The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. William Morrow & Co: United States, 1982, pp 112.

Managing people, either in the corporate world or elsewhere has always been an uphill task. Organizing a team of heterogeneous people with diverse temperaments and capabilities under a single roof and with a single objective or goal- that of getting the best out of them and attaining the set objective of the organization- has either created autocratic managers who set despotic rules for their employees, or managers who become too democratic to attain any objective at all. However, this would no longer be a real big problem as Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson’s The One Minute Manager has a ready answer to all those who want to effectively mange their employees. The book comprising only a hundred odd pages looks like one of those childhood fairy tales, that engrosses you completely in its interesting web of interrelations and consequently asks you to read till the last page. 'Dynamite comes in small packages', the authors believe. One has to read the book, The One Minute Manager to believe in this more than ever. The writers amazingly pack in three most valuable and effective lessons in management, which, they believe, will help a manager boost profits and productivity immediately through increase in employee morale and job satisfaction.

The first and foremost aspect of the infallible team management the book pleads for is setting up one-minute goals. These involve frequent and brief meetings between the manager and the employees in which immediate goals are set in mutual agreement, recorded in black and white and later assessed and reassessed to ensure that productivity is occurring. These meetings are so brief that writers call them one-minute meetings, this is not to underscore that practically these meetings may take more than some sixty seconds. What is important is that the goals are set frequently and assessed and reassessed as immediately as possible. The main purpose of one minute goal setting is to confirm that responsibilities of each worker is understood, understanding that confusion leads to inefficiency and discouragement.

The second lesson to one minute managing is one-minute praisings. Here, the writers believe the manager should be open with people about their performance. When one sees someone doing something right, praise him or her immediately. One ought to be honest enough in telling the employee involved specifically what was it that you liked and praised. At the same time, while praising, allow the employee to "feel" how good you feel regarding their importance to the organization, and finish by shaking hands- even a gentle pat on the shoulder would do. The purpose is to make the employee understand that you value his/her being part of the organization and that you really like the particular act of the employee.

Further, the manager should be strict enough to warn if a wrong is done by the employee. This is the last quality of an effective manager. The foremost aspect of this is to reprimand immediately and specifically. This is part of being honest in approach towards your team and, consequently this facilitates an understanding of responsibilities and how to complete them correctly. Once the warning is complete, one should not forget to shake hands with the employee and remind the person that he or she is vital and it was simply a specific performance that you did not like. This way, these one-minute reprimands consist of the warning and the reassurance, both being evenly important. Leaving the later part out might end up in others attributing mistakes to the same person and may also harm the employee’s self-confidence, which is not the main objective involved here.

All in all, the book is a plain read written in a deceptively simple style and language and emphasizes crucial aspects of managing throughout. The message is clear, and implementing the ideas is straightforward and laid out in the book itself. This whole hog makes it simple to utilize the knowledge and techniques that the one-minute manager style offers. These factors make The One Minute Manager an affectively valuable tool for developing true management skills. Ever since the first edition came out in 1982, the book has been acting as a practical business guide for managers who want to get the most from their employees. For any person who is currently a human resource manager striving to get the most from people, or who is planning to become one in the near future, The One Minute Manager is an indispensable success tool. A factual Bible for effective and infallible management.