The management by wandering around (MBWA), also management by walking around,"What is management by walking around (MBWA)", BusinessDictionary.com, 2010, webpage:

. refers to a style of business

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

which involves managers wandering around, in an unstructured manner, through their workplace(s) at random, to check with employees, equipment, or on the status of ongoing work. The emphasis is on the word ''wandering'' as an unplanned movement within a workplace, rather than a plan where employees expect a visit from managers at more systematic, pre-approved or scheduled times. The expected benefit is that a manager who employs this method, by

random sampling In this statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset or a statistical sample (termed sample for short) of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the who ...

of events or employee discussions, is more likely to facilitate improvements to the

morale Morale ( , ) is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value judgment of the willpower, ...

, sense of organizational purpose,

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

and

total quality management Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value." ...

of the organization, as compared to remaining in a specific office area and waiting for employees, or the delivery of status

report A report is a document or a statement that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are usually given in the form of written documen ...

s, to arrive there, as events warrant in the workplace.

History

The origin of the term has been traced to executives at

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

whose 1970s management practices involved walking around the facility. The general concept of managers making spontaneous visits to employees in the workplace has been a common practice in some other companies. The management consultants

Tom Peters Thomas J. Peters (born November 7, 1942), an American writer on business management , business-management practices, became best-known for his 1982 book ''In Search of Excellence'' (co-authored with Robert H. Waterman Jr.) Life and education ...

and Robert H. Waterman used the term in their 1982 book '' In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies''.

Effects

Some studies and anecdotal reports claim that MBWA has a positive impact on productivity by improving employee morale. It can also provide managers with insight into the daily problems that employees face.

History

Effects

See also

References

Further reading