Do you know why political leaders are always so optimistic?
Don't you get it yet?
……it is because; he/she has some companions who always keep him/her obsessed with dreams/fantasy with their crushing ability of persuasion.
However, now, think of a typical CEO/top level or mid-level manager who loves to do things staying in office. What may happen to him/her?
Doesn't he rely most on his/her managers/secretaries? Won't he/she evaluate things through reports and the words of his/her managers/secretaries? Won't he/she live in the world of dreams/fantasy like the so-called political leaders? Won't the organization be bureaucratic?
If the answers were 'NO', you might be in the comfort zone. Unfortunately, the answers are 'YES'. So, there is a sheer possibility that a manager to be well equipped with the traits of typical politicians whenever he/she loves to work staying in office only. Tom Peters, a renowned business writer, in his excellent book named 'Thriving on Chaos' wrote "You are out of tune with the times if you are in the office more than one-third of the time"
Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is a style of management that involves a great deal of interactions between the managers and the subordinates. Managers not only work staying in the office, but also they walk around departments, talk to employees about ideas, observe how things go on, know the concerns and teach employees how to solve problems. Tom Peters, in his book named "A Passion for Excellence" wrote the leaders and managers who walk around should at least do three things:
n They should be listening to what people are saying;
n They should be using the opportunity to transmit the company's values face to face;
n They should be prepared and able to give people on-the-spot help.
The benefits of MBWA are increase in the speed of work, clarity in instructions, improvement in the relationship between managers and subordinates. W. Edwards Deming once said that "If you wait for people to come to you, you'll only get small problems. You must go and find them. The big problems are where people don't realize they have one in the first place". Indeed, MBWA brings a great improvement in productivity. Some companies like Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, PepsiCo, Lucas Film, Corning Glass, 3M, Disney and Wal-Mart has been practicing MBWA and reaping the benefits of this management style.
MBWA is not necessarily practised formally; rather, it should be informal. The reason is, employees may not take it positively if it is practised formally. They may think that managers are spying unnecessarily. If it so happens, managers can't beget the supposed benefits of MBWA. Macho managers are greatly unfit for practising this style. The lucrative part of this management style is the 'ideas' you get from the face to face interactions with people. A sage manager can pick the good ideas and make those happen.
The writer is a Senior Executive at Grameen Communications. monir.bhuiyan@outlook.com
