The Dangerous Game Played by 'Walking Around' Managers

Are highly visible managers the most effective at finding and fixing problems in their organizations?

Not necessarily, and in fact a "walking around" manager can stir up a hornet's nest of resentment if only token actions are taken to resolve the problems discovered.

This flies in the face of much practiced managerial advice, says Harvard Business School professor Anita Tucker. Her research paper on the subject, "Going Through the Motions: An Empirical Test of Management Involvement in Process Improvement," was written with Harvard professor Sara Singer and studies managers in health care settings.

"When we went into this study, I really believed the common theory behind improvement thinking, which is that you first go out and find a lot of issues," Tucker says. "You obviously can't address everything, so you pick one or two, fix them, and then explain why you weren't able to get to the others."

Managers need to be reminded, Tucker says in this interview with HBS Working Knowledge, that a symbolic presence on the front lines accomplishes little by itself.

"Yes, it's important to interact with employees, but understand that the most effective question to ask is, 'What can I do to make your job easier?' " she adds. "It's all about working with the unit manager to help people be more effective, not just looking for positive or negative actions."