content with the extent to which the supervisor is engaged in systems development activities. They were least content with the extent to which the supervisor is engaged in defining the role of programmers and systems analysts. Respondents across organizations appeared to be more in agreement as to the importance of the dimensions than were respondents across roles.;Implications for applications development managers suggest that supervisor's roles should be less involved with the actual development of applications and more involved with the definition of the role of the programmers and systems analysts reporting to them.