Aim and objective: An exploratory study was undertaken to determine the relationship between supervisor characteristics and overall satisfaction with supervisors as perceived by the employees of dental departments in hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: We conducted a survey that included six questions designed to measure the overall performance of a supervisor, as well as questions that were related to specific activities involving interactions between supervisors and employees indental departments of 30 hospitals that were randomly selected. At least 35 employees and one supervisor in each dental department were interviewed. Initially, six questionnaire items were chosen as possible explanatory variables. There are two broad types of variables included in this study. Variables X₁ (handles employee complaints), X₂ (does not allow for special treatment), and X₅ (too critical of poor performance) relate to direct interpersonal relationships, i.e., direct connection between the employee and supervisor, whereas variables X₃ (opportunity to learn new things) and X₄ (raises based on performance) are of a less personal nature and relate to the job as a whole, i.e., indirect relationship between employees and their supervisor. Variable X₆ (rate of advancing to better jobs) is not a direct evaluation of the supervisor, but serves more as a general measure of how the employee perceives his or her own progress in the hospital. Results: Using regression analysis, we observed that only X₁ (handles employee complaints) and X₃ (opportunity to learn new things) have an impact on response Y (overall rating of job being done by supervisor). There is a strong positive relationship between X₁ and Y and also between X₃ and Y. Conclusion: Therefore, when the supervisor listens and handles employee complaints and gives employees the opportunity to learn new things, the supervisor becomes favorable. Clinical significance: The relationship between supervisor characteristics and overall satisfaction with supervisors as perceived by the employees of dental departments has not been studied. An understanding of this relationship is valuable to improve employee–supervisor relations, which can improve the overall functioning of hospitals.