Making the Most of The Working Poor

It takes a genius of a foreman to know how to work and supervise the unskilled and uneducated worker. First he must know where they are coming from and what motivates them. If he is that special kind of a supervisor he will lead his department to high production and good profits. He will also develop a team of dedicated and loyal workers.
The average worker of this sort has been jerked around and treated with disrespect since they were kids. They have short fuses and wear their pride on their sleeves and unless the right tone can be set early on there be fights on the job and anytime the boss comes across in a certain way they will tell him to;" take this job and shove it."
The management style for this kind of a work force is [ MBWA ] management by walking around.
Combine this with the one minute style and you can develop a unified workforce. First of all the new hire or the low skill worker cannot be left to themselves very long, especially in the first week or two.
This type of worker needs to have someone look over what they are doing every 10 minutes or so.
If things are going well, a nice well done, is very much appreciated. If not then to say heres how this should be done and this is the speed at which we expect you to work, smile and move on but double back within 5 minutes. As soon as possible on those 1 minute visits try to learn something about them. Talk about something as innocuous as the weather or dogs and hunting, don't get into his family life unless he brings it up, [ most of these folks want have a normal family life.]
Management must learn to be more tolerant of the uneducated worker. Remember they are not getting paid much and it takes awhile for a new guy to fit into the total work environment. By contrast a college grad will be hired in at three times his wages and will have all kinds of allowances made for them to adjust to the culture.
Today's work place often has what they call zero tolerance and that just won't work for this type of worker. It's unreasonable expectations, that keep so many workplaces in a state of constant turmoil.
Generally speaking it's only the front line boss that can cushion the rules and keep the work force moving in the right direction. May the force be with you!