VP, Director or Manager - Management By Walking Around (MBWA)?

What percentage of your time do you Manage by Walking Around?

  • 100 - 80% of the time

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • 60 to 79% of the time

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • 40 to 59% of the time

    Votes: 5 35.7%
  • 20 to 39% of the time

    Votes: 6 42.9%
  • 1 to 19% of the time

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • I don't

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .

psyched1

Involved In Discussions
#21
I watched a demonstration not too long ago where a doctor specialist in Miami walked another doctor on a cruise ship in the South Atlantic through a relatively tricky procedure (simulated) via webcam and microphones over a high speed satellite connection. How difficult would it be to add the extra peripherals to have similar capability in a corporate setting already rigged with high speed WIFI? Manager calls up from office or across the world and says, "Hey Joe, it's me, John Boss. Have you got time to talk and show me around your area? pick up the WIFI webcam and microphone and lets go talk to the folks and see what's happening so I can get some feedback straight from them."

Nobody says the worker's view of the boss has to be much more than on an ipod screen or vice versa, but it is technically feasible now. If a situation arises during the tour, there's always time for heavy duty follow up. Remember, MBWA is essentially two things:
(1) a goodwill tour and
(2) an information-gathering tool (one of several in a manager's kit, not least of which is an internal audit by a dispassionate team, reporting facts, not accusations for their enemies nor attaboys for their friends.)

I hate to say I completely disagree.

If my boss asked me to show him through web cam our manufacturing area/process I would show him the best of all things as most employees would. How much information will you get from a staged performance?

MBWA is an attempt for an personal interaction between a Manager and and Employee usually on the employees level. Where they work and are comfortable. You will miss a lot of information by I-podding it in since people will take a more formal approach to this type of communication.

In manufacturing we only succeed through the people that work for us regardless of the number of robots and cameras we employee to replace individuals.
 
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k3nny

Periodic Visitor
#22
I chuckled at Scott K response regarding the road to hell is paved by good intentions. I also acknowledged the response from Wes regarding less interactions are consistent with society. In addition, a few other responses regarding proximity to employees.

I send most of my time in prevention mode - meaning putting the feelers out and looking for challenges.

I have a saying that most people don't come to work to do a poor job. Of all the problems that I deal with, most are related to poor communication.

If I was to judge my own performance regarding issues vs. communication, the jobs (we are a job shop) we planned for and communicated with the customer and communicated with the shop have less overall issues and are more efficient (reminded myself to put that to paper).

However, much of this communication is direct face-to-face with demonstration if necessary. That is a luxury for me to be on-site.

If you are not on-site, the challenges must be immense, because every communication transaction must not only be simple and concise, but effective. One of the skills that I have, shared by many others, is to send a message and determine whether it has been received. This is primarily visual for me - hence the poll MBWA = Face time. However, with the physical separation of "plant" and "manager" how can you be sure the message has been received (and hopefully before a catastrophic event hasn't taken place to inform you that your message was not effective...?)

In a society where we are communicating less it seems every transaction becomes more and more important.
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#23
I hate to say I completely disagree.

If my boss asked me to show him through web cam our manufacturing area/process I would show him the best of all things as most employees would. How much information will you get from a staged performance?

MBWA is an attempt for an personal interaction between a Manager and and Employee usually on the employees level. Where they work and are comfortable. You will miss a lot of information by I-podding it in since people will take a more formal approach to this type of communication.

In manufacturing we only succeed through the people that work for us regardless of the number of robots and cameras we employee to replace individuals.
I note your profession in your byline signature. I agree with your premise - face time is vital, more personal, and more effective - and remote cameras are a poor substitute, but I also think that using all technology and means is useful. More and more companies already have remotely accessible cameras that can be and are monitored remotely.

However, if a subordinate purposefully witheld information from his boss (in the hypothetical scenario described), after a couple of those incidents, a good boss should have him busted back to working Joe for a couple weeks. Communication is vital, and sobordinates must be taught to be open and honest. But, I agree, we need to select the best tools.
 

k3nny

Periodic Visitor
#24
I note your profession in your byline signature. I agree with your premise - face time is vital, more personal, and more effective - and remote cameras are a poor substitute, but I also think that using all technology and means is useful. More and more companies already have remotely accessible cameras that can be and are monitored remotely.

However, if a subordinate purposefully witheld information from his boss (in the hypothetical scenario described), after a couple of those incidents, a good boss should have him busted back to working Joe for a couple weeks. Communication is vital, and sobordinates must be taught to be open and honest. But, I agree, we need to select the best tools.
This is a fundamental debate based on how the camera is to be used. The premise is to focus on manufacturing. However, most of the errors that I have encountered are NOT manufacturing related. Poor project planning, poor supply chain preparation, poor quality management, and No Leadership vision or direction (what business are we in?) have all led to the premise that manufacturing is in error. Often manufacturing compensates for these inadequacies.

The only question that I ask is "Are you okay with a camera at your back watching your activities?" I'm not.
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#25
This is a fundamental debate based on how the camera is to be used. The premise is to focus on manufacturing. However, most of the errors that I have encountered are NOT manufacturing related. Poor project planning, poor supply chain preparation, poor quality management, and No Leadership vision or direction (what business are we in?) have all led to the premise that manufacturing is in error. Often manufacturing compensates for these inadequacies.

The only question that I ask is "Are you okay with a camera at your back watching your activities?" I'm not.
I agree - lack of Leadership is a fundamental, root problem. Management makes the errors and ommisions, but they manifest on the shop floor, so it looks like a manufacturing problem. Often, the causes are not on the floor.

At the same time, cameras are here to stay. Prices are low, so more are coming all the time. Partly for security, but they are finding management purposes as well. So, we might as well begin to think about how to use the cameras to everyone's benefit.
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#27
To prevent me from prematurely drawing conclusions -

Can you offer a few examples of effective ways in using cameras?
We're kind of hijacking this thread, but briefly:

Security is obviously the main use.

But, now that they are able to be easily viewed on the internet, I see more and more supervisors, managers and production technicians logging on at home in the evening to have a look at things.

I see Corp. executives logging in to observe plants from time to time.

I see cameras being mounted in certain problem areas to observe the process more closely.

Cameras and video tape are used to document employees goofing off on company time, (drugs, sex, horseplay, etc.), to substantiate discipline actions.

My favorite example are "lights out" off-shift operations, where a technician can monitor problem alarms during an offshift, and decide whether a trip to the plant is necessary.

Teleconference business meetings rather than traveling so much.

High-speed video to analyze process failures.

We will continue to invent new uses, as the digital and remote capabilities become more common.
 
J

Jimmy the Brit

#28
I see cameras being mounted in certain problem areas to observe the process more closely.

Cameras and video tape are used to document employees goofing off on company time, (drugs, sex, horseplay, etc.), to substantiate discipline actions.
Did anyone see this on the BBC website today? Not content with using cameras to track employee behaviour, the thought police come one step closer to reality!

This kind of early warning of an imminent loss of concentration is probably useful, but think of the possible abuses - linking the device to an "attention bonus", ..... an electric shock device.... performance management........
More fuel for my already unhealthy paranoia,:nope:

Jimmy
 
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