Tom Bray Week 4 Carpenter
Tom Bray, Case Study
Allen Carpenter
MGMT455 Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control
January 31, 2015
Richard S. Raben, M.Ed.
Wentworth Institute Of Technology
1. What do you think is going on at the end of this case?
At the end of this case it is clear that Tom Bray has attempted to implement a managerial style, (MBWA) Management by wandering around, with his project team members. We learn this from Tom’s actions and past learning experiences. Tom had previously learned about (MBWA) in college while attending a business class on how to effectively manage people. While working for Atlantic Corp. his boss had mentioned that Tom needed to refine his people skills, and what better solution than MBWA. Upon his first and only attempt we learn from this case; his attempts were unsuccessful. Once Tom walked away and let his workers do their job, he realized that his employees are busy working and not conversing, once seeing this result Tom took it as a negative sight.
2. What should Tom do next and why?
Ultimately Tom’s employees are responsible for the installation of furniture and equipment; this is supposed to be mainly physical work that does not require much creativity or high level of communication among workers. Tom should assess the extent to which it is appropriate to interfere with the work of his employees as well as interpret his new managerial style (MBWA). It is important for a project manager to wander around often enough to create better connections with employees and become aware of what is going on, but at the same time not disturb people from their work and make them feel uncomfortable, stressed and controlled too much. Moving forward Tom needs to understand what (MBWA) is and how to go about it in his particular work setting; to get connected and stay connected, you need to walk around and talk to your team, work alongside them, ask questions, and be there to help when needed. Tom initially failed when he separated
Allen Carpenter
MGMT455 Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control
January 31, 2015
Richard S. Raben, M.Ed.
Wentworth Institute Of Technology
1. What do you think is going on at the end of this case?
At the end of this case it is clear that Tom Bray has attempted to implement a managerial style, (MBWA) Management by wandering around, with his project team members. We learn this from Tom’s actions and past learning experiences. Tom had previously learned about (MBWA) in college while attending a business class on how to effectively manage people. While working for Atlantic Corp. his boss had mentioned that Tom needed to refine his people skills, and what better solution than MBWA. Upon his first and only attempt we learn from this case; his attempts were unsuccessful. Once Tom walked away and let his workers do their job, he realized that his employees are busy working and not conversing, once seeing this result Tom took it as a negative sight.
2. What should Tom do next and why?
Ultimately Tom’s employees are responsible for the installation of furniture and equipment; this is supposed to be mainly physical work that does not require much creativity or high level of communication among workers. Tom should assess the extent to which it is appropriate to interfere with the work of his employees as well as interpret his new managerial style (MBWA). It is important for a project manager to wander around often enough to create better connections with employees and become aware of what is going on, but at the same time not disturb people from their work and make them feel uncomfortable, stressed and controlled too much. Moving forward Tom needs to understand what (MBWA) is and how to go about it in his particular work setting; to get connected and stay connected, you need to walk around and talk to your team, work alongside them, ask questions, and be there to help when needed. Tom initially failed when he separated
Cited: Gray, C., & Larson, E. (2008). Project management: The managerial process (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.