Medical technologist supervisors: are they prepared to manage?

A group of 330 supervisory technologists in California was surveyed to determine their level of responsibility for each of 21 tasks and the type of education they had received for each task. Their perceived effectiveness as managers was determined using the responses from five questions to construct an Effectiveness Perceived Index (EPI). Two groups were analyzed--those with high task responsibility and low education and those with high task responsibility and high education. For 17 of the 21 tasks, the correlation between low education and low perceived effectiveness was significant, using a .05 significance level. Promotion systems were also explored, and it was found that promotion into supervisory positions is still based mainly on technical competence, not managerial ability. The great need for management development and more enlightened promotion policies in California's laboratories is very much supported by this survey.