One Minute Manager

I have just recently, to be exact, 5 minutes ago, finished reading a book entitled <> written by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. It is a book that I am asked to present, along with two of my coursemates, for one of my masters course, Management Theory and Practice. The book is recommended by our lovely lecturer, Prof. Bill, a visiting prof. from the George Washington University. A great man with great knowledge, and yet humble and enthusiastic, who is willing to spend his precious time in Malaysia to share his knowledge with us.

Coming back to the book again, it is a story of a young man who is keen to learn the best practice to be a GOOD manager. But he couldn't find any of the managers that he interviewed gave him satisfying answer. On a fortunate occasion, he managed to meet the "One Minute Manager" who runs one of the best organization in the country. To his suprise, he learnt that the Best way to be a successful manager is through the SIMPLEST method, that is to be an HONEST and SINCERE manager.

The One Minute Manager shared with the young man his precious and effective management secrets, which are the One Minute Goal, the One Minute Praising, and the One Minute Reprimand. The concept is simple, that is (1) to let the staffs know up front the goals that the manager is asking from the staffs, record them down in simple way and shall not be more than 250 words!, (2) to catch the staffs doing the RIGHT things and appraisals shall come immediately!, and finally (3) to reprimand the staff immediately, with the support of concrete facts, once any misbehaviour is spotted. Then deal with the MISBEHAVIOUR of the staff rather than the person!! To wrap up the reprimand, praisings must follow in order to let the staffs that the manager is not dealing with the PERSON and how much the manager care about the staffs.

The concepts seem simple, but it is hard to be practiced in real life. Is there any manager who is truly a ONE MINUTE MANAGER? The concepts are encouraging, but tend to be too simplyfied. Nevertheless, it is a good book that I would suggest to my friends. It doesn't take long to read, and I did it within 2 hrs. I am pretty sure that you will enjoy the book~~

p.s: taking masters and working simultaneously is tough~~