> If I run "tar -czf /backups/my-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tgz /work/dev/"
> from the command line, less the quotes, it runs just fine with the
> exception of the one message that says "tar: Removing leading `/' from
> member names", which I am not sure exactly what that means.

If filenames are stored in a tarball with leading slashes
(as in the first / in /work/dev/foo), then, by default, those files
can only be restored at the same absolute path.  Tar is letting
you know that it is storing filenames without the leading slash,
like work/dev/foo.

> If I create a shell script with two lines, as follows:

Bash expects lines to be terminated with the linefeed (newline, \n)
character.  It looks like your shell script has lines ending in
a CRLF (\r\n).

>   #!/bin/bash
> 
> /bin/tar -czf /backups/my-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tgz /work/dev/
> 
> 
> I get the following output:
> 
> : command not founde 2:

It's reporting that it can't find a command whose name is a single
carriage return (\r).

> /bin/tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
> /bin/tar: /work/dev/\r: Cannot stat: No such file or directory

Tar is telling you that it can't find /work/dev/\r.

> /bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
> : command not founde 4:
> 
> I am not sure why these errors.  Any help is much appreciated.

You need to remove the \r characters at the end of your lines.
Most likely your editor has a command or mode to do that.

-Dale