The Supervision subject area

Supervision is usually asked in a situational format, and unlike the entry-level series the Department publishes a worked answer for it. That is what makes it coachable.

What it covers

The guide names the concepts: assigning and reviewing work, evaluating performance, maintaining work standards, motivating and developing subordinates, implementing procedural change, increasing efficiency, and dealing with problems of absenteeism, morale and discipline.

The Department publishes the reasoning, not just the answer

Its sample asks what a supervisor should do first when the unit is given an assignment whose proper procedure the supervisor is unsure of. The answer is to discuss it with your own supervisor, and the guide refutes each of the other three in its own words: your staff would not be expected to know more than you about a new assignment; another unit's similar assignment may differ in some important way; and a procedure borrowed from a similar assignment gives you no way of knowing whether it is appropriate.

The reasoning behind it is that the decision belongs with the person who holds both the knowledge and the ultimate responsibility. That is the standard the questions in this area are built to.

Why this differs from the entry-level exam

In the Department's entry-level Law Enforcement Officer guide, the situational judgment section prints no correct answer beside its sample responses and tells candidates that the same effectiveness rating may apply to more than one. There is nothing published to teach against there, and RankHigh does not coach it.

Here the opposite is true, and it is the reason this subject area is prepared at all.

Sources

Related guides