Synergistic Supervision of Entry-Level SA Professionals: A Cross-Cultural Examination

Entry-level student affairs staff are the profession's future. Seasoned professionals within their networks along with their immediate supervisors have a responsibility to lay a strong supervisory foundation for them.

Although an important function within higher education, many professionals are ill prepared to provide high quality supervision, especially to entry-level and new professionals who require such a broad range of nurturing. Supervision has received little attention in the literature even though practitioners spend substantial time on it. Even less attention has been given to the potential impact of cross-cultural difference on the supervisory relationship.

Using a qualitative study conducted in 2007 as a baseline, along with recent follow-up research, valuable cross-cultural supervision practices using Winston and Creamer’s (1997) Synergistic Supervision Model have been identified and will contribute to the development of a revised model for supervisors to improve their supervision of entry-level professionals.