PSSLC- Supervision

Introduction to Completed Staff Work

Dr. Corazon B. Floresca

Virtual Classroom Rules

1. Mute yourself except when you have the floor.

2. Raise your hand virtually for permission to speak.
(One person talks at a time.)
3. Keep your video on for attendance purposes.
4. Avoid distracting backgrounds or actions.
5.  Encourage each other with appropriate response
emoji.
LEARNING OUTCOMES

 1. Define what completed staff work is;

 2. Demonstrate understanding on the importance of
completed staff work in an organization;
 3. Appreciate the essence of completed staff work and its
capacity to solve problems;
 4. Recognize the role of supervisor and members to
completed staff works;
 5. Be able to integrate and write project proposals;
 6. develop an understanding about project
conceptualization; and
 7. Identify the advantages and disadvantages in
conceptualization of project.
Five to ten minutes – Exercise:

 Share to us your expectation/ insights on the role

of supervisor and the role of staffs in an
organization when solving a problem.
What is Completed Staff Work?
 “Completed Staff Work” is the study of a problem, and
presentation of a solution, by a staff officer, in such form
that all that remains to be done on the part of the head of
the staff division, or the commander, is to indicate his
approval or disapproval of the completed action; a
technique that aims to reduce the number of times people
dump problems on others.
 They explain a meaning for CSW (Completed Staff Work),
list four stages, and discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of the approach to both Managers and
Subordinates.
 CSW (Completed Staff Work) applies to that area of a
person’s job where the person does NOT have the right
to make decisions and implement them.
 The words “completed action” are emphasized because
the more difficult the problem is, the more the tendency
is to present the problem to the chief in piece-meal
fashion.
 It is your duty as a staff officer to work out the details. You
should not consult your chief in the determination of those
details, no matter how perplexing they may be.
 You may and should consult other staff officers. The
product, whether it involves the pronouncement of a new
policy or effects an established one, should, when
presented to the chief for approval or disapproval, be
worked out in finished form.
Role of Supervisors or Manager
 Clearly state the problem
 Set limits and establish deadlines
 Make one person or team ream responsible
 Provide advice and guidance
 Be available for discussions
 Monitor and provide oversight
 Share feedback and results
Role of an Analyst or staff
 Identifies, defines and/ or explores problem
 Develops a unique problem or action plan
 Performs research and analysis leveraging credible source
 Identifies alternative solutions and options

Analytical Work
 Conducting or coordinating an event or project
 Providing total program evaluation (staffing, fiscal, audits for
program area)
 Reviewing legislation or analyzing proposed law changes to
describe or outline impacts
Analytical Competencies
 Analytical Thinking
 Applies technology to tasks
 Communication
 Creative Thinking
 Teamwork
 Ethics and Integrity
 Personal accountability
 Flexibility
Seven steps of Completed Staff Work
 Define the problem or scope of issue
 Gather information and data
 Organize Data and findings
 Analyze the information and data
 Generate alternative solutions
 Identify recommended solutions or preferred
alternatives
 Write the recommendation
Advantages to Managers
 Managers receive information on the decision-making
ability of their Subordinates without the risk of having a
Subordinate taking some action.
 The recommended solution involves a decision by the
subordinates on what they think someone should do.
 Managers receive solutions that they may not have
thought of themselves. 
 However, to obtain new ideas, Managers should ensure
that their subordinates offer solutions and a
recommendation.
 Sometimes when Managers discuss solutions with
Subordinates, a definite risk exists that the Subordinate will
try to find out what the Managers want and support this
solution.
 Managers save time provided they agree with the
Subordinate’s recommendation.
 They merely have to understand the
problem/opportunity and say: “I agree”.
CSW should encourage higher-level Managers to
define more clearly the line between the areas in
which the person can
 (a) make a decision and
 (b) can only make recommendations.
Advantages to Subordinates or Staff People
 CSW allows Subordinates to demonstrate their
decision-making abilities.
 Subordinates obtain practice in making decisions.
The approach encourages them to look for, and
understand, the “larger picture”.
 They gain satisfaction provided their Manager
 (a) accepts their recommendation or
 (b) tells them something that allows them to believe
they made a good recommendation within the
limitations of their knowledge and experience.
 Subordinates
may spend more time working out a
recommendation as compared with just presenting
a problem.
 However often they will save time in discussions
with their Managers, especially when Managers
accept their recommendation.
 Introduction to Project Proposal
 A project proposal is a detailed description of a series
of activities aimed at solving a certain problem (NEBIU
2002). 
 A project proposal outlines your project core value
proposition.
 The intent of proposal is to grab stakeholders and
project sponsor’s attention.
 Once you have their attention, you are tasked to get
them excited with the project.
 Take note, getting in the heads of the of people you
are writing with the proposal is vital.
In order to be successful, the document should (REPOA 2007):
 provide a logical presentation of a research idea
 illustrate the significance of the idea
 show the idea's relationship to past actions
 articulate the activities for the proposed project

 Designing a project is a process consisting of two elements,

which are equally important and thus essential to forming a
solid project proposal:
 project planning (formulation of project elements)
 proposal writing (converting the plan into a project document)
 The project proposal should be a detailed and
directed manifestation of the project design.
 It is a means of presenting the project to the
outside world in a format that is immediately
recognized and accepted.
 From vision to proposal:
 The first step is to decide what the problem is and
develop a rough idea (vision) of how this could be
solved. This vision is then to be transformed into
an idea for a specific project proposal.
 A logical framework may help you to structure this
idea in a systematic way, and clearly define the aim,
purpose, outputs, activities, means, costs and the
methodologies for monitoring and evaluation, and
will thus from the basis for the preparation of the
narrative of the proposal.
 Remember that your idea may have to fit certain
requirements if you are answering to a call for
proposals, and that it must also fit local 
policies and frameworks.
 Identify potential funding options:
 It is necessary to find out in advance what sources of
funding are available, through governments, international
cooperation agencies, some international NGOs or private
foundations.

 Build a project proposal team (adapted from PHILIP et al.

2008):
 a leader will be needed to manage the proposal
development in an efficient way, and therefore it is
advisable to assign the lead role to one specific person.
 This person is then responsible for the coordination of the
overall proposal development, for communication with
potential funders and for making sure that all different
pieces of input are brought together in a consistent and
coherent text.
 Experts with more detailed technical knowledge might be
part of the team, or simply contribute to an initial
brainstorming session.
 Hold a kick-off meeting:
 It is helpful to discuss and develop the proposal in
a small team and share drafts with experts of all
relevant disciplines not just from within the
administration, but also from outside it.
 Input from stakeholders or other specialists with
different backgrounds helps bring in the necessary
expertise, but also a larger variety of ideas on how
to solve a particular issue and achieve the
previously agreed objectives.
“The requirements of content and format of
proposals differ noticeably from one sponsoring
agency to another. While some may provide their
own application forms to be filled, and others may
request on-line submission of proposals, others will
accept a proposal in any format as long as it features
the necessary information, and does not contradict
their conditions” (AUB 2010).
Questions to Consider when writing a proposal
There are several key operational and strategic questions
to consider, including:
 Triple Constraint: How can we address the 
triple constraint of scope, schedule and cost?
 Core Problem: What is the core problem we are trying to
solve?
 Resources: What resources will be available?
 Timeline: What timeline are we working within?
 Budget: What budget do we have to work with? How does
this affect our goal setting?
 Strategic Goals: What are the strategic goals of our client,
and how does our proposal align with those goals?
 Responsible Parties: Who are the people
responsible for the project? What are their goals
and motivations?
 ClientBenefit: How will the client benefit from the
completion of our project? What is their primary
goal?
 Project Deliverables & Success: How will
success of the project be measured? What
deliverables do our stakeholders expect to see at
closure?
Proposed Format for a Full Project Proposal (Adapted
from NEBIU 2002)
A full proposal should have the following parts:
 Title page: A title page should appear on proposals longer
than three to four pages. The title page should indicate the
project title, the name of the lead organization (and
potential partners, if any), the place and date of project
preparation and the name of the donor agency to whom the
proposal is addressed.
 Abstract/Executive Summary: Many readers lack the time
needed to read the whole project proposal. It is therefore
useful to insert a short project summary, an abstract or
executive summary.
The abstract should include:
 the problem statement,
 the project’s objectives,
 implementing organizations;
 key project activities; and
 potentially the total project budget.
Theoretically, the abstract should be compiled after the
relevant items already exist in their long form. For a small
project the abstract may not be longer than 10 lines. Bigger
projects often provide abstracts as long as two pages.
 Context: This part of the project describes the social,
economic, political and cultural background from which the
project is initiated. It should contain relevant data from
research carried out in the project planning phase or
collected from other sources.
 Project justification: A rationale should be provided for the
project. Due to its importance, this section is sometimes
divided into four or more sub-sections:
 Problem statement: The problem statement provides a
description of the specific problem(s) the project is trying to
solve, in order to “make a case” for the project. Furthermore,
the project proposal should point out why a certain issue is a
problem for the community or society as a whole, i.e. what
negative implications affect the target group. There should
also be an explanation of the needs of the target group that
appear as a direct consequence of the described problem.
 Priority needs: The needs of the target group that have
arisen as a direct negative impact of the problem should be
prioritized. An explanation as to how this decision was
reached must also be included.
 The proposed approach (type of intervention): The
project proposal should describe the strategy chosen for
solving the problem and precisely how it will lead to
improvement.

 The implementing organization: This section should

describe the capabilities of your organization by referring
to its capacity and previous project record. Describe why
exactly your organization is the most appropriate to run
the project, its connexion to the local community, the
constituency behind the organization and what kind of
expertise the organization can provide. If other partners
are involved in implementation provide some information
on their capacity as well.
 Project aims: This information should be obtained from
the Logframe Matrix, including the project goal (a
general aim that should explain what the core problem is
and why the project is important, i.e. what the long-term
benefits to the target group are), project purpose (that
should address the core problem in terms of the benefits
to be received by the project beneficiaries or target
group as a direct result of the project) and the outputs
(i.e. results describe the services or products to be
delivered to the intended beneficiaries).