Two Books on Leadership

The One Minute Manager appeared in the popular business culture in the early 1980s. This was a time of transition in the American political economy--out of a period of dramatic inflation and economic uncertainty of the late 1970s and into a period of what turned out to be the supposed economic certainties of the 1980s. One could perhaps argue the permanence or significance of such presumed certainties, but there is no doubt that when one Minute Manager appeared, it was intended to respond to the problematic conditions of its time. The early 1980s were developing as a zero-sum game, as far as business and industrial activity was concerned. Indeed, in the background of Blanchard and Johnson's book is a sense that it will guide the reader toward goal-directed insight into methods of addressing specific problems associated with the failure to achieve goals. What Blanchard and Johnson appear to be making a case for is a focus on the goals of the organization

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y, the manager makes clear that the employee's actions or behavior--not his or her status or integrity as a person--are at issue. The issues of professionalism and clarity surface most prominently here, for Blanchard and Johnson advise managers who reprimand employees to "reaffirm that you think well of them [as human beings] but not of their performance in this situation." They add that the manager should "realize that when the reprimand is over, it's over" (p. 59). This approach speaks tacitly to the issue of office politics and grudge-holding; however, the purpose is chiefly to maintain the focus of both manager and workers on specific business objectives and the consequence of achieving or failing to achieve them. What the focus is specifically not on is personalities, even though it takes no great leap of insight to consider that corporate life is replete with diverse personalities, some of which are not only not cooperative but also pathological. Blanchard and Johnson's one-minute manager makes only one assumption about employees, and apparently the same assumption about all employees--that they can understand what is expected of them if they are told. The obligation of the manager is to speak to that understanding con
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Approximate Word count = 2125
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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