By: Kenneth Blanchard (Ph.d) and Spencer Johnson (M.

D)

The One Minute Manager is an easily read story which quickly shows you three very practical management techniques. As the story unfolds, you will discover several studies in medicine and the behavioral sciences which help you to understand why these apparently simple methods work so well with so many people. By the books end you will also know how to apply them to your own situation. The One Minute Manager reveals three secrets to productive and efficient managing as told through a young man's search for the perfect managing and leading skills. This book is written by Dr. Kenneth Blanchard (B.A, M.A, and Ph.D) Chairman of Blanchard Training and Development, Inc. (BTD) and Spencer Johnson (M.D) Chairman of Candle Communications Corporation. Dr. Kenneth Blanchard is an internationally known author, educator and consultant/trainer. He is the coauthor of the highly acclaimed and most widely used text on leadership and organization behavior, Management of Organization Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources, which is in its fourth edition and has been translated into numerous languages. Dr. Spencer Johnson is an active author, publisher, lecturer and communications consultant. He has written more than a dozen books dealing with medicine and psychology, and has over three million copies of his books in print. The story begins with a young man searching out for an effective manager. His search leads him across the world and he keeps meeting managers who he categorizes into two types. Autocratic who define themselves as hard-nosed, realistic, profit-minded and who like to be on top of every situation. And Democratic who define themselves as participative, supportive, considerate and humanistic. Both the breeds pride themselves in their result minded focus and people oriented focus respectively and this bemused him.

The young man defined Effective managers as those who manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence. He was at loss since he couldnt find them easily. He finally stumbles across one who is willing to share his

secret. This one called himself the ONE MINUTE MANAGERsomeone who gets good results without taking much time and he was quite a character. Yet he doesnt believe in participating in any of his peoples decision-making. He is neither results-oriented, nor people oriented. He cares about people and results equally. The One Minute Manager told the young man to meet his people if he want him to know more and so handed him the list of six people with their name positions and phone number. The young man looked over the list and decided to talk to three of them: Mr. Trenell, Mr. Levy and Ms. Brown. They review and analyze what theyve accomplished, the problems they had, and what still needs to be accomplished. The man is an admired leader that is highly spoken of by his employees, his three secrets being the key to his success. These secrets to productive and efficient managing are revealed to the young man and they are as follows:

One Minute Goal Setting: This was explained by Mr. Trenell to the young man .One Minute
Goal Setting is the first one and the foundation for One Minute Management. The basic philosophy of the One Minute Goal Setting is no surprises; everyone knows what is expected from the beginning. This is what it says, Agree on your goals. See what good behaviour looks like. Write out each of your goals on a single page using less than 250 words. Read and re-read each goal, which takes only a minute or so each time. Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance, and See whether or not your behavior matches your goal.

One Minute Praising: is the second secret explained by Mr. Levy. The authors suggest that
effective managers help people reach their full potential by catching them doing something right. "People who feel good about themselves produce good results." The One Minute Praising works well when you: Tell people right from the start that you are going to let them know how they are doing. Praise them immediately. Tell people what exactly they did right be specific.

Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there. Stop for a moment of silence to let them feel how good you feel. Encourage them to do more of the same. Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the organization.

One Minute Reprimand: This was explained by Ms. Brown. Main purpose here is to
eliminate the behavior and keep the person. This consists of the reprimand and the reassurance, both being equally important. It will work well when you, Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing an in no uncertain terms. Reprimand people immediately. Tell people what they did wrong be specific. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong and in no uncertain terms. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel. Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side. Remind them how much you value them. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation. Realize that when the reprimand is over, its over.

The second part of the story attempts to explain why one-minute management works. One minute goal setting works because "the number one motivator of people is feedback on results". We like to know how we are doing, and if we are doing well we feel good. The one minute manager has a plaque on his wall which reads: "Take a minute - Look at your goals - Look at your performance - See if your behavior matches your goals". Simple but effective. One minute praisings are also effective for motivational reasons. It is rare to find someone who can know how to do everything well from day one; you have to put some effort into training. "So the key to training someone to do a new task is, in the beginning, to catch them doing something approximately right until they can eventually learn to do it exactly right." Not discipline, only encouragement works with people who are not secure in what they are doing. Praise gets them

moving in the right direction. Though it need take up very little time, praise is the fuel which can drive a whole enterprise. One minute reprimands work because they are the fairest form of feedback for correcting belowpar performance. Because goals have been set and expectations are so transparent, the person will usually see when the reprimand is fair. The manager is respected because he has "spoken the simple truth". As the reprimand is quick and focused on specific action (not the person themselves), there is less bad feeling; when the encounter is over it always ends on a good note and can be soon forgotten or even made light of. CONCLUSION:
The story's one minute manager admits that management cannot always be performed in a minute. It is more a symbol of the idea that managing people can be much less complicated that we think. There's no for need endless sessions to discuss objectives and problems. Some time needs to be invested to establish goals, but after that the contact between boss and subordinate can be minimal. Consider some successful examples of this way of managing people. Investor Warren Buffett employs business managers whose small number of objectives is so clear that he rarely needs to meet with them. They get on with the job and send him periodic reports. Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was so respected by his crew members because they knew exactly what was expected of them; if reprimanded for anything, there was always a clear and rational reason why. More recently, GE boss Jack Welch explained his management style as "kicks and hugs", which were meted out or given only according to strictly outlined, previously mapped-out goals. This did not create a climate of fear - if a person did not measure up they could blame no one but themselves.

The One Minute Manager is a quick read that emphasizes key points throughout. It tries to demonstrate that managing people does not have to be a time consuming part of our jobs if done right. The message is clear, and implementing the ideas is straight-forward and laid out in the book. This makes it simple to utilize the knowledge and techniques that the one minute manager style offers. Due to these factors, we find The One Minute Manager an effective tool for developing leadership. Overall we think the ideas in the book are commonsense and worthwhile. It is a little simplistic we think its a good primer for anyone beginning to supervise. It presents three key concepts of supervision in an easy to understand narrative format.

BOOK REVIEW

The

One Minute Manager

Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D. Spencer Johnson, M.D.
SUBMITTED TO: Mr.Anup Kumar Sinha (Faculty, IFBI Ranchi) SUBMITTED BY: Shilpi Rani Rajesh Kumar Md. Amjad Ansari