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"Scientific Management"
under Fire: Henry Mintzberg I
 In 1973 Henry Mintzberg published his book "The Nature of Managerial
Work". Studying the reality of manager's work,
he concluded:
- Senior management jobs are open-ended, managers feel compelled to tackle a
large workload at demanding pace. there is little free time. Breaks are rare.
Escaping from work after hours is physically/mentally difficult.
- The work is fragmented, full of brevity & variety with a lack of
pattern. Managers confront the law of the trivial many and the important few
(80/20 principle). Behaviours must change quickly and frequently; interruptions
are common.
- Managers seem to prefer this and become conditioned by workload.
Opportunity-costs of time (urgencies) are keenly felt and superficiality in
relationships is a hazard.
- There is an activity-trap - managers tend towards current, specific,
well-defined, non-routine activities.
- Verbal contacts and media are preferred over written. Written
communications get cursory treatment, but must be processed regularly. Less goes
out than comes in. Informal media are used for brief
contacts if people know each other well and when quick information exchange is
called for.
- Scheduled meetings eat up managerial time - long formal duration, large
groups and often away from the organisation. The agendas cover ceremonials,
strategy-making and negotiation. Chatting at start/end of meetings contributes
significantly to information flow.
- Managers seldom 'tour' yet WTJ (walking the job) enhances 'visibility' &
understanding of the actuality of work and production/service methods, standards
and problems.
- Managers as boundary managers, link his/her own organisation with outside
networks. External contacts (clients, suppliers, associates, peers, informer
networks) can consume 30-50% of a senior manager's time. Non-line relationships
are also important.
  
Contact: wolfgang.arlt@fh-stralsund.de
Office: 1/132, Tel. (03831) 45 6961
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