My Own Book Review

Henry MINTZBERG, The Nature of Managerial Work (1973) & Simply Managing: What Manager Do - And Can Do Better (2013)

Abstract

Reviewing one’s own book is an interesting idea; finally a chance for some objectivity in a book review! I will review my first book The Nature of Managerial Work, (1973), together with my next-to-last one, Simply Managing (2013), because they address the same topic, 40 years apart. (In fact, Simply Managing is an abbreviated version of Managing, published in 2009, with some of the more formal material taken out.)

The samples are different. The former was based on one week of observation of 5 chief executives, three of them in businesses, while the latter was based on a day of observation of 29 managers at all levels, more distributed across private, public, and plural sector organizations.

The structure of the two books may appear to be similar, with a number of chapters paralleling each other, although some are in fact quite different. I shall review these similarities and differences, chapter by chapter, before asking in conclusion what I learned in these ensuing 40 years.