One Minute Manager Essay

The one minute manager is a short story which explains the three management procedures or techniques that a manager needs and can use to be the superlative manager that he can be. It begins with a man probing for an effective manager anywhere and everywhere throughout the world. He comes across many of these managers but they are either harsh or pleasant. These harsh managers have the company operational but their employees are not pleased. The nice managers have their employees happy but their company is gone astray. He notes that the managers attentiveness were in result and people. Virtuous manager’s interests are in the outcomes and the people. He, at the end of the day, heard about a spectacular manager who lived nearby in a town. He came in contact and they both set a date when they could meet and discuss certain things. He found it incongruously strange that he had any time available except Wednesday mornings. When they met, he asked him if he hold regular meetings with his subordinates. The manager replies that he does hold meetings every Wednesday morning. They discuss the problems they had, what needs to be accomplished, and develop plans and strategies for the upcoming week. Those decisions were made both by him and the people in the organization. The manager further explains that he does not like to participate in his subordinate’s decision making. The purpose of his organization is efficiency and getting results. He also explains that they are productive because they are organized. The manager believes that you can only get results through people. So, this explains it all; he is a result and people oriented manager. He is interested in both results and his people. They go â€Å"hand in hand† he says. He keeps his people feeling worthy about themselves because that is when they make progress and more comes out of it. â€Å"People who feel good about themselves produce good results.† This was written on a plaque on the manager’s desk. He believes that when people feel great about themselves, it is the fund amental of getting the most output. Efficiency is not only the quantity of work being done, but also the quality of it. Quality is giving the people the service they really want. Quantity is how much of that product you actually have.  The greatest way to receive both quality and quantity is through people. The man asks the manager to describe what kind of manager he thinks he is. He replies by saying â€Å"I am a One Minute Manager†. The manager then explains that it takes very little time for him to get immense results from people and he is sent to three people. The first person he meets with is Mr. Trenell. Through this visit with him, the man identifies the first secret of being a One Minute Manager. The first secret is One Minute Goal Setting. Mr. Trenell further explains that it is the foundation of a One Minute Manager. He explains that the One Minute Manager always ensures that you know what your responsibilities are and if the tables turn, what you are being held responsible for. This reduces confusion of what the managers think you should do and what you think you should be doing. Every one of his subordinates has to write down each goal on a separate paper no more than 250 words. He does this to make sure everybody is clear on what they should do and to occasionally check the progress. The One Minute Manager believes that 80% of the results come from 20% of the goals. The point of One minute Goal Setting is to avoid the surprises of not knowing what your work is to do and what is to be expected from the beginning. One Minute Goal Setting does not just help you to understand what your responsibilities are but also to make your performance standards clear. The manager shows the employees what he expects of them. Mr. Trenell further explains his experience on his first few days of working and how the manager got him to think the way he does and allow him to make his own decisions. One Minute Goal setting is basically just agreeing on your goals, writing down your goals with no more than 250 words, read and proof read your goals, look at your performance and see whether your behaviour counterparts your goals. The second secret of becoming a One Minute Manager is One Minute Praising. Mr. Levy, the second person he speaks to, explains to him what this secret is about. He said that it would be a lot easier for him to do well if he got crystal clear feedback from the manager on how he was doing. The manager wants him to succeed, help the organization, and to enjoy his work. He would, in no ambiguous terms, tell him when he was doing well and when he was doing poorly. Mr. Levy pointed out that the manager is always in close contact. He observes his subordinates works and activities very closely and he would make them keep a record of their progress that they should send to  him to look over. This was to make the manager see that he was doing something right and praise him for it. The manager also says that â€Å"to help people reach their full potential and to see them doing something right† is the motto for the One Minute Praising. Mr. Levy explained that other organizations spend most of their time pointing out what is wrong rather than praising what was right. The manager of the organization they are in focus more on the positive than the negative. When the manager praises you, it is no more than a minute and he usually makes contact with you by placing his hands on your shoulder or touching you in a pleasing way. He says â€Å"the more consistently successful your people are, the higher you rise in the organization†. When the manager praises you, he looks you right in the eye and tells you what you did right and how he felt about it. Praising always need to be immediate. One Minute Praising works well when you tell them face to face how they are doing, what they did right, how good you feel about that action, encourage them to do more of the same, and shake hands or make contact in a way that is clear that you support their success in the organization. After he went to see Mr. Trenell and Mr. Levy, he went to Miss Gomez instead of Miss Brown. He asked Miss Gomez if they had the best equipment and if the manager loses a lot of people. Miss Gomez replied and said that they don’t have the best equipment and that people that leave the One Minute Manager get their own operation because they don’t need a manager. After a while, he noticed that Miss Gomez was busier and more unorganized than the manager actually was. The next morning he went to see Miss Brown to find out what the third secret was to becoming a One Minute Manager. The third secret was One Minute Reprimands. This is when a subordinate makes a mistake and the manager responds quickly. As soon as he has knowledge of the mistake he will come to see you and confirm the actualities. He looks you in the eyes and tells you what you did wrong and how he feels about it. The Reprimand takes about 30 seconds. After he tells you how he feels, he gives it a minute to let it descend into you. The minute manager does not tackle the person but their behaviour. When the Reprimand is over, Miss Brown says that the One Minute Manager has taught them the value of being able to laugh at themselves when they make a mistake. It helps them to make progress with their work. The one minute reprimand works well when you tell people beforehand how they are doing in  the organization. The Reprimand includes two halves. The first half is to Reprimand immediately, tell people what they did wrong, tell them how you feel when they did wrong, and to stop for a few seconds of scratchy silence to let them feel how you feel. The second half is to shake hands, or touch them to make them know you are on their side, remind them of how much you value them, reaffirm them of how you think of them, and realize that when the Reprimand is over, that it is actually over and there is no turning back. The manager, after all of those meetings, explained all the secrets to the man after meeting with Miss Brown. He explained in detail why you set One Minute Goals, One Minute Praising, and One Minute Reprimands. One Minute Goals are there to ensure that your employees know what you are asking of them and the goals they need to achieve within the organization. You give One Minute Praising to ensure the employees of their right doings and to encourage them to enhance their performance. You give One Minute Reprimand to tell them what they did wrong and that they can do better. Finally, the man got a job at the manager organization as a One Minute Manager.