Self-perceptions of first-level supervisors compared with upper-management personnel and with operative line workers

Abstract

"The self-perceptions of 172 first-level supervisors were compared to those of 291 upper-management individuals and to 320 operative line workers. Ss were employed by a wide variety of industrial and business organizations, with the self-descriptions being obtained by administration of a 64-item forced-choice adjective check list. The items that differentiated between supervisors and upper-management personnel tend to show that foremen view themselves as more conservative and cautious individuals in comparison with those above them in management. When supervisors' self-descriptions are compared with the self-descriptions of operative line workers, similar results occur; supervisors appear to view themselves as more careful and restrained individuals than do operative workers." No consistent trend appears in self-perceptions from upper-level managers to supervisors to line workers; instead, "supervisors' self-perceptions seem to show that these men are a group different in somewhat the same way from both those above them and those below them in the organizational hierarchy." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)