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Managing
A half century ago Peter Drucker put management on the map. Leadership has since pushed it off. Henry Mintzberg aims to restore management to its proper front and center. “We should be seeing managers as leaders.” Mintzberg writes, “and leadership as management practiced well.”
This landmark book draws on Mintzberg’s observations of twenty-nine managers, in business, government, health care, and the social sector, working in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. What he saw—the pressures, the action, the nuances, the blending—compelled him to describe managing as a practice, not a science or a profession, learned primarily through experience and rooted in context.
But context cannot be seen in the usual way. Factors such as national culture and level in hierarchy, even personal style, turn out to have less influence than we have traditionally thought. Mintzberg looks at how to deal with some of the inescapable conundrums of managing, such as, How can you get in deep when there is so much pressure to get things done? How can you manage it when you can’t reliably measure it?
This book is vintage iconoclastic, irreverent, carefully researched, myth-breaking. Managing may be the most revealing book yet written about what managers do, how they do it, and how they can do it better.
This landmark book draws on Mintzberg’s observations of twenty-nine managers, in business, government, health care, and the social sector, working in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. What he saw—the pressures, the action, the nuances, the blending—compelled him to describe managing as a practice, not a science or a profession, learned primarily through experience and rooted in context.
But context cannot be seen in the usual way. Factors such as national culture and level in hierarchy, even personal style, turn out to have less influence than we have traditionally thought. Mintzberg looks at how to deal with some of the inescapable conundrums of managing, such as, How can you get in deep when there is so much pressure to get things done? How can you manage it when you can’t reliably measure it?
This book is vintage iconoclastic, irreverent, carefully researched, myth-breaking. Managing may be the most revealing book yet written about what managers do, how they do it, and how they can do it better.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2004
100 people are currently reading
720 people want to read
About the author
Henry Mintzberg
62 books210 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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February 4, 2017Were shall I start, so with that in mind I bought his book. Essentially it is simply an extension of his earlier 1970s field work - following more managers (across many countries) for longer, except then he tries to devise a theoretical framework from that. The book is quite friendly, with what the author considers to be key thoughts printed in bold, and very un-key passages in faint text and in the introduction he runs through which bits he thinks the reader might enjoy and which they could skip, though one might hope that in a book everything that is sent to the publisher is significant enough to read. On the other hand, at least he's honest about the time available to readers.
My strongest feeling is that the realism of Mintzberg's observations explains why the books which pedal their own patented formulas for successful management are best sellers. One the one hand there is chaos, limited time to do the tasks that come your way, you have to feel your way to find the limits of your job, while being interrupted, you have to look up and down the organisation as well as inside and out, be a reflexive thinker and a doer, if not all simultaneously, then very probably in quick succession, alternatively you can go with somebody who tells you that it is as simple as A,B,C for non-dyslexics: just follow rule X and you too can rule the universe. Too much realism offends our dreams of happily ever after.
Perhaps unsurprisingly what Mintzberg recommends is modesty, humility, and a sense of working within apparently contradictory conundrums , stressing that none of this is new, not only our belief that everything is changing rapidly by citing Henry Fayol, whose writings on management were drawn from his personal experiences in the nineteenth century, but whose definition of management tasks is entirely typical of today's expectations. One may have been interrupted while taking off your coat by the boy from the telegraph office, rather than by the telephone, but the fractured reality of managerial work is a constant. National cultures were Mintzberg felt less significant than perhaps industry cultures, or the culture of a particular organisation, nor where private and public sector particularly different. He wonders at one point why we don't self manage like bees, or geese, perhaps the answer is that we are people and not bees nor geese, we are the ones who cause traffic jams by stopping our cars to gawp at bears. The workplace is above all a social environment, what is important are qualitative points, soft issues that are not easily if at all measurable. How do you measure the impact of reading a book he asks, even when you hate it, an insight from that book may pop up in your mind years down the road.
Management as a practic is an arty crafty kinda science that you grow into and learn on the job, so naturally he's antithetic to the role of the MBA, and so gives his own not an MBA course a mention four times, the boundaries of a book are not marked by its covers I suppose.
Still, a bracing,walk on a cold day, kind of book, that offers the warm drink of deep reassurance that your experience is normal, however odd it seemed.
My strongest feeling is that the realism of Mintzberg's observations explains why the books which pedal their own patented formulas for successful management are best sellers. One the one hand there is chaos, limited time to do the tasks that come your way, you have to feel your way to find the limits of your job, while being interrupted, you have to look up and down the organisation as well as inside and out, be a reflexive thinker and a doer, if not all simultaneously, then very probably in quick succession, alternatively you can go with somebody who tells you that it is as simple as A,B,C for non-dyslexics: just follow rule X and you too can rule the universe. Too much realism offends our dreams of happily ever after.
Perhaps unsurprisingly what Mintzberg recommends is modesty, humility, and a sense of working within apparently contradictory conundrums , stressing that none of this is new, not only our belief that everything is changing rapidly by citing Henry Fayol, whose writings on management were drawn from his personal experiences in the nineteenth century, but whose definition of management tasks is entirely typical of today's expectations. One may have been interrupted while taking off your coat by the boy from the telegraph office, rather than by the telephone, but the fractured reality of managerial work is a constant. National cultures were Mintzberg felt less significant than perhaps industry cultures, or the culture of a particular organisation, nor where private and public sector particularly different. He wonders at one point why we don't self manage like bees, or geese, perhaps the answer is that we are people and not bees nor geese, we are the ones who cause traffic jams by stopping our cars to gawp at bears. The workplace is above all a social environment, what is important are qualitative points, soft issues that are not easily if at all measurable. How do you measure the impact of reading a book he asks, even when you hate it, an insight from that book may pop up in your mind years down the road.
Management as a practic is an arty crafty kinda science that you grow into and learn on the job, so naturally he's antithetic to the role of the MBA, and so gives his own not an MBA course a mention four times, the boundaries of a book are not marked by its covers I suppose.
Still, a bracing,walk on a cold day, kind of book, that offers the warm drink of deep reassurance that your experience is normal, however odd it seemed.
October 2, 2017
Terrible, shallow, book; perhaps, best summarised by a quote about management within the book:
"management is one damn think after another".
"management is one damn think after another".
December 10, 2013
Mintzberg goes beyond common sense about management, and his ideas came from studying different managers in different contexts.
Here are some of the Big Ideias I've found in the book:
1. What is Management?
Leadership and Managing are parts of the same thing are they shouldn’t be separate. Leaders cannot delegate their management accountabilities. Management is not a science and it is not a profession.
Mintzberg sets out the stark reality of what managers do: 'the pressures of the job drive the manager to take on too much work, encourage interruption, respond quickly to every stimulus, seek the tangible and avoid the abstract, make decisions in small increments, and do everything abruptly’.
"No job is more vital to our society than that of the manager. It is the manager who determines whether our social institutions serve us well or whether they squander our talents and resources. It is time to strip away the folklore about managerial work, and time to study it realistically so that we can begin the difficult task of making significant improvements in its performance.” (The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact)
2. The 3 phases of management
- Information: Communicating and processing data to encourage people to take action.
- People: Helping other to make things happen.
- Action: Actually doing the work.
A good manager should be able to be in the 3 phrases depending on the issue and situation.
3. The 13 conundrums
According to the author, conundrums are often expressed as questions, and managers face them often. Finding ways of reconciling the conundrums (they rarely can be resolved) is basic to managing. Those are the 13 conundrums:
Thinking Conundrums
* The Syndrome of Superficiality: How to get in deep when there is so much pressure to get it done?
* The Predicament of Planning: How to plan, strategize, just plain think, let alone think ahead, in such a hectic job?
* The Labyrinth of Decomposition: Where to find synthesis in a world so decomposed by analysis?
Information Conundrums
* The Quandary of Connecting: How to keep informed when managing by its own nature removes the manager from the very things being managed?
* The Dilemma of Delegating: How to delegate when so much of the relevant information is personal, oral, ando ften privileged?
* The Mysteries of Measuring: How to manage it when you can't rely on measuring it?
People Conundrums
* The Enigma of Order: How to bring order to the work of others when the work of managing is itself so disorderly?
* The Paradox of Control: How to maintain the necessary state of controlled disorder when one's own manager is imposing order?
* The Clutch of Confidence: How to maintain a sufficient level of confidence without crossing over into arrogance?
Action Conundrums
* The Ambiguity of Acting: How to act decisively in a complicated, nuanced world?
* The Riddle of Change: How to manage change when there is the need to maintain continuity?
Overall Conundrums
* The Ultimate Conundrum: How can any manager possibly cope with all these conundrums concurrently?
* Mintzberg's Own Conundrum: How do I reconcile that fact that, while all of these conundrums can be stated apart, they all seem to be the same?
Successful managers find ways of dealing with these conundrums.
References
- The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact: http://hbr.org/1990/03/the-managers-j...
- WilyManager.com Review: http://www.wilymanager.com/book-revie...
- Book Review by Mark Angelucci: http://pt.slideshare.net/Bonagolf/boo...
- The Conundrums of Management: http://www.mentoringforchange.co.uk/l...
- Interview with Mintizberg about the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVBPhC...
- Mintzberg on Managing: http://lead2xl.com/mintzberg-on-manag...
- MBSportal: http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/taster/sub...
Here are some of the Big Ideias I've found in the book:
1. What is Management?
Leadership and Managing are parts of the same thing are they shouldn’t be separate. Leaders cannot delegate their management accountabilities. Management is not a science and it is not a profession.
Mintzberg sets out the stark reality of what managers do: 'the pressures of the job drive the manager to take on too much work, encourage interruption, respond quickly to every stimulus, seek the tangible and avoid the abstract, make decisions in small increments, and do everything abruptly’.
"No job is more vital to our society than that of the manager. It is the manager who determines whether our social institutions serve us well or whether they squander our talents and resources. It is time to strip away the folklore about managerial work, and time to study it realistically so that we can begin the difficult task of making significant improvements in its performance.” (The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact)
2. The 3 phases of management
- Information: Communicating and processing data to encourage people to take action.
- People: Helping other to make things happen.
- Action: Actually doing the work.
A good manager should be able to be in the 3 phrases depending on the issue and situation.
3. The 13 conundrums
According to the author, conundrums are often expressed as questions, and managers face them often. Finding ways of reconciling the conundrums (they rarely can be resolved) is basic to managing. Those are the 13 conundrums:
Thinking Conundrums
* The Syndrome of Superficiality: How to get in deep when there is so much pressure to get it done?
* The Predicament of Planning: How to plan, strategize, just plain think, let alone think ahead, in such a hectic job?
* The Labyrinth of Decomposition: Where to find synthesis in a world so decomposed by analysis?
Information Conundrums
* The Quandary of Connecting: How to keep informed when managing by its own nature removes the manager from the very things being managed?
* The Dilemma of Delegating: How to delegate when so much of the relevant information is personal, oral, ando ften privileged?
* The Mysteries of Measuring: How to manage it when you can't rely on measuring it?
People Conundrums
* The Enigma of Order: How to bring order to the work of others when the work of managing is itself so disorderly?
* The Paradox of Control: How to maintain the necessary state of controlled disorder when one's own manager is imposing order?
* The Clutch of Confidence: How to maintain a sufficient level of confidence without crossing over into arrogance?
Action Conundrums
* The Ambiguity of Acting: How to act decisively in a complicated, nuanced world?
* The Riddle of Change: How to manage change when there is the need to maintain continuity?
Overall Conundrums
* The Ultimate Conundrum: How can any manager possibly cope with all these conundrums concurrently?
* Mintzberg's Own Conundrum: How do I reconcile that fact that, while all of these conundrums can be stated apart, they all seem to be the same?
Successful managers find ways of dealing with these conundrums.
References
- The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact: http://hbr.org/1990/03/the-managers-j...
- WilyManager.com Review: http://www.wilymanager.com/book-revie...
- Book Review by Mark Angelucci: http://pt.slideshare.net/Bonagolf/boo...
- The Conundrums of Management: http://www.mentoringforchange.co.uk/l...
- Interview with Mintizberg about the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVBPhC...
- Mintzberg on Managing: http://lead2xl.com/mintzberg-on-manag...
- MBSportal: http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/taster/sub...
March 11, 2010
http://managingleadership.com/blog/20...
This book is similar to Management of the Absurd and takes the same premise. Managers don't have a formal learning process, but learn on the job, and that job is always localized. There are many approaches to management and each one works in the particular environment, but finding the right approach in the right place is always tricky and always dependent upon the local environment.
This is a great book for new managers or potential managers. It looks at the real face of management, the day to day perspective. It can also help decide the type of manager you are, a sort of a What Color is your Parachute for management. More experienced managers can read this book and nod their heads in agreement and wouldn't provide any more information to them.
The core of the book is my favorite part, who goes into management. Typically, it is the type of person who likes to be busy and even though the nature of management is hectic and crazy, it attracts those type of people to it. It takes someone who enjoys working with non-sense and irrational thought and putting making a work product out of it. Even though a manager deals with crazy and irrational demands, they often thrive on it (workaholics sometimes), they also must be emotionally health and level headed to deal with the level stress that comes with it. They must find their center. Overall, an excellent book on management, highly recommended.
From the book:
"It is this dynamic balance that renders futile the teaching of management in a classroom, especially one role or competency at a time. Even mastering all the competencies do not a competent manager make, because the key to this work is the blending of all of its aspects, into this dynamic balance. And that can only happen on the job, because no simulation I have ever see in a classroom--case, game, in-basket exercise--comes remotely close to replicating the job itself." p. 96
Some realizations about middle management are what I have read from other books and online such as: Who is the Real Boss (from Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/grace...), and the quote from this book:
"...middle managers are often "far better than most senior executives...at leveraging the informal network at a company that makes substantial, lasting change possible." p. 111
So in both cases, the boss sets the tone and direction, the real boss is the one that executes the idea, as in the blog post. So, in other words, as an executive, if you don't get your middle manager behind you, that person can make your plans sink very quickly.
Other passages:
Does management create the manager, or does the manager create the management?
"...is brevity, variety, and fragmentation forced on the managers, or do they choose this patter in their work? My answer is yes both times.
...they don't want to discourage the flow of information...
...managers are plagued by what they might do and what they must do...
...managers like action, not abstract or philosophy, but dealing in tangible issues or problems...
Talk is the technology of leadership--Jeanne Liedtka, Dresden School
...he must become his own director of central intelligence...Richard Neustradt
"The Managers's extensive use of such information helps to explain why they may be reluctant to delegate tasks. It is not as if they can hand a dossier over to someone; they must take the time to "dump memory" to tell that person what they know about the subject. But this could take so long that it may be easier just to do the task themselves--Damned by the Dilemma of Delegation. p. 28
Hence, managers seemed damned by the nature of their personal information system to a life of either overwork or frustration. In the first case, they do too many tasks themselves or else spend too much time disseminating oral information. In the second case, they have to look on as delegated tasks are performed inadequately, by the uninformed (relative to them). It is too common to witness people being blamed for failures that can be traced to their inadequate access to the information necessary to perform their delegated tasks. p. 175
...the frequency of requests... may be a good measure of the status a manager has established for him-herself, while the quantity of unsolicited material received may indicate the manager's success in building effective channels of communication.
The Manager's working roles:
Formal Authority and Status
Interpersonal roles: Figurehead, Leader, Liason
Informational roles: Monitor, disseminator, spokesperson
Decisional Roles: Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, Resource Allocation, Negotiator. p. 45
To become a manager is to become more dependent on others to get things done. p. 65
Every unit has to be protected, responsive, and aggressive, depending on the circumstances. p. 81
Strategies are not immaculately conceived in detached offices, so much is learned through tangible experience. p. 87
Managers off the ground don't learn and become dreadful strategists.
The more innovative the organization, the more likely are disturbances to occur unexpectedly. p. 85
Thinking is heavy, too much can wear a manager down, while acting is light, too much of that and a manager can't stay put. p. 87
When I think of the type of organization Mintzberg identifies, I imagine that running a library involves every aspect of this organization. A good manager has to be able to switch back and forth among these philosophies to keep the library centered. Circulation is like machine, librarians are like Professional, when something new is started, the Project kicks into play, the Missionary comes in since many go into libraries as something core to their being, something they are very passionate about, and political since libraries play a role in local government politics.
Types of organizations:
Entrepreneurial Organization: Centralized around a single leader who engages in considerable doing and dealing as well as strategic visioning.
Machine Organization: formally structured, with simple repetitive operating tasks (classic bureaucracy), its managers functioning in clearly delineated hierarchies of authority and engaging in a considerable amount of controlling.
The Professional Organization: comprising professionals who do the operating work largely on their own, while their managers focus more externally, on linking and dealing, to support and protect the professionals.
The Project Organization (Adhocracy): built around project teams of experts that innovate, while the senior managesr engage in linking and dealing to secure the projects, and the project managesr concentrate on leading for teamwork, doing for execution and linking to connect the different teams together.
Missionary Organization: dominated by a strong culture, with the managers emphasizing leading to enhance and sustain that culture.
Political Organization: Dominated by conflict, with the managers sometimes having to emphasize doing and dealing in the form of firefighting.
This book is similar to Management of the Absurd and takes the same premise. Managers don't have a formal learning process, but learn on the job, and that job is always localized. There are many approaches to management and each one works in the particular environment, but finding the right approach in the right place is always tricky and always dependent upon the local environment.
This is a great book for new managers or potential managers. It looks at the real face of management, the day to day perspective. It can also help decide the type of manager you are, a sort of a What Color is your Parachute for management. More experienced managers can read this book and nod their heads in agreement and wouldn't provide any more information to them.
The core of the book is my favorite part, who goes into management. Typically, it is the type of person who likes to be busy and even though the nature of management is hectic and crazy, it attracts those type of people to it. It takes someone who enjoys working with non-sense and irrational thought and putting making a work product out of it. Even though a manager deals with crazy and irrational demands, they often thrive on it (workaholics sometimes), they also must be emotionally health and level headed to deal with the level stress that comes with it. They must find their center. Overall, an excellent book on management, highly recommended.
From the book:
"It is this dynamic balance that renders futile the teaching of management in a classroom, especially one role or competency at a time. Even mastering all the competencies do not a competent manager make, because the key to this work is the blending of all of its aspects, into this dynamic balance. And that can only happen on the job, because no simulation I have ever see in a classroom--case, game, in-basket exercise--comes remotely close to replicating the job itself." p. 96
Some realizations about middle management are what I have read from other books and online such as: Who is the Real Boss (from Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/grace...), and the quote from this book:
"...middle managers are often "far better than most senior executives...at leveraging the informal network at a company that makes substantial, lasting change possible." p. 111
So in both cases, the boss sets the tone and direction, the real boss is the one that executes the idea, as in the blog post. So, in other words, as an executive, if you don't get your middle manager behind you, that person can make your plans sink very quickly.
Other passages:
Does management create the manager, or does the manager create the management?
"...is brevity, variety, and fragmentation forced on the managers, or do they choose this patter in their work? My answer is yes both times.
...they don't want to discourage the flow of information...
...managers are plagued by what they might do and what they must do...
...managers like action, not abstract or philosophy, but dealing in tangible issues or problems...
Talk is the technology of leadership--Jeanne Liedtka, Dresden School
...he must become his own director of central intelligence...Richard Neustradt
"The Managers's extensive use of such information helps to explain why they may be reluctant to delegate tasks. It is not as if they can hand a dossier over to someone; they must take the time to "dump memory" to tell that person what they know about the subject. But this could take so long that it may be easier just to do the task themselves--Damned by the Dilemma of Delegation. p. 28
Hence, managers seemed damned by the nature of their personal information system to a life of either overwork or frustration. In the first case, they do too many tasks themselves or else spend too much time disseminating oral information. In the second case, they have to look on as delegated tasks are performed inadequately, by the uninformed (relative to them). It is too common to witness people being blamed for failures that can be traced to their inadequate access to the information necessary to perform their delegated tasks. p. 175
...the frequency of requests... may be a good measure of the status a manager has established for him-herself, while the quantity of unsolicited material received may indicate the manager's success in building effective channels of communication.
The Manager's working roles:
Formal Authority and Status
Interpersonal roles: Figurehead, Leader, Liason
Informational roles: Monitor, disseminator, spokesperson
Decisional Roles: Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, Resource Allocation, Negotiator. p. 45
To become a manager is to become more dependent on others to get things done. p. 65
Every unit has to be protected, responsive, and aggressive, depending on the circumstances. p. 81
Strategies are not immaculately conceived in detached offices, so much is learned through tangible experience. p. 87
Managers off the ground don't learn and become dreadful strategists.
The more innovative the organization, the more likely are disturbances to occur unexpectedly. p. 85
Thinking is heavy, too much can wear a manager down, while acting is light, too much of that and a manager can't stay put. p. 87
When I think of the type of organization Mintzberg identifies, I imagine that running a library involves every aspect of this organization. A good manager has to be able to switch back and forth among these philosophies to keep the library centered. Circulation is like machine, librarians are like Professional, when something new is started, the Project kicks into play, the Missionary comes in since many go into libraries as something core to their being, something they are very passionate about, and political since libraries play a role in local government politics.
Types of organizations:
Entrepreneurial Organization: Centralized around a single leader who engages in considerable doing and dealing as well as strategic visioning.
Machine Organization: formally structured, with simple repetitive operating tasks (classic bureaucracy), its managers functioning in clearly delineated hierarchies of authority and engaging in a considerable amount of controlling.
The Professional Organization: comprising professionals who do the operating work largely on their own, while their managers focus more externally, on linking and dealing, to support and protect the professionals.
The Project Organization (Adhocracy): built around project teams of experts that innovate, while the senior managesr engage in linking and dealing to secure the projects, and the project managesr concentrate on leading for teamwork, doing for execution and linking to connect the different teams together.
Missionary Organization: dominated by a strong culture, with the managers emphasizing leading to enhance and sustain that culture.
Political Organization: Dominated by conflict, with the managers sometimes having to emphasize doing and dealing in the form of firefighting.
September 9, 2011
An interesting, if slightly contrarian view, of management. Mintzberg is a big advocate of using common sense and doesn't idealize management, like many business books tend to. Rather, as he often states throughout the book, it's just one damn thing after another.
July 30, 2012
Not the fastest-paced book I've ever read, but it made me think about some things in new ways (empowerment vs. collaboration) and helped me refine some ideas I'd been trying to work through.
April 20, 2020
While by no means exhaustive, Drucker, Grove, Mintzberg, and Julie Zhuo (as the more contemporary contribution to the category) all do, in my view, relatively good jobs of defining and building frameworks and providing practical advice for the discipline of managing (cf. the mostly banal but generally entertaining literature of "leadership"). These are all good, didactic reads and can presumably be read to taste/preference and/or as complements.
The most exhaustive and arguably most tedious, perhaps by virtue of being developed and presented as an academic study à la Good to Great, is probably Mintzberg, though it undoubtedly benefits from (and properly credits) Drucker's oeuvre, among others. I felt that Mintzberg’s “models” weren’t entirely cogent (though I could just be dumb), but the supporting prose and examples were sufficient to provide a comprehensive and clear overview of the discipline. Grove, primarily in High Output Management, does a nice practical treatment rooted in his personal experience at Intel. Drucker is, of course, the OG.
To me, Zhuo's The Making of a Manager is the most approachable. She does a good job, having read the aforementioned works, of synthesizing and integrating them into her book. She also does well by relating her personal experience of learning, growing, and developing as a manager, providing some more warmth and poignancy to her book and its points.
As a digression, "choosing" among these reminds me a bit of choosing books in the value investing genre, where virtue signaling and Buffett worship seems to overrate the dense and abstruse classics from Graham and Dodd, even though the pith has been iterated and is now well-encapsulated in more approachable volumes. Of course, I'd hazard to guess that management is probably a bit less prone to fanaticism. Again, I'd be wary of proclaiming one book as unqualified best or individually exhaustive. There are different books to suit different tastes, and reading them all can be valuable.
The most exhaustive and arguably most tedious, perhaps by virtue of being developed and presented as an academic study à la Good to Great, is probably Mintzberg, though it undoubtedly benefits from (and properly credits) Drucker's oeuvre, among others. I felt that Mintzberg’s “models” weren’t entirely cogent (though I could just be dumb), but the supporting prose and examples were sufficient to provide a comprehensive and clear overview of the discipline. Grove, primarily in High Output Management, does a nice practical treatment rooted in his personal experience at Intel. Drucker is, of course, the OG.
To me, Zhuo's The Making of a Manager is the most approachable. She does a good job, having read the aforementioned works, of synthesizing and integrating them into her book. She also does well by relating her personal experience of learning, growing, and developing as a manager, providing some more warmth and poignancy to her book and its points.
As a digression, "choosing" among these reminds me a bit of choosing books in the value investing genre, where virtue signaling and Buffett worship seems to overrate the dense and abstruse classics from Graham and Dodd, even though the pith has been iterated and is now well-encapsulated in more approachable volumes. Of course, I'd hazard to guess that management is probably a bit less prone to fanaticism. Again, I'd be wary of proclaiming one book as unqualified best or individually exhaustive. There are different books to suit different tastes, and reading them all can be valuable.
November 8, 2021
Mintzberg's thoughts on managing have become the definitive text for the topic. I think I have a love/hate (mostly love) relationship with this book. There are some things, such as Mintzberg's descriptions of the depth and breadth of the management role, that I think are rather apt. In other ways, I think Mintzberg misses the mark. His narrative is at times a bit rambling and he relies a little more on anecdotal experience than research-based information. All that being said, I recommend this to anyone who finds themselves in a management role and looking for some professional development to enhance the understanding of their work.
February 4, 2019
This is not a fable about management or typical management book. Mintzberg believes management is learned by on the job experience and common sense, not by case studies in a classroom. He prepares the would be manager to be energetic and ready for "one damn thing after another." He does not believe in the professional manager (one that can manage any type of concern because of their training. A good manager is more of a fit some types are better in one situation others in different situations.
June 7, 2024
Gedegen, weloverwogen en regelmatig verhelderend, maar verschrikkelijk onleesbaar.
Mintzberg is een dagje met 29 verschillende managers meegelopen en probeert aan de hand van zijn observaties gecombineerd met literatuuronderzoek definitieve conclusies te trekken over het werk van de manager. Hij verwijst steeds naar deze individuele situaties om de theorie te illustreren, maar het werkt averechts en haalt elke vaart uit zijn betoog. Ik mis heel erg de grote lijn.
Mintzberg is een dagje met 29 verschillende managers meegelopen en probeert aan de hand van zijn observaties gecombineerd met literatuuronderzoek definitieve conclusies te trekken over het werk van de manager. Hij verwijst steeds naar deze individuele situaties om de theorie te illustreren, maar het werkt averechts en haalt elke vaart uit zijn betoog. Ik mis heel erg de grote lijn.
October 6, 2017
An academics opinion about managing - easy to criticize, harder to do. Like the restaurant or movie critic - full of opinions that aren't backed up with experience. No credibility if you ask me.
June 24, 2019
Henry Mintzberg's book was insightful, informative, opinionated and at times his theories can be still be debated, they are relative to current management practices.
Definitely recommend this book for future managers to progress regardless of your industry.
Read and build your own opinion
Definitely recommend this book for future managers to progress regardless of your industry.
Read and build your own opinion
February 23, 2018
Definitivamente aburrido, da muchos rodeos sin concretar, esto solo ocurre por proceso del lector.
May 15, 2018
Less practical than I thought. On the other hand, very detailed on the general knowledge about management.
April 16, 2019
Lire très complet sur la gestion avec des concepts très intéressant mais qui sont difficile à mettre en application. Lecture pour des gens aguerries
June 28, 2023
If you are looking for a manual how to be a manager, this book is not for you probably. It shows management how it is, how varied and often messy. As such it's a great book to read.
April 26, 2013
I can't help but like this book. Mintzberg has original and helpful views on all sorts of aspects of management. He has an easy and engaging style of making sometimes quite profound points. But there is always a light hearted touch lurking below serious points. I have no doubt that this is an important book for anyone interested in management.
The main drawback is that this is written from the viewpoint of an academic studying management, rather than a practising manager. I have no problem with that in principle - but the sample size used to base his opinions is very small (a few days with a few managers). Any practising manager who has worked for several companies will have a significantly larger sample of experience to draw on. Nevertheless, he does draw many original insights which are counter to much of prevailing wisdom on management - and they are, in my opinion, right. Another advantage is the lack of US bias which so many management books suffer from. (I have no problem with using US examples, but not only US examples).
The book starts very well, although I do not think it holds attention all the way to the end.
The main drawback is that this is written from the viewpoint of an academic studying management, rather than a practising manager. I have no problem with that in principle - but the sample size used to base his opinions is very small (a few days with a few managers). Any practising manager who has worked for several companies will have a significantly larger sample of experience to draw on. Nevertheless, he does draw many original insights which are counter to much of prevailing wisdom on management - and they are, in my opinion, right. Another advantage is the lack of US bias which so many management books suffer from. (I have no problem with using US examples, but not only US examples).
The book starts very well, although I do not think it holds attention all the way to the end.
February 8, 2010
Scholarly report on managing
Managing, believes scholar Henry Mintzberg, is different from leading. To study which skills are essential to good management, Mintzberg spent an entire day one-on-one with 29 managers from different kinds of organizations and from different sectors – including banking, retail, filmmaking, government, nonprofits and healthcare. Mintzberg looked at managers who worked in the executive suites as well as on the front lines. He learned that although managers differ considerably in their activities, the skills they need are surprisingly similar. Although quite general and not entirely new, getAbstract recommends this comprehensive guide to managers, executive placement experts, consultants, students and others who wish to get back to basics and to develop the traits essential to becoming an effective, able manager.
To learn more about this book, check out the following Web page:
http://www.getabstract.com/summary/10...
Managing, believes scholar Henry Mintzberg, is different from leading. To study which skills are essential to good management, Mintzberg spent an entire day one-on-one with 29 managers from different kinds of organizations and from different sectors – including banking, retail, filmmaking, government, nonprofits and healthcare. Mintzberg looked at managers who worked in the executive suites as well as on the front lines. He learned that although managers differ considerably in their activities, the skills they need are surprisingly similar. Although quite general and not entirely new, getAbstract recommends this comprehensive guide to managers, executive placement experts, consultants, students and others who wish to get back to basics and to develop the traits essential to becoming an effective, able manager.
To learn more about this book, check out the following Web page:
http://www.getabstract.com/summary/10...
February 16, 2012
This book is based on Mintzberg's observations during a day spent individually with 29 managers across a range of sectors this is incredibly value as the book is steeped in management practice which makes it all the more relevant and relatable.
Mintzberg dispels many management myths and outlines clearly what managing is through a comprehensive description of management roles and a very useful model for managing.
It was very valuable to read this book whilst encountering many of the scenarios it describes. I wouldn't say this book was a highly enjoyable read, as it felt quite tedious at times, very much like an academic text. But it is a very valuable read and I may even go as far to say it is a necessary read for managers and aspiring managers, I definitely understand why it is the ˜CMI Management Book of the Year 2010.
Mintzberg dispels many management myths and outlines clearly what managing is through a comprehensive description of management roles and a very useful model for managing.
It was very valuable to read this book whilst encountering many of the scenarios it describes. I wouldn't say this book was a highly enjoyable read, as it felt quite tedious at times, very much like an academic text. But it is a very valuable read and I may even go as far to say it is a necessary read for managers and aspiring managers, I definitely understand why it is the ˜CMI Management Book of the Year 2010.
May 21, 2012
I enjoyed this book. Very original and loaded with intelligent insight. I had not previously read Mintzberg but am definitely now a fan of his. It gave me a fresh, empirically-based, view of what managing actually is. Mintzberg's goal in this book, it seems, was to strip back any pretenses and stylisations of what management is--and just portray it in its more raw form. And it is kind of reassuring and enlightening to see that it is pretty messy and varied! After studying a day in the life of about 30+ managers in various organisations across a few continents, Mintzberg attempts to draw some generic observations about what actually goes on--and a lot of it put my own job, and that of my manager, into an informative perspective for me. Top read!
April 5, 2014
Excelent for those who want to understand more about what do company managers do and the challenges of their jobs. Mintzberg separates analytically their activities, their way of acting (doing, linking, dealing, , the nature of their behavior (craft, science, art) and puts some very intelligent reflection for those who study management and for those who try to control management.
He also, as usual, questions the current MBA models for teaching management - something he disagrees that can be done.
I recommend it very much also for those who are already company managers and want to understand more about themselves and see their afflictions aren't unusual - they're not alone.
He also, as usual, questions the current MBA models for teaching management - something he disagrees that can be done.
I recommend it very much also for those who are already company managers and want to understand more about themselves and see their afflictions aren't unusual - they're not alone.
June 8, 2018
Nikdy netreba veriť čistým škatuliam typológie. Mintzberg sa snaží o čo najplastickejší pohľad na prácu, ktorej hovoríme "managing". Na rozdiel od neučítateľných teoretických kníh, ktoré sú často bohužiaľ základnou literatúrou kurzov na ekonomkách o managemente, táto kniha sa snaží zachytiť život. A celkom sa jej to darí. Upratovanie do chlievikov a kategorizácie sú spojené so živými ľuďmi a konkrétnymi situáciami v organizáciách. A na záver upozornenie na pasce, ktoré prichádzajú s tým, že sa "managing" stane vašou hlavnou pracovnou náplňou.
Trochu nepríjemné sú boldom vytlačené určité vety a pasáže. Má to pomôcť rýchločítaniu, ale v skutočnosti je to barlička pre pomalých čitateľov.
Trochu nepríjemné sú boldom vytlačené určité vety a pasáže. Má to pomôcť rýchločítaniu, ale v skutočnosti je to barlička pre pomalých čitateľov.
March 8, 2012
Got this as a Christmas present. At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, I have to confess that I enjoy Mintzberg. His latest book lived up to its promise.
Within the text I found validation for aspects of my practice, as well as useful models to guide reflection toward improving my craft. His discussions of the major contradictions that characterize management was particularly useful.
I'll need to revisit and contemplate parts of this book in an ongoing fashion. I definitely recommend Managing by Henry Mintzberg.
Within the text I found validation for aspects of my practice, as well as useful models to guide reflection toward improving my craft. His discussions of the major contradictions that characterize management was particularly useful.
I'll need to revisit and contemplate parts of this book in an ongoing fashion. I definitely recommend Managing by Henry Mintzberg.
February 22, 2014
This book had more of a Canadian perspective which helped make it distinct in a noisy marketplace for such books.
Overall, handling different situations (and customer needs) and the various organizations that exist suggest there is not, nor will there ever be, that one size fits all solution or the myth of some superstar manager who could manage anything. (Although some may be better at adapting. Plenty of organizations are willing to settle for an interim manager before finding someone who appears a permanent solution.. for anyone who follows business headlines.)
Overall, handling different situations (and customer needs) and the various organizations that exist suggest there is not, nor will there ever be, that one size fits all solution or the myth of some superstar manager who could manage anything. (Although some may be better at adapting. Plenty of organizations are willing to settle for an interim manager before finding someone who appears a permanent solution.. for anyone who follows business headlines.)
June 12, 2016
Henry Mintzberg, autor deste livro, certamente é o mais polêmico, perspicaz, provocativo e irreverente entre os gurus da administração moderna.
A partir de observações feitas com 29 líderes das mais diversas indústrias, Mintzberg defende que Gestão e a Liderança não são ciências exatas e, desta forma, não há uma fórmula única de sucesso que possa ser aplicada incondicionalmente aos mais diversos tipos de gestores.
O último capítulo, Os inevitáveis enigmas da Gestão, trás considerações ousadas e valiosas para o dia-a-dia de pessoas em posição de liderança.
A partir de observações feitas com 29 líderes das mais diversas indústrias, Mintzberg defende que Gestão e a Liderança não são ciências exatas e, desta forma, não há uma fórmula única de sucesso que possa ser aplicada incondicionalmente aos mais diversos tipos de gestores.
O último capítulo, Os inevitáveis enigmas da Gestão, trás considerações ousadas e valiosas para o dia-a-dia de pessoas em posição de liderança.
June 6, 2016
Read this book when you've been managing for a few years. You'll understand that the complexity you are facing day after day is just a natural aspect of managing. Mintzberg proposes several pragmatic models to improve your way. Your way should never be too much of one thing (as it frequently happens) but a few of everything (it could seem obvious when you read it, it is not when practicing). Mintzberg also demystifies conundrums that impede managers to go forward. This book is just a must for every manager!
January 27, 2015
Un incontournable du management et de la sociologie des organisations. Une façon simple -mais pas simpliste- de présenter ses idées. Une capacité d'abstraction et de conceptualisation talentueuse, qui fait de Mintzberg, un auteur à lire pour tous. Je le recommande vivement à tous ceux qui veulent avoir une grille de lecture de la sociologie des organisations, ou ceux qui simplement à comprendre le monde qui les entoure.
January 29, 2014
Nice report about the experiment by Mr. Mintzberg which has observed a bunch of managers from different industries and on different stages of management maturity. Overall conclusion is that managers at the same level of management at most have similar traits which is insignificantly depend from industry.
July 25, 2014
A book on managing that tackles it from many angles and many sources. What I especially liked about it was that it's an analysis that recognizes the complexity of the subject and does not pretend to offer a simple recipe to tackle it. It is academical and heavier reading than some other books but worth the time and efforts to read it.
March 9, 2015
A bit wishy washy, contradictory, some times even pessimistic to the extent of adhoch nature of management. I guess, in a sense, these make up a great deal of managerial job, as it has been meticulously chewed in the book. Not a go-to sort of whatever-number-of-principles guide by any means. One take away, though - management is an art, not a science, always chaotic in its core.
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