Rating: 
Summary: Warning!!
Review: Be ready for a good book!! It is a short, easy read that contains sensible information using a fun story line. I think most readers will be entertained as well as learn a few nuggets of wisdom- I give it five stars easy.
Rating:
Summary: An oldie but goodie
Review: The book demonstrates three easy to use management techniques: One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praising, and One Minute Reprimands. One Minute Goal Setting involves setting clear performance standards and expectations. According to the authors, most managers use NIHYSOB or "Now I have you - you SOB" These managers don't tell people what they expect of them; they just leave them alone and then "zap" them when they don't perform at the desired level. In One Minute Goal Setting the manager and employee agree on goals or key areas of responsibilities so that the employee knows what they will be accountable for and what performance is expected. The manager and employee agree that the manager will let the employee know when they are performing well and when they are not. After One Minute Goal setting the manager stays in close contact with the employee and gives them a One Minute Praising when they do something right. The most important thing in training someone is to catch them doing something right-in the beginning it may be approximately right and gradually move them towards the desired behaviors. Praise employees for what they do right and encourage them to repeat the behavior. That's why it's important to observe new people in the beginning or when starting a new project. The praise should come immediately after you see them do something right and not just at performance review times. If the employee is not performing as agreed on in the One Minute Goal Setting then the manger may use One Minute Reprimands. The authors state that most managers are "gunnysack discipliners." That is, they store up observations of poor performance and then at performance review time or when they are angry they "open the sack." They tell people all the things they've done wrong for the last weeks or months. The idea behind One Minute Reprimands is that the manager should intervene early and deal with the problem at the time that it happens and not wait till the performance review time. Reprimands should be fair and should focus on behavior and not on the worth of the person. The reprimand should always be followed by a praising -- telling the person what they are doing right and how much they are valued. Although this book was written over 20 years ago the advice given by Blanchard and Johnson still holds true today. I can personally identify with what they refer to as NIHYSOB and "gunny sack" managers. I work in an organization where managers are hired strictly on the bases of their subject matter expertise and not because of their management or interpersonal skills. This means most employees are left on their own to figure out what they are supposed to be doing on the job. Feedback on what you're doing right or wrong is rarely given. The annual performance feedback is considered a "joke" because most managers give every employee an outstanding evaluation in order to avoid conflict. As one can imagine this doesn't create the most motivating work environment. In summary the One Minute Manager states that managers should: 1) set one minute goals with people to make sure they know what are being held accountable for and what performance is expected, 2) try to catch them doing something good and give them immediately praise, and 3) if they have the skills to do something right and they don't; them reprimand them.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Behavioral Psychology
Review: This book provides a concise, easy-to-read overview of the basic principles of behavioral psychology. The book concentrates on three basic principles: goal setting, praising, and reprimands; however, the key point to all three of these being effective is clear communication and understanding between the manager and the employee. The one-minute goal setting is an effective tool in any setting. The authors recommend writing down the goals of any project or employee responsibility on one sheet of paper in 250 words or less, with a copy provided for review to both the manager and the employee for occasional review. This is contracting with the employee for the desired results and has been shown to be quite effective in several behavioral psychology clinical trials. The one-minute praisings also work across disciplines. Providing brief, positive, immediate feedback reinforces the desired behavior. Again, clinical trials have proven this to be effective. The authors do a good job of reminding managers to actually do this and to do it in a timely manner. Studies have also shown that the longer the time delay between the desired behavior and the positive reinforcement dilutes the effectiveness of the reinforcement. The authors could have done a better job reinforcing the point that managers must be present to observe the desired behavior. The one-minute reprimands work similarly as the one-minute praisings and, again, must be tied temporally to the undesired behavior in order to have the greatest effect. Here, again, the authors could have done a better job reinforcing that the managers must be present to observe the undesired behavior and that the reprimands should only be used once it is clear to the manager that the employee knows the desired behavior and how to do it prior to the reprimand. As a pediatrician, I am often trying to teach my patients' parents several of these same principles in regards to child-rearing, i.e. how to get a child to stay in bed, sitting at the dinner table and actually eating, etc. In the future, I will recommend this book to my parents along with 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan Ph.D., another very good behavioral psychology book.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable to read, especially suitable for the busy businessm
Review: My comments on this book are as follows: - Easy to read
The story is very short and the English is simple. It can be understand by the readers easily. - Clear messages
The messages of this book are very clear. Firstly, how to use one minute setting the goals with the employee? It can make employee clearer to understand what is the main focus on their job. It is one of the useful ways to increase the employee productivity. Then, base on the employee later performance, manager will either give them a one-minute praise or a one-minute reprimand. If the employee receives praise, it means that they perform in the right way; otherwise, it means that they perform in the wrong way. - Practice
Reader can learn how to be a good manager in this book. The messages bring in this book is practical and useful. It can help the reader develop the leadership skill. Moreover, it can also help readers know how to increase the employee productivity and how to reduce the misunderstanding of employee.
Rating:
Summary: Even helpful in the home
Review: Is there a short, easy-to-read management book that can be really useful to the businessman but also helpful for the housewife and in the conduct of family affairs? Is it possible to squeeze into 100 pages enough valuable information so that it serves a multiple audience and could even be a guide for raising children? This book is based on techniques occupying one minute. Concentrating on three core issues, the author first concentrates on goals. In the business world goals would probably be getting more bang for the buck or more widgets per shift or greater efficiency; in the home goal setting can start with children making the bed, keeping the bedroom tidy or clearing up afterwards. Goal setting is only successful if both parties buy into it - boss and employee or parent and child. Agreeing on objectives, expressing them concisely as bullet points, and setting a time frame may take more than a minute but they can be reviewed rapidly and without dispute. The other two core issues - praise or reprimand - follow naturally and each party knows in advance what it will be. There are no surprises. You can easily read this book and map out your strategy in an evening. It is difficult to imagine that anyone could not find this book helpful in some part of their life.
Rating:
Summary: What People Do Not Understand About Managing
Review: Managing is not about having a committee meeting(s) and then staying in your office or sending e mails and waiting for results. Good management is executuion of the plan to meet or exceed all goals. This can often be impossible, but a good manager does not sit in his or her office and wait. They keep close to the action and can spot trouble and help the employees along the way if it is appropriate to do so. The manager (can) takes time to stop and help employees, give feedback, and jointly discuss and solve the problems as the operations are underway. They communicate as required, sometimes in short burst. This book is a short introduction to this philosphy. A good book, even if short, 4 - 5 stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: Book Review on One Minute Manager
Review: This is the book which tells how to manage the people in the better way
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Results-Oriented Principles in a Tiny Volume
Review: This Johnson/Blanchard collaboration is one of the most synergistic and powerful of the Blanchard stable of management books. The principles are simple and may come across as intuitively obvious for most seasoned managers looking for motivational techniques for their charges. However, these time-tested techniques of appropriate praising and reprimands are often not applied in a timely enough fashion to achieve their maximal effect on staff and colleagues. As a result, managers sometimes wonder why their efforts fall short of producing tangible results. The authors seek to provide the Whys to the application of these techniques. This serves as powerful reminder to managers that although there is a price to pay in order to be a One-Minute Manager, there is a bigger price to pay if we do not become One-Minute Managers. The bigger price of course is the loss of the privilege to manage talents under our charge. This book deserves 4 stars for its creative, succinct parable-led coaching style which has served the readers well. It is true to its title of One Minute - Short, straight to the point, immediately applicable.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for managers
Review: This book has stood the test of time for managers, because it is simple and goes for the jugular, but why manage when you can optimize? If you want to achieve more than satisfactory results with people and do more than manage situations, if you want to optimize situations and bring out the best in people, read and implement Optimal Thinking by Rosalene Glickman, Ph.D. (John Wiley & Sons, 2002) too. Both of these books are classics!
Rating:
Summary: Even More Valuable Now
Review: I read this book almost immediately after it was first published more than 20 years ago and recently re-read it, curious to learn how well it has held up over the years. In fact, I hold it in higher regard now than I did before because Blanchard and Johnson focus on certain core principles which (if anything) are more relevant today than ever before. Specifically, they offer an allegory in which they use the metaphor of a single minute to suggest how to set goals, praise achievers, and reprimand non-achievers within a brief period of time. It is probably human nature to over-explain. (How often have you asked someone for the correct time and received an explanation of how a watch works?) I agree with Blanchard and Johnson that much of our precious time is wasted during interaction which is out of focus. We waste others' time. They waste ours. Group meetings are unproductive. One-on-one conversations fail to achieve their desired objectives. We also waste time when thinking about what we do and how we do it, about what others do and how they do it, and about unsatisfactory results when working with others. Blanchard and Johnson draw heavily upon their extensive research in medicine and the behavioral sciences. What they share in this book is organized within 16 brief chapters. In the first, they introduce a "bright young man" who is searching for an effective manager from whom he can learn how to become one himself. In the last, the young man (who by then had become a One Minute Manager) is about to share with a young women the same "gift" which he had previously received from others. "I will make only one request of you." Blanchard and Johnson make the same request of those who read this book. For whom will The One Minute Manager be most valuable? Good question. My initial response is to recommend it to those who want to increase their organization's productivity and profits as well as their own prosperity. In other words, to almost everyone. In fact, my opinion is that many of them (for whatever reasons) will not be receptive. Why? Perhaps they reject any ideas presented within an allegory. Or perhaps they strongly disagree with Blanchard and Johnson about what can be accomplished in only a minute. I think it is a thoughtful. well-written, immensely practical book. Just as in my review of Spencer Johnson's The One Minute Sales Person I recommended that sales managers provide a copy of it to each new salesperson, I now strongly recommend that management supervisors provide a copy of The One Minute Manager to anyone for whom they become responsible. I also think that senior-level executives would be well-advised to re-read both books from time to time. Dust and rust do accumulate, don't they?
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