Management by Walking Around as an Approach to Improving Organizational Excellence in Media Institutions: الإدارة بالتجوال كمدخل لتحسين التميّز المؤسسي في المؤسسات الإعلامية

The current study investigates the extent of the contribution of five facets of management by walking around (MBWA) — discovering facts, communication, motivation, creativity, and feedback — to improving organizational excellence in media institutions in the Sultanate of Oman. Especially as these institutions suffer from a lack of communication and interaction between their management and their employees. The descriptive analytical approach was used in this study. Using a simple random sampling technique, data were collected using a questionnaire from 260 respondents working as administrative staff in three media institutions: The Directorate General of Media, the Omani News Office in Dhofar Governorate, and the General Authority for Radio and Television. To test the study hypotheses, the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS software. The results revealed that, of the five facets investigated, three dimensions of MBWA (namely discovering facts, communication, and feedback) have a positive and significant impact on organizational excellence, while motivation and creativity do not appear to affect organizational excellence. This study, therefore recommends working to create a supportive environment for applying MBWA in media institutions and educating managers in these media institutions on the importance of MBWA through workshops, training courses, and conferences to reach excellence in these institutions.

Motivators of MBWA and Communicational Factors behind Them: A Case Study on a Korean Shipyard

This study was conducted with a team of senior managers at a Korean shipyard in an effort to elicit particular motivators for implementing management by walking around (MBWA). To identify the key motivators and communication issues associated with them, a theoretical framework was produced based on the key tensions of social psychology of communication and upward communication as well as modern organizational theories. For this qualitative research analysis, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with the executives; the data were then supplemented by five field observations during MBWAs at the shipyard. Coding frame was used to organize modal salient themes for thematic analysis. The organizational and individual motivators identified were then analyzed in-depth to elicit communicational factors underlying these motivators. While identifying 10 salient motivators as organizing themes, the research concludes that MBWA is a contingent management strategy intended to promote upward communication within organizations.

Diagnosis and Reconstruction on Institutional Culture of State-Owned Forestry Enterprises

This paper diagnoses institutional culture of state-owned forestry enterprises. Then, it reconstructs and fosters institutional culture for enterprises’ development to enhance the competitiveness of state-owned forestry enterprises. According to Denison Organizational Culture Model and Corporate-Culture Measurement and Assessment System of Redetac Consulting, this paper diagnoses seven dimensions and fifteen factors of institutional culture of state-owned forestry enterprises. This discovers that problems of leadership system, personnel system and management mode are more serious and indicates that business leaders should reconstruct those to form democratic decision-making, scientific training, performance assessment and other system and should adopt approaches of management by walking around, gather-style management, and people-oriented management.