Organisation’s leadership is a significant factor and an invaluable tool to have in the modern fast evolving business environment. Among them there is one that has attracted interest of managers – management by walking around (MBWA). This approach entails that leaders move from one workplace to another to engage with the employees, assess workplace conditions and collect information on the spot.
This article explores the benefits of MBWA management by walking around, what other forms it takes, and how it helps create a trusting organisation.
Management by walking around is a concept of management whereby the managers undertake to move around the workplace to locate and interact with the employees in their working place. It provides an environment that covers a direct, organisational base that fosters interpersonal and informal communication between the management and the workers.
Sometimes referred to as walking around management or managing by walking around, this approach fosters more use of personal interface as well as increase efficiency as the leaders can gather as to what is going on in the organisation.
The essence of managing by walking around lies in its simplicity: monitoring, listening to what they have to say, or even carrying out regular interaction with them. This concept, also known as management by wandering, is not limited to discrete meetings or report presentations, but instead endeavours to create a constant communication and problem-solving environment.
When managers perform management by walk around, they create a perception that they care for their workers. Subordinates are recognised and appreciated when their superiors take time to listen to them and try to help them with their struggles at the workplace. This is the essence of management wandering around because casual conversations are likely to create more solutions and outcomes in the shortest time possible.
In this way, managers practicing walk around management can recognise pre-emerging problems at a given workplace and thus ensure that their work environment becomes more preventive and adaptive. By efficiently adopting MBWA management, the leaders can address problems directly, retaining the employees’ satisfaction and improving the performance of the entire team.
Management by walk around is not complicated in any way but it does demand dedication. Here are a few tips to effectively implement managing by wandering around in your organisation:
As for the visibility part, leaders should make sure they appear where it does not seem forced. The Management walking around is most effective when employees are free to approach their managers.
The best practice of manage by walking around is to listen to what employees are communicating to us and responding to them.
Manage by walk around should not be done occasionally but as a natural way of sustaining real communication.
Some of the benefits of using Management by walking includes increased leadership presence, communication, problem solving and trust. Through routine use of management by walking, leaders can ensure that company employees are more productive and the organisation is sensitive to the workers’ needs.
An advantage of management by wandering around is that it increases the visibility of leadership. The managers can be easily noted to be engaged, which makes the employees see that they are involved.
Management by walking about discussions can also lead to rather frank and relaxed conversation which is highly unlikely to be misconstrued.
Walk around management also enhances the possibility to address problems at the spot and makes the company more flexible.
Regarding the management by wandering around activities, employees follow the instructions of the leaders in good faith as it demonstrates concern in their work.
While MBWA provides many advantages, it also presents several potential challenges that leaders need to navigate effectively:
Depending on the organisational culture some employees may feel uncomfortable with managers around them possibly perceiving it as micromanagement.
Managers must be careful not to drift over to micro-management. Sustainable motivating factors should replace the obsession of supervision and monitoring and bring about more social accountability among organisational members.
Carrying out MBWA can be time consuming, especially when working in a large company, so the managers must spend more time communicating with different departments or teams.
As MBWA is carried out informally at the workplace, the feedback received may be uncoordinated. In the absence of post-implementation interaction mechanisms some of the information that could be gathered from these interactions may not be captured or utilised.
Even though management by wandering around MBWA has many advantages, there are some disadvantages. One issue is that certain employees may not like managers coming into their workspace as often. In order to prevent this, managers should focus on making their presence encouraging rather than judgemental.
Additionally, managing by walking around can be done with a balance while the manager is actively circulating around the workplace space. Managers should thus avoid being overly involved in their team’s work, but instead facilitate the engagement of everyone to do their best.
Management by walking around is a unique form of management that enhances organisational communication between the management and employees. If adopted well, walking around management is instrumental in enhancing a leadership’s ability to relate to their employees, enhance communication and adaptability. Thus, the next time you find yourself in an office environment, do not shy away from trying to manage by wandering around – it all helps.
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What is management by walking around activities?
MBWA stands for Management by Walking Around which means getting out of the office and walking around the workplace interacting with employees casually. These include casual talk with employees, casual project follows up, empathising with employees, and group discussions.
Is management by walking around effective?
Yes, Management by Walking Around is considered to be effective as it ensures that the managers keep in touch with their subordinates, thus increasing the level of trust; besides, the process helps to reveal possible problems as early as possible. It fosters a less bureaucratic workplace, solves simple issues almost instantaneously and makes the staff feel valued due to engagements by the management.
What are the three activities of management by walking around?
The three key activities of MBWA are:
Listening: Being involved in conversations with employees to listen to their input regarding some matter.
Observing: Supervising the daily processes in organisations and identifying any mismanagement or any gap in the processes of an organisation.
Engaging: Providing suggestions, motivation, or feedback while making casual talk with employees.
What are the benefits of management by walking around?
The advantages of MBWA include communication between the management and staff, real time feedback thus more problems solved through feedback, employees are motivated, and morale is improved, the management gets more insight of daily operations, thus making informed decisions. It also enhances trust in individuals and creates a healthy working environment in the process.