This article reports on the author's study, between 1976 and 1981, into 15 successful general managers in nine corporations. He does this by a describing a typical day in the life of a successful executive. On the basis of his research into the daily behavior of general managers Kotter identifies 12 typical patterns. Kotter concludes that it is hard to fit the general manager's behavior into categories like planning, organizing, controlling, directing, or staffing. In order to understand the general managers' behavior it is fundamental to recognize the two fundamental challenges and dilemmas in their jobs: (1) Figuring out what to do despite uncertainty and an enormous amount of potentially relevant information; (2) Getting things done through a large and diverse group of people despite having little direct control over most of them. General managers use agenda setting and network building to tackle those two challenges. Kotter discusses both these tools in detail. He also explains how general managers use their entire network of relationships to implement their agendas. Kotter then continues to discuss the 12 patterns found in his study and what the implications of these patterns are. "First and foremost, putting someone in a general manager's job who does not already know the business or the people involved ... is risky. Second, management training courses ... probably overemphasize formal tools, unambiguous problems, and situations that deal simplistically with human relationships. Third, people who are new in general management positions can probably be gotten up to speed more effectively than is the norm today." Kotter complements this On-Point version with a short commentary, written in 1999.
Great, surprising article on the inconsistency between the textbook's definition of management and the actual behavior of general managers. He provides practical insights and advise on managerial effectiveness. This article is recommended to people moving into management and MBA-students. For readers who like this article I recommend John Kotter's 1999-book 'On What Leaders Really Do'. The article is written in simple US-English.