The document summarizes a term paper about the book "The One Minute Manager" by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. It discusses why the author chose to review this book, provides biographies of the authors, summarizes the book's key chapters and concepts, and describes interviews the author conducted with employees of a manager who uses the one minute manager techniques. The book teaches managers how to effectively set goals, provide praise, and issue reprimands to employees in under one minute through clear communication.

1. TERM-PAPER
The One Minute
Manager
By: Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D.
Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Submitted to: Submitted by:

2. GNDU COLLEGE, JALANDHAR
INDEX
S.No. Topic
1. Why I chose this book for my review?
2. About the authors
i. Ken Blanchard
ii. Spencer Johnson
3. Book Summary
• Introduction
• The One Minute Manager
• The First Secret : One-Minute Goal
• The Second Secret: One Minute Praising
• The Appraisal
• The Third Secret: One Minute Reprimands
• The One Minute Manager explains
• Why One Minute Goals work
• Why One Minute Praisings work
• Why One Minute Reprimands work
• A Gift to yourself
4. My critical analysis/review
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3. Why I chose this book for my review?
THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER
Just as you would not permit a fellow employee to steal a piece of office equipment, you
should not let anyone walk away with the time of his fellow managers.
A manager’s job has always been considered a very hard job that is time taking and attention
demanding to accomplish but this book claims it can be done in and around 1 minute. The book
is titled THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER and it states to have the trademark of: 01
symbol as seen in the cover.
"The One Minute Manager" is a book for finding a balance between being an autocratic
manager, who cares only about the results, and a democratic manager, who cares only about the
people. The lessons are imparted in the form of an interesting parable about a young man who
has set out looking for excellent management skills. In his search, he meets the One Minute
Manager, a willing mentor who seems to have things well in control and plenty of time on his
hands.
The book is inked by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. Blanchard is the president of
Blanchard training and development Inc (BTD). Dr. John Spencer is the chairman of Candle
Communications Corporations. There remains no doubt that the dynamic duo is incapable of
writing a book on management. It is well justified as the cover depicts that it is more than a
million copy bestseller.
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4. About the authors
KEN BLANCHARD
Kenneth Hartley Blanchard is an American author and management expert. His book The One
Minute Manager (co-authored with Spencer Johnson) has sold over 13 million copies and has
been translated into 37 languages. He has coauthored over 30 other best-selling books.
[...] Blanchard is the “chief spiritual officer” of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international
management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Marjorie Blanchard, co-founded
in 1979 in San Diego, California. Among many accolades, Blanchard has been honored as one of
the top 10 Leadership professionals in the international Leadership Gurus survey for 2007 and
2008. The “Leadership Gurus survey” award, by Global Gurus International identifies the top
and most influential Leadership professionals in the world by merit and public voting. Blanchard
is a Cornell University trustee emeritus and visiting professor at the Cornell University School of
Hotel Administration. He and his wife were named Cornell Entrepreneurs of the Year in 1991.”
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5. SPENCER JOHNSON
Spencer Johnson is known for his 1998 motivational book, titled Who Moved My Cheese?: An
Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life. It has stayed on the New
York Times Bestseller list, and has remained on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover nonfiction
list. Johnson received a B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Southern California in
1963, and his M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Johnson also wrote the book
“Yes” or “No”: The Guide to Better Decisions (1992), which has been translated into a number
of languages including Spanish, Korean and German . He co-authored the One Minute
Manager series of books with management writer Ken Blanchard. His latest book, which can
make you happy and successful is The Present.
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6. BOOK SUMMARY
1. Introduction
The book unfolds a journey of a young man with a quest to find an effective manager. Because
he wanted to work for one and work for one.
His search had taken him over many years to the far corners of the world. He spoke with many
managers: with government administrators and military officers, construction superintendents
and corporate executives, university presidents and shop foremen, utility supervisors and
foundation directors, with the managers of shops and stores, of restaurants, banks and hotels,
with men and women—young and old.
But he was never pleased with what he saw. Either their company sinks or their people.
The managers who were interested in results often seemed to be labeled “autocratic,” while the
managers interested in people were often labeled “democratic.” The young man thought each of
these managers—the “tough” autocrat and the “nice” democrats—were only partially effective. It
was just being half a manger.
He returned home tired and discouraged. He thought of an effective manager being one capable
to balancing both. He has to manage himself as well as the people he works with so that both
the organization and the people profit from his presence.
His list of effective managers consisted of only few, but no one willing to share their secrets with
him.
Then he heard of a special manager in a nearby town with whom people loved to work and
produce quality results for the organization. He arranged a meeting with the manager with a
curiousity to know about him.
2. The One Minute Manager
The young man went at the special manager's office. The man questioned the manager about the
way he deals with managing people with his consent of sharing. The manger told him that he
holds regularly scheduled meetings with his subordinates where the weekly organization's
performance is discussed along with the next weeks planning. He told that he listen while his
people review and analyze what they accomplished last week, the problems they had, and what
still needs to be accomplished. Then they develop plans and strategies for the next week.
The young man then referred the manager as a participative one but the manager replied
negatively that he does not believe in taking decisions for his people.
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7. The manager talked about getting the organization's efficiency that an organized manner raises
the productivity level. The confused young man then referred the manager as more results
oriented than people oriented as he felt about the two categories of managers he met earlier.
However, the special manager being able to cope well between the organization and his people
talked about a behavioral factor that people feeling good about themselves produce good results.
He was special because he cares about people and results. He described himself as a "One
Minute Manager".
The confused young man could not digest the fact of getting good results without taking more
than a minute. The manager seeing the stunned face of the man suggested him to have a talk with
any of his sub ordinates to further know his management techniques. He gave him a list of his
employees with their details so that he can arrange meetings with them individually.
The manager also invited the man to come back and see him in case he has any questions after
talking to his employees.
The manager appreciated the young man's interest and desire to learn how to manage. He warmly
told him to present his One Minute Manager as a gift to him just as he got it from somebody that
changed his life. He wanted the man to understand it fully.
He decided to meet Mr. Trenell, Mr. Levy and Ms. Brown to have the details.
3. The First Secret: One-Minute Goals
Mr. Trenell, a middle-aged man welcomed the young man with a warm smile and referred his
boss as a Guy. He told the man that he hardly ever sees him.
Now the confusions of the man are getting denser than before. Mr. Trenell talked about the three
secrets of One Minute Manager. He started with the first secret of One Minute Goal Setting.
He told the man that their manager spends time with them at the beginning of a new task or a
new responsibility.
One Minute Goal setting is clearing the difference in the answers to what people do and what
the managers wanted them to do. The difference results in people doing their job quite different
from what was expected from them. Hence the result of prioritizing people or organization. It is
like the foundation for One Minute Management.
Once the One-minute manager told him, what needs to be done or they have agreed on what
needs to be done, then each goal is recorded on no more than a single page. The One Minute
Manager feels that a goal, and its performance standard, should take no more than 250
words to express. The manager insists that anyone be able to read it within a minute. Both of
them keep a copy so everything is clear and so they can both periodically check the progress. It
is as if everybody knows what is expected from him. So no difference in answers of people and
their manager.
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8. Mr. Trenell shared his personal incident when the manager spent time with him at the beginning
of a new task when he was unable to decide for himself what to do. The manger helped him to
take a decision by asking him questions that he was able to ask himself but did not at that time.
He was helped how to solve a problem when he gets one and that too without wasting the
manager's time.
One Minute Goal Setting is simply:
1. Agree on your goals.
2. See what good behavior looks like.
3. Write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words.
4. Read and re-read each goal, this requires only a minute or so each time you do it.
5. Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance, and
6. See whether your behavior matches your goal.
The young man thanked Mr. Trenell for his support and asked about the other the other two
secrets of One Minute Management. Mr. Trenell told him to ask Mr. Levy about that.
4. The Second Secret: One Minute Praising
The young man was quite impressed by the philosophy of the manger by which he was able to
get best of his employees. Now he moved on to meet up Mr. Levy who was probably in his 20's
or early 30's. Mr. Levy too talked about his manager being a Guy just as was referred by Mr.
Trenell. Mr. Levy too talked about spending time with his manager just in the beginnings of new
tasks and responsibilities.
Mr. Levy was also done with a One Minute Goal setting to make the goals clear and what was
supposed to be done.
One Minute Praising deal with the employee getting a crystal-clear feedback from the
manager on how the employee was doing. The employee would be told directly when he was
doing well, and when he was doing poorly.
This process was accomplished by two ways. Firstly, the manager observes activities of their
employees after their session of One Minute Goal setting. Secondly, he made them keep detailed
records of their progress, which he insisted them to send to him.
Mr. Levy told the young man about his experience that at first this process used to be
uncomfortable for him as this doubts the employee if their manager was spying and did not trust
them. However, he felt all right only when he saw other employees doing the same.
Mr. Levy told him about their organization's motto of catching people doing something right.
Moreover, after being caught something right the manger gives them One Minute Praising,
which consists of making direct contact with the employee and an appraisal of one's work. The
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9. other things that annoy the manager play no role when he is giving a praising. Or even if the
manager is busy, he give the praising to the deserving person at every cost.
This instills a feeling in the employer's mind to work harder to again have a One Minute Praising
from the manager.
The One Minute Praising works well when you:
1. Tell people up front that you are going to let them know how they are doing.
2. Praise people immediately.
3. Tell people what they did right—be specific.
4. Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization
and the other people who work there.
5. Stop for a moment of silence to let them “feel” how good you feel.
6. Encourage them to do more of the same.
7. Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the
organization.
The young man was anxious to know the third secret now as well. Levy laughed and referred
him to see Ms. Brown to whom he was to schedule next.
The man was so struck by the simplicity of the special manager's philosophy that not only
strengthened employee boss relationships but also making their employees as One Minute
Manager themselves. He was wondering that how these simple concepts are actually working.
The man rescheduled his appointment to be the following morning. In addition, a new
appointment with Ms.Gomez, an official in the headquarters office. The headquarter is equipped
with information about all the different plants and location in total company.
The Appraisal
The young man met Ms. Gomez, a competent looking woman in her early 40's. He wanted to
compare the organization's effective and efficient operations to that to Mr. One Minute Manager.
The man was puzzled to know that the most efficient operation was at this special manager's
place only and that with some of the oldest equipment. The man was amazed when Ms. Gomez
told him that the manager does have a lot of people turnover, not because they don’t like the
manager's working philosophy but because after two years they become capable themselves to
be a manager. The man was told that the manager was an expert in training people. Ms .Gomez
expressed her wish of knowing the secrets of One Minute Management for herself, the man
agreed to gift her after he is done with it.
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10. The man was excited for knowing the third secret for being an effective manager that he was
going to get from Ms. Brown.
The Third Secret: One Minute Reprimands
The man met Ms. Brown, a very smartly dressed woman in her late 50's in her office and
experienced the same relationship between an employer and the manager.
But he was shocked to know that the manager see the lady when she did something wrong. He
asked the woman that he was told the other day that their company's motto was to catch people
doing something right, and how this contradictory statement applies for the woman.
The woman explained to him that she has been working for the organization for a quite few
years. Therefore, she does the One Minute Goal Setting, sends the page to her manager, and does
the One-minute praising herself, as she loves her work. Even her manager does the praising
sometimes but not very often. The third secret of One Minute Management is One Minute
Reprimand. Whenever the woman does a significant mistake, she invariably gets a One
Minute Reprimand.
The man was stunned to figure out its working. The woman explained her that whenever a
mistake is done by her the manager responds quickly by telling precisely what was wrong and
where and then he expresses his feelings of being annoyed, angry, frustrated in a 30 seconds
session. However, the session is enough to make the employer know his mistake and his
unwillingness to repeat it the second time.
The woman made it clear that they get reprimands consistently to them not as a person but
only their behavior. The other part of reprimand consists of making the employer know how
competent he thinks they are. The manager is doing well with his people because he is not
imposing work to them but helping them grow on their own.
The man was impressed to see a valuable manager for an organization. The woman told him that
their manager is good at humor that creates a positive effect on everyone around them. This
makes it easy for them to recover from reprimand and be motivated enough to give their best at
their work.
The One Minute Reprimand works well when you:
1. Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they
are doing and clearly.
The first half of the reprimand:
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11. 2. Reprimand people immediately.
3. Tell people what they did wrong—be specific.
4. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong—and clearly.
5. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how
you feel.
The second half of the reprimand:
6. Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are
honestly on their side.
7. Remind them how much you value them.
8. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this
situation.
9. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it is over.
The young man was astonished to see the simplicity of the idea of One Minute Management with
its three secrets – One Minute Goal setting, One Minute Praising, and One Minute Reprimand.
However, he was wondering about how the things actually work out so well.
The One Minute Manager Explains
He went to see the manager again after he met his employees to discuss the
working. He was clear now with the idea that why that manager calls
himself a One Minute Manager. He set One Minute Goals with his people
to make sure they know what they are being held accountable for and
what good performance looks like. He then tries to catch them doing
something right so he can give them a One Minute Praising. Then, finally,
if they have all the skills to do something right and they do not; he gives
them a One Minute Reprimand.
The manager explained him that most of the company's large amount of money is spent in
people's salaries and not even 1 % of it is spent in their training. The employer at such
organizations could not figure out about their performance because they are not aware of what
they are supposed to do and so a drop in the organization's efficiency as well as morale of the
employer.
Why One Minute Goals Work
He explained how One Minute Goal setting is important by taking an analogy of bowling.
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12. He told that people are motivated after work when they know what they need to do. As if
one can see the pins and can see his rolling ball has knocked out how many pins. They feel
happy and excited about hitting the pins.
But the situation at most of the organizations is other way round. Most managers know what
they want their people to do. They just do not bother to tell their people in a way they would
understand. They assume they should know. This creates an effective form of bowling. The pins
are there and the bowler is ready to bowl. And when he bowls, there is a sheet across the pins,
the ball rolls and slips under the sheet. The sound of pins being hit are audible but the bowler
does not get to know how many pins he hit. So the excitement of bowling finishes off. It is the
reason why they feel unmotivated to do their work. It is because feedback of the results keeps
the employers motivated.
Some of the managers at such organization do believe in feedback system but even that does not
raises the people's motivation to do work. This feedback is of the form that creates a third form
of bowling.
When the bowler goes to the line to roll the ball, the pins are still up and the sheet is in place but
now there is another ingredient in the game—a supervisor standing behind the sheet. When the
bowler rolls the ball, he hears the crash of the falling pins, the supervisor instead of telling him
that he hit two pins tells that he missed eight.
Those managers do not allow the sheet to be raised so that both he and his employees can clearly
see where to hit. This happens because of the presence of normal- distribution-curve mentality.
He explained that in order to look good as a manager in most organizations, the manager has to
catch some of his people doing things wrong. He has to have a few winners, a few losers, and
everyone else somewhere in the middle.
The special manager told the young man that being a manager has precisely three options. First
is to hire winners, but it is hard to find and also costs much. The second option is if not hiring a
winner then hire somebody with a potential of being one. This includes the training of people.
And most of the organizations unwilling to do this go with the third approach of just hoping
that their employer will work out well.
The man compared the first approach of hiring winners with Ms. Brown who was capable
enough of working on her own with just one session of goal setting. She handles her
responsibility so well being a trained employer.
The manager insisted the importance of One Minute Goal setting to be a productive tool and that
too an a piece of a paper because it helps people review their performance frequently with the
goals set. It helps in comparing their behavioral issues matching to that of the goals.
The young man now requested the manager to know about his One Minute Praising's working.
Why One Minute Praisings Work
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13. The manager explained the working by taking an analogous example of pigeon's training. In
addition he referred the people as being more complicated and their want of not being
manipulated by someone else. He urged the man to remember this and respect it in order to be
successful in managing people.
He started with the pigeon example where one want an untrained pigeon that you want to enter a
box in the lower left-hand corner and run across the box to the upper right-hand corner and push
a lever with his right foot. The box has a pellet machine to give reward to the pigeon when he
does exactly what is expected, pushing the lever. but this would starve the pigeon to death. This
is related to the philosophy of holding an annual performance review once a year. The manager
believe that the employer should be praised every time he does something right.
The results can be verified by the process of training the pigeon. This is done by drawing a line
to a place from where the pigeon has to start, when it reaches there successfully, the pigeon gets
its food. When the pigeon has been trained to reach that spot, another line is drawn to the next
spot and again feeding the pigeon at that spot instead of earlier one when it successfully reaches
there. In this way in terms of short-term goals planned for the pigeon, it is trained to reach the
upper right hand corner and pushing the lever.
In the simple example, the manager told the man that the key to training someone to do a new
task is, in the beginning, to catch them doing something approximately right until they can
eventually learn to do it exactly right.
Another case of whale jumping over the rope that is high above the water. This is referred to
second case of hiring people and training them to be a winner themselves. The whale was first
trained to jump over the rope at the bottom of the pool. It was fed each time it jumps over the
rope. And then successively the level of rope was increased.
The philosophy of helping a beginner and rewarding it when the beginner is successful at
the smaller goals, then the goals are taken to another level. This helps a toddler to walk and
run on his own, a baby's cry to speak fluently to express himself.
Most managers wait until their people do something exactly right before they praise them. As a
result, many people never get to become high performers because their managers concentrate on
catching them doing things wrong—that is, anything that falls short of the final desired
performance. In the pigeon example, it would be like putting the pigeon in the box and not only
waiting until he hits the lever to give him any food but putting some electric grills around the box
to punish him periodically just to keep him motivated.
It would ultimately result in a hostile environment for the employer to work in. the new and
inexperienced people are left alone in such organizations where the managers periodically zap
them to keep them moving. Those people result into a variation of efficiency levels of their
working as well as the organizations. So resulting into a poor business performance.
The inexperienced person should be made understand of what the organization expects them to
do and holding a One Minute Goal setting with them. And giving them a One Minute Praising of
making them feel motivated enough to maintain their good performance.
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14. Being clear with the concept of goal setting and praising, the young man was wondering about
the necessity of third secret of One Minute Management- One Minute Reprimands and its
working.
Why One Minute Reprimands Work
The manager made it clear about the effectiveness of reprimands because the employer is
informed immediately where he went wrong instead of accumulating the negative energy
about someone's poor performance to be told later at any stage that will weaken the employee
boss relationship causing stress at work. In such scenario not even the employer is interested in
listening about his failures.
The manager told the man about the need of intervening early about someone's performance to
have a regular performance review better for both the organization and the individual as well.
Another thing to keep in mind is not to hurt someone as a person but just evaluation of their last
wrong job done. The reprimand should be to rectify their specific behavior that resulted into a
wrong job in spite of the feelings about themselves as a person.
The main motive of One Minute Reprimand should be the elimination of the behavior and
keeping the person.
Such a philosophy is implemented by giving a reprimand in two parts. The first part deals
with informing the employer about his poor performance and the manager's reaction to it
being frustrated and annoyed. The other part involves raising the morale of the employer by
making him believe in his capabilities of dealing with such situations without repeating the
mistakes he did earlier. The manager told that motivating the employer honestly makes the
person work with his full efficiency to improve his performance.
The manager told the man about this philosophy of being tough and nice holds its roots back to
that in ancient China. The fable is about an emperor who thought of dividing his tack of
rewarding and punishing with his prime minister. The emperor lost his kingship because he
worked as being Nice and Tough where as the prime minister worked as being Tough and Nice.
The people accepted the person who is first tough on behavior and then supportive of the people.
The manager also referred to the current day implementation of the same philosophy dealing
with disciplining children and severe adult behavior problems referring to alcoholics in
particular.
The young man was amazed at the simple concept that clears the complicated problems in a
simple manner.
This not only eliminates the ill feelings in relationships between the two parties but also
invokes a feeling of caring and respect behind such a reprimand.
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15. The manager also explained that touch being such a great emotional attitude can help the
employer recover from the reprimand and feel motivated enough to start again with a greater
zeal. The young man was impressed about the idea of being honest to people was the manager's
power.
The young man liked the One Minute Manager and he was haapy to know the reason why people
liked to work with him.
Seeing the man's dedication and enthusiasm the manager offered him job to help him realize the
winner in himself.
And the young eventually became a One Minute Manager himself.
He set One Minute Goals.
He gave One Minute Praisings.
He gave One Minute Reprimands.
And he encouraged the people he worked to do the same.
A Gift To Yourself
The man helped other people too become a One Minute Manger by giving copies of the notes he
prepared when he met that special manager.
The new manager was also happy that he could take the knowledge one step further. By giving
copies to many other people in the organization, he had solved several practical problems.
Everyone who worked with him felt secure. No one felt manipulated or threatened because
everyone knew “up front” what he was doing and why.
Sharing the knowledge in this simple and honest way had, of course, saved him a good deal of
time. And it had certainly made his job easier.
Many of the people reporting to him had become One Minute Managers themselves. And they,
in turn, had done the same for many of the people who reported to them.
The entire organization had become more effective.
He felt good about himself—as a person and as a manager.
His caring about people had paid off handsomely. He had risen in the organization, gaining more
responsibilities and more rewards.
And he knew he had become an effective manager, because both his organization and the people
in it had clearly benefited from his presence.
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16. My critical analysis/review
“Take a minute:
Look at your goals —
look at your performance —
see if your behavior matches your goals”
The One Minute Manager has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into 37
languages, which proves that a good and interesting book doesn’t have to be thick. With just 110
pages it provides a lot of information and examples to think about, and compare those with real-
life situations.
This little book isn’t a multimillion bestseller for nothing. It contains techniques and step-by-
step plans which are highly effective in everyday life, both for managers and everyone working
with other people. The book is very easy to read, well written, has good examples to elaborate on
the important key points, and leaves you with a lot of things to think about.
During the course of the story, the young man finds that a good manager is an honest man,
who leads by example and who genuinely cares for his people. He learns that the original
One-Minute Manager has established certain precepts to ensure that a work group is individually
more responsible.
These are:
• Set One-Minute Goals to ensure that your people understand perfectly what their duties
are, what is expected of them and that there are no surprises.
• Give One-Minute Praise. Let the people know when they are doing the right thing or
when they are doing something right.
• Give One-Minute Reprimands. Do it immediately and talk only about the incorrect
behavior only, not the people personally.
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17. These concepts have been further propounded in the book. The parable finally ends in the young
man adopting and exploiting the one-minute policies and gradually attaining great success and
fame, like his tutor.
The best quote that I liked from the book is:
Not only about effective goal setting, but also about social behavior and the psychological
consequences of actions.
The book is not only about managing people at work. It creates an enthusiastic feeling of being a
winner oneself. In our daily life we need to have such a temperament as explained by the authors
in a story.
In addition, the book has taught me that the quickest way to increase my productivity, profits,
satisfaction, and/or personal prosperity is by providing consistent predictable positive
reinforcement for desirable work behavior.
The secrets of one-minute management will help a manager boost profits and productivity
immediately through increases employee morale and job satisfaction.
I can advise this book to everyone, and want to thank the writers Blanchard and Johnson for the
great way they have written down their story.
For any person who is currently manager striving to get the most from people, or who is planning
to become one in the near future, "The One Minute Manager" is an indispensable success tool.
It was a great learning experience, reading this book and I am sure I would cherish it for the rest
of my life.
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