In the early 90's Henry Mintzberg wrote the classic article in HBR with the above caption. Essentially he pointed out that the classical view that a manager plans, coordinates, leads and controls the organization is far from reality. I have been fortunate to study a large number of managers from Asia, the Middle East and Africa and my take on the reality is as follows:

  • Most managers operate in a world of double standards. In an international seminar when I mentioned this the co-panelist tapped on my shoulder and asked me to replace the word "double" with "multiple". The typical refrain of them would be that they are pure angels and the problem is either with their subordinates or with their superiors. In many training sessions on team building the writer has met with appeals from the participant that their supervisor be nominated for this kind of workshop.  I recall in the early 80's I was consulting for a top-notch engineering firm in Pune and in response to a question about who needs training almost 80% of the respondents said that their bosses and subordinates need it.
  • Managers are very good critics of others. It is almost like having an uncanny ability to find fault with everyone else. While this may be a good trait the irony is that the same manager is completely oblivious of the faults within himself. Managers develop intuitively the ability to criticize, find fault and blame others for everything that goes wrong. I remember meeting a consultant trainer in Australia who used to conduct seminars on Team building but had three divorces! In India, this trait takes an interesting government twist. When things go wrong( which they often do) commissions are appointed which produce a lengthy report and analysis. And there ends the story. No proactive action is taken. No lessons are ever learnt and everyone waits for another mishap and another commission.....
  • Managers are more "activity-oriented than "result-oriented. What they do between 9 am to 5 pm becomes more important than what they achieve at the end of the day. Activity perhaps gives comfort whereas planning becomes boring. I remember in the 70s one of the largest banks in India undertook a massive restructuring at the insistence of its very enlightened MD. Accordingly, in each circle, two separate wings of operations and planning were created each headed by a GM. The MD insisted that the best brains be picked up for the planning position. But when the restructuring was announced many condolence messages were sent to the GM(Planning). The banking fraternity believed that what matters is the GM- Operations. So the preference of managers to " do" things rather than to "plan" for things is amusing.

It is necessary for all of us to seriously introspect and rectify the faults within. Smart managers do that all the time and that is how smart nations are built. The rest spend time finding fault with others and wallowing in self-pity.