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 CHAPTER 6

MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING

CHAPTER OUTLINE
New Manager Self-Test: How Do You Make Decisions?
I. Types of Decisions and Problems
A. Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions
B. Facing Certainty and Uncertainty
New Manager Self-Test: Intolerance of Ambiguity
II. Decision-Making Models
A. The Ideal, Rational Model
B. How Managers Actually Make Decisions
C. The Political Model
III. Decision-Making Steps
A. Recognition of Decision Requirement
B. Diagnosis and Analysis of Causes
C. Development of Alternatives
D. Selection of the Desired Alternative
E. Implementation of the Chosen Alternative
F. Evaluation and Feedback
IV. Personal Decision Framework
V. Why Do Managers Make Bad Decisions?
VI. Innovative Decision Making
A. Start with Brainstorming
B. Use Hard Evidence
C. Engage in Rigorous Debate
D. Avoid Groupthink
E. Know When to Bail
F. Do a Postmortem

ANNOTATED LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Explain why decision making is an important component of good management.

Every organization grows, prospers, or fails as a result of decisions made by its managers.
Managers are often referred to as decision makers. Good decision making is a vital part of good
management. Decisions determine how the organization solves its problems, allocates resources,
and accomplishes its objectives. Decision making is not easy. It must be done amid
ever-changing factors, unclear information, and conflicting points of view. Plans and strategies
are arrived at through decision making. The better the decision making, the better the strategic
planning.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

2. Discuss the difference between programmed and nonprogrammed decisions and the decision
characteristics of certainty and uncertainty.

Programmed decisions involve situations that have occurred often enough to enable decision
rules to be developed and applied in the future. Once managers formulate decision rules,
subordinates and others can make the decision, freeing managers for other tasks.

Nonprogrammed decisions are made in response to situations that are unique, are poorly defined
and largely unstructured, and have important consequences for the organization. Many
nonprogrammed decisions involve strategic planning because uncertainty is great and decisions
are complex.

Every decision situation can be organized on a scale according to the availability of information
and the possibility of failure. Certainty means that all the information the decision maker needs
is fully available. However, few decisions are certain in the real world. Most contain some
uncertainty. Uncertainty means that managers know which goals they wish to achieve, but
information about alternatives and future events is incomplete.

3. Describe the ideal, rational model of decision making and the political model of decision
making.

The classical model of decision making is considered to be normative, which means it defines
how a decision maker should make decisions. It is based on rational economic assumptions and
manager beliefs about what ideal decision making should be. It does not describe how managers
actually make decisions so much as it provides guidelines on how to reach an ideal outcome for
the organization. The classical model is most valuable when applied to programmed decisions
and to decisions characterized by certainty or risk because information is available and
probabilities can be calculated. The classical model is often associated with high performance
for organizations in stable environments.

The political model of decision making is useful for making nonprogrammed decisions when
conditions are uncertain, information is limited, and managers may disagree about what goals to
pursue or what course of action to take. The political model closely resembles the real
environment in which most managers and decision makers operate. Managers often engage in
coalition building for making complex organizational decisions. Coalition building is the
process of forming alliances among managers. The inability of managers to build coalitions
often makes it difficult or impossible for managers to get their decisions implemented. This
model is associated with high performance in unstable environments in which decisions must be
made rapidly and under more difficult conditions.

4. Explain the process by which managers actually make decisions in the real world.

The administrative model describes how managers actually make decisions such as those
characterized by nonprogrammed decisions, uncertainty, and ambiguity. The administrative
model is considered to be descriptive. It assumes that managers do not have the time or
resources to make the optimal decision and therefore will be satisfied with the first decision that
meets the minimal criteria. Intuition based on past practice and experience is often used in this
model to make decisions. The application of the administrative model has been associated with
© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

high performance in unstable environments in which decisions must be made rapidly and under
more difficult conditions.

5. Identify the six steps used in managerial decision making.

Whether a decision is programmed or nonprogrammed, and regardless the manager follows the
classical, political, or administrative model of decision making, six steps typically are associated
with effective decision-making processes. These six steps are:
• recognition of decision requirement;
• diagnosis and analysis of causes;
• development of alternatives;
• selection of desired alternative;
• implementation of chosen alternative; and
• evaluation and feedback.

6. Describe four personal decision styles used by managers, and explain the biases that
frequently cause managers to make bad decisions.

The directive style is used by people who prefer simple, clear-cut solutions to problems.
Managers with an analytical style like to consider complex solutions based on as much data as
they can gather. People who tend toward a conceptual style also like to consider a broad amount
of information. The behavioral style is characterized by having a deep concern for others as
individuals.

Most bad decisions are errors in judgment that originate in the human mind’s limited capacity
and in the natural biases managers display during decision making. Awareness of the following
six biases can help managers make more enlightened choices:

Being influenced by initial impressions. The mind often gives disproportionate weight to the
first information it receives when considering decisions. These initial impressions act as an
anchor to subsequent thoughts and judgments. Past events and trends also act as anchors. Giving
too much weight to the past can lead to poor forecasts and misguided decisions.

Justifying past decisions. People don’t like to make mistakes, so they continue to support a
flawed decision in an effort to justify or correct the past.

Seeing what you want to see. People frequently look for information that supports their existing
instinct or point of view and avoid information that contradicts it, affecting where they look for
information as well as how they interpret the information they find.

Perpetuating the status quo. Managers may base decisions on what has worked in the past and
fail to explore new options, dig for additional information, or investigate new technologies.

Being influenced by emotions. Managers make better decision when—to the extent possible—
they take emotions out of the decision-making process.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

Overconfidence. Most people overestimate their ability to predict uncertain outcomes. Before
making a decision, managers have unrealistic expectations of their ability to understand the risk
and make the right choice.

7. Identify and explain innovative techniques for decision making, including brainstorming,
evidence-based management, and after-action reviews.

One of the best known techniques for rapidly generating creative alternatives is brainstorming.
Brainstorming uses a face-to-face interactive group to spontaneously suggest a broad range of
alternatives for decision making. The keys to effective brainstorming are that people can build
on one another’s ideas, all ideas are acceptable no matter how crazy they seem, and criticism and
evaluation are not allowed. The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible.

Evidence-based decision making is founded on a commitment to examining potential biases,

seeking and examining evidence with rigor, and making informed and intelligent decisions based
on the best available facts and evidence.

An important key to better decision making under conditions of uncertainty is to encourage a

rigorous debate of the issue at hand. Good managers recognize that constructive conflict based
on different points of view can focus a problem, clarify ideas, and stimulate creative thinking. It
can also create a broader understanding of issues and alternatives, and improve broader decision
quality. Two common ways to accomplish this are having a devil’s advocate to challenge the
group’s assumptions and assertions, and engaging in point-counterpoint by giving two subgroups
competing responsibilities.

Avoiding groupthink helps groups make better decisions. Groupthink refers to the tendency of
people in groups to suppress contrary opinions. When people slip into groupthink, the desire for
harmony outweighs concerns over decision quality. Group members emphasize maintaining
unity rather than realistically challenging problems and alternatives. Some disagreement and
conflict is much healthier than blind agreement.

Managers need to know when to bail; i.e., they must be able to discern when to pull the plug on
something that isn’t working. Escalating commitment means that organizations often continue to
invest time and money in a solution despite strong evidence that it is not appropriate to do so.
Managers might block or distort negative information because they don’t want to be responsible
for a bad decision, or might not accept that their decision is wrong.

To improve decision making people review the results of their decisions, they learn valuable
lessons for how to do things better in the future. A technique adopted from the U.S. Army, the
after-action review is a disciplined procedure whereby managers review the results of decisions
to evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and how to do things better.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

LECTURE OUTLINE
NEW MANAGER SELF-TEST: HOW DO YOU MAKE DECISIONS?

Most of us make decisions automatically and without realizing that people have diverse decision-
making behaviors, which they bring to management positions. New managers typically use a
different decision behavior than seasoned executives. They often start out with a more directive,
decisive, command-oriented behavior and gradually move toward more openness, diversity of
viewpoints, and interactions with others as they move up the hierarchy. This exercise helps
students determine whether they typically make decisions more like new managers or more like
senior managers.

I. TYPES OF DECISIONS AND PROBLEMS

A decision is a choice made from available alternatives. Decision making is the process of
identifying problems and opportunities and then resolving them. Decision making involves
effort both before and after the actual choice.

A. Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions

1. Programmed decisions involve situations that have occurred often enough to enable
decision rules to be developed and applied in the future. Once managers formulate
decision rules, subordinates and others can make decisions freeing managers for other
tasks.

2. Nonprogrammed decisions are made in response to situations that are unique,

poorly defined, largely unstructured, and likely to have important consequences for
the organization. Nonprogrammed decisions often involve strategic planning because
uncertainty is great and decisions are complex.

B. Facing Certainty and Uncertainty Exhibit 6.1

1. One difference between programmed and nonprogrammed decisions relates to the

degree of certainty or uncertainty that managers deal with in making the decision. In
a perfect world, managers have all the information necessary for making decisions.
In reality, some things are unknowable and some decisions will fail. Every decision
situation can be organized on a scale according to the availability of information and
the possibility of failure. The four positions on the scale are certainty, risk,
uncertainty, and ambiguity.

a. Certainty means that all the information the decision maker needs is fully
available. Few decisions are certain in the real world. Most contain risk or
uncertainty.

b. Risk means a decision has clear-cut objectives and good information available.
The future outcomes associated with each alternative are subject to failure;
however, enough information is available to allow the probability of a successful
outcome for each alternative to be estimated.
© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

c. Uncertainty means managers know which goals they wish to achieve, but
information about alternatives and future outcomes is incomplete. Factors that
may affect a decision, such as price, production costs, volume, or future interest
rates, are difficult to analyze and predict. Managers may have to come up with
creative approaches to alternatives and use personal judgment to determine which
alternative is best. Many decisions made under uncertainty do not produce the
desired results, but managers face uncertainty every day.

d. Ambiguity means that the goals to be achieved or the problem to be solved is

unclear, alternatives are difficult to define, and information about outcomes is
unavailable. High ambiguous circumstances can create a wicked decision
problem, with conflicts over goals and decision alternatives, rapidly changing
circumstances, fuzzy information, and unclear linkages among decision elements.
Managers have a difficult time coming to grips with the issues and must conjure
up reasonable scenarios in the absence of clear information. Ambiguity is by far
the most difficult decision situation.

Discussion Question #3: Explain the difference between risk and ambiguity. How might
decision making differ for a risky versus an ambiguous situation?

NOTES________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

NEW MANAGER SELF-TEST: INTOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY

This exercise helps students to determine how comfortable they are when dealing with
ambiguity.

II. DECISION-MAKING MODELS Exhibit 6.2

Decisions are usually made using the classical, the administrative, or the political decision
making model. The choice of model used depends on the manager’s personal preference,
whether the decision is programmed or nonprogrammed, and the degree of uncertainty
associated with the decision.

A. The Ideal, Rational Model

1. The classical model of decision making is based on assumptions that managers

should make logical decisions that will be in the organization’s best economic
interests. The four assumptions include:

a. The decision maker operates to accomplish goals that are known and agreed upon.

b. The decision maker strives for conditions of certainty, gathering complete

information.

c. Criteria for evaluating alternatives are known.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

d. The decision maker is rational and uses logic to assign values, order preferences,
evaluate alternatives, and make the decision to maximize goals.

2. The classical model is normative, defining how a decision maker should make
decisions, and providing guidelines for reaching an ideal outcome for the
organization. The value of the classical model has been to help decision makers be
more rational.

3. The classical model represents an “ideal” model of decision making that is often
unattainable by real people in real organizations. It works best when applied to
programmed decisions and to decisions characterized by uncertainty or risk because
relevant information is available and probabilities can be calculated.

Discussion Question #8: List some possible advantages and disadvantages to using computer
technology for managerial decision making.

NOTES________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

B. How Managers Actually Make Decisions

1. Bounded Rationality and Satisficing

a. The administrative model is considered to be descriptive, meaning that it

describes how managers actually make decisions rather than how they should
make them. Herbert A. Simon proposed two concepts instrumental in shaping the
administrative model: bounded rationality and satisficing.

b. Bounded rationality means people have limits, or boundaries, on the amount of

information they can process in making a decision. Because managers do not
have the time or cognitive ability to process complete information about complex
decisions, they must satisfice.

c. Satisficing means that decision makers choose the first solution alternative that
satisfies minimal decision criteria. Rather than pursue all alternatives, managers
will opt for the first solution that appears to solve the problem. The decision
maker cannot justify the time and expense of obtaining complete information.

d. According to the administrative model:

• Decision goals often are vague, conflicting, and lack consensus among
managers.

• Rational procedures are not always used, and when they are, they are confined
to a simplistic view of the problem that does not capture the complexity of
real events.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

• Managers’ searches for alternatives are limited because of human,

information, and resource constraints.

• Most managers settle for a satisficing rather than a maximizing solution.

2. Intuition

a. Intuition is another aspect of administrative decision making. Intuition

represents a quick apprehension of a decision situation based on past experience
but without conscious thought. Intuitive decision making is not arbitrary or
irrational because it is based on years of practice and hands-on experience.

b. Intuition begins with recognition; when people build a depth of experience and
knowledge in a particular area, the right decision often comes quickly and
effortlessly. Research on the validity of intuition in decision making is
inconclusive, suggesting that managers should take a cautious approach to it,
applying intuition only under the right circumstances and in the right way.

Discussion Question #9: Can intuition and evidence-based decision making coexist as valid
approaches within an organization? How might managers combine their intuition with a
rational, data-driven, evidence-based approach?

NOTES________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

C. The Political Model

1. This model is for nonprogrammed decisions when conditions are uncertain,

information is limited, and there is disagreement about the goals to pursue or the
action to take. Managers often engage in coalition building for making complex
organizational decisions. A coalition is an informal alliance among managers who
support a specific goal. Coalition building is the process of forming alliances among
managers. The inability of managers to build coalitions often makes it difficult or
impossible for them to get their decisions implemented. The political model closely
resembles the real environment in which most managers and decision makers operate.
The political model begins with four basic assumptions.

a. Organizations are made up of groups with diverse interests, goals, and values.

b. Information is ambiguous and incomplete.

c. Managers do not have time, resources, or mental capacity to identify all

dimensions of the problem and process all relevant information.

d. Managers engage in the push and pull of debate to decide goals and discuss
alternatives.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

2. Recent research has found rational, classical procedures to be associated with high
performance for organizations in stable environments. Administrative and political
decision-making procedures and intuition have been associated with high
performance in unstable environments when decisions must be made rapidly.

Discussion Question #4: Analyze three decisions you made over the past six months. Which of
these were programmed and which were nonprogrammed? Which model—the classical,
administrative, or political—best describes the approach you took to making each decision?

NOTES________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

III. DECISION-MAKING STEPS Exhibit 6.3

Whether a decision is programmed or nonprogrammed, and regardless of whether the manager

follows the classical, political or administrative model of decision making, six steps typically are
associated with effective decision-making processes. These six steps are:

A. Recognition of Decision Requirement

1. Managers confront a decision requirement in the form of either a problem or an

opportunity. A problem occurs when organizational accomplishment is less than
established goals. Some aspect of performance is unsatisfactory. An opportunity
exists when managers see potential accomplishments that exceed current goals.

2. Awareness of a problem or opportunity is the first step in the decision-making

sequence and requires surveillance of the internal and external environment for issues
that merit executive attention. Recognizing decision requirements is difficult because
it often means integrating information in novel ways.

B. Diagnosis and Analysis of Causes

1. Diagnosis is the step in which managers analyze the underlying causal factors
associated with the decision situation. Managers make a big mistake if they jump
right into generating alternatives without first exploring the cause of the problem
more deeply. Studies recommend that managers ask a series of questions to specify
underlying causes, including:

a. What is the state of disequilibrium affecting us?

b. When did it occur?

c. Where did it occur?

d. How did it occur?

e. To whom did it occur?

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

f. What is the urgency of the situation?

g. What is the interconnectedness of events?

h. What result came from which activity?

C. Development of Alternatives

1. Once the problem or opportunity has been recognized and analyzed, decision makers
begin to consider taking action. The next step is to develop possible alternative
solutions that will respond to the needs of the situation and correct the underlying
causes.

2. For a programmed decision, feasible alternatives are often available within the
organization’s rules and procedures. Nonprogrammed decisions require developing
new courses of action that will meet the needs of the company.

D. Selection of the Desired Alternative

1. The best alternative is one in which the solution best fits the firm’s overall goals and
values and achieves the desired results using the fewest resources. The manager tries
to select the choice with the least amount of risk and uncertainty. Making choices
also depends on managers’ personality factors and willingness to accept risk and
uncertainty. Risk propensity is the willingness to undertake risk with the
opportunity of gaining an increased payoff.

E. Implementation of Chosen Alternative Exhibit 6.4

1. The implementation stage involves the use of managerial, administrative, and

persuasive abilities to ensure that the chosen alternative is carried out. The success of
the chosen alternative depends on whether or not it is translated into action.
Sometimes an alternative never becomes reality because managers lack resources or
energy needed to make things happen. Communication, motivation, and leadership
skills must be used to see that the decision is carried out.

F. Evaluation and Feedback

1. In the evaluation step, decision makers gather information or feedback to determine

how well the decision was implemented and whether it achieved its goals. Feedback
is important because decision making is a continuous, never-ending process.
Feedback provides decision makers with information that can start a new decision
cycle.

2. By learning from decision mistakes, managers can turn problems into opportunities.

Discussion Question #1: You are a busy partner in a legal firm, and an experienced
administrative assistant complains of continued headaches, drowsiness, dry throat, and
© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

occasional spells of fatigue and flu. She tells you she believes that the air quality in the building
is bad and would like something to be done. How would you respond?

NOTES________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

IV. PERSONAL DECISION FRAMEWORK Exhibit 6.5

Not all managers make decisions in the same way. These differences can be explained by the
concept of personal decision styles. Personal decision style refers to differences between people
with respect to how they perceive problems and make decisions. Research has identified four
major decision styles.

• The directive style is used by people who prefer simple, clear-cut solutions to problems.
• With an analytical style, managers like to consider complex solutions based on as much data
as they can gather.
• People who tend toward a conceptual style also like to consider a broad amount of
information.
• The behavioral style is characterized by having a deep concern for others as individuals.

Most managers have a dominant decision style. The most effective managers are able to shift
among styles as needed to meet the situation.

Discussion Question #10: What do you think is your dominant decision style? Is your style
compatible with group techniques such as brainstorming and engaging in rigorous debate?
Discuss.

NOTES________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

V. WHY DO MANAGERS MAKE BAD DECISIONS?

Even the best manager will make mistakes, but managers can increase their percentage of good
decisions by understanding some of the factors that cause people to make bad ones. Most bad
decisions are errors in judgment that originate in the human mind’s limited capacity and in the
natural biases managers display during decision making. Awareness of the following six biases
can help managers make more enlightened choices:

• Being influenced by initial impressions. The mind often gives disproportionate weight to the
first information it receives when considering decisions. These initial impressions act as an
anchor to subsequent thoughts and judgments. Past events and trends also act as anchors.
Giving too much weight to the past can lead to poor forecasts and misguided decisions.

• Justifying past decisions. People don’t like to make mistakes, so they continue to support a
flawed decision in an effort to justify or correct the past.

© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

• Seeing what you want to see. People frequently look for information that supports their
existing instinct or point of view and avoid information that contradicts it, affecting where
they look for information as well as how they interpret the information they find.

• Perpetuating the status quo. Managers may base decisions on what has worked in the past
and fail to explore new options, dig for additional information, or investigate new
technologies.

• Being influenced by emotions. Managers make better decision when—to the extent
possible—they take emotions out of the decision-making process.

• Overconfidence. Most people overestimate their ability to predict uncertain outcomes. Before
making a decision, managers have unrealistic expectations of their ability to understand the
risk and make the right choice.

VI. INNOVATIVE DECISION MAKING

A. Start with Brainstorming

1. One of the best known techniques for rapidly generating creative alternatives is
brainstorming. Brainstorming uses a face-to-face group to spontaneously suggest a
broad range of alternatives for decision making. The keys to effective brainstorming
are that people can build on one another’s ideas, all ideas are acceptable no matter
how crazy they seem, and criticism and evaluation are not allowed. The goal is to
generate as many ideas as possible.

2. Electronic brainstorming, called brainwriting, brings people together in an

interactive group over a computer network. Recent studies show that electronic
brainstorming generates about 40 percent more ideas than individual brainstorming
alone and 25 to 200 percent more than groups.

B. Use Hard Evidence

1. Using evidence can help take emotion out of decision-making process, preventing
managers relying on faulty assumptions or point of view.

2. Evidence-based decision making means a commitment to make more informed and

intelligent decisions based on the best available facts and evidence. Managers should
be alert to potential biases, past assumptions, or intuitions and seek and exam the
evidence with rigor, thus making careful and thoughtful decision.

C. Engage in Rigorous Debate

An important key to better decision making under conditions of uncertainty is to

encourage a rigorous debate of the issue at hand. Good managers recognize that
constructive conflict based on different points of view can focus a problem, clarify ideas,
and stimulate creative thinking. It can also create a broader understanding of issues and
© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Managerial Decision Making •

alternatives, and improve broader decision quality. There are several ways to stimulate
rigorous debate.

a. One way is by ensuring diversity in terms of age and gender, functional area of
expertise, hierarchical level, and experience with the business.

b. Some groups assign a devil’s advocate, who has the role of challenging the
assumptions and assertions made by the group.

c. Another approach is to have group members develop as many alternatives as they

can as quickly as they can.

d. Another approach is technique called point-counterpoint, a technique in which

two subgroups assigned competing points of view. The two groups then develop
and exchange proposals and discuss the various options until they arrive at a
common set of understandings and recommendations.

D. Avoid Groupthink

Avoiding groupthink helps groups make better decisions. Groupthink refers to the
tendency of people in groups to suppress contrary opinions. When people slip into
groupthink, the desire for harmony outweighs concerns over decision quality. Group
members emphasize maintaining unity rather than realistically challenging problems and
alternatives. Some disagreement and conflict is much healthier than blind agreement.

E. Know When to Bail

In a fast-paced environment, good manager encourages risk taking and learning from
mistakes, it also teaches a person to know when to pull the plug on something that isn’t
working. Escalating commitment means that organizations often continue to invest
time and money in a solution despite strong evidence that it is not appropriate to do so.
Managers might block or distort negative information because they don’t want to be
responsible for a bad decision, or might not accept that their decision is wrong.

F. Do a Postmortem

To improve decision making, managers need to reflect and learn from every decision they
make.

1. A technique many companies have adopted from the U.S. Army to encourage
examination of the evidence and continuous learning is the after-action review, a
disciplined procedure whereby managers invest time to review the results of decision
on a regular basis and learn from them. After implementing the decision, managers
meet to evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and how to do things better. Many
problems are solved by trial and error.

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 Managerial Decision Making •

2. A similar technique was applied by managers at Lenovo called fu pan, which means
“replaying the chess board,’ reviewing every move to improve the next one.

Answers To End Of Chapter Discussion Questions

1. You are a busy partner in a legal firm and an experienced administrative assistant complains
of continued headaches, drowsiness, dry throat, and occasional spells of fatigue and flu. She
tells you she believes that the air quality in the building is bad and would like something to
be done. How would you respond?

Students should apply the decision-making steps to solve this problem. The first step is
recognition of decision requirement. The manager must determine if there truly is a problem
with the air quality that needs to be solved. Discussions with others and, if warranted, testing
the air quality should help make this determination. If a problem does indeed exist, the next
step is the diagnosis and analysis of the causes of the poor air quality. The testing may reveal
this. If needed, further tests by experts in the field should be made to determine the cause.
Once the cause has been determined, the development of alternatives to eliminate the cause
should be developed. The selection of desired alternatives is the next step during which the
risk must be considered and the pros and cons of each alternative must be weighed. After an
alternative has been chosen, the chosen alternative should be implemented. After an
appropriate time evaluation of the alternative should be made and feedback provided.

2. Managers at Gap Inc., a once- popular retail chain, are reported to have made a series of
decisions that hurt the company: they expanded so rapidly that the chain lost touch with
customers; they tried to copy the successful approach of rivals rather than charting their own
course; they cut quality to reduce costs; they shifted from one fashion approach to another as
each failed to appeal to customers, and so on. What techniques would you recommend Gap
managers use to improve the quality of their decisions?

Decision making is especially important to effectiveness because it underlies all manager

activity. Managers are faced with limited resources, competing demands, and a continuous
stream of problems and opportunities. As a result, managers make decisions every day—and
hence are often referred to as decision makers. They make decisions about virtually every
aspect of an organization including its strategy, structure, control systems, innovations, and
human resources. They must make decisions to perform the basic functions of planning,
organizing, motivating, and controlling. Managerial decision making ultimately determines
how well the organization solves its problems, allocates resources, and accomplishes its
objectives.

Some of the techniques that the managers of Gap can use to improve the quality of their
decisions may include:
a. Start with brainstorming
b. Use hard evidence
c. Engage in rigorous debate
d. Avoid groupthink
e. Know when to bail
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 Managerial Decision Making •

f. Do a postmortem

3. Explain the difference between risk and ambiguity. How might decision making differ for a
risky versus an ambiguous situation?

Risk means that the decision maker has most of the necessary information. The objectives of
the decision are clear-cut, and alternatives can be identified. However, the future outcome of
each alternative is not known for certain, although the probability of outcomes can be
calculated, which is the source of risk. Ambiguity means the almost complete absence of
information pertaining to a decision. Managers do not agree on the objectives to be achieved
by the decision, alternatives are difficult to find, and outcomes cannot be predicted.

Decision-making approaches differ considerably for each situation. For decisions under risk,
a rational, calculative approach is preferred. The managers’ responsibility is to obtain the
available information and run necessary computations in order to predict outcomes and select
the best alternative. Decisions under ambiguity are more difficult. In these cases managers
do not have sufficient information to perform computations. They must rely on personal
judgment and experience to define alternatives and to anticipate possible outcomes of each
alternative. Under ambiguity, managers have to take a chance and push ahead with
decisions, even though they have poor information and will be wrong a substantial
percentage of the time.

4. Analyze three decisions you made over the past six months. Which of these were
programmed and which were nonprogrammed? Which model—the classical, administrative,
or political—best describes the approach you took to making each decision?

A programmed decision would refer to a situation that has occurred often enough so that a
student can use past experience and similar decision rules over and over again. Programmed
decisions are considered routine. A nonprogrammed decision would refer to a novel,
unique, and largely unstructured decision situation that requires a student to search for
possible alternatives and information and to make a decision that has not been made
previously.

An example of a programmed decision might be where to go to lunch or where to park the

car. A nonprogrammed decision could be the choice of a major field of study, a decision that
the student may have made after taking aptitude tests and investigating a number of career
choices. Although the student may already be studying for the chosen career field, whether
the decision was correct still may not be perfectly clear.

The specific decisions students choose, and the decision-making processes they used, will
determine their answers to the last part of this question, but they should be able to explain
why they believe a particular model best describes their approach.

5. What opportunities and potential problems are posed by the formation of more than one
coalition within an organization, each one advocating a different direction or alternatives?
What steps can you take as a manager to make sure that dueling coalitions result in
constructive discussion rather than dissension?

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 Managerial Decision Making •

When more than one coalition forms within an organization, with each advocating a different
direction or alternative, there are significant opportunities for constructive dialogue and
enhanced decision making, but only if the coalitions are able to come together and work
toward a direction or alternative that both coalitions can support. If that does not happen, the
potential exists for serious fractures to develop among managers. The situation could
devolve into widespread backbiting and undermining of coworkers, which would lead to
substantial performance and morale problems in the organization.

If dueling coalitions develop over a single issue, relevant managers should immediately
begin working to bring the two (or more) coalitions together to work out a plan both can
accept. This may initially mean working with the coalitions individually to find common
ground that can later be emphasized in trying to work out an agreement. Once some
common ground is identified, the individual coalitions can be brought together to work out a
direction or alternative that both (all) coalitions can accept.

6. Can you think of a bad decision from your own school or work experience or from the recent
business or political news that was made in an effort to correct or justify a past decision? As
a new manager, how might you resist the urge to choose a decision alternative based on the
idea that it might correct or validate a previous decision?

Students’ descriptions of past bad decisions will obviously vary. As new managers, it will be
important for them to avoid making decisions based on the idea that they might correct or
validate previous decisions. This might be accomplished by first acknowledging that the
original decision was a mistake, which is difficult for people to do. However, once this
acknowledgment is made, managers can then move on to make decisions based on the facts
at hand rather than in an attempt to correct or validate previous decisions. Another way to
avoid making this mistake might be to have someone in the decision-making process tasked
with challenging the assumptions related to the current decision; i.e., to specifically raise the
question of whether the current decision is being made to justify some previous decision that
was in error.

7. Experts advise that most catastrophes in organizations result from a series of small problems
or mistakes. As a new, entry-level manager, how might you apply this understanding to help
your organization avoid making major mistakes?

Finding ways to compensate for inexperience in decision making is critical to identifying the
alternative most likely to succeed. A new, entry-level manager who fails to do so will soon
be marginalized or even fired as a result of making too many poor decisions. Such a person
simply does not have the requisite knowledge or wisdom to sort out the complex issues
involved in many managerial decisions.

New, entry-level managers can seek advice from a variety of coworkers as part of their
decision-making process. They can also try to research the many facets of the decision at
hand, including collecting information on how such decisions have been handled in the past.
One of the best ways to meet the challenge of inexperience is to find someone in the
organization who has substantial experience in the company and the industry who is willing
to serve as a mentor. A mentor can serve as a sounding board for the new manager, offering
suggestions for improvement of an idea or explaining why the idea should be dismissed
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 Managerial Decision Making •

altogether. Mentors have substantial wisdom that they can share with new managers to help
them “learn the ropes”, including learning the ropes of decision making.

8. List some possible advantages and disadvantages to using computer technology for
managerial decision making.

Advantages of using computers in making managerial decisions would be increased

accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of information to improve managerial decision making.
A disadvantage of using computers in managerial decision making is that inputting the wrong
data produces incorrect information that will be used in substantial managerial decisions.

9. Can intuition and evidence-based decision making coexist as valid approaches within an
organization? How might managers combine their intuition with a rational, data-driven,
evidence-based approach?

Intuition or a “gut” feeling, especially where it is forthcoming from experience, can be useful
in management decision making. When time is of the essence, intuition can be a valid
predictor of decision making. Individuals can use intuition to become more creative and risk
taking in making decisions. Intuition can be combined with a rational decision-making
approach to improve decision making. A rational approach is developing a decision-making
style that is based on more complete data. This approach, when utilized, develops criteria,
alternative options, evaluation of alternatives, and attempts to improve decision making
based on more complete data. This, in turn, minimizes risks and improves decision making
when combining intuition with a rational approach.

10. What do you think is your dominant decision style? Is your style compatible with group
techniques such as brainstorming and engaging in rigorous debate? Discuss.

Students’ responses will, of course, be very different. They should, however, demonstrate an
understanding of the various decision styles.

The directive style is used by people who prefer simple, clear-cut solutions to problems.
Managers who use this style often make decisions quickly because they do not like to deal
with a lot of information and may consider only one or two alternatives. People who prefer
the directive style generally are efficient and rational and prefer to rely on existing rules or
procedures for making decisions. These students may be more comfortable with jobs in
which the work is fairly regimented and where most decisions will be programmed decisions.

People with an analytical style like to consider complex solutions based on as much data as
they can gather. These individuals carefully consider alternatives and often base their
decisions on objective, rational data from management control systems and other sources.
They search for the best possible decision based on the information available. These students
may be more comfortable in highly technical jobs where large volumes of data can be
gathered and applied to the decision-making process.

People who tend toward a conceptual style also like to consider a broad amount of
information. However, they are more socially oriented than those with an analytical style and
like to talk to others about the problem and possible alternatives for solving it. Managers
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 Managerial Decision Making •

using a conceptual style consider many broad alternatives, rely on information from both
people and systems, and like to solve problems creatively. These students may be more
comfortable in jobs that involve many nonprogrammed decisions that require strong
conceptual skills.

The behavioral style is often the style adopted by managers having a deep concern for others
as individuals. Managers using this style like to talk to people one-on-one, understand their
feelings about the problem, and consider the effect of a given decision upon them. People
with a behavioral style usually are concerned with the personal development of others and
may make decisions that help others achieve their goals. These students may be more
comfortable in flatter, more participative organizations where employees are heavily
involved in decision making and are empowered to generate innovative solutions.

Apply Your Skills: Experiential Exercise

What’s Your Personal Decision Style?

Student responses will vary regarding their own decision-making style. For additional
information, one is encouraged to review decision-making styles in the chapter. Personal
decision style refers to differences among people with respect to how they perceive problems and
make decisions. A suggestion would be to discuss the four decision-making styles: directive,
analytical, conceptual, and behavioral.

The directive style is used by people who prefer simple, clear-cut solutions to problems.
Managers who use this style often make decisions quickly because they do not like to deal with a
lot of information and may consider only one or two alternatives. People who prefer the
directive style generally are efficient and rational and prefer to rely on existing rules or
procedures for making decisions.

People with an analytical style like to consider complex solutions based on as much data as they
can gather. These individuals carefully consider alternatives and often base their decisions on
objective, rational data from management control systems and other sources. They search for the
best possible decision based on the information available.

People who tend toward a conceptual style also like to consider a broad amount of information.
However, they are more socially oriented than those with an analytical style and like to talk to
others about the problem and possible alternatives for solving it. Managers using a conceptual
style consider many broad alternatives, rely on information from both people and systems, and
like to solve problems creatively.

The behavioral style is often the style adopted by managers having a deep concern for others as
individuals. Managers using this style like to talk to people one-on-one, understand their
feelings about the problem, and consider the effect of a given decision on them. People with a
behavioral style usually are concerned with the personal development of others and may make
decisions that help others achieve their goals.

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 Managerial Decision Making •

Apply Your Skills: Small Group Breakout

A New Approach to Making Decisions

Managers are typically effective at focusing on problems and diagnosing what is wrong and how
to fix it when they have to make a decision. A new approach to decision making known as
outcome-directed thinking focuses on future outcomes and possibilities rather than on the causes
of the problem.

This exercise asks students to think of problems they have in their lives at the present time and
write a brief summary of the problems, then answer four questions provided in the text. Finally,
students should share their answers to the questions in small groups.

Apply Your Skills: Ethical Dilemma

The No-Show Consultant

1. Give Carpenter a month’s notice and terminate. He’s known as a good consultant, so he
probably won’t have any trouble finding a new job, and you’ll avoid any further problems
associated with his emotional difficulties and his possible alcohol problem.

Option 1 is not the course of action to take. Alcoholism is not an uncommon disease, and it
can be treated; however, the urgency of this matter is the important factor. It is important to
recognize that Andrew can have a future with this organization if he seeks help. Acceptable
behavior is an important requirement of this job.

2. Let it slide. Missing the New York appointment is Carpenter’s first big mistake. He says he
is getting things under control, and you believe that he should be given a chance to get
himself back on track.

Option 2 is not desirable. Care must be taken and concerns expressed to Andrew. He is
beginning to develop a pattern of behavior. If the alcohol abuse continues, require him to
attend a treatment program or find another job. There should be an employee assistance
program to permit Andrew to get help and external counseling.

3. Let Carpenter know that you care about what he’s going through, but insist that he take a
short paid leave and get counseling to deal with his emotional difficulties and evaluate the
seriousness of his problems with alcohol. If the alcohol abuse continues, require him to
attend a treatment program or find another job.

This is probably the best course of action. Andrew needs support and help, but cannot
continue his present pattern of behavior.

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 Managerial Decision Making •

Apply Your Skills: Case for Critical Analysis

The Office

1. What mistakes do you think John Mitchell made with the way he solved the problem of
limited office space? Explain.

It seems obvious that John Mitchell settled for a satisficing rather than a maximizing solution for
the problem. His approach to decision making is based on the administrative model, which is
considered to be descriptive, meaning that it describes how managers actually make decisions
rather than how they should make them. The concept of bounded rationality and satisficing
shapes this model.

Bounded rationality means people have limits, or boundaries, on the amount of information they
can process in making a decision. Because managers do not have the time or cognitive ability to
process complete information about complex decisions, they must satisfice. Satisficing means
that decision makers choose the first solution alternative that satisfies minimal decision criteria.
Rather than pursue all alternatives, managers will opt for the first solution that appears to solve
the problem. The decision maker cannot justify the time and expense of obtaining complete
information.

Mitchell knew his decision would affect Acklen and her staff; in spite of which he ignored all the
factors and the complete information regarding the issue. He did not consider it important to
consult the matter with Acklen to pursue other possible alternatives.

2. What approach would you have used if you were Mitchell? Why?

The classical model of decision making would have been a better approach for Mitchell. This
model is considered to be normative, which means it defines how a decision maker should make
decisions. It is based on rational economic assumptions and manager beliefs about what ideal
decision making should be. It does not describe how managers actually make decisions so much
as it provides guidelines on how to reach an ideal outcome for the organization.

The classical model is most valuable when applied to programmed decisions and to decisions
characterized by certainty or risk because information is available and probabilities can be
calculated. The classical model is often associated with high performance for organizations in
stable environments. The four assumptions of this model include:
a. The decision maker operates to accomplish goals that are known and agreed upon.
b. The decision maker strives for conditions of certainty, gathering complete information.
c. Criteria for evaluating alternatives are known.
d. The decision maker is rational and uses logic to assign values, order preferences, evaluate
alternatives, and make the decision to maximize goals.

3. What are Krista Acklen’s options for responding to Mitchell’s decision? What should she do
now? Why?

Following are the possible ways in which Krista Acklen can respond to Mitchell’s decision:
a. Start with brainstorming
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 Managerial Decision Making •

b. Use hard evidence

c. Engage in rigorous debate
d. Avoid groupthink
e. Know when to bail
f. Do a postmortem

One of the best known techniques for rapidly generating creative alternatives is brainstorming,
which possibly could also be the best option for Acklen to pursue now in order to come up with a
solution. Brainstorming uses a face-to-face interactive group to spontaneously suggest a broad
range of alternatives for decision making. The keys to effective brainstorming are that people can
build on one another’s ideas, all ideas are acceptable no matter how crazy they seem, and
criticism and evaluation are not allowed. The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible.

On the Job Video Case Answers

Plant Fantasies

1. Did Plant Fantasies owner Teresa Carleo follow the rational decision-making process to
launch Plant Fantasies? Explain.

According to Carleo, the decision to quit her old job and start Plant Fantasies was characterized
by whim and emotion. Her process was not consistent with the rational decision making model.
She was emotionally upset at her former employer, and she had little experience with
horticulture or operating a business. Nevertheless, she made a choice: “I just made the decision, I
just went for it,” Carleo states. In the rational decision-making process, the decision maker
strives for conditions of certainty, gathers complete information, and evaluates all known
alternatives to ensure good results.

In real management settings, however, decision making can never purely rational due to time
constraints, limited knowledge of possible alternatives, bias, and human error. In addition,
people and groups encounter decision-related problem areas like groupthink, escalating
commitment, and uncertainty. In most decision making situations, people employ bounded
rationality and end up satisficing—making a satisfactory rather than optimal decision. Satisficing
causes managers to select the first acceptable alternative that meets minimal decision criteria,
even though better alternatives may exist.

2. List an example of a programmed decision at Plant Fantasies. Identify a nonprogrammed

decision at Plant Fantasies.

A programmed decision is a decision made in any situation that has occurred often enough to
enable decision rules to be developed and applied in the future. Programmed decisions tend to
involve simple routine matters for which a manager has a familiar set of options. One
programmed decision at Plant Fantasies is the daily process of maintaining healthy plants for
clients: a maintenance manager examines plants at client location, determines if the landscape
has a healthy or unhealthy garden condition, and sends a purchase order to Teresa Carleo for new
replacement plants. This routine activity is a core function of the Plant Fantasies service. Another
example of a programmed decision is discussed when Carleo says she selects tulips for a client
that has a long history of ordering and reordering the same plants and colors.

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 Managerial Decision Making •

A nonprogrammed decision is a decision made in any situation that is unique, unstructured,

unpredictable, or highly consequential. These decision situations involve complex challenges
that require creative solutions. A nonprogrammed decision at Plant Fantasies occurs whenever
Teresa Carleo has to collaborate with an outside landscape architect to install a garden. There are
many complicated and unknown factors that arise when working with an outside firm or
designer. As a result, a typical and routine garden installation may require creative thinking,
negotiation, and group consensus to get the job done.

3. How might managers at Plant Fantasies conduct the final evaluation stage of the decision-
making process when installing a new garden for a client?

Answers will vary, but maintenance teams can observe and track their progress during
installations. In addition, Teresa Carleo can conduct customer satisfaction surveys over a period
of months to ensure that clients remain satisfied with landscaping solutions. Evaluation and
feedback is an important part of the decision making process because feedback provides
managers with useful information that can precipitate a new decision cycle. If an evaluation
determines that a decision failed to meet its objectives, this information will stimulate a new
problem analysis and evaluation of alternatives.

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Other documents randomly have
different content
touched the water, backward and forward, with slow, monotonous
heaving, our little vessel swayed with the swaying rollers until
everybody on board felt sick and sorry. “This is comparatively a calm
day,” I was told: “you can’t possibly imagine from this what rolling
really is.” But I can imagine quite easily, and do not at all desire a
closer acquaintance with this restless Indian Ocean. Breakfast is a
moment of penance: little G—— is absolutely fainting from agonies
of sea-sickness, though he has borne all our South-Atlantic tossings
with perfect equanimity; and it is with real joy, that I hear the
lifeboat is alongside, and that the kind-hearted captain of the
Florence (how kind sailors are!) offers to take babies, nurse and me
on shore, so as to escape a long day of this agonizing rolling. In
happy unconsciousness of what landing at East London, even in a
lifeboat, meant when a bar had to be crossed, we were all tumbled
and bundled, more or less unceremoniously, into the great, roomy
boat, and were immediately taken in hand by the busy little tug. For
half a mile or more we made good progress in her wake, being in a
position to set at naught the threatening water-mountains which
came tumbling in furious haste from seaward. It was not until we
seemed close to the shore and all our troubles over that the tug was
obliged to cast us off, owing to the rapidly shoaling water, and we
prepared to make the best of our own way in. Bad was that best,
indeed, though the peril came and went so quickly that it is but a
confused impression I retain of what seemed to me a really terrible
moment. One instant I hear felicitations exchanged between our
captain—who sits protectingly close to me and poor, fainting little G
——, who lies like death in my arms—and the captain of the lifeboat.
The next moment, in spite of sudden panic and presence of danger,
I could laugh to hear the latter sing out in sharpest tones of terror
and dismay, “Ah, you would, would you?” coupled with rapid orders
to the stout rowers and shouts to us of “Look out!” and I do look
out, to see on one side sand which the retreating wave has sucked
dry, and in which the boat seems trying to bury herself as though
she were a mole: on the other hand there towers above us a huge
green wave, white-crested and curled, which is rushing at us like a
devouring monster. I glance, as I think, for the last time, at the pale
nurse, on whose lap lies the baby placidly sucking his bottle. I see a
couple of sailors lay hold of her and the child with one hand each,
whilst with the other they cling desperately to the thwarts. A stout
seafaring man flings the whole weight of his ponderous pilot-coated
body upon G—— and me: I hear a roar of water, and, lo! we are
washed right up alongside of the rude landing-place, still in the boat
indeed, but wet and frightened to the last degree. Looking back on it
all, I can distinctly remember that it was not the sight of the
overhanging wave which cost me my deadliest pang of sickening
fright, but the glimpse I caught of the shining, cruel-looking sand,
sucking us in so silently and greedily. We were all trembling so much
that it seemed as impossible to stand upright on the earth as on the
tossing waters, and it was with reeling, drunken-looking steps that
we rolled and staggered through the heavy sand-street until we
reached the shelter of an exceedingly dirty hotel. Everything in it
required courage to touch, and it was with many qualms that I
deposited limp little G—— on a filthy sofa. However, the mistress of
the house looked clean, and so did the cups and saucers she quickly
produced; and by the time we had finished a capital breakfast we
were all quite in good spirits again, and so sharpened up as to be
able to “mock ourselves” of our past perils and present discomforts.
Outside there were strange, beautiful shrubs in flower, tame pigeons
came cooing and bowing in at the door, and above all there was an
enchanting freshness and balminess in the sunny air.
In about an hour “Capting Florence” (as G—— styles our new
commander) calls for us and takes us out sight-seeing. First and
foremost, across the river to the rapidly-growing railway lines, where
a brand-new locomotive was hissing away with full steam up. Here
we were met and welcomed by the energetic superintendent of this
iron road, and, to my intense delight, after explaining to me what a
long distance into the interior the line had to go and how fast it was
getting on, considering the difficulties in the way of doing anything
in South Africa, from washing a pocket-handkerchief up to laying
down a railway, he proposed that we should get on the engine and
go as far as the line was open for anything like safe traveling. Never
were such delightful five minutes as those spent in whizzing along
through the park-like country and cutting fast through the heavenly
air. In vain did I smell that my serge skirts were getting dreadfully
singed, in vain did I see most uncertain bits of rail before me: it was
all too perfectly enchanting to care for danger or disgrace, and I
could have found it in my heart to echo G—— ’s plaintive cry for
“More!” when we came to the end and had to get off. But it consoled
us a little to watch the stone-breaking machine crunching up small
rocks as though they had been lumps of sugar, and after looking at
that we set off for the unfinished station, and could take in, even in
its present skeleton state, how commodious and handsome it will all
be some day. You are all so accustomed to be whisked about the
civilized world when and where you choose that it is difficult to make
you understand the enormous boon the first line of railway is to a
new country—not only for the convenience of travelers, but for the
transport of goods, the setting free of hundreds of cattle and horses
and drivers—all sorely needed for other purposes—and the fast-
following effects of opening up the resources of the back districts. In
these regions labor is the great difficulty, and one needs to hold both
patience and temper fast with both one’s hands when watching
either Kafir or Coolie at work. The white man cannot or will not do
much with his hands out here, so the navvies are slim-looking
blacks, who jabber and grunt and sigh a good deal more than they
work.
It is a fortunate circumstance that the delicious air keeps us all in a
chronic state of hunger, for it appears in South Africa that one is
expected to eat every half hour or so. And, shamed am I to confess,
we do eat—and eat with a good appetite too—a delicious luncheon
at the superintendent’s, albeit it followed closely on the heels of our
enormous breakfast at the dirty hotel. Such a pretty little bachelor’s
box as it was!—so cool and quiet and neat!—built somewhat after
the fashion of the Pompeian houses, with a small square garden full
of orange trees in the centre, and the house running round this
opening in four corridors. After lunch a couple of nice, light Cape
carts came to the door, and we set off to see a beautiful garden
whose owner had all a true Dutchman’s passion for flowers. Here
was fruit as well as flowers. Pineapples and jasmine, strawberries
and honeysuckle, grew side by side with bordering orange trees,
feathery bamboos and sheltering gum trees. In the midst of the
garden stood a sort of double platform, up whose steep border we
all climbed: from this we got a good idea of the slightly undulating
land all about, waving down like solidified billows to where the deep
blue waters sparkled and rolled restlessly beyond the white line of
waves ever breaking on the bar. I miss animal life sadly in these
parts: the dogs I see about the streets are few in number, and
miserably currish specimens of their kind. “Good dogs don’t answer
out here,” I am told: that is to say, they get a peculiar sort of
distemper, or ticks bite them, or they got weak from loss of blood, or
become degenerate in some way. The horses and cattle are small
and poor-looking, and hard-worked, very dear to buy and very
difficult to keep and to feed. I don’t even see many cats, and a pet
bird is a rarity. However, as we stood on the breezy platform I saw a
most beautiful wild bird fly over the rosehedge just below us. It was
about as big as a crow, but with a strange iridescent plumage. When
it flitted into the sunshine its back and wings shone like a rainbow,
and the next moment it looked perfectly black and velvety in the
shade. Now a turquoise-blue tint comes out on its spreading wings,
and a slant in the sunshine turns the blue into a chrysoprase green.
Nobody could tell me its name: our Dutch host spoke exactly like
Hans Breitmann, and declared it was a “bid of a crow,” and so we
had to leave it and the platform and come down to more roses and
tea. There was so much yet to be seen and to be done that we could
not stay long, and, laden with magnificent bouquets of gloire de
Dijon roses and honeysuckle, and divers strange and lovely flowers,
we drove off again in our Cape carts. I observed that instead of
saying “Whoa!” or checking the horses in any way by the reins, the
driver always whistles to them—a long, low whistle—and they stand
quite still directly. We bumped up and down, over extraordinarily
rough places, and finally slid down a steep cutting to the brink of the
river Buffalo, over which we were ferried, all standing, on a big punt,
or rather pontoon. A hundred yards or so of rapid driving then took
us to a sort of wharf which projected into the river, where the
important-looking little tug awaited us; and no sooner were we all
safely on board—rather a large party by this time, for we had gone
on picking up stragglers ever since we started, only three in number,
from the hotel—than she sputtered and fizzed herself off upstream.
By this time it was the afternoon, and I almost despair of making
you see the woodland beauty of that broad mere, fringed down to
the water’s edge on one side with shrubs and tangle of roses and
woodbine, with ferns and every lovely green creeping thing. That
was on the bank which was sheltered from the high winds: the other
hillside showed the contrast, for there, though green indeed, only a
few feathery tufts of pliant shrubs had survived the force of some of
these south-eastern gales. We paddled steadily along in mid-stream,
and from the bridge (where little G—— and I had begged “Capting
Florence” to let us stand) one could see the double of each leaf and
tendril and passing cloud mirrored sharp and clear in the crystalline
water. The lengthening shadows from rock and fallen crag were in
some places flung quite across our little boat, and so through the
soft, lovely air, flooded with brightest sunshine, we made our way,
up past Picnic Creek, where another stream joins the Buffalo, and
makes miniature green islands and harbors at its mouth, up as far as
the river was navigable for even so small a steamer as ours. Every
one was sorry when it became time to turn, but there was no
choice: the sun-burned, good-looking captain of the tug held up a
warning hand, and round we went with a wide sweep, under the
shadows, out into the sunlight, down the middle of the stream, all
too soon to please us.
Before we left East London, however, there was one more great
work to be glanced at, and accordingly we paid a hasty visit to the
office of the superintendent of the new harbor-works, and saw plans
and drawings of what will indeed be a magnificent achievement
when carried out. Yard by yard, with patient under-sea sweeping, all
that waste of sand brought down by the Buffalo is being cleared
away; yard by yard, two massive arms of solidest masonry are
stretching themselves out beyond those cruel breakers: the river is
being forced into so narrow a channel that the rush of the water
must needs carry the sand far out to sea in future, and scatter it in
soundings where it cannot accumulate into such a barrier as that
which now exists. Lighthouses will guard this safe entrance into a
tranquil anchorage, and so, at some not too far distant day, there is
good hope that East London may be one of the most valuable
harbors on this vast coast; and when her railway has reached even
the point to which it is at present projected, nearly two hundred
miles away, it will indeed be a thriving place. Even now, there is a
greater air of movement and life and progress about the little
seaport, what with the railway and the harbor-works, than at any
other place I have yet seen; and each great undertaking is in the
hands of men of first-rate ability and experience, who are as
persevering as they are energetic. After looking well over these most
interesting plans there was nothing left for us to do except to make
a sudden raid on the hotel, pick up our shawls and bags, pay a most
moderate bill of seven shillings and sixpence for breakfast for three
people and luncheon for two, and the use of a room all day,
piteously entreat the mistress of the inn to sell us half a bottle of
milk for G—— ’s breakfast to-morrow—as he will not drink the
preserved milk—and so back again on board the tug. The difficulty
about milk and butter is the first trouble which besets a family
traveling in these parts. Everywhere milk is scarce and poor, and the
butter such as no charwoman would touch in England. In vain does
one behold from the sea thousands of acres of what looks like
undulating green pasturage, and inland the same waving green
hillocks stretch as far as the eye can reach: there is never a sheep or
cow to be seen, and one hears that there is no water, or that the
grass is sour, or that there is a great deal of sickness about among
the animals in that locality. Whatever the cause, the result is the
same—namely, that one has to go down on one’s knees for a cupful
of milk, which is but poor, thin stuff at its best, and that Irish salt
butter out of a tub is a costly delicacy.
Having secured this precious quarter of a bottle of milk, for which I
was really as grateful as though it had been the Koh-i-noor, we
hastened back to the wharf and got on board the little tug again.
“Now for the bridge!” cry G—— and I, for has not Captain Florence
promised us a splendid but safe tossing across the bar? And
faithfully he and the bar and the boat keep their word, for we are in
no danger, it seems, and yet we appear to leap like a race-horse
across the strip of sand, receiving a staggering buffet first on one
paddle-wheel and then on the other from the angry guardian
breakers, which seem sworn foes of boats and passengers. Again
and again are we knocked aside by huge billows, as though the poor
little tug were a walnut-shell; again and again do we recover
ourselves, and blunder bravely on, sometimes with but one paddle in
the water, sometimes burying our bowsprit in a big green wave too
high to climb, and dashing right through it as fast as if we shut our
eyes and went at everything. The spray flies high over our heads, G
—— and I are drenched over and over again, but we shake the
sparkling water off our coats, for all the world like Newfoundland
dogs, and are all right again in a moment. “Is that the very last?”
asks G—— reluctantly as we take our last breaker like a five-barred
gate, flying, and find ourselves safe and sound, but quivering a good
deal, in what seems comparatively smooth water. Is it smooth,
though? Look at the Florence and all the other vessels. Still at it,
seesaw, backward and forward, roll, roll, roll! How thankful we all
are to have escaped a long day of sickening, monotonous motion!
But there is the getting on board to be accomplished, for the brave
little tug dare not come too near to her big sister steamboat or she
would roll over on her. So we signal for a boat, and quickly the
largest which the Florence possesses is launched and manned—no
easy task in such a sea, but accomplished in the smartest and most
seamanlike fashion. The sides of the tug are low, so it is not very
difficult to scramble and tumble into the boat, which is laden to the
water’s edge by new passengers from East London and their
luggage. When, however, we have reached the rolling Florence it is
no easy matter to get out of the said boat and on board. There is a
ladder let down, indeed, from the Florence’s side, but how are we to
use it when one moment half a dozen rungs are buried deep in the
sea, and the next instant ship and ladder and all have rolled right
away from us? It has to be done, however, and what a tower of
strength and encouragement does “Capting Florence” prove himself
at this juncture! We are all to sit perfectly still: no one is to move
until his name is called, and then he is to come unhesitatingly and
do exactly what he is told.
“Pass up the baby!” is the first order which I hear given, and that
astonishing baby is “passed up” accordingly. I use the word
“astonishing” advisedly, for never was an infant so bundled about
uncomplainingly. He is just as often upside down as not; he is
generally handed from one quartermaster to the other by the
gathers of his little blue flannel frock; seas break over his cradle on
deck, but nothing disturbs him. He grins and sleeps and pulls at his
bottle through everything, and grows fatter and browner and more
impudent every day. On this occasion, when—after rivaling Léotard’s
most daring feats on the trapeze in my scramble up the side of a
vessel which was lurching away from me—I at last reached the deck,
I found the ship’s carpenter nursing the baby, who had seized the
poor man’s beard firmly with one hand, and with the finger and
thumb of the other was attempting to pick out one of his merry blue
eyes. “Avast there!” cried the long-suffering sailor, and gladly
relinquished the mischievous bundle to me.
Up with the anchor, and off we go once more into the gathering
darkness of what turns out to be a wet and windy night. Next day
the weather had recovered its temper, and I was called upon deck
directly after breakfast to see the “Gates of St. John,” a really fine
pass on the coast where the river Umzimvubu rushes through great
granite cliffs into the sea. If the exact truth is to be told, I must
confess I am a little disappointed with this coast-scenery. I have
heard so much of its beauty, and as yet, though I have seen it under
exceptionally favorable conditions of calm weather, which has
allowed us to stand in very close to shore, I have not seen anything
really fine until these “Gates” came in view. It has all been
monotonous, undulating downs, here and there dotted with trees,
and in some places the ravines were filled with what we used to call
in New Zealand bush—i.e., miscellaneous greenery. Here and there a
bold cliff or tumbled pile of red rock makes a landmark for the
passing ships, but otherwise the uniformity is great indeed. The
ordinary weather along this coast is something frightful, and the
great reputation of our little Florence is built on the method in which
she rides dry and safe as a duck among these stormy waters. Now
that we are close to “fair Natal,” the country opens out and improves
in beauty. There are still the same sloping, rolling downs, but higher
downs rise behind them, and again beyond are blue and purpling
hills. Here and there, too, are clusters of fat, dumpy haystacks,
which in reality are no haystacks at all, but Kafir kraals. Just before
we pass the cliff and river which marks where No-Man’s Land ends
and Natal begins these little locations are more frequently to be
observed, though what their inhabitants subsist on is a marvel to
me, for we are only a mile or so from shore, and all the seeing
power of all the field-glasses on board fails to discern a solitary
animal. We can see lots of babies crawling about the hole which
serves as door to a Kafir hut, and they are all as fat as little pigs; but
what do they live on? Buttermilk, I am told—that is to say, sour milk,
for the true Kafir palate does not appreciate fresh, sweet milk—and a
sort of porridge made of mealies. I used to think “mealies” was a
coined word for potatoes, but it really signifies maize or Indian corn,
which is rudely crushed and ground, and forms the staple food of
man and beast.
In the mean time, we are speeding gayly over the bright waters,
never very calm along this shore. Presently we come to a spot
clearly marked by some odd-colored, tumbled-down cliffs and the
remains of a great iron butt, where, more than a hundred years ago,
the Grosvenor, a splendid clipper ship, was wrecked. The men nearly
all perished or were made away with, but a few women were got on
shore and carried off as prizes to the kraals of the Kafir “inkosis” or
chieftains. What sort of husbands these stalwart warriors made to
their reluctant brides tradition does not say, but it is a fact that
almost all the children were born mad, and their descendants are,
many of them, lunatics or idiots up to the present time. As the
afternoon draws on a chill mist creeps over the hills and provokingly
blots out the coast, which gets more beautiful every league we go. I
wanted to remain up and see the light on the bluff just outside Port
d’Urban, but a heavy shower drove me down to my wee cabin
before ten o’clock. Soon after midnight the rolling of the anchor-
chains and the sudden change of motion from pitching and jumping
to the old monotonous roll told us that we were once more outside a
bar, with a heavy sea on, and that there we must remain until the
tug came to fetch us. But, alas! the tug had to make short work of it
next morning, on account of the unaccommodating state of the tide,
and all our hopes of breakfasting on shore were dashed by a hasty
announcement at 5 A.M. that the tug was alongside, the mails were
rapidly being put on board of her, and that she could not wait for
passengers or anything else, because ten minutes later there would
not be water enough to float her over the bar.
“When shall we be able to get over the bar?” I asked dolefully.
“Not until the afternoon,” was the prompt and uncompromising reply,
delivered through my keyhole by the authority in charge of us. And
he proved to be quite right; but I am bound to say the time passed
more quickly than we had dared to hope or expect, for an hour later
a bold little fishing-boat made her way through the breakers and
across the bar in the teeth of wind and rain, bringing F—— on
board. He has been out here these eight months, and looks a
walking advertisement of the climate and temperature of our new
home, so absolutely healthy is his appearance. He is very cheery
about liking the place, and particularly insists on the blooming faces
and sturdy limbs I shall see belonging to the young Natalians.
Altogether, he appears thoroughly happy and contented, liking his
work, his position, everything and everybody; which is all extremely
satisfactory to hear. There is so much to tell and so much to behold
that, as G—— declares, “it is afternoon directly,” and, the signal-flag
being up, we trip our anchor once more and rush at the bar, two
quartermasters and an officer at the wheel, the pilot and captain on
the bridge, all hands on deck and on the alert, for always, under the
most favorable circumstances, the next five minutes hold a peril in
every second. “Stand by for spray!” sings out somebody, and we do
stand by, luckily for ourselves, for “spray” means the top of two or
three waves. The dear little Florence is as plucky as she is pretty,
and appears to shut her eyes and lower her head and go at the bar.
Scrape, scrape, scrape! “We’ve stuck! No, we haven’t! Helm hard
down! Over!” and so we are. Among the breakers, it is true, buffeted
hither and thither, knocked first to one side and then to the other;
but we keep right on, and a few more turns of the screw take us
into calm water under the green hills of the bluff. The breakers are
behind us, we have twenty fathoms of water under our keel, the
voyage is ended and over, the captain takes off his straw hat to mop
his curly head, everybody’s face loses the expression of anxiety and
rigidity it has worn these past ten minutes, and boats swarm like
locusts round the ship. The baby is passed over the ship’s side for
the last time, having been well kissed and petted and praised by
every one as he was handed from one to the other, and we row
swiftly away to the low sandy shore of the “Point.”
Only a few warehouses, or rather sheds of warehouses, are to be
seen, and a rude sort of railway-station, which appears to afford
indiscriminate shelter to boats as well as to engines. There are
leisurely trains which saunter into the town of D’Urban, a mile and a
half away, every half hour or so, but one of these “crawlers” had just
started. The sun was very hot, and we voyagers were all sadly
weary and headachy. But the best of the colonies is the prompt, self-
sacrificing kindness of old-comers to new-comers. A gentleman had
driven down in his own nice, comfortable pony-carriage, and without
a moment’s hesitation he insisted on our all getting into it and
making the best of our way to our hotel. It is too good an offer to be
refused, for the sun is hot and the babies are tired to death; so we
start, slowly enough, to plough our way through heavy sand up to
the axles. If the tide had been out we could have driven quickly
along the hard, dry sand; but we comfort ourselves by remembering
that there had been water enough on the bar, and make the best of
our way through clouds of impalpable dust to a better road, of which
a couple of hundred yards land us at our hotel. It looks bare and
unfurnished enough, in all conscience, but it is a new place, and
must be furnished by degrees. At all events, it is tolerably clean and
quiet, and we can wash our sunburned faces and hands, and, as
nurse says, “turn ourselves round.”
Coolies swarm in every direction, picturesque fish-and fruit-sellers
throng the verandah of the kitchen a little way off, and everything
looks bright and green and fresh, having been well washed by the
recent rains. There are still, however, several feet of dust in the
streets, for they are made of dust; and my own private impression
is, that all the water in the harbor would not suffice to lay the dust
of D’Urban for more than half an hour. With the restlessness of
people who have been cooped up on board ship for a month, we
insist, the moment it is cool enough, on being taken out for a walk.
Fortunately, the public gardens are close at hand, and we amuse
ourselves very well in them for an hour or two, but we are all
thoroughly tired and worn out, and glad to get to bed, even in
gaunt, narrow rooms on hard pallets.
The two following days were spent in looking after and collecting our
cumbrous array of boxes and baskets. Tin baths, wicker chairs and
baskets, all had to be counted and recounted, until one got weary of
the word “luggage;” but that is the penalty of drafting babies about
the world. In the intervals of the serious business of tracing No. 5 or
running No. 10 to earth in the corner of a warehouse, I made many
pleasant acquaintances and received kindest words and notes of
welcome from unknown friends. All this warm-hearted,
unconventional kindness goes far to make the stranger forget his
“own people and his father’s house,” and feel at once at home amid
strange and unfamiliar scenes. After all, “home” is portable, luckily,
and a welcoming smile and hand-clasp act as a spell to create it in
any place. We also managed, after business-hours, when it was of
no use making expeditions to wharf or custom-house after recusant
carpet-bags, to drive to the Botanic Gardens. They are extensive and
well kept, but seem principally devoted to shrubs. I was assured that
this is the worst time of year for flowers, as the plants have not yet
recovered from the winter drought. A dry winter and wet summer is
the correct atmospheric fashion here: in winter everything is brown
and dusty and dried up, in summer green and fragrant and well
watered. The gardens are in good order, and I rather regretted not
being able to examine them more thoroughly. Another afternoon we
drove to the Berea, a sort of suburban Richmond, where the rich
semi-tropical vegetation is cleared away in patches, and villas with
pretty pleasure-grounds are springing up in every direction. The road
winds up the luxuriantly-clothed slopes, with every here and there
lovely sea-views of the harbor, with the purpling lights of the Indian
Ocean stretching away beyond. Every villa must have an enchanting
prospect from its front door, and one can quite understand how
alluring to the merchants and business-men of D’Urban must be the
idea of getting away after office-hours, and sleeping on such high
ground in so fresh and healthy an atmosphere. And here I must say
that we Maritzburgians (I am only one in prospective) wage a
constant and deadly warfare with the D’Urbanites on the score of
the health and convenience of our respective cities. We are two
thousand feet above the sea and fifty-two miles inland, so we talk in
a pitying tone of the poor D’Urbanites as dwellers in a very hot and
unhealthy place. “Relaxing” is the word we apply to their climate
when we want to be particularly nasty, and they retaliate by
reminding us that they are ever so much older than we are (which is
an advantage in a colony), and that they are on the coast, and can
grow all manner of nice things which we cannot compass, to say
nothing of their climate being more equable than ours, and their
thunderstorms, though longer in duration, mere flashes in the pan
compared to what we in our amphitheatre of hills have to undergo
at the hands of the electric current. We never can find answer to
that taunt, and if the D’Urbanites only follow up their victory by
allusions to their abounding bananas and other fruits, their vicinity to
the shipping, and consequent facility of getting almost anything
quite easily, we are completely silenced, and it is a wonder if we
retain presence of mind enough to murmur “Flies.” On the score of
dust we are about equal, but I must in fairness confess that D’Urban
is a more lively and a better-looking town than Maritzburg when you
are in it, though the effect from a distance is not so good. It is very
odd how unevenly the necessaries of existence are distributed in this
country. Here at D’Urban anything hard in the way of stone is a
treasure: everything is soft and friable: sand and finest shingle, so
fine as to be mere dust, are all the available material for road-
making. I am told that later on I shall find that a cartload of sand in
Maritzburg is indeed a rare and costly thing: there we are all rock, a
sort of flaky, slaty rock underlying every place.
Our last day, or rather half day, in D’Urban was very full of
sightseeing and work. F—— was extremely anxious for me to see
the sun rise from the signal-station on the bluff, and accordingly he,
G—- and I started with the earliest dawn. We drove through the
sand again in a hired and springless Cape cart down to the Point,
got into the port-captain’s boat and rowed across a little strip of
sand at the foot of a winding path cut out of the dense vegetation
which makes the bluff such a refreshingly green headland to eyes of
wave-worn voyagers. A stalwart Kafir carried our picnic basket, with
tea and milk, bread and butter and eggs, up the hill, and it was
delightful to follow the windings of the path through beautiful
bushes bearing strange and lovely flowers, and knit together in
patches in a green tangle by the tendrils of a convolvulus or
clematis, or sort of wild passion-flower, whose blossoms were
opening to the fresh morning air. It was a cool but misty morning,
and though we got to our destination in ample time, there was never
any sunrise at all to be seen. In fact, the sun steadily declined to get
up the whole day, so far as I knew, for the sea looked gray and
solemn and sleepy, and the land kept its drowsy mantle of haze over
its flat shore; which haze thickened and deepened into a Scotch mist
as the morning wore on. We returned by the leisurely railway—a
railway so calm and stately in its method of progression that it is not
at all unusual to see a passenger step calmly out of the train when it
is at its fullest speed of crawl, and wave his hand to his companions
as he disappears down the by-path leading to his little home. The
passengers are conveyed at a uniform rate of sixpence a head,
which sixpence is collected promiscuously by a small boy at odd
moments during the journey. There are no nice distinctions of class,
either, for we all travel amicably together in compartments which are
a judicious mixture of a third-class carriage and a cattle-truck. Of
course, wood is the only fuel used, and that but sparingly, for it is
exceedingly costly.
There was still much to be done by the afternoon—many visitors to
receive, notes to write and packages to arrange, for our traveling of
these fifty-two miles spreads itself over a good many hours, as you
will see. About three o’clock the government mule-wagon came to
the door. It may truly and literally be described as “stopping the
way,” for not only is the wagon itself a huge and cumbrous machine,
but it is drawn by eight mules in pairs, and driven by a couple of
black drivers. I say “driven by a couple of drivers,” because the
driving was evidently an affair of copartnership: one held the reins—
such elaborate reins as they were! a confused tangle of leather—and
the other had the care of two or three whips of differing lengths.
The drivers were both jet black—not Kafirs, but Cape blacks—
descendants of the old slaves taken by the Dutch. They appeared to
be great friends, these two, and took earnest counsel together at
every rut and drain and steep pinch of the road, which stretched
away, over hill and dale, before us, a broad red track, with high
green hedges on either hand. Although the rain had not yet fallen
long or heavily, the ditches were all running freely with red, muddy
water, and the dust had already begun to cake itself into a sticky,
pasty red clay. The wagon was shut in by curtains at the back and
sides, and could hold eight passengers easily. Luckily for the poor
mules, however, we were only five grown-up people, including the
drivers. The road was extremely pretty, and the town looked very
picturesque as we gradually rose above it and looked down on it and
the harbor together. Of a fine, clear afternoon it would have been
still nicer, though I was much congratulated on the falling rain on
account of the absence of its alternative—dust. Still, it was possible
to have too much of a good thing, and by the time we reached Pine
Town, only fourteen miles away, the heavy roads were beginning to
tell on the poor mules, and the chill damp of the closing evening
made us all only too thankful to get under the shelter of a roadside
inn (or hotel, as they are called here), which was snug and bright
and comfortable enough to be a credit to any colony. It seemed the
most natural thing in the world to be told that this inn was not only
a favorite place for people to come out to from D’Urban to spend
their holiday time in fine weather (there is a pretty little church in
the village hard by), but also that it was quite de rigueur for all
honeymoons to be spent amid its pretty scenery.
A steady downpour of rain all through the night made our early start
next day an affair of doubt and discouragement and dismal
prophecy; but we persevered, and accomplished another long stage
through a cold persistent drizzle before reaching an inn, where we
enjoyed simply the best breakfast I ever tasted, or at all events the
best I have tasted in Natal. The mules were also unharnessed, and
after taking, each, a good roll on the damp grass, turned out in the
drizzling rain for a rest and a nibble until their more substantial
repast was ready. The rain cleared up from time to time, but an
occasional heavy shower warned us that the weather was still sulky.
It was in much better heart and spirits, however, that we made a
second start about eleven o’clock, and struggled on through heavy
roads up and down weary hills, slipping here, sliding there, and
threatening to stick everywhere. Our next stage was to a place
where the only available shelter was a filthy inn, at which we
lingered as short a time as practicable—only long enough, in fact, to
feed the mules—and then, with every prospect of a finer afternoon,
set out once more on the last and longest stage of our journey. All
the way the road has been very beautiful, in spite of the shrouding
mist, especially at the Inchanga Pass, where round the shoulder of
the hill as fair a prospect of curved green hills, dotted with clusters
of timber exactly like an English park, of distant ranges rising in
softly-rounded outlines, with deep violet shadows in the clefts and
pale green lights on the slopes, stretches before you as the heart of
painter could desire. Nestling out of sight amid this rich pasture-land
are the kraals of a large Kafir location, and no one can say that
these, the children of the soil, have not secured one of the most
favored spots. To me it all looked like a fair mirage. I am already sick
of beholding all this lovely country lying around, and yet of being
told that food and fuel are almost at famine-prices. People say, “Oh,
but you should see it in winter. Now it is green, and there is plenty
of feed on it, but three months ago no grass-eating creature could
have picked up a living on all the country-side. It is all as brown and
bare as parchment for half the year. This is the spring.” Can you not
imagine how provoking it is to hear such statements made by old
settlers, who know the place only too well, and to find out that all
the radiant beauty which greets the traveler’s eye is illusive, for in
many places there are miles and miles without a drop of water for
the flock and herds; consequently, there are no means of transport
for all this fuel until the days of railways? Besides which, through
Natal lies the great highway to the Diamond Fields, the Transvaal
and the Free States, and all the opening-up country beyond; so it is
more profitable to drive a wagon than to till a farm. Every beast with
four legs is wanted to drag building materials or provisions. The
supply of beef becomes daily more precarious and costly, for the
oxen are all “treking,” and one hears of nothing but diseases among
animals—“horse sickness,” pleuro-pneumonia, fowl sickness (I feel it
an impertinence for the poultry to presume to be ill), and even dogs
set up a peculiar and fatal sort of distemper among themselves.
But to return to the last hours of our journey. The mules struggle
bravely along, though their ears are beginning to flap about any
way, instead of being held straight and sharply pricked forward, and
the encouraging cries of “Pull up, Capting! now then, Blue-bok, hi!”
become more and more frequent: the driver in charge of the whips
is less nice in his choice of a scourge with which to urge on the
patient animals, and whacks them soundly with whichever comes
first. The children have long ago wearied of the confinement and
darkness of the back seats of the hooded vehicle; we are all black
and blue from jolting in and out of deep holes hidden by mud which
occur at every yard; but still our flagging spirits keep pretty good, for
our little Table Mountain has been left behind, whilst before us,
leaning up in one corner of an amphitheatre of hills, are the trees
which mark where Maritzburg nestles. The mules see it too, and,
sniffing their stables afar off, jog along faster. Only one more rise to
pull up: we turn a little off the high-road, and there, amid a young
plantation of trees, with roses, honeysuckle and passion-flowers
climbing up the posts of the wide verandah, a fair and enchanting
prospect lying at our feet, stands our new home, with its broad red
tiled roof stretching out a friendly welcome to the tired, belated
travelers.
 PART III.

Maritzburg, November, 1875.

The weather at the beginning of this month was lovely and the
climate perfection, but now (I am writing on its last day) it is getting
very hot and trying. If ever people might stand excused for talking
about the weather when they meet, it is we Natalians, for, especially
at this time of year, it varies from hour to hour. All along the coast
one hears of terrible buffeting and knocking about among the
shipping in the open roadsteads which have to do duty for harbors in
these parts; and it was only a few days ago that the lifeboat, with
the English mail on board, capsized in crossing the bar at D’Urban.
The telegram was—as telegrams always are—terrifying in its
vagueness, and spoke of the mail-bags as “floating about.” When
one remembers the vast size of the breakers on which this floating
would take place, it sounded hopeless for our letters. They turned
up, however, a few days later—in a pulpy state, it is true, but quite
readable, though the envelopes were curiously blended and
engrafted upon the letters inside—so much so that they required to
be taken together, for it was impossible to separate them. I had
recourse to the expedient of spreading my letters on a dry towel and
draining them before attempting to dissever the leaves. Still, we
were all only too thankful to get our correspondence in any shape or
form, for precious beyond the power of words to express are home-
letters to us, so far away from home.
But to return to our weather. At first it was simply perfect. Bright hot
days—not too hot, for a light breeze tempered even the midday heat
—and crisp, bracing nights succeeded each other during the first
fortnight. The country looked exquisitely green in its luxuriant spring
tints over hill and dale, and the rich red clay soil made a splendid
contrast on road and track with the brilliant green on either hand.
Still, people looked anxiously for more rain, declaring that not half
enough had fallen to fill tanks or “shuits” (as the ditches are called),
and it took four days of continuous downpour to satisfy these thirsty
souls even for the moment. Toward the middle of the month the
atmosphere became more oppressive and clouds began to come up
in thick masses all round the horizon, and gradually spread
themselves over the whole sky. The day before the heaviest rain,
though not particularly oppressive, was remarkable for the way in
which all manner of animals tried to get under shelter at nightfall.
The verandah was full of big frogs: if a door remained open for a
moment they hopped in, and then cried like trapped birds when they
found themselves in a corner. As for the winged creatures, it was
something wonderful the numbers in which they flew in at the
windows wherever a light attracted them. I was busy writing English
letters that evening: I declare the cockroaches fairly drove me away
from the table by the mad way in which they flung themselves into
my ink-bottle, whilst the smell of singed moths at the other lamp
was quite overpowering. Well, after this came rain indeed—not rain
according to English ideas, but a tropical deluge, as many inches
falling in a few hours as would fill your rain-gauges for months. I
believe my conduct was very absurd that first rainy night. The little
house had just been newly papered, and as the ceiling was not one
to inspire confidence, consisting as it did merely of boards roughly
joined together and painted white, through which and through the
tiles beyond the sky could be seen quite plainly, I suffered the
gravest doubts about the water getting in and spoiling my pretty
new paper. Accordingly, whenever any burst of rain came heavier
than its immediate predecessor, I jumped out of bed in a perfect
agony of mind, and roamed, candle in hand, all over the house to
see if I could not detect a leak anywhere. But the unpromising-
looking roof and ceiling stood the test bravely, and not a drop of all
that descending downpour found its way to my new walls.
By the way, I must describe the house to you, remarking, first of all,
that architecture, so far as my observation extends, is at its lowest
ebb in South Africa. I have not seen a single pretty building of any
sort or kind since I arrived, although in these small houses it would
be so easy to break by gable and porch the severe simplicity of the
unvarying straight line in which they are built. Whitewashed outer
walls with a zinc roof are not uncommon, and they make a bald and
hideous combination until kindly, luxuriant Nature has had time to
step in and cover up man’s ugly handiwork with her festoons of
roses and passion-flowers. Most of the houses have, fortunately, red-
tiled roofs, which are not so ugly, and mine is among the number. It
is so squat and square, however, that, as our landlord happens to be
the chief baker of Maritzburg, it has been proposed to christen it
“Cottage Loaf,” but this idea requires consideration on account of the
baker’s feelings. In the mean time, it is known briefly as “Smith’s,”
that being the landlord’s name. It has, as all the houses here have, a
broad projecting roof extending over a wide verandah. Within are
four small rooms, two on either side of a narrow passage which runs
from one end to the other. By a happy afterthought, a kitchen has
been added beyond this extremely simple ground-plan, and on the
opposite side a corresponding projection which closely resembles a
packing-case, and which has been painted a bright blue inside and
out. This is the dining-room, and evidently requires to be severely
handled before its present crude and glaring tints can be at all toned
down. At a little distance stands the stable, saddle-room, etc., and a
good bedroom for English servants, and beyond that, again, among
large clumps of rose-bushes, a native hut. It came up here half built
—that is, the frame was partly put together elsewhere—and it
resembled a huge crinoline more than anything else in its original
state. Since that, however, it has been made more secure by extra
pales of bamboo, each tied in its place with infinite trouble and
patience by a knot every inch or two. The final stage consisted of
careful thatching with thick bundles of grass laid on the framework,
and secured by long ropes of grass binding the whole together. The
door is the very smallest opening imaginable, and inside it is of
course pitch dark. All this labor was performed by stalwart Kafir
women, one of whom, a fearfully repulsive female, informed my
cook that she had just been bought back by her original husband.
Stress of circumstances had obliged him to sell her, and she had
been bought by three other husband-masters since then, but was
now resold, a bargain, to her first owner, whom, she declared, she
preferred to any of the others. But few as are these rooms, they yet
are watertight—which is a great point out here—and the house,
being built of large, awkward blocks of stone, is cool and shady.
When I have arranged things a little, it will be quite comfortable and
pretty; and I defy any one to wish for a more exquisite view than
can be seen from any corner of the verandah. We are on the brow of
a hill which slopes gently down to the hollow wherein nestles the
picturesque little town, or rather village, of Maritzburg. The
intervening distance of a mile or so conceals the real ugliness and
monotony of its straight streets, and hides all architectural
shortcomings. The clock-tower, for instance, is quite a feature in the
landscape, and from here one cannot perceive that the clock does
not go. Nothing can be prettier than the effect of the red-tiled roofs
and white walls peeping out from among thick clumps of trees,
whilst beyond the ground rises again to low hills with deep purple
fissures and clefts in their green sides. It is only a couple of years
since this little house was built and the garden laid out, and yet the
shrubs and trees are as big as if half a dozen years had passed over
their leafy heads. As for the roses, I never saw anything like the way
they flourish at their own sweet will. Scarcely a leaf is to be seen on
the ugly straggling tree—nothing but masses of roses of every tint
and kind and old-fashioned variety. The utmost I can do in the way
of gathering daily basketsful appears only in the light of judicious
pruning, and next day a dozen blossoms have burst forth to supply
the place of each theft of mine. And there is such a variety of trees!
Oaks and bamboos, blue gums and deodars, seem to flourish equally
well within a yard or two of each other, and the more distant flower-
beds are filled with an odd mixture of dahlias and daturas, white
fleur-de-lis and bushy geraniums, scarlet euphorbias and verbenas.
But the weeds! They are a chronic eyesore and grief to every
gardener. On path and grass-plat, flower-bed and border, they flaunt
and flourish. “Jack,” the Zulu refugee, wages a feeble and totally
inadequate warfare against them with a crooked hoe, but he is only
a quarter in earnest, and stops to groan and take snuff so often that
the result is that our garden is precisely in the condition of the
garden of the sluggard, gate and all. This hingeless condition of the
gate, however, is, I must in fairness state, neither Jack’s nor our
fault. It is a new gate, but no one will come out from the town to
hang it. That is my standing grievance. Because we live about a mile
from the town it is next to impossible to get anything done. The
town itself is one of the shabbiest assemblages of dwellings I have
ever seen in a colony. It is not to be named on the same day with
Christchurch, the capital of Canterbury, New Zealand, which ten
years ago was decently paved and well lighted by gas. Poor sleepy
Maritzburg consists now, at more than forty years of age
(Christchurch is not twenty-five yet), of a few straight, wide, grass-
grown streets, which are only picturesque at a little distance on
account of their having trees on each side. On particularly dark
nights a dozen oil-lamps standing at long intervals apart are lighted,
but when it is even moderately starlight these aids to finding one’s
way about are prudently dispensed with. There is not a single
handsome and hardly a decent building in the whole place. The
streets, as I saw them after rain, are veritable sloughs of despond,
but they are capable of being changed by dry weather into deserts
of dust. It is true, I have only been as yet twice down to the town,
but on both visits it reminded me more of the sleepy villages in
Washington Irving’s stories than of a smart, modern, go-ahead
colonial “city.” There are some fairly good shops, but they make no
show outside, and within the prices of most of the articles sold are
nearly double the same things would bring either at Melbourne or at
Christchurch. As D’Urban is barely a month away from London in
point of communication, and New Zealand (when I knew it) nearly
treble the distance and time, this is a great puzzle to me.
A certain air of quaint interest and life is given to the otherwise
desolate streets by the groups of Kafirs and the teams of wagons
which bring fuel and forage into the town every day. Twenty bullocks
drag these ponderous contrivances—bullocks so lean that one
wonders how they have strength to carry their wide-spreading horns
aloft; bullocks of a stupidity and obstinacy unparalleled in the natural
history of horned beasts. At their head walks a Kafir lad called a
“forelooper,” who tugs at a rope fastened to the horns of the leading
oxen, and in moments of general confusion invariably seems to pull
the wrong string and get the whole team into an inextricable tangle
of horns and yokes. Sometimes of a quiet Sunday morning these
teams and wagons I see “out-spanned” on the green slopes around
Maritzburg, making a picturesque addition to the sylvan scenery.
Near each wagon a light wreath of smoke steals up into the summer
air, marking where some preparation of “mealies” is on foot, and the
groups of grazing oxen—“spans,” as each team is called—give the
animation of animal life which I miss so sadly at every turn in this
part of the world.
In Maritzburg itself I only noticed two buildings which made the least
effect. One is the government house, standing in a nice garden and
boasting of a rather pretty porch, but otherwise reminding one—
except for the sentinel on duty—of a quiet country rectory: the other
is a small block comprising the public offices. The original idea of
this square building must have come from a model dairy. But the
crowning absurdity of the place is the office of the colonial secretary,
which stands nearly opposite. I am told that inside it is tolerably
comfortable, being the remains of an old Dutch building: outside, it
can only be compared to a dilapidated barn on a bankrupt farm, and
when it was first pointed out to me I had great difficulty,
remembering similar buildings in other colonies, in believing it was a
public office.
The native police look very smart and shiny in their white suits, and
must be objects of envy to their black brethren on account of their
“knobkerries,” the knobbed sticks which they alone are permitted to
carry officially in their hands. The native loves a stick, and as he is
forbidden to carry either an assegai—which is a very formidable
weapon indeed—or even a knobkerry, only one degree less
dangerous, he consoles himself with a wand or switch in case of
coming across a snake. You never see a Kafir without something of
the sort in his hand: if he is not twirling a light stick, then he has a
sort of rude reed pipe from which he extracts sharp and tuneless
sounds. As a race, the Kafirs make the effect of possessing a fine
physique: they walk with an erect bearing and a light step, but in
true leisurely savage fashion. I have seen the black race in four
different quarters of the globe, and I never saw one single individual
move quickly of his own free will. We must bear in mind, however,
that it is a new and altogether revolutionary idea to a Kafir that he
should do any work at all. Work is for women—war or idleness for
men; consequently, their fixed idea is to do as little as they can; and
no Kafir will work after he has earned money enough to buy a
sufficient number of wives who will work for him. “Charlie,” our
groom—who is, by the way, a very fine gentleman and speaks
“Ingeliss” after a strange fashion of his own—only condescends to
work until he can purchase a wife. Unfortunately, the damsel whom
he prefers is a costly article, and her parents demand a cow, a kettle
and a native hut as the price of her hand—or hands, rather—so
Charlie grunts and groans through about as much daily work as an
English boy of twelve years old could manage easily. He is a very
amusing character, being exceedingly proud, and will only obey his
own master, whom he calls his great inkosi or chief. He is always
lamenting the advent of the inkosi-casa, or chieftainess, and the
piccaninnies and their following, especially the “vaiter,” whom he
detests. In his way, Charlie is a wag, and it is as good as a play to
see his pretence of stupidity when the “vaiter” or French butler
desires him to go and eat “sa paniche.” Charlie understands perfectly
that he is told to go and get his breakfast of mealy porridge, but he
won’t admit that it is to be called “paniche,” preferring his own word
“scoff;” so he shakes his head violently and says, “Nay, nay,
paniche.” Then, with many nods, “Scoff, ja;” and so in this strange
gibberish of three languages he and the Frenchman carry on quite a
pretty quarrel. Charlie also “mocks himself” of the other servants, I
am informed, and asserts that he is the “indema” or headman. He
freely boxes the ears of Jack, the Zulu refugee—poor Jack, who fled
from his own country, next door, the other day, and arrived here clad
in only a short flap made of three bucks’ tails. That is only a month
ago, and “Jack” is already quite a petit maître about his clothes. He
ordinarily wears a suit of knickerbockers and a shirt of blue check
bound with red, and a string of beads round his neck, but he cries
like a baby if he tears his clothes, or still worse if the color of the red
braid washes out. At first he hated civilized garments, even when
they were only two in number, and begged to be allowed to assume
a sack with holes for the arms, which is the Kafir compromise when
near a town between clothes and flaps made of the tails of wild
beasts or strips of hide. But he soon came to delight in them, and is
now always begging for “something to wear.”
I confess I am sorry for Jack. He is the kitchen-boy, and is learning
with much pains and difficulty the wrong language. My cook is also
French, and, naturally, all that Jack learns is French, and not English.
Imagine poor Jack’s dismay when, after his three years’
apprenticeship to us is ended, he seeks perhaps to better himself,
and finds that no one except madame can understand him! Most of
their dialogues are carried on by pantomime and the incessant use,
in differing tones of voice, of the word “Ja.” Jack is a big, loutish
young man, but very ugly and feeble, and apparently under the
impression that he is perpetually “wanted” to answer for the little
indiscretion, whatever it was, on account of which he was forced to
flee over the border. He is timid and scared to the last degree, and
abjectly anxious to please if it does not entail too much exertion. He
is, as it were, apprenticed to us for three years. We are bound to
feed and clothe and doctor him, and he is to work for us, in his own
lazy fashion, for small wages. The first time Jack broke a plate his
terror and despair were quite edifying to behold. Madame called him
a “maladroit” on the spot. Jack learned this word, and after his work
was over seated himself gravely on the ground with the fragments of
the plate, which he tried to join together, but gave up the attempt at
last, announcing in his own tongue that it was “dead.” After a little
consideration he said slowly, several times, “Maldraw, ja,” and hit
himself a good thump at each “ja.” Now, I grieve to say, Jack breaks
plates, dishes and cups with a perfectly easy and unembarrassed
conscience, and is already far too civilized to care in the least for his
misfortunes in that line. Whenever a fowl is killed—and I came upon
Jack slowly putting one to death the other day with a pair of nail-
scissors—he possesses himself of a small store of feathers, which he
wears tastefully placed over his left ear. A gay ribbon, worn like a
bandeau across the forehead, is what he really loves. Jack is very
proud of a tawdry ribbon of many colors with a golden ground which
I found for him the other day, only he never can make up his mind
where to wear it; and I often come upon him sitting in the shade
with the ribbon in his hands, gravely considering the question.
The Pickle and plague of the establishment, however, is the boy
Tom, a grinning young savage fresh from his kraal, up to any
amount of mischief, who in an evil hour has been engaged as the
baby’s body-servant. I cannot trust him with the child out of my
sight for a moment, for he “snuffs” enormously, and smokes coarse
tobacco out of a cow’s horn, and is anxious to teach the baby both
these accomplishments. Tom wears his snuff-box—which is a brass
cylinder a couple of inches long—in either ear impartially, there
being huge slits in the cartilage for the purpose, and the baby never
rests till he gets possession of it and sneezes himself nearly into fits.
Tom likes nursing Baby immensely, and croons to him in a strange
buzzing way which lulls him to sleep invariably. He is very anxious,
however, to acquire some words of English, and I was much startled
the other day to hear in the verandah my own voice saying, “What is
it, dear?” over and over again. This phrase proceeded from Tom,
who kept on repeating it, parrot-fashion—an exact imitation, but
with no idea of its meaning. I had heard the baby whimpering a little
time before, and Tom had remarked that these four words produced
the happiest effect in restoring good-humor; so he learned them,
accent and all, on the spot, and used them as a spell or charm on
the next opportunity. I think even the poor baby was puzzled. But
one cannot feel sure of what Tom will do next. A few evenings ago I
trusted him to wheel the perambulator about the garden-paths, but,
becoming anxious in a very few minutes to know what he was
about, I went to look for him. I found him grinning in high glee,
watching the baby’s efforts at cutting his teeth on a live young bird.
Master Tom had spied a nest, climbed the tree, and brought down
the poor little bird, which he presented to the child, who instantly
put it into his mouth. When I arrived on the scene Baby’s mouth was
full of feathers, over which he was making a very disgusted face,
and the unhappy bird was nearly dead of fright and squeezing,
whilst Tom was in such convulsions of laughter that I nearly boxed
his ears. He showed me by signs how Baby insisted on sucking the
bird’s head, and conveyed his intense amusement at the idea. I
made Master Tom climb the tree instantly and put the poor little
half-dead creature back into its nest, and sent for Charlie to explain
to him he should have no sugar—the only punishment Tom cares
about—for two days. I often think, however, that I must try and find
another penalty, for when Tom’s allowance of sugar is stopped he
“requisitions” that of every one else, and so gets rather more than
usual. He is immensely proud of the brass chin-strap of an old
artillery bushy which has been given to him. He used to wear it
across his forehead in the favorite Kafir fashion, but as the baby
always made it his first business to pull this shining strap down over
Tom’s eyes, and eventually over Tom’s mouth, it has been
transferred to his neck.
These Kafir-lads make excellent nurse-boys generally, and English
children are very fond of them. Nurse-girls are rare, as the Kafir
women begin their lives of toil so early that they are never very
handy or gentle in a house, and boys are easier to train as servants.
I heard to-day, however, of an excellent Kafir nursemaid who was
the daughter of a chief, and whose only drawback was the size of
her family. She was actually and truly one of eighty brothers and
sisters, her father being a rich man with twenty-five wives. That
simply means that he had twenty-five devoted slaves, who worked
morning, noon and night for him in field and mealy-patch without
wages. Jack the Zulu wanted to be nurse-boy dreadfully, and used to
follow Nurse about with a towel rolled up into a bundle, and another
towel arranged as drapery, dandling an imaginary baby on his arm,
saying plaintively, “Piccaninny, piccaninny!” This Nurse translated to
mean that he was an experienced nurse-boy, and had taken care of
a baby in his own country, but as I had no confidence in maladroit
Jack, who chanced to be very deaf besides, he was ruthlessly
relegated to his pots and pans.
It is very curious to see the cast-off clothes of all the armies of
Europe finding their way hither. The natives of South Africa prefer an
old uniform coat or tunic to any other covering, and the effect of a
short scarlet garment when worn with bare legs is irresistibly droll.
The apparently inexhaustible supply of old-fashioned English coatees
with their worsted epaulettes is just coming to an end, and being
succeeded by ragged red tunics, franc-tireurs’ brownish-green
jackets and much-worn Prussian gray coats. Kafir-Land may be
looked upon as the old-clothes shop of all the fighting world, for
sooner or later every cast-off scrap of soldier’s clothing drifts toward
it. Charlie prides himself much upon the possession of an old gray
great-coat, so patched and faded that it may well have been one of
those which toiled up the slopes of Inkerman that rainy Sunday
morning twenty years ago; whilst scampish Tom got well chaffed the
other day for suddenly making his appearance clad in a stained red
tunic with buff collar and cuffs, and the number of the old “dirty
Half-hundred” in tarnished metal on the shoulder-scales. “Sir
Garnet,” cried Charlie the witty, whilst Jack affected to prostrate
himself before the grinning imp, exclaiming, “O great inkosi!”
Charlie is angry with me just now, and looks most reproachfully my
way on all occasions. The cause is that he was sweeping away
sundry huge spiders’ webs from the roof of the verandah (the work
of a single night) when I heard him coughing frightfully. I gave him
some lozenges, saying, “Do your cough good, Charlie.” Charlie
received them in both hands held like a cup, the highest form of
Kafir gratitude, and gulped them all down on the spot. Next day I
heard the same dreadful cough, and told F—— to give him some
more lozenges. But Charlie would have none of them, alleging he
“eats plenty tomorrow’s yesterday, and dey no good at all;” and he
evidently despises me and my remedies.
If only there were no hot winds! But the constant changes are so
trying and so sudden. Sometimes we have a hot, scorching gale all
day, drying and parching one’s very skin up, and shriveling one’s
lovely roses like the blast from a furnace: then in the afternoon a
dark cloud sails suddenly up from behind the hills to the west. It is
over the house before one knows it is coming: a loud clap of thunder
shakes the very ground beneath one’s feet, others follow rapidly, and
a thunderstorm bewilders one for some ten minutes or so. A few
drops of cold rain fall to the sound of the distant thunder, now rolling
away eastward, which yet “struggles and howls at fits.” It is not
always distant, but we have not yet seen a real thunderstorm; only a
few of these short, sudden electrical disturbances, which come and
go more like explosions than anything else. A few days ago there
was a duststorm which had a very curious effect as we looked down
upon it from this hill. All along the roads one could watch the dust
being caught up, as it were, and whirled along in dense clouds,
whilst the poor little town itself was absolutely blotted out by the
blinding masses of fine powder. For half an hour or so we could
afford to watch and smile at our neighbors’ plight, but soon we had
to flee for shelter ourselves within the house, for a furious hot gale
drove heavily up behind the dust and nearly blew us away
altogether. Still, there was no thunderstorm, though we quite wished
for one to cool the air and refresh the parched and burnt-up grass
and flowers. Such afternoons are generally pretty sure to be
succeeded by a cold night, and perhaps a cold, damp morning; and
one can already understand that these alternations during the
summer months are apt to produce dysentery among young
children. I hear just now of a good many such cases among babies.
I have been so exceedingly busy this month packing, arranging and
settling that there has been but little time for going about and
seeing the rather pretty environs of Maritzburg; besides which, the
weather is dead against excursions, changing as it does to rain or
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