Superior vs Supervisor- A poll

sonny · May 2006

We have a manager who, in a written discipline, did not like my change in his text from "As your superior" to "As your supervisor".

I find the term superior in lieu of the term supervisor to be antiquated and arrogant.

Agree, or am I over reacting?

Rockie · May 2006

I agree. I find the term "superior" indicative of someone being better than someone else. Same with the term "subordinate"...another outdated and demeaning term.

I think supervisor and employee better explains the relationship in today's modern business environment.

ray a · May 2006

Some might say you are just being politically correct. But, I tend to agree with you and Rockie. The term superior implies the idea of class or caste. Was the disciplined ee an Untouchable?

Paul in Cannon Beach · May 2006

I agree. The opposite of superior in inferior. The value of the discipline lesson will be lost if the ee gets offended over a poorly chosen word. Why take that chance?

Your change was a smart move.

sonny · May 2006

The problem is he changed it back xx( Just wanted others opinions before I "discussed" it with him again. Thanks to all for your feedback.

ray a · May 2006

Sonny, stop in again when you need some more support.

sonny · May 2006

Wish I had more time to do so, but I will back for some birthday cake here shortly.x;-)

ray a · May 2006

Yep, our birthdays are rapidly approaching.

HRinNH · May 2006

I agree with your change and the manager needs to buy a modern dictionary.

atrimble · May 2006

I agree with you, Sonny; supervisor is better than superior. Superior also brings a military hierarchy connotation.

However, I have this same problem in verbal converstaion. I've gotten so much into the habit of "matching" or pairing titles, that I catch myself telling a supervisor about their "supervisorees." I don't think there IS such a word! But I'm trying to differentiate between the general agency employee versus *that* person's charges. We don't use the term Manager, so I can't call employees "managees." And technically the CEO is our only employer here, so the employer/employee matched pair doesn't really work for us, either in communication with supervisors. We do use "Senior Staff" to name the group of supervisors who have authority to act in the CEO's absence.

I actually kind of like the term subordinate, because it sounds official, and catches my attention. "You are my subordinate, you are supposed to follow my lead." But if you don't really have a heirarchy in place and everyone is on the same team, then subordinate wouldn't really be appropriate.

ray a · May 2006

Atrimble, I tend to use the word, "Reports" in that case. Like, you report to me.

atrimble · May 2006

"Reports" has a nice neutral ring to it. Don't know if it would work for us, though. We're a governmental entity whose main work product (other than housing) is PAPER. I can imagine telling a supervisor, "send all your reports to me by 3 p.m. Monday so I can schedule program training," and I get a sheaf of manila folders instead of humans. Of course, the muddy waters of what I actually do here would be the main culprit for that mistake, compounding the simple miscommunication... I don't know that adding "direct" to "reports" would make it any better!

dchr9203 · May 2006

I agree. He's not "superior" to the employee. Simply by virtue of his position as "supervisor" has some authority over the employee. Two different things.

Paul in Cannon Beach · May 2006

"Master and Commander" is kind of snappy.

"As your master and commander, I would like to see those financial reports on my desk by Friday."

Doug · May 2006

In the British military many years ago, there was a related expression. "In the relationship between a Superior and a Subordinate, the Superior nevers mentions it and the Subordinate never forgets it."

In our company, we use the terminology "supervisory manager" and "employees." It works well most of the time.

sonny · May 2006

Great quote Doug

pork1 · May 2006

In this day and time, I find team member or team player when speaking of a worker to employee boss organized to get work accomplished fits very well. Having lived in a former military organization for 22 1/2 years, I tend to pull away from the militareaseeees, because we are not dealing with the life and death of our employees, as a norm. Of course, that is with exception of the OSHA concerns.

PORK

mbeam · May 2006

Have to say I don't like either term but our organization and CEO are pretty informal and have thought about doing away with titles.

Picking between the two would go with supervisor versus superior.

Superior vs Supervisor- A poll

Comments