January 1, 2014

HBR’s 10 Must Reads

On Managing People
Harvard Business Review Editors

©2011 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

Adapted by permission of Harvard Business School Publishing
Corporation
ISBN: 978-1-4221-5801-2

Key Concepts
• Leaders who effectively employ more than one • Employees are just as concerned about the fairness
leadership style create the best organizational cli- of the decision-making process that produces out-
mate and generate the best performance. comes as they are with the outcomes themselves.
• Employees are motivated by intrinsic incentives— • To truly learn for continuous improvement, pro-
those factors that allow employees to motivate fessionals must look inward to identify problem
themselves without external impetus from man- behaviors and find ways to change them.
agers.
• Due to their unconscious biases and feelings,
• A boss’s assumptions about how to manage per- managers make flawed judgments and create
ceived poor performers lead to the set-up-to-fail ethical problems that undermine their function as
syndrome, and so do an employee’s assumptions managers.
about what the manager is thinking.
• The true potential of a team is exhibited when its
• Bosses must help rookie managers learn that performance requires both individual and mutual
they are no longer expected to excel in personal accountability.
achievements, but rather to help others achieve.
• Employees should work well with their superiors
• To manage an employee well, a great leader needs to achieve the best results for themselves, their
to know the employee’s strengths, what activates bosses, and their companies.
those strengths, and how the employee learns.
Business Book Summaries® January 1, 2014 • Copyright © 2014 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • www.ebscohost.com • All Rights Reserved
HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

Introduction mented leadership styles to positively affect the

climate, their financial results were significantly better
The articles found in HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Man- than the results of leaders who did not.
aging People help readers focus on the fundamental
Leaders who effectively employ more than one lead-
people management skills that every manager should
ership style—especially the authoritative, democratic,
learn. Each article is written by an expert in leader-
affiliative, and coaching styles—create the best climate
ship and management, and each reveals insights and
and generate the best performance. Effective leaders
knowledge to help managers improve the ways they
switch leadership styles to fit the situation by being
interact and work with employees and colleagues.
sensitive to others they deal with. However, not all
Leadership That Gets Results leaders have the skills to use all six styles. To compen-
by Daniel Goleman sate, leaders can build teams with people who manage
using styles that the leaders lack. They can also learn
Recent research has found that effective, high-impact leadership styles in which they are less skilled. To do
leaders use a mixture of six distinct leadership styles: so, leaders must assess where they are weak in the
1. Using coerciveness to demand immediate compli- emotional intelligence competencies that underlie the
ance styles they want to practice, such as being self-con-
fident, working collaboratively, or being empathetic.
2. Using authority to mobilize others toward a vision
One More Time: How Do You Motivate
3. Relying on affiliation to create emotional bonds
Employees?
and harmony
by Frederick Herzberg
4. Being democratic to build consensus through par-
Employees are not motivated by perks, plush offices,
ticipation
promotions, or pay increases. These are extrinsic
5. Pacesetting to foster excellence and self-direction incentives that get people going for the moment, but
6. Providing coaching to develop people for the their performance improvement only lasts until they
future receive the perk or monetary benefit. Of course, orga-

The researchers sought links between leadership and

emotional performance and between climate and
performance. Six key factors influence climate, or the Further Information
organizational working environment:
Information about this book and other business titles:
1. Is it flexible enough to allow innovation? hbr.org
2. How responsible do employees feel toward the
organization? Click Here to Purchase the Book
3. Do employees set high standards?
Related summaries in the BBS Library:
4. Is performance evaluated accurately and rewards The New Rules of Management
given appropriately? How to Revolutionise Productivity, Innovation and
5. Do employees have clarity about their missions Engagement by Implementing Projects That Matter
and values? By Peter Cook
Masters of Management
6. Are employees committed to a common goal?
How the Business Gurus and Their Ideas Have
Research showed that leadership styles have a direct Changed the World -- for Better and for Worse
effect on each of the six influences on climate. They By Adrian Wooldridge
also found that there is a positive correlation between
climate and financial results. When leaders imple-

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HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

nizations should provide some extrinsic incentives, the job are found within the job environment, and they
but they can truly motivate people by providing include: policy and administration of the company,
intrinsic incentives—those factors that allow employ- supervision, interpersonal relationships, working
ees to motivate themselves without external impetus conditions, salary, status, and security.
from managers.
These results indicate that managers seeking to have
To install this type of self-motivation in employees, motivated employees should strive to enrich jobs by
leaders must first understand that job satisfaction is applying these principles:
not the opposite of job dissatisfaction. Research shows
• Remove some controls and increase employees’
that different factors affect employees’ job satisfac-
accountability for their work.
tion and their job dissatisfaction. Motivational factors
that contribute to job satisfaction are intrinsic, within • Assign a complete process or unit of work as a
the content of the job, and they include: experiencing person’s responsibility.
achievement and being recognized for it, enjoying • Grant additional authority to employees to pro-
the work, having responsibilities, and experienc- vide more job freedom.
ing growth or advancement. In contrast, stimuli that
cause employees to avoid pain or dissatisfaction on • Communicate information directly to employees,
instead of through managers.

About the Authors

Daniel Goleman co-chairs the Consortium for Renée Mauborgne is the INSEAD Distinguished
Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organiza- Fellow and a professor of strategy at Insead in
tions at Rutgers University. France.
Frederick Herzberg was a professor of manage- Chris Argyris is a professor emeritus at Harvard’s
ment at the University of Utah. Graduate School of Education.
Jean-François Manzoni is a professor of lead- Mahzarin R. Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot
ership and organizational development at the Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University.
International Institute for Management Develop- Max H. Bazerman is the Jess Isidor Straus
ment (IMD) in Switzerland. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard
Business School.
Jean-Louis Barsoux is a senior research fellow at
INSEAD in France. Dolly Chugh is an assistant professor of
management and organizations at New York
Carol A. Walker is the president of Prepared to University’s Stern School of Business.
Lead, a management consulting firm in Weston,
Massachusetts. Douglas K. Smith is an organizational consultant
and a former McKinsey & Company partner.
Marcus Buckingham is a consultant and speaker
on leadership and management practices. John J. Garbarro is the UPS Foundation Professor
of Human Resource Management, Emeritus, at
W. Chan Kim is the Boston Consulting Group Harvard Business School.
Bruce D. Henderson Chaired Professor of Strat-
John P. Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita
egy and International Management at INSEAD in
Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard
France. Business School.
Jon R. Katzenbach is a senior partner at Booz &
Company, a global management consulting firm.

Business Book Summaries® Date • Copyright © 2013 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • www.ebscohost.com • All Rights Reserved Page 3
HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors
• Give people “stretch” assignments and the ability to perform to expectations. Then, the managers
resources needed to tackle new and challenging start noticing only the evidence that shows that their
tasks. perceptions are correct, and thus they treat the “ins”
differently from the “outs.” The “in” group is given
• Assign tasks so individuals can become experts.
more autonomy, feedback, and encouragement. The
Managers seeking to enrich employees’ jobs should “out” group is given rules that emphasize more con-
take the following steps: trol and management oversight.
1. Identify jobs in which changes would not be Over time, all employees are negatively affected.
costly, attitudes are already poor, and motivation They stop volunteering ideas and avoid contacting
would make a significant improvement. their bosses. With the employees on the defensive, the
2. Have the conviction that these jobs can be changed. organization does not garner the most from its staff.
The managers suffer because they cannot attend to
3. Brainstorm a list of changes—both practical and other tasks, and they are perceived as unfair. Team
impractical—that could enrich the jobs. morale deteriorates as the “out” employees are alien-
4. Remove ideas from the list that are really factors ated and the “in” employees are overburdened.
for avoiding job dissatisfaction. The syndrome can be prevented or reversed. If
5. Screen out any generalities in language; be more managers have not yet set their perceptions of their
specific. employees, they can establish expectations with new
employees and give them leeway to master their
6. Eliminate ideas that just load the job by increasing tasks. Managers should consistently challenge their
output expectations, shifting the same job tasks own assumptions about employees. They can also
around, adding meaningless tasks, or removing foster an openness that allows employees to challenge
difficult tasks to focus on accomplishing more of management opinions, discuss performance issues,
the less difficult ones. and develop good relationships with their managers.
Job enrichment is an ongoing management task, but If managers detect that the syndrome is already in
the effects are long lasting. Enriching just a few jobs
place, they can discuss the concern with the employee,
results in human satisfaction and economic gain. agree on the employee’s strengths and weaknesses,
establish priorities, and iden-
Employees whom you view as weak performers live down to tify ways to boost performance.
your expectations…Why not fire [them]? Because you’re likely Finally, managers should assure
to repeat the pattern with others. Better to reverse the dynamic employees that they should let
their managers know immediately
instead.
when they detect that the manag-
The Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome ers are communicating low expectations.

by Jean-François Manzoni and Jean-Louis Barsoux Managers and subordinates, however, are reluctant to
initiate this type of conversation. To avoid an explicit
Managers usually do not blame themselves when
face-to-face talk, managers might attempt to remedy
employees fail or perform badly. They assume the
the problem by offering encouragement to the per-
problem lies with the employees’ lack of knowledge,
ceived underperformer. However, this approach
skill, or desire. Research shows that, in fact, manag-
rarely works and does not address the employee’s
ers are often complicit in an employee’s failure. For
relationship with the manager.
various reasons, managers might perceive some
employees as underperformers, and they will create Although avoiding this syndrome involves a sig-
and foster a dynamic that sets up these employees to nificant emotional investment, communication is
fail. The set-up-to-fail syndrome starts when manag- important, because in the same way that a boss’s
ers perceive employees as “in” or “out” based on their assumptions about how to manage perceived poor

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HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

performers leads to the set-up-to-fail syndrome, so • Focusing on the big picture: It is easier for new
does an employee’s assumptions about what the man- managers to focus on “putting out fires” than
ager is thinking promote this syndrome. on strategic initiatives. Firefighting feels more
productive, but it does not help teams learn to
Saving Your Rookie Managers from
tackle challenges by themselves or think strategi-
Themselves
cally. Managers should learn that, as their careers
by Carol A. Walker advance, strategic thinking makes up more of
Often, the people who are promoted to management their assignments.
positions are those who have excelled in technical • Giving constructive feedback: Rookie managers who
positions. Typically, these people fail to understand avoid correcting poor performance from team
that their roles have changed—they are no longer members risk losing their credibility as manag-
expected to excel in personal achievements, but rather ers. First-time managers should learn how to give
to help others achieve. Rookie managers are reluctant feedback and how to do it well by focusing on
to ask for help, are no longer secure, lack confidence behaviors, not personalities.
in their abilities, and fail to sup-
port the members of their teams.
Instead of trying to change your employees, identify their
Too often, companies just assume
that new managers will some-
unique abilities (and even their eccentricities)—then help them
how gain the basic management use those qualities to excel in their own way.
skills on the job. However, most
first-time managers need support from their bosses What Great Managers Do
because they get tripped up by not knowing the by Marcus Buckingham
basics, such as:
Great leaders focus on the uniqueness of each
• Delegating: New managers fall back on doing employee. They do not try to mold employees into
tasks themselves to achieve team goals. However, cookie-cutter roles, but find ways to alter their roles
when they do not delegate, their team members to capitalize on their strengths. Strengths are not only
do not gain skills and experience. New managers skills at which an employee excels, but also those
need to learn that they are responsible not only activities or interests that motivate the employee. To
for achieving assigned goals, but also for the less manage an employee well, a great leader needs to
tangible results of developing the talents of the know three things: the employee’s strengths, what
team. activates those strengths, and how the employee
• Getting support from senior managers: Rookie learns.
managers do not want to seem vulnerable and, When recognizing good performance, a great manager
therefore, often do not ask for help from their does not praise the employee’s hard work, but rather
management teams. Organizations need to stress emphasizes that the employee succeeded because he
the importance of open communication and that or she has excelled at deploying specific strengths.
managers are in partnership with their bosses. An employee’s weaknesses can be overcome by train-
• Projecting confidence: Not comfortable in their ing the employee in lacking skills, partnering the
new roles, first-time managers fail to project the employee with another person who has those skills,
confidence needed to motivate their teams. Orga- providing the employee with techniques that can be
nizations need to allow managers to express their accomplished through discipline rather than instinct,
feelings and insecurities behind closed doors, or rearranging the employee’s role to eliminate the
while emphasizing that it is important for manag- need for the weak skills.
ers to be aware of the image they project to their To trigger an employee’s strengths to achieve high
teams. levels of performance, great leaders use the most
powerful trigger—recognition. A great manager tai-
Business Book Summaries® January 1, 2014 • Copyright © 2014 EBSCO Publishing Inc. • www.ebscohost.com • All Rights Reserved Page 5
HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

lors the recognition to fit the type that stimulates the 2. Explanation: Explaining the decision-making pro-
particular employee, such as rewards, public rec- cess that resulted in the final outcome.
ognition, private one-on-one praise, or exceptional
3. Expectation clarity: Helping employees learn the
feedback from customers.
new rules and responsibilities, their new per-
Great managers also realize that employees have dif- formance standards, and how failure will be
ferent learning styles. The three dominate styles are: penalized.
1. Learning the entire process by analyzing each The benefits of incorporating fair process into an
individual part of a task organization’s operations seem obvious. However,
most companies do not practice it because their man-
2. Learning a process by doing it through trial and
agers feel that it diminishes their power and might
error
allow employees to challenge their authority. In con-
3. Learning a process by watching someone else’s trast, companies that deploy fair process find that
total performance most employees accept outcomes that are not totally
Great managers know that employees are not moti- in their favor if they sense that the process for deter-
vated by the same things, not driven by the same mining those outcomes was fair. Fair process strongly
goals, do not learn with the same styles, and do not influences the attitudes and behaviors that drive
desire the same types of relationships. With this higher levels of performance.
knowledge, great managers try to release the poten- Teaching Smart People How to Learn
tial of employees, rather than try to transform them. by Chris Argyris
Many companies have a problem
[A]n organization’s smartest and most successful employees
that they do not even know exists:
are often such poor learners: they haven’t had the opportunity most of the well-educated, com-
for introspection that failure affords. So when they do fail—or mitted professionals they have
merely underperform—they can be surprisingly defensive. hired for important leadership
roles do not know how to learn.
Fair Process: Managing in the Many of these professionals believe that learning is
Knowledge Economy about solving problems, that is, finding errors and
by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne correcting them. However, for true learning, manag-
ers and employees must look inward to examine how
Although management theory assumes that people
their behaviors have become part of the organiza-
are mostly concerned with outcomes, people are just
tion’s problems, and then find ways to change these
as concerned about the fairness of the process that pro-
behaviors.
duces those outcomes. Organizations need to develop
a decision-making process that takes into account the Because professionals are usually very good at what
employee’s basic need to be respected and to have they do, they rarely fail, which means they rarely
their ideas valued. If employees feel that a decision have opportunities to learn from failure. Behind their
that affects them has been made fairly, they will offer strong desires to achieve are equally strong fears of
their trust and cooperation to their managers. Fair failing to live up to their own high standards. When-
process fosters an environment in which employees ever they do fail, they become defensive, ignore
share ideas and are willing to give extra effort. Fair criticism, play the “blame game,” and shut down
process does not mean making decisions by consen- their ability to learn.
sus or compromise to keep everyone happy. Companies make the mistake of thinking that people
Fair process involves three elements: will learn if the organization can motivate them
sufficiently with performance reviews, changes in
1. Engagement: Inviting individuals to provide input
corporate cultures, compensation programs, and
and challenge each other’s ideas.

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HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

other organizational programs. However, learning is Unintentionally unethical decision making stems
not based on how people feel, but rather on how they from four sources:
reason.
1. Implicit prejudice: Making judgments based on
Defensive reasoning blocks learning. People manifest unconscious stereotypes and attitudes. People
defensive reasoning when they want to maintain automatically make associations to help them
unilateral control, maximize “winning” while mini- make sense of the world, and they start to trust
mizing “losing,” suppress negative feelings, and try to them, becoming blind to instances when the asso-
appear very rational. This defensive posture attempts ciations do not line up with their expectations.
to prevent embarrassment, threats, or feeling vulner-
2. In-group favoritism: Granting favors to friends,
able or incompetent.
relatives, or colleagues, based on having similar
A company and its employees can change behaviors backgrounds or associations. When people in the
to become more productive in two ways: requiring majority hand out opportunities to those who are
people to use the same critical thinking and reason- just like themselves as acts of kindness, they really
ing that they use to perform strategic analyses, and are hurting those who are different.
requiring senior managers to model their willingness
3. Overclaiming credit: Overrating one’s own contribu-
to critically examine their own ways of reasoning.
tions to group efforts. When people unconsciously
Senior managers greatly impact the performance of boost the importance of their contributions, they
the whole company when they are trained in new think less fairly when judging the efforts of others
methods of reasoning, even when other members of and reduce their willingness to collaborate.
the organization are reasoning defensively. As man-
4. Conflict of interest: Favoring others who can offer
agers and employees become more familiar with
benefits. Conflicts of interest can lead to inten-
productive reasoning, they learn more about how
tionally corrupt behavior, but they can even
the dynamics of their groups work and gain insights
unintentionally distort decision making.
that allow them to become more
effective. They are no longer
[Most of us] harbor many unconscious—and unethical—biases
simply solving problems, but
are learning how to become that derail our decisions and undermine our work as managers…
better organizational members Fortunately, as a manager, you can take deliberate actions to
and moving toward continuous counteract their pull.
improvement.
Just trying harder to be ethical is not working in many
How (Un)ethical Are You? organizations. To become wiser and make ethical
by Mahzarin R. Banaji, Max H. Bazerman, and Dolly decisions, managers must first become aware of their
Chugh own unconscious biases. They must be vigilant about
Most people believe they are ethical and unbiased, forces that steer their decision making off course.
make good decisions, can objectively evaluate a job Managers must make three main adjustments:
candidate or a new venture, and can make a fair 1. Gather better data to expose their own implicit
and rational decision that is in the best interests of biases.
the organization. Nevertheless, research shows that
people harbor counter-intentional and unconscious 2. Remove stereotyping language and images from
biases and feelings that influence otherwise objective the workplace and make products appealing to a
decisions. Therefore, managers make flawed judg- diversity of customers.
ments and create ethical problems that undermine 3. Expand their thought processes when making a
their roles to recruit and retain talented employees, decision by determining how each stakeholder
improve performance, and effectively collaborate might respond to the decision.
with colleagues.

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HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

Only those managers who understand that they have ship with one’s boss is important; however, few know
the potential to make unethical decisions are the ones how to do so successfully. Bosses rely on their direct
who will become the ethical decision makers they reports to be reliable, cooperative, and honest. Con-
strive to be. versely, managers depend on their bosses to help link
them to the rest of the corporation, to set priorities,
The Discipline of Teams
and to provide crucial resources.
by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith
This mutual dependency between boss and employee
Not all groups of people working together are truly
requires each person to have a good understanding
teams. A working group bases its performance on
of the other’s strengths, weaknesses, working styles,
what each individual in the group does. A true
and requirements. With this information, they can
team’s performance is not only based on individual
develop and maintain a healthy working relationship
accomplishments but also the “collective work prod-
that fits each person’s working style, fosters mutual
ucts” that two or more team members must achieve
expectations, and meets each person’s needs.
together. The true potential of a team is exhibited
when its performance requires both individual and The more productive boss-employee relationships
mutual accountability. ensure that the partnership is based on compatible
work styles, similar methods of making decisions,
Managers often define teamwork skills as listen-
and strong communication to develop mutual expec-
ing, responding constructively, and supporting one
tations. The relationship needs a two-way flow of
another. These values are important for team success,
information between boss and employee. At the
but they do not guarantee team performance. When
foundation of the relationship is dependability and
developing a disciplined approach to team manage-
honesty between manager and subordinate. Employ-
ment, managers must think about teams as a function
ees foster good relationships with their managers
of performance, not just a function of positive values.
when they realize that they must make good use of
A team has five characteristics that describe its disci-
the time and resources they demand from their busy
pline:
managers.
1. The team members themselves have defined the
g g g g
team’s common purpose.
2. The team’s performance goals have been devel- Features of the Book
oped based on the common purpose.
Estimated Reading Time: 4–5 hours, 288 pages
3. The team initially has a good mix of skills and
In HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People, the
later develops additional skills to face the chal-
editors of the Harvard Business Review have sorted
lenge of achieving its common purpose.
through hundreds of articles about management to
4. The team members agree on how decisions are find the most essential ten topics. The author of each
made, how the work gets done, who does it, and article shares his or her knowledge and expertise
on what schedules it is done. about one of the core aspects of managing employ-
5. The team members are accountable to each other ees that every new and experienced manager should
and trust others to fulfill their commitments to the know. Each chapter includes an article, a summary
team effort. of ideas, and a brief review of how to implement the
ideas. After a cover-to-cover reading, readers can later
Managing Your Boss revisit individual articles of interest or refer to the
by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter index to use the book as a reference.
Employees should know the best ways to work with Contents
their superiors to achieve results for themselves, their Leadership That Gets Results
bosses, and their companies. Managing the relation-
by Daniel Goleman
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HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing People HBR Editors

One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?

by Frederick Herzberg
The Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome
by Jean-François Manzoni and Jean-Louis Barsoux
Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves
by Carol A. Walker
What Great Managers Do
by Marcus Buckingham
Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy
by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Teaching Smart People How to Learn
by Chris Argyris
How (Un)ethical Are You?
by Mahzarin R. Banaji, Max H. Bazerman, and Dolly
Chugh
The Discipline of Teams
by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith
Managing Your Boss
by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter
About the Contributors
Index
g g g g

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