MacGregor.
Author: Carlisle, Arthur Elliott. Source: Organizational Dynamics v. 24 (Autumn 1995) p. 68-79 ISSN:
0090-2616 Number: BBPI95086560
No question about it–some managers are better organized than others, but how often have you run into a
really well organized manager–I mean really well organized? Not too often, I bet! In the course of my
work I run into hundreds of managers a year, yet I can think of only one who managed to be
superorganized–to the point where he had time to play an enormous amount of golf. As further proof of
his organization, consider this: About two years after I ran into MacGregor, which incidentally is not his
real name, he was promoted to the post of chief of operations at the corporate level–a fact I discovered
when I saw his face looking out at me from the financial section of my newspaper above the
announcement of his new executive assignment.
My encounter with MacGregor came about during the course of a study of the extent to which operating
managers actually use participative management techniques in their dealings with subordinates. The
problem with an inquiry of this nature is that nearly every manager either says that he uses a participative
approach (because isn’t that what every good manager does?) or maybe honestly believes that this is his
preferred modus operandi; in any event, what I was interested in was information about behavior, not
about beliefs (pious or otherwise). So I had to develop an indirect approach for use with the managers
being interviewed and follow it up with some questions directed at the subordinates they supervised.
Accordingly, I developed a questionnaire that I used in interviewing more than 100 managers in ten major
U.S. and Canadian firms. The first item on the questionnaire asked whether the interviewee held regular
meetings with his subordinates; if so, how often; and what was the nature of the matters discussed.
Finally, it tried to determine whether subordinates were offered the opportunity to initiate discussion and
actively participate in the decision-making process or were merely afforded the opportunity to hear about
decisions the boss had made.
MacGregor, who at the time was manager of one of the largest refineries in the country, was the last of
more than 100 managers I interviewed in the course of the study. Although the interview had been
scheduled in advance, the exact time had been left open; I was to call MacGregor at his office early in the
week that I would be in the vicinity and set up a specific date and time.
Here’s how that phone call went: The switchboard operator answered with the name of the refinery. When
I asked for MacGregor’s office, a male voice almost instantly said, “Hello.” I then asked for MacGregor,
whereupon the voice responded, “This is he.” I should have recognized at once that this was no ordinary
manager; he answered his own phone instantly, as though he had been waiting for it to ring. To my
question about when it would be convenient for me to come see him, he replied, “Anytime.” I said, “Would
today be all right?” His response was, “Today, tomorrow, or Wednesday would be okay; or you could
come Thursday, except don’t come between 10:00 a.m. and noon; or you could come Friday or next
week–anytime.” I replied feebly, “I just want to fit in with your plans.” Then he said, “You are just not
getting the message; it makes no difference to me when you come. I have nothing on the books except to
play golf and see you. Come in anytime–I don’t have to be notified in advance, so I’ll be seeing you one of
these days,” and then he hung up. I was dumbfounded. Here was a highly placed executive with
apparently nothing to do except play golf and talk to visitors.
I took MacGregor at his word and drove over immediately to see him without any further announcement
of my visit. MacGregor’s office, in a small building at one corner of the refinery, adjoined that of his
secretary–who, when I arrived, was knitting,…………….
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