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Simply Managing: What Managers Do # and Can Do Better
The Essence of Managing
Henry Mintzberg appreciates that managers are busy people. So he has taken his classic book Managing , done some updating, and distilled its essence into a lean 176 pages of text.
The essence of the book remains the what Mintzberg learned from observing twenty-nine managers in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. Simply Managing considers the intense dynamics of this job as well as its inescapable conundrums, for
• How is anyone supposed to think, let alone think ahead, in this frenetic job?
• Are leaders really more important than managers?
• Where has all the judgment gone?
• Is email destroying management practice?
• How can managers connect when their job disconnects them from what they are managing?
If you read only one book about managing, this should be it!
Henry Mintzberg appreciates that managers are busy people. So he has taken his classic book Managing , done some updating, and distilled its essence into a lean 176 pages of text.
The essence of the book remains the what Mintzberg learned from observing twenty-nine managers in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. Simply Managing considers the intense dynamics of this job as well as its inescapable conundrums, for
• How is anyone supposed to think, let alone think ahead, in this frenetic job?
• Are leaders really more important than managers?
• Where has all the judgment gone?
• Is email destroying management practice?
• How can managers connect when their job disconnects them from what they are managing?
If you read only one book about managing, this should be it!
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
99 people are currently reading
345 people want to read
About the author
Henry Mintzberg
128 books209 followersProfessor Henry Mintzberg, OC , OQ , Ph.D. , D.h.c. , FRSC (born September 2, 1939) is an internationally renowned academic and author on business and management. He is currently the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1968, after earning his Master's degree in Management and Ph.D. from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1965 and 1968 respectively.
Henry Mintzberg writes prolifically on the topics of management and business strategy, with more than 140 articles and thirteen books to his name. His seminal book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, criticizes some of the practices of strategic planning today and is considered required reading for anyone who seriously wants to consider taking on a strategy-making role within their organization.
He recently published a book entitled Managers Not MBAs Managers Not MBAswhich outlines what he believes to be wrong with management education today and, rather controversially, singles out prestigious graduate management schools like Harvard Business School and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania as examples of how obsession with numbers and an over-zealous attempt at making management into a science actually can damage the discipline of management. He also suggests that a new masters program, targeted at practicing managers (as opposed to younger students with little real world experience), and emphasizing practical issues, may be more suitable.
Ironically, although Professor Mintzberg is quite critical about the strategy consulting business, he has twice won the McKinsey Award for publishing the best article in the Harvard Business Review.
In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. He is now a member of the Strategic Management Society.
Henry Mintzberg writes prolifically on the topics of management and business strategy, with more than 140 articles and thirteen books to his name. His seminal book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, criticizes some of the practices of strategic planning today and is considered required reading for anyone who seriously wants to consider taking on a strategy-making role within their organization.
He recently published a book entitled Managers Not MBAs Managers Not MBAswhich outlines what he believes to be wrong with management education today and, rather controversially, singles out prestigious graduate management schools like Harvard Business School and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania as examples of how obsession with numbers and an over-zealous attempt at making management into a science actually can damage the discipline of management. He also suggests that a new masters program, targeted at practicing managers (as opposed to younger students with little real world experience), and emphasizing practical issues, may be more suitable.
Ironically, although Professor Mintzberg is quite critical about the strategy consulting business, he has twice won the McKinsey Award for publishing the best article in the Harvard Business Review.
In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. He is now a member of the Strategic Management Society.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 14, 2019
Just two quotes to illustrate the tone of this book:
"Nothing is more dangerous in an organization than a manager with little to do. Managers are usually energetic people - that's how they got to be managers in the first place, and the more senior they are, the more energetic they tend to be. Put them in jobs where they have little to do, and they will find things to do. Then the trouble starts."
"Managers are not effective; matches are effective. There is no such thing as a good husband or a good wife, only a good couple. And so it is with managers and their units.”
To me, a smart and refreshing view on what managing means and what good managers are (or indeed should be).
"Nothing is more dangerous in an organization than a manager with little to do. Managers are usually energetic people - that's how they got to be managers in the first place, and the more senior they are, the more energetic they tend to be. Put them in jobs where they have little to do, and they will find things to do. Then the trouble starts."
"Managers are not effective; matches are effective. There is no such thing as a good husband or a good wife, only a good couple. And so it is with managers and their units.”
To me, a smart and refreshing view on what managing means and what good managers are (or indeed should be).
December 5, 2021
Es un clásico de gestión. El libro mejoraría muchísimo con una mejor estructura de sus ideas y una redacción más clara.
August 30, 2015
The essence of the book can be summarized by a quote at the end of the book: "The promotion of excessive leadership, we demote everyone else."
Mintzberg goes against all of this wave of Leadership as opposed to Management, and it's refreshing.
Here are some highlights for me:
Management as a practice, not a profession. certainly not a science.
A triangle: managing as Art (vision), Science (analysis), Craft (Experience) - needs balance of these 3.
place of a manger: top, centre/hub, manager throughout (web)
managing on tightropes (conundrums): syndrome of superficiality, predicament of planning, labyrinth of decomposition (synthesis, chunking, painting the big picture stroke by stroke), the quandary of connecting, slabs across silos, managing all around, dilemma of delegating, mysteries of measuring, soft underbelly of 'hard data', enigma of order, paradox of control, clutch of confidence, ambiguity of action, riddle of change (and stability),
Controlling has to be done, but the trick is to avoid being captured by it, so that it comes to dominate the work of managing.
Treating employees as "human resources" means to deal with them as if they are just information: they get reduced to a narrow dimension of their whole selves.
The suggestion in some of the literature that managers should "do" nothing - doing being dismissed as micromanaging - stems from a sterile view of the job: the manager on a pedestal, out of literal "touch," simply pronouncing strategies for everyone else to implement.
composite list of basic qualities for assured managerial success: courageous, committed, curious, confident, candid, reflective, insightful, open-minded/tolerant (of people, ambiguitties, and ideas) innovative, communicative (including being a good listener), connected/informed, perceptive, thoughtful/integlligent/wise/analytic/objective, pragmatic, decisive (action-origentied), proactive, charismatic, passionale, inspiring, visionary, energetic/enthusiastic, upbeat/optimistic, ambitious, tenacious/persistent/zealous, collaborative/participative/cooperative, engaging, supportive/sympathetic, empathetic, stable, dependable, faire, accountable, ethical/honest, consistent, flexible, balanced, integrative, and tall!
(Tolstoy) "happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own particular way." and so ti may be with managers and their organizational families. a) person failures (person should not be a manager), b) job failures (job is not doable), c) fit failures (success based on fit of person and job), d) success failures (icarus principle, strenght can turn into a weakness).
framework to consider managerial effectiveness in context: energetic, reflective, collaborative, analytic, worldly, proactive, integrative - across an x axis of personal to social and y-axis of concrete to conceptual.
Mintzberg goes against all of this wave of Leadership as opposed to Management, and it's refreshing.
Here are some highlights for me:
Management as a practice, not a profession. certainly not a science.
A triangle: managing as Art (vision), Science (analysis), Craft (Experience) - needs balance of these 3.
place of a manger: top, centre/hub, manager throughout (web)
managing on tightropes (conundrums): syndrome of superficiality, predicament of planning, labyrinth of decomposition (synthesis, chunking, painting the big picture stroke by stroke), the quandary of connecting, slabs across silos, managing all around, dilemma of delegating, mysteries of measuring, soft underbelly of 'hard data', enigma of order, paradox of control, clutch of confidence, ambiguity of action, riddle of change (and stability),
Controlling has to be done, but the trick is to avoid being captured by it, so that it comes to dominate the work of managing.
Treating employees as "human resources" means to deal with them as if they are just information: they get reduced to a narrow dimension of their whole selves.
The suggestion in some of the literature that managers should "do" nothing - doing being dismissed as micromanaging - stems from a sterile view of the job: the manager on a pedestal, out of literal "touch," simply pronouncing strategies for everyone else to implement.
composite list of basic qualities for assured managerial success: courageous, committed, curious, confident, candid, reflective, insightful, open-minded/tolerant (of people, ambiguitties, and ideas) innovative, communicative (including being a good listener), connected/informed, perceptive, thoughtful/integlligent/wise/analytic/objective, pragmatic, decisive (action-origentied), proactive, charismatic, passionale, inspiring, visionary, energetic/enthusiastic, upbeat/optimistic, ambitious, tenacious/persistent/zealous, collaborative/participative/cooperative, engaging, supportive/sympathetic, empathetic, stable, dependable, faire, accountable, ethical/honest, consistent, flexible, balanced, integrative, and tall!
(Tolstoy) "happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own particular way." and so ti may be with managers and their organizational families. a) person failures (person should not be a manager), b) job failures (job is not doable), c) fit failures (success based on fit of person and job), d) success failures (icarus principle, strenght can turn into a weakness).
framework to consider managerial effectiveness in context: energetic, reflective, collaborative, analytic, worldly, proactive, integrative - across an x axis of personal to social and y-axis of concrete to conceptual.
August 5, 2015
Down-to-earth common sense view of the management job. Some great quotes but no actionable suggestions.
Read
August 30, 20193.5 stars
April 29, 2018
What does a manager do? It turns out, a whole lot. Managers are many things to many people, and Mintzberg aims to categories all of those things into a helpful framework.
While many books on management hone in on a specific principle to define management, Mintzberg more broadly specifies that a manager operates on three planes: Leading (doing the work himself), Coaching (engaging others who will be doing the work), and Information (dealing with data to inform how the other activities function). Indeed, managers sometimes engage on all three planes at the same time.
Another key feature is the myth of the professional manager. Management is not a professional skillset in and of itself. The role of a manager is too intimately tied to the work being accomplished and the manager's own personality or proclivities. It is flawed thinking to presume someone with management skills can move from company-to-company or industry-to-industry as a manager and be equally successful, relying on his management skillset alone.
While many books on management hone in on a specific principle to define management, Mintzberg more broadly specifies that a manager operates on three planes: Leading (doing the work himself), Coaching (engaging others who will be doing the work), and Information (dealing with data to inform how the other activities function). Indeed, managers sometimes engage on all three planes at the same time.
Another key feature is the myth of the professional manager. Management is not a professional skillset in and of itself. The role of a manager is too intimately tied to the work being accomplished and the manager's own personality or proclivities. It is flawed thinking to presume someone with management skills can move from company-to-company or industry-to-industry as a manager and be equally successful, relying on his management skillset alone.
May 31, 2020
I listened to the audiobook and it’s short and too the point. I liked the summary of good manager qualities in Chapter 6.
I also liked the part about the author getting the question from a CEO about how much the stock of his company would rise if he sent a specific person to the author’s management program and how the author responds to this question.
I like that the author points out some of the realities about becoming a manager and that many companies fail to provide any or adequate manager training and that managers generally know nothing about everything (in jest of course) because they have to manage so many things.
What I didn’t like is that this book was published in 2013 from research the author did in the 1990’s across only 29 days and this seems to be a second publication of the same work though maybe this is the condensed version and is better? This is hard to say because I have not read the original work.
I do recommend this book.
I also liked the part about the author getting the question from a CEO about how much the stock of his company would rise if he sent a specific person to the author’s management program and how the author responds to this question.
I like that the author points out some of the realities about becoming a manager and that many companies fail to provide any or adequate manager training and that managers generally know nothing about everything (in jest of course) because they have to manage so many things.
What I didn’t like is that this book was published in 2013 from research the author did in the 1990’s across only 29 days and this seems to be a second publication of the same work though maybe this is the condensed version and is better? This is hard to say because I have not read the original work.
I do recommend this book.
October 9, 2024
Henry Mintzberg est un des rares professeur universitaire à avoir étudié et analysé le travail des gestionnaires. Dans ce livre, il présente une magnifique synthèse de ses travaux - je souligne "magnifique synthèse" car pour autant que j'apprécie Mintzberg, je trouve son style d'écriture assez insupportable tellement il nous a habitué à des textes beaucoup trop long et son réflexe à noyer l'essentiel de ses analyses dans un océan de mots.
Bref, dans ce livre, il présente son modèle (page 37) pour illustrer le travail d'un gestionnaire au quotidien. Ici, on est loin des petits modèles du genre PODC, on est sur le vrai terrain : beaucoup de paroles, des gestions de problèmes, des interruptions, et surtout, un travail qui n'est jamais terminé.
Un livre qui saura plaire aux gestionnaires, aux futurs gestionnaires et aux consultants.
Bref, dans ce livre, il présente son modèle (page 37) pour illustrer le travail d'un gestionnaire au quotidien. Ici, on est loin des petits modèles du genre PODC, on est sur le vrai terrain : beaucoup de paroles, des gestions de problèmes, des interruptions, et surtout, un travail qui n'est jamais terminé.
Un livre qui saura plaire aux gestionnaires, aux futurs gestionnaires et aux consultants.
May 12, 2018
Found this really useful as a counter to much of the current literature.
“Leadership has pushed management off the map” which isn’t quite to say that we have mastered management...
Agree that the gist of the difference seems to be that managers are (need to be?) orientated to action whereas leaders are (and need to be) orientated to reflection.
Also liked the warning that when leaders promote followers to action there is a risk of losing the natural propensity of people to cooperate in communities. Think this needs a big caveat though as to what the nature of the work and organisation is. Bit naive to see it as any sort of panacea.
Looking forward to getting stuck into the “unabridged” version.
“Leadership has pushed management off the map” which isn’t quite to say that we have mastered management...
Agree that the gist of the difference seems to be that managers are (need to be?) orientated to action whereas leaders are (and need to be) orientated to reflection.
Also liked the warning that when leaders promote followers to action there is a risk of losing the natural propensity of people to cooperate in communities. Think this needs a big caveat though as to what the nature of the work and organisation is. Bit naive to see it as any sort of panacea.
Looking forward to getting stuck into the “unabridged” version.
October 6, 2020
I just finished ‘Simply Managing’ by Henry Mintzberg. It really hits home that managers aren’t made in the classroom but on-the-job. A manager is in the work and outside of the work at the same time. Management is an Art, Science and Craft - lean too far into one corner and risk being a Narcissist, too far in the other and you’ll be sluggish. Beware of ‘slabs’ as well as ‘silos’ - even the most senior ‘slabs’ of a managers needs to understand the work of their reports or they risk being out of touch and missing excellence and change opportunities.
I feel like there was a lot of waffle in between - some aspect were too long - not many visuals.
I feel like there was a lot of waffle in between - some aspect were too long - not many visuals.
October 11, 2021
Is there anything simple about managing? Can "management" be learnt in a class room? What are all of the management conundrums? These and many more questions are tackled by the author in this book. The first few chapters for me seemed "weak" in terms of structure. I immediately was missing for the author to go straight to the point instead of beating around the bush.
I can't say there isn't useful or interesting information here. I do have a few nice quotes.
So what do I take from this book to myself?
That management is "<...> controlling and doing and dealing and thinking and leading and deciding and more, not added up but blended together".
I can't say there isn't useful or interesting information here. I do have a few nice quotes.
So what do I take from this book to myself?
That management is "<...> controlling and doing and dealing and thinking and leading and deciding and more, not added up but blended together".
December 16, 2020
Fine short book.
Main take outs from it are three:
- a table of all skills/traits PMs should have;
- an description of the main management styles explaining that none of them is perfect: all with strong advantages and disadvantages, and no proponents of each should be cocky about the way they are managing;
- strong feeling that in being PM so many things will always go wrong, thus just strive for the best and never give up if the struggle becomes too real.
This book will be a better addition if author ditched those real-life examples from the text he was observing.
Main take outs from it are three:
- a table of all skills/traits PMs should have;
- an description of the main management styles explaining that none of them is perfect: all with strong advantages and disadvantages, and no proponents of each should be cocky about the way they are managing;
- strong feeling that in being PM so many things will always go wrong, thus just strive for the best and never give up if the struggle becomes too real.
This book will be a better addition if author ditched those real-life examples from the text he was observing.
May 13, 2023
Porter, Drucker, and a dozen other thoughts leaders and overall thinkers content are blended into the authors synthesis of the art, craft, and science of mid-level management. He can argue seamless both side of a perspective. Even where I disagree with him, I consider his contributions and overall collection in the topic worth 5 stars. His collection of content is dense enough to make my reread list too.
December 24, 2017
Best aardig boekje, maar het raakte me nauwelijks. Mijn afdronk: management is eigenlijk een paradoxaal ding. Het is complex werk dat onderhevig is aan vele trends en hypes. Het wordt zowel overgesimplificeerd als te complex gemaakt. Uiteindelijk gaat management vooral over de manager zelf en de combinatie met diens omgeving.
February 18, 2018
The book was painfully slow. Some decent content, but overall nothing really new here. Felt more like reading a case study than actually getting good advice to put into practice. If you want a clinical discourse on the plight of being a manager this will suffice. If you want to get your hands dirty and actually get better, there are better books on the market for you time.
August 21, 2019
Leadership is dead
Don't read another book on leadership. Just read this book on management.billions wasted on leadership programmes, when we need to focus on collaborative and engaged management. We will always be flawed, accept it and move with the flow.
Don't read another book on leadership. Just read this book on management.billions wasted on leadership programmes, when we need to focus on collaborative and engaged management. We will always be flawed, accept it and move with the flow.
November 16, 2019
More of a review of problems managers face, than actual recommendations. The author argues against tricks and short cuts, and instead argues a balanced approach, but at the same time, offers little new insights.
February 23, 2023
He was doing so well right on target until he started insulting.
At some point people will realise managers are born managers and refined through training. Leaders are born and refined through experience and attention.
At some point people will realise managers are born managers and refined through training. Leaders are born and refined through experience and attention.
December 29, 2023
If you don't have time or energy to read the original Managing by Mintzberg, this is a great condensed version. I like that he hits the high points and adds some more information about managing in the 21st century that was missing from the original. If you are a manager, this book is a must read.
January 29, 2024
Good not great
It has some very interesting insights into management that are not ofrecen shared and make reading the book worthwhile. However the guidance could have been more practical.
It has some very interesting insights into management that are not ofrecen shared and make reading the book worthwhile. However the guidance could have been more practical.
October 29, 2018
Really good if you know nothing. Repetitive if you know a lot. I know enough I chose not to finish.
February 15, 2020
Just ok, pretty basic
May 11, 2020
This is a required reading for a class which I really enjoyed.
February 26, 2021
Excellent management and leadership concepts, slightly outdated as this book was written ages ago but a classic book to read if you are new to management.
May 30, 2021
Not the type of leadership or business management books I find helpful at all, even though there is some odd good stuff in there.
August 30, 2021
Simply not the best book on management I have read.
December 7, 2023
A fine description of management, but no clear takeaways if you’re looking for guidance.
May 17, 2024
A simple and straightforward book that I simply read.
July 20, 2014
The content is classic Mintzberg, and the book is worth reading for chapter 3 alone, with its model of managing on the people, information and action planes. However, as an abridged version of an earlier book it suffers from lack of substance. Topics are covered in a few paragraphs, while I'm wondering why they are connected to the topic at hand or what underpins the conclusion. I haven't read the longer version, but that one may be more worthwhile if you have the patience.
June 20, 2016
Perhaps if I read the book instead of listened to it I may have enjoyed it more. I had such trouble getting into the audiobook. Even when it could hold my attention, I couldn't find anything revolutionary or groundbreaking.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews