The Essence of Managing
Henry Mintzberg appreciates that managers are busy people. So he has taken his classic book Managing, done some updating, and distilled its essence into a lean 176 pages of text.
The essence of the book remains the same: what Mintzberg learned from observing twenty-nine managers in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. Simply Managing considers the intense dynamics of this job as well as its inescapable conundrums, for example:
- How is anyone supposed to think, let alone think ahead, in this frenetic job?
- Are leaders really more important than managers?
- Where has all the judgment gone?
- Is email destroying management practice?
- How can managers connect when their job disconnects them from what they are managing?
If you read only one book about managing, this should be it!
Simply Managing: What Managers Do and Can Do Better
Description
Table of Contents
Welcome to Simply Managing
1--Managing Beyond the Myths
What management is and isn’t
Leadership versus communityship
Management as a practice, not a profession
Managing’s not changing
2--Managing Relentlessly
The pressures of managerial work
The pace, the action, the interruptions
Soft communicating
Managing across, not just “down”
Managing as controlled disorder
Managing the Internet
3--Managing Information, People, Action
A model of managing
Controlling and communicating
Leading and linking
Doing and dealing
Well-rounded managing
4--Managing Every Which Way
The untold varieties of managing
In culture, sector, industry, and organization
At the top, middle, and bottom
As an art, craft, and science
Postures of managing
Managing beyond the manager
5--Managing on Tightropes
The inescapable conundrums of managing
The syndrome of superficiality
The dilemma of delegating
The mysteries of measuring
The clutch of confidence
The ambiguity of acting—and others
6--Managing Effectively
Getting to the essence of managing
The inevitably flawed manager
Happily and unhappily managed organizational families
A framework for effectiveness
Selecting, assessing, and developing effective managers
Managing naturally
Dedication
References
Index
About the Author
Author Description
Review quote
Winner of the Chartered Management Institute's Management Book of the Year award.
One of strategy+business magazine's top three management books of the year.
One of the Toronto Globe and Mail's top ten business books of the year:
"Henry Mintzberg is a fine writer, with a penchant for humor."
One of Choice magazine's top ten outstanding books of the year:
"Mintzberg does not accept conventional wisdom--he challenges it constantly...erudite as well as practical."
One of Library Journal's top business books of the year.