Book Review - Gist In a Glimpse

The One Minute Manager, by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, contains a powerhouse of gen and information of management. It is incredibly dichotic in its nature. It revolves around the protagonist who is a young man looking for an effective yet real manager and is willing to work for one. In his virtually unrequited search, he happened to encounter some ‘autocratic’ managers who are only concerned about the results. Their organizations gained while their people lost. He also meets ‘democratic’ managers who are concerned only about the people. Their people gained while their organizations lost. He was looking for an effective manager who was interested in the people as well as the results so that both the people and the organization gained in his management. Then the plot turns towards its intriguing section where the young man comes across a manager who calls himself “the one minute manager” as it took very little time for him to get big results from people. The one minute manager shares the secrets of his success with the young man, which are as follows:

FIRST SECRET: One Minute Goals One minute goal setting is about being aware of what is expected from the beginning. When deciding upon the desired goal and the performance standards, it is recorded on a single sheet of paper. One minute goal setting is an important tool for management because it provides immediate feedback to the worker; this feedback turns into motivation

SECOND SECRET: One Minute Praising The second step in one minute management is to catch people doing something right. This is when the one minute praisings are given. One minute praisings are so called because it hardly takes a minute for you to tell someone that he or she did a good job. One minute praisings include praising the people immediately, telling them what they did right, how you feel about it and encourage them to do more of the same.

THIRD SECRET: One Minute Reprimands One minute reprimands are given as soon as an employee does something wrong. One minute reprimand has two parts. The first half includes telling the people that what they did wrong, how you feel about it and then let it sink in with a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. Then in the second half you tell the people how much you think they are capable of and how much you value them.

Recommendations: This is an instructive and edifying book. Strongly recommended to bookworms looking to excel in their professional and personal life. After decades of weighty tomes on management science and organizational behavior, this book came as a breath of fresh air for managers. It may seem simplistic, but is firmly based on the latest findings in behavioral psychology