101 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make and How to Avoid Them

It is very easy to read. Kind of like a Q&A book. A must read for people beginning to manage, like me!

Melody


Practical and useful   December 13, 2002
Brian A. Schar (Menlo Park, CA United States)
22 out of 26 found this review helpful

This book is the managerial analogue of a Chilton repair manual for your car. You can look up a problem you're having as a manager in the same manner you might look up what to do when the headlights on your car are dead, and get a practical step-by-step process for solving the problem. Albright and Carr keep focused on actions that can be taken to solve real problems. This book is tremendously useful, and if I had to recommend one book to new managers or to any manager interested in improving his or her performance, it would be this one.


Good Book   May 14, 2008
J. Loud (Morgantown WV)
I bought this for my son who is a first time manager at a fast food chain of restaurants. He says it has helped him learn a lot and is putting the things in the book to good use with his team. He feels that he has learned a lot and will definately use what he has learned from this book.


Good   July 23, 2001
4 out of 17 found this review helpful

great for training new and experienced managers


Teaches Modern Management in Many Practical Situations   April 14, 1998
74 out of 77 found this review helpful

I found this book easy and exciting to read. It is up-to-date in management theory and psychological knowledge. However, for the busy people that read such books, it could have been more concise. Several of the mistakes described in the book happened in my or my friends environment. The book gave an impressive explanation of what happened and why, and what to do then. So I recommend this book.

In general, I believe the proposed solutions are adequate. There are only a few situations where I believe another reaction could be even better. Example: Chapter 2-4, Mistake: Praising without knowing the facts. In this situation, the worker Tim accepts praise for a work he only achieved with help from others. The book recommends the following "thought-out response":

Albright and Carr:

>> A&C MANAGER: "Tim, I`m really disappointed in something I heard. When you showed me the Ames project, you made it sound as if you did it all yourself, but now I hear you got some really substantial help that you didn`t mention." <<

In this case, the manager had made a mistake at least as big as Tim`s, as he or she had praised too early and blames it on Tim. With this response, Tim will become defensive. How about the following alternative:

OV MANAGER: "Tim, I praised you for your work on the Ames project. Now I heard that Whitney and Astrid helped you significantly. Is this correct?" [gets his view]

TIM: "Ahem, yes, but they only did ... and ..."

OV MANAGER: "The project was successful, and you did it together, that is fine [think positive]. I don`t care about how many percent exactly every single person contributed [disencourage rivalry]. However, Whitney and Astrid are now unhappy because you were praised instead of them [give facts, don`t moralize]. If you act like this, others are not likely to help you anymore and that is something neither you and I want [explain why, be cooperative]. In the future, I would like you to communicate when others helped you so everybody gets the recognition they deserve [look forward]. Is this ok? [don`t command, make agreement]

TIM: Oh yes, certainly. I had no idea this would happen [he thought he could get away with it].

OV MANAGER: Just one more thing. If I were you, I`d go to Whitney and Astrid and explain the situation to them [try to improve work relations]. Of course, this is your choice, you will know best how to talk to them [offer Tim an initiative to solve his problem].

TIM: Thank you for this hint, I will think about it.

Albright and Carr, Chapter 11-7:

>> A&C MANAGER: "Boss, I don`t really mean to be critical, but the information you provided me for the Knudsen project wasn`t really enough. I had to spend one whole morning asking around ..." <<

Why not simply tell the facts:

OV MANAGER: "Boss, you briefed me for the Knudsen project in a short time. In order to start the project, I spent the next morning asking around. Did you intend me to do this?"

Anyway, the book is a great basis to improve in real-life management situations!