The Technique of One Minute Manager in an Organization - Book Review Example

The one-minute manager book by Ken Blanchard and Spencer is an excellent book about management in an organization. It is about a young man who has a dream of getting a competent manager and also with the willingness to work for one. In the search for the excellent manager by this young man, he meets some managers whose primary concerns are the results. In the case where he met the managers who are only interested in results, the organization was in a position to gain, but as a result, the people who were working there failed. He also met some managers who were democratic, in that they were only concerned about the people. As a result, the people gained but the organization lost. The young man was interested in getting a manager who was fundamentally involved in both the organization and the people as well. The managers whose interests were divided into the organizations and the people, both the people and the organization gained in return. Then the young man comes across a manager who describes himself as the one-minute manager. The name came from the fact that the manager took a very little time to gain meaningful results from people (Panday).

Skills of Management Used

The story is a one-minute manager which is symbolizing a one-minute display from a modern digital watch's face. The book is intended to remind us always to take a minute every day to stare into the faces of those we are managing. An entrepreneur is invited by a one-minute manager into his company. The entrepreneur is impressed by the way the manager can treat and interact with his employees. The entrepreneur is also interested in the way the manager influences and manages his employees. The manager tells the entrepreneur that he talks with his colleagues in the company. As the entrepreneur converses with the manager, he realizes that the manager has got different ways to influence his employees (Kaleido). From the way the entrepreneur can observe things from their conversation, the entrepreneur realizes that the manager has got very adaptive leadership skills. The manager explains to the entrepreneur that there are four styles of management with a combination of directive and supportive behavior to be able to obtain the right approach to a particular issue or towards a specific, achievable goal.

The four styles of management are directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. The manager further explains that everyone has a maximum potential for performance, the only thing that one needs to do is to know their origin and meet them there. Therefore, for one to know the style to use over a person, a manager should be in a position to inspect the level of development of the person one intends to affect. There are therefore fore standards to be considered, low competence and high commitment, low competence and low commitment, high competence and variable commitment and lastly maximized skill and maximum competence (Kaleido).

There is, therefore, a relationship and interaction between the four the four leadership styles and the discussed development levels, hence, when the adaptive method together with the employees' needs are applied, one can develop competence and commitment. Thus, the performance curve of these styles and levels from directing which is associated with low supporting and high directing to coaching, related to top supporting and high leading to supporting, associated with high supporting and low directing to lastly delegating related to low supporting and low directing (Kaleido). From these suggestions, a manager should shift his most approaches towards delegating. Delegating reduces the workload and makes an employee feel fully involved in a particular task.

The Secrets of Management

There are three secrets of management addressed by this book the of the one-minute manager. The one-minute goal is the first secret. The one-minute goal involves being always aware of what is expected of a person from the beginning of doing something. When at a position to decide upon the desired goal and the standards of performance, it is noted down in a single sheet of paper. The one-minute target is given the name since it should only take one minute to read through it. A one-minute goal is a very important in the management aspect as it is known to provide immediate feedback to the worker and later the feedback turns into motivation. One-minute goals allow both the employee and the employer to know what is expected from the start of the job is done. And hence both the employee and the employer would be finally satisfied by the results which shall come out to be efficient according to the set standard. The example in a game, when you are playing, and you know very well that you need for instance three points and you have acquired one point, you will try to work extra hard to get the remaining two points (Pandey).

The second secret is one-minute praising, which comes after the one-minute goal setting. It is so called because it hardly takes one minute for one to be told by an employer that he or she did an outstanding job. One-minute praising is associated with praising a person immediately for a well-done position according to the set standards of the task done, by telling the out how you feel about the job well done and encouraging them to do more of the same level. For example, when you teach a child how to walk, you don't expect the child to start walking immediately he stands up. He first struggles to toddle and tries to stand up and falls in a few attempts, makes few stapes and you hug him making him feel to have tried (Pandey). One-minute praising shows that one is genuinely interested in his people and is properly caring for them and their success. This secret aimed at catching the employees doing good things as opposed to other organizations which aimed at capturing employees doing bad things.

The third secret is one-minute reprimands, and it is given as soon as an employee does something wrong. It has two parts, and the first half includes telling the people how you feel about the wrong they did and let it sink with a second of unfortunate silence. The second half you tell the people about their capability and the extent to which you value them (Pandey). The important aspect about this secret is that it does not blame the doer but criticizes the work. For example, if a worker is spotted to have done a wrong thing, should be corrected immediately and not later hence leading to immediate feedback. The techniques discussed in this paper are very important since they bring a very good employer-employee relationship hence can be applied in the day to day life by managers.

Works Cited

Kaleido. "the one-minute manager." July 2017. talentscare. 14 December 2017. <https://www.talentsqure.com/blog/the-one-minute-manager/>.

Pandey, Manish. "3 main lessons we can learn from the one-minute manager." 31 December 2008. Dumb Little Man. 14 December 2017. <http:/www.dumblittleman.com/3-key-lessons-we-learn-from-one/>.