THE EFFECTS OF SEVERAL STYLES OF SUPERVISION UPON THE PERFORMANCE OF INDIVIDUALS WERE EXPLORED IN A LABORATORY SETTING IN WHICH SELECTED ASPECTS OF SUPERVISION WERE EXPERIMENTALLY MANIPULATED. PARALLELING THE WORK SITUATION, THE EXPERIMENTAL SETTING INVOLVED A CHOICE OF TWO ACTIVITIES, EACH OF WHICH WAS REINFORCED. THE ROLE OF SUPERVISION WAS TO MAINTAIN PERFORMANCE IN TASK "A," THE LESS ATTRACTIVE TASK. THE TWO-TASK SETTING PERMITTED CONTROL OVER IMPORTANT FEATURES OF WORKER SUPERVISION. THE EFFECTS OF PENALTY MAGNITUDES WERE EXPLORED UNDER BOTH FIXED AND VARIABLE INTERVAL SCHEDULES OF SUPERVISION. THE DATA LED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT A CONSIDERABLE DEGREE OF CONTROL CAN BE OBTAINED OVER IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE WORK SETTING. THE FINDING THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF PERFORMANCE ON ONE TASK LED TO GREATER PERFORMANCE ON A SECOND TASK WAS AT VARIANCE WITH PREVIOUS RESEARCH. (GD)