MY UBC CHRONOCLES Steamed Kasooli Selection & the Shocker of the Burly Guy at the Reception! Folks, you have probably noticed that I am referring to the front office as a reception and not the corporate savvy front office and its manager a Receptionist rather than Front Office Assistant / (Manager?) . It was just that, a reception area- reception for practically everything and anything! I noticed some personnel were disposing off the cobs at random as others packed the yet eaten cobs in their handbags and brief cases!!! But, as it were, its under these circumstances that I was undergoing self induction to the organizational psychology and culture. The staff looked every inch mass mobilizers as I had read from the mission and vision statements pasted at the reception as I described in yesterdays missive. Then enter the outgoing commissioner. He was until my appointment to the UBC my boss (a board member) at the Broadcasting Council from where (I was its Legal Secretary) I was seconded to the UBC. He recognized me and exclaimed MD!! at which point everyone else froze, as though a Tinyefuza-like Generals presence had been announced (lol). I stood and exchanged pleasantries with the commissioner and only waved at the rest. I was led through the corridors unto the stair case to the first floor. The corridors were half lit with blinking florescent tubes. The marble floor had seen better days. The furniture of the offices was fine mahogany, but inscriptions on it read 1954 (the year Radio Uganda was established). I then proceeded on a tour of the entire complex with deeper shockers and some pleasant and not so pleasant surprises! I toured a world bank health information satellite communication system that would put the Rwandan Kalirisimbi Project in the league of Toyota Ipsum and the Ugandan one being a Bentley lol! Frankly!!! (I will later show in these series how my attempt to operationalize and fire up this system to increase bandwidth and internet speeds was failed - we talking 2005 when internet costs were prohibitively astronomical) . The was a world funded (on loan) project to the tune of 25 million USD complete with a satellite uplink and down link earth station and 10 substations in all regions of the country. I called the engineers and radio technicians to open all the stores and guess what I found? Unused top of the range radio transmitters and antennas as well as unused Mitsubishi generators (am now going into dangerous territory - this caused resignation of a minister and a conviction in the anti corruption court. I am a practicing lawyer for which reason I will respect our code of ethics that bars sub judice discussion - call me a coward if you so wish like Charles Rwomushana likes to lol) . You shall have noticed that I am referring to the first person my rather than we thus far in these series, this being so because the structures were yet established and filled. As such, I performed many duties and ended up micro-managing, an experiment in futility, I now believe, with hind sight! That was one of the first lessons in management I learnt. I will expound on this later in this later in these series. However, in summary- micro managing should only be attempted in exceptional circumstances and in moderation. As I walked the premises I kept having chance meetings with all categories of staff pressing palms in the process (Kaguta style- only that I had no kufia lol) . In the introductions, a peculiarity struck me- these persons were highly trained and exposed in their specialities - be they technical or administrative. Curiosity got the better part of me. I immediately set off to interrogate as to why this seemingly highly trained team wasnt delivering under Radio Uganda. I discovered and learnt that. ........ ..... Stay tuned for the details!
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 07:46:33 +0000
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