Lessons from Henry Mintzberg

Henry Mintzberg, a renowned Canadian academic and author on business and management, has been a pivotal figure in challenging conventional wisdom in the fields of management and strategic planning. His work, grounded in real-world observation, offers a more nuanced and realistic understanding of what managers actually do and how strategies are truly formed.

On the Nature of Managerial Work

Mintzberg's groundbreaking book, The Nature of Managerial Work, debunked the long-held belief that managers are systematic planners who spend their days in reflective thought. Instead, he found their work to be characterized by brevity, variety, and fragmentation.

"If you ask managers what they do, they will most likely tell you that they plan, organise, co-ordinate and control. Then watch what they do. Don't be surprised if you can't relate what you see to those four words." [1] This foundational quote highlights the discrepancy between the theory and practice of management.
Learning: The Managerial Roles. Mintzberg identified 10 managerial roles grouped into three categories: interpersonal (Figurehead, Leader, Liaison), informational (Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson), and decisional (Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, Negotiator). [2] This framework provides a more accurate depiction of the multifaceted nature of a manager's job.
"The manager's job can be described in terms of various 'roles,' or organized sets of behaviors identified with a position." - From Mintzberg on Management: Inside Our Strange World of Organizations. [3]
"The great myth is the manager as orchestra conductor. It's this idea of standing on a pedestal and you wave your baton...But management is more like orchestra conducting during rehearsals, when everything is going wrong." [4] This quote emphasizes the reactive and problem-solving nature of management.
"We find that the manager, particularly at senior levels, is overburdened with work... He is driven to brevity, fragmentation, and superficiality in his tasks." - From The Nature of Managerial Work. [5]
"To succeed, managers have to become proficient at their superficiality." [6] This suggests that effective managers learn to deal with a high volume of tasks in short bursts.
"The prime occupational hazard of a manager is superficiality." [5] This underscores the challenge of finding time for deep thinking amidst the daily chaos.
Learning: The Manager as a "Nerve Center." Mintzberg's research showed that managers are central to the flow of information within their units, acting as a "nerve center." [7]
"A good part of the work of managing involves doing what specialists do, but in particular ways that make use of the manager's special contacts, status, and information." [6]
"Managing is about nuance as much as it is about decisiveness." [6] This speaks to the complexity and subtlety required in effective management.

On Strategy and Planning

Mintzberg is perhaps best known for his critique of traditional strategic planning, arguing that strategy is often an emergent process rather than a deliberately planned one.

"Strategic planning is not strategic thinking. Indeed, strategic planning often spoils strategic thinking." [1] This is a central tenet of his critique, highlighting the danger of rigid, formalized processes.
"Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: its starting point." [3][8] This quote flips the traditional view of strategy on its head.
"Strategies grow initially like weeds in a garden, they are not cultivated like tomatoes in a hothouse." [1][9] This powerful metaphor illustrates the concept of emergent strategy.
Learning: The 5 Ps of Strategy. Mintzberg proposed five different definitions of strategy to capture its complexity: Plan, Ploy, Pattern, Position, and Perspective. [10][11] This framework encourages a more holistic view of strategy.
"Strategy is a pattern in a stream of decisions." [8][9] This definition emphasizes that strategy is revealed through actions over time.
Learning: Deliberate vs. Emergent Strategy. Mintzberg distinguished between deliberate strategies (the intended course of action) and emergent strategies (unplanned patterns that arise from a stream of actions). [10] He argued that most real-world strategies are a mix of both.
"The real challenge in crafting strategy lies in detecting subtle discontinuities that may undermine a business in the future. And for that there is no technique, no program, just a sharp mind in touch with the situation." [1][9] This highlights the importance of insight and intuition over formal analysis.
"Strategy-making is an immensely complex process involving the most sophisticated, subtle, and at times subconscious of human cognitive and social processes." [1][9]
"Strategy making needs to function beyond the boxes to encourage the informal learning that produces new perspectives and new combinations..." [9][12]
"Most of the time, strategists should not be formulating strategy at all; they should be getting on with implementing strategies they already have." [9]
"Strategic planning can neither provide creativity nor deal with it when it emerges by other means." [13] This underscores the limitations of formal planning in fostering innovation.
Learning: The Fallacies of Strategic Planning. In The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Mintzberg identified three fallacies of the process: that discontinuities can be predicted, that strategists can be detached from the operations, and that the process of strategy-making can be formalized. [9]
"While hard data may inform the intellect, it is largely soft data that generates wisdom." [1][6] This emphasizes the value of qualitative information in strategic thinking.
"Much information important for strategy making never does become hard fact. The expression on a customer's face, the mood in the factory, the tone of voice of a government official, all of this can be information for the manager but not for the formal system." [6]
"Strategy happens in the real world, not in the boardroom." [2] This quote succinctly captures his emphasis on the practical, emergent nature of strategy.

On Organizations

Mintzberg developed a comprehensive framework for understanding how organizations are structured and how they function.

Learning: The Five Organizational Configurations. Mintzberg proposed that organizations can be categorized into five basic structures: Simple Structure, Machine Bureaucracy, Professional Bureaucracy, Divisionalized Form, and Adhocracy. [14][15]
"Organizational effectiveness does not lie in that narrow minded concept called rationality." [6] This challenges the idea that organizations are purely rational systems.
"An enterprise is a community of human beings, not a collection of 'human resources'." [4][8] This quote reflects his humanistic view of organizations.
"Corporations are social institutions. If they don't serve society, they have no business existing." [4] This highlights his belief in corporate social responsibility.
"Companies are communities. There's a spirit of working together." [1][16]
Learning: The Six Basic Parts of an Organization. Mintzberg identified six fundamental components of an organization: the strategic apex, the middle line, the operating core, the technostructure, the support staff, and ideology. [17]
"Organizations with tight controls, high reliance on formalized procedures, and a passion for consistency may lose the ability to experiment and innovate." [6]
"To 'turn around' is to end up facing the same way. Maybe that is the problem, all the turning organizations around." [8] This is a critique of the constant, often superficial, reorganizations that many companies undergo.

On Management Education and Leadership

Mintzberg has been a vocal critic of traditional MBA programs, arguing that they teach the wrong things to the wrong people.

"It is time to recognize conventional MBA programs for what they are - or else to close them down. They are specialized training in the functions of business, not general educating in the practice of management." [8][18]
"What I have against M.B.A.s is the assumption that you come out of a two-year program probably never having been a manager... and assume you are ready to manage." [16]
"You can teach all sorts of things that improve the practice of management with people who are managers. What you cannot do is teach management to somebody who is not a manager, the way you cannot teach surgery to somebody whose not a surgeon." [4][16]
"Leadership, like swimming, cannot be learned by reading about it." [1][8] This emphasizes the experiential nature of leadership development.
"Managers who don't lead are quite discouraging, but leaders who don't manage don't know what's going on. It's a phony separation that people are making between the two." [8][16]
"This obsession with leadership... It's not neutral; it's American, this idea of the heroic leader who comes in on a white horse to save the day. I think it's killing American companies." [5][16]
"A manager's job is not to control, but to empower and enable others to reach their full potential." [2]
"Leadership is not about being at the top, it's about inspiring and empowering others." [2]
"Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet." [2][8] This holistic view of management is a recurring theme in his work.
"Learning is not doing; it is reflecting on doing." [6][8] This underscores the importance of reflection for professional growth.
"Managers should strive to be more than smart, they should be wise." [2] This calls for a deeper, more holistic approach to management.
"The best managers are not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom and question the existing norms." [2]

On Broader Society and the Role of Management

Mintzberg's work often extends beyond the confines of the corporation to consider the role of management in society as a whole.

"No job is more vital to our society than that of the manager. It is the manager who determines whether our social institutions serve us well or whether they squander our talents and resources." [1][8]
"If the private sectors are about markets and the public sectors are about governments, then the plural sector is about communities." [16] This highlights his concept of the "plural sector" as a vital part of society.
"An obsession with control generally seems to reflect a fear of uncertainty." [5][8] This observation has implications not just for managers but for society at large.
"I am not a human resource, thank you, nor a human asset or human capital. I am a human being." [6] This is a powerful statement about the dehumanizing language often used in business.
"When the world is predictable you need smart people. When the world is unpredictable you need adaptable people." [1] This quote is particularly relevant in today's rapidly changing world.

Learn more:

Lessons from Henry Mintzberg

On the Nature of Managerial Work

On Strategy and Planning

On Organizations

On Management Education and Leadership

On Broader Society and the Role of Management

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