Book Review and Reflection
Book Review and Reflection on
“The One Minute Manager”
Group Process in Supervision EDAD 511 October, 23 2008 I chose “The One Minute Manage” because it looked like a short read and it appeared that it was going to generalize hundreds of different type of management theories into a few pages. This is a short, well written book explaining the fundamentals of management: make sure your staff member knows what they are to do, praise them if they do it, reprimand them if they don 't, and to have a training plan to make sure they develop into better, more productive employees. The story is of a young man seeking the answer to the question, “what is the one minute manager?” Also, the interviewer wants to know why is this region of the company such a great success. This man first interviews the company’s District manager. The District manager tells the visitor to check with certain department managers for more details about this technique. The "one minute" part of the title concerns the brief nature of aims, praises and reprimands. • For each of the major tasks an employee needs to do, their aim should be put on a single sheet of paper - it should only take a minute for an employee to review what they are required to do, this will make it clear how an employee is being judged. • Employees need to be praised when they do well. It is important to give feedback quickly - not wait for reviews, but praise need take only a minute to tell someone they have done well. • Reprimands are more complex than praise, but similarly should be done soon after the event. The reprimand should only last around a minute. For reprimands (a) confirm what has happened with the employee, don 't go on word of mouth, (b) reprimand the behavior, not the employee, and tell them how you feel, (c) pause for a moment to let it sink in, (d) praise them as a person and encourage them in their strengths. The book is written as a story about a student trying to find out how
“The One Minute Manager”
Group Process in Supervision EDAD 511 October, 23 2008 I chose “The One Minute Manage” because it looked like a short read and it appeared that it was going to generalize hundreds of different type of management theories into a few pages. This is a short, well written book explaining the fundamentals of management: make sure your staff member knows what they are to do, praise them if they do it, reprimand them if they don 't, and to have a training plan to make sure they develop into better, more productive employees. The story is of a young man seeking the answer to the question, “what is the one minute manager?” Also, the interviewer wants to know why is this region of the company such a great success. This man first interviews the company’s District manager. The District manager tells the visitor to check with certain department managers for more details about this technique. The "one minute" part of the title concerns the brief nature of aims, praises and reprimands. • For each of the major tasks an employee needs to do, their aim should be put on a single sheet of paper - it should only take a minute for an employee to review what they are required to do, this will make it clear how an employee is being judged. • Employees need to be praised when they do well. It is important to give feedback quickly - not wait for reviews, but praise need take only a minute to tell someone they have done well. • Reprimands are more complex than praise, but similarly should be done soon after the event. The reprimand should only last around a minute. For reprimands (a) confirm what has happened with the employee, don 't go on word of mouth, (b) reprimand the behavior, not the employee, and tell them how you feel, (c) pause for a moment to let it sink in, (d) praise them as a person and encourage them in their strengths. The book is written as a story about a student trying to find out how