A client machine (12) is connected to a network medium (20) for use in managing the operation of a plurality of subsystems (14-18) that are also coupled to the network medium (20). The client machine (12) includes a cache memory (26) for storing management-related objects that have been retrieved by the client machine (12) from the individual subsystems (14-18). When called upon to manage a particular subsystem, the client machine (12) first determines which management related objects will be required to manage the subsystem. The client machine (12) then checks the cache memory (26) to determine whether any of the required objects are located therein before requesting the objects from the associated subsystem. In this manner, only objects that are not available locally are requested from the subsystem, thereby reducing management-related information traffic in the network (10).