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YASMIN ÁKSU
Moreover, the German term ‘supervision’ — as it is used in this paper — usually
comes without any specification of field, such as ‘clinical’ or ‘counseling’. In
English the term ‘supervision’ alone would suggest a relationship between an
employee and his/her superior with a focus on leading, giving instructions,
evaluating the employee’s performance, and the like, while in German the term
‘supervision’ is used only to describe the specific counseling format that is
referred to in this article.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir Supervision (DGSv, ‘German Association for
Supervision’) views supervision as a “scientifically established and practice¬
oriented concept that is bound by ethics and used for counseling/consulting
individuals and organizations in work environments”? and that “addresses
questions, problems, areas of concern, conflicts and example cases of everyday
professional life.”* The functions and purposes of supervision are supposed to
increase self-reflection, relieve tension and pressure, and decrease burnout
risks by dealing with and actively solving intrapersonal and interpersonal
conflicts. Particularly the requirement of problem solving is quite controversial,
since most supervisors do not view themselves as paid problem-solvers but as
assistants in highlighting problems and the factors in their developments. On
the same note, stemming from the humanistic, emancipatory psychoanalytic/
psychotherapeutic movement of the mid-20" century* which strongly
influenced all ‘helping professions’ in Germany, there is a general and quite
explicit agreement that supervision is supposed to be socio-critical, taking into
account adverse workplace conditions according to systemic points of view. It
is also supposed to be loyal to the client’s goals and not the organization’s goals
(of performance enhancement or increased productivity) and to be particularly
closely tied to academic research, i.e. to research on supervision, psychotherapy
and coaching.’
“Supervision ist ein wissenschaftlich fundiertes, praxisorientiertes und ethisch gebundenes
Konzept für personen- und organisationsbezogene Beratung in der Arbeitswelt.” (Jörg
Fellermann - Annette Lentze - Manfred Leppers, Supervision, Ein Beitrag zur Qualifizierung
beruflicher Arbeit, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Supervision e.V. (ed.), Köln, 2012, 8.)
“In der Supervision werden Fragen, Problemfelder, Konflikte und Fallbeispiele aus dem
beruflichen Alltag thematisiert.” Ibid., 8.
4 Cf. Carl Rogers, Client-Centered Therapy, Cambridge Massachusetts, The Riverside Press, 1951.
Cf. Adrian Gaertner, Gruppensupervision. Theoriegeschichtliche und fallanalytische Unter¬
suchungen, Tübingen, Edition Diskord, 1999.
* 212 +