Analysis of The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencher Johnson

Analysis of The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencher Johnson

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D. and Spencer Johnson, M.D., seems like a practical simple plan on managing people and there for other areas of one’s life, however I must admit I am a little skeptical. The three philosophies do make sense especially once analogies are used to put them into more simple terms. Being in the work force for more than fourteen years I have witnessed many types of mangers. I have worked for hostile managers, calm caring managers and managers who fit somewhere in between. My skepticism with this theory is simply applying its use. On paper this method sounds great and makes a lot of key points, but again after seeing first hand the types of people in management positions I think the challenge comes from undoing current behavior. My observation of people in general, is that they unwelcome change and find it uncomfortable.

The first philosophy “One Minute Goal Setting” makes tasks assigned to the individual clear and precise. The manager first expresses goals that need to be accomplished. Once an agreement is made, each goal is written down in 250 words or less. It is strongly held that it should take no more than a minute to read. You should reinforce each goal throughout the day. Also take time to look at your performance and see if your behavior matches your goals.

I agree with this theory and think there should be more interaction at the beginning of an assignment. With One Minute goal setting everything is out on the table. There is no dispute on what should have been done or didn’t get done. The bowling analogy used has a lot of truth to it. If there were a sheet in front of the pins with a supervisor standing behind it, it would be hard to tell how well your doing because you can’t see the pins or goal. Only the supervisor knows your score. I see this a lot in staff meetings. There are usually conflicts between my manager and staff because of misunderstandings on the task assigned. This is where the conflict resides. The employee feels they did exactly what was asked while the employer thinks the job was done incorrectly. This usually causes my boss to criticize the work and most if not all people take it personally. Then, once the meeting is over, my peers will get defensive and complain t...

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...my relationships with family, friends and loved ones I have a habit of not dealing with disappointing feelings right away because I don’t want to cause conflict. My feelings begin to fester and I become more sensitive to other things that normally wouldn’t tick me off, but do, because I am still upset about the first problem. Before you know it, I blow up and everything comes out anyway. Usually the person I am upset with has to hear about what they did a month ago and everything in between. This puts that person on the defense and nothing really gets accomplished until a few days later when we all calm down to discuss the issue. So logically if I dealt with my feelings in the beginning, the blowouts could be avoided and I could calmly get my point across with little conflict.

Overall the “One Minute Manager” concept seems like a dynamic way to keep employees happy and content in their jobs. In my opinion, I think the theory appears too good to be true. I am skeptical because managers would need to struggle with changing their current behavior. I think for me to be convinced that this would work in the real life of business, I would need to experience it first hand.