Dr. Lwanga Martin Mwanje
Mutagubya was that type of manager who loved keeping to his office. For him his schedule was simple. Once he got to his office he would lock himself up and wait for calls and memos to guide him. In case one had an issue he would call him to come for a meeting in his office. If the matter involved others he would ask them to join him in office too. After the day of responding to paper work, talking endlessly on the phone and meeting any person who had query with in his office, Mutagubya would call it a day, head back to his home, satisfied with a day’s work.
Now one day Mutagubya got the shock of his life. He opened the newspaper and found a damaging story how everything around the business campus was falling apart. He saw buildings caging yet the reports he was receiving constantly mentioned things were under good care. More importantly, a fraud had taken place- there was a workshop which had been funded and the reports he got all claimed it had taken place. Yet an audit had just discovered none had taken place. Everything had been so good on paper, but on the ground it was disaster.
This case is meant to highlight the dangers of managers who feel they can follow up on all their tasks behind desks. There are chained in their offices and follow up everything behind desks. There can be advantages here because one shows confidence in the system. Yet the point is that every system needs to be tested. No system is perfect. So often a manager may need to get away from his desk and go out to see what is happening in the real field.
Those of us who have been involved in farming know there are two types of farmers. There are phone farmers who rely simply on calling the workers in the field. In many instances, all the reports coming from the field are glossy. So often there is even demand for more cash to finish up this or other work. Yet, upon visiting, only to be frustrated because hardly anything is on the ground. Where has all the money gone!
The other type of farmer is one physically based on his farm. This farmer has the advantage of physically being on site and seeing what is taking place. Of course if the farmer just stays indoors even as he is on the farm he would have missed the point. The farmer needs to get out from time to time, get himself dirty, talk to his workers, see the plants and animals, and make an informed opinion based on evidence he has seen on the ground.
Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is a management philosophy that believes that you can’t supervise simply by sticking behind the desk. If anything you may not need so much of a desk. You need a good pair of legs to get out from time to time, talk to people and see what is really happening, other than merely relying on paper, which can simply tell just half of the story.
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