Though this book does not offer the pragmatist and practical application of the theory, it does provide insight into how organizations evolve from simple structures into more complex organisms. Two very good books to read while you are reading this one are Non-Zero, by Robert Wright and Consilience by Edmond O Wilson. There is a lot to learn from biology, genetics and cultural evolution that give the reader a depth in understanding the lifespans of organizations. How to apply the theory is as complex as the number different types of organizations that exist. I would like to provide a deeper reflection, but this is not the appropriate venue. More will be forthcoming on this subject in the near future.

Mintzberg has always been an academic who studies management with a sympathetic and slightly amused view. This 1989 book is really worthwhile having in your biz library to quickly flip through before you run your next strategy session just to remind you of what you need to work towards.

In this book, Mintzberg was forming his ideas on Strategic Thinking versus Strategic Planning which, for me, was a hugely valuable distinction. He examines why the value of the hard economic facts win over the social goals in most corporate strategies - cost reduction and profit come ahead of the people and environment. He then develops his theme of the machine corporation versus the innovative organization with many useful insights for today's company struggling to become organic and 'ecosystem friendly'. The ideas are still highly applicable, intelligent and like a good wine, get better with time.

This is one of the few books that I consider great. As a practicing CEO I find it refreshing when common sense thinking shows up in the academic world. If you would like to read a well researched book with a very deep insight into the business world (both American, Canadian and European), this is absolutely your pick. Highly recommeded, even if it is a bit wordy from time to time.

Henry Mintzberg is Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is also Professor of Organization at ISEAD, the famous French business school. I would like to issue a word of warning to people who are not familiar with Henry Mintzberg, he is unlike any other business school professor. He likes to provoke and uses untraditional examples. For instance, in this article he compares the traditional strategic planning process with a single craftsman, a potter (I believe his wife).

"My thesis is simple: The crafting image potter captures the process by which effective strategies come to be. The planning image, long popular in the literature, distorts these processes and thereby misguides organizations that embrace it unreservedly." Initially, he explains the reasons why the strategic planning is ineffective. Then, he explains why strategies do not need to be deliberate and can emerge or shape. Mintzberg expands on the emergence of effective strategies. He introduces personal strategy (deliberate for one person but not for the organization), consensus strategy (follows trends), umbrella strategy (based on broad guidelines), and process strategy (strategy formation that leaves the actual content to others). Although most literature claims that change must continuous, research from McGill University shows that the opposite is true: "a strategic revolution must take place." Mintzberg concludes that managing strategy is "to craft thought and action, control and learning, stability and change." He discusses his viewpoint in detail with some great insights and examples: "Like potters at the wheel, organizations must make sense of the past if they hope to manage the future. ... Thus crafting strategy, like managing craft, requires a natural synthesis of the future, present, and past."

Yes, this article is very interesting. Amazingly enough this article was published in the same issue of the Harvard Business Review (July-August 1987) as Michael Porter's 'From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy'. Both have almost completely opposite views on strategy and both won the McKinsey Award, but Mintzberg's writing style makes it possible to see them as complements to each other. The article is not that simple to read as it is pretty deep, but it provides great insights in the faults of traditional strategic planning (or budget process).

Canadian-born Henry Mintzberg is Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a Professor of Organization at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. He is originally an engineering graduate of McGill University and later studied at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This article was published in the July-August 1976 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

The title of the article refers to Robert Ornstein's book 'The Psychology of Consciousness', "a popular account of the findings on the two hemispheres of the human brain." This somewhat faddish view (at that time) claims that the left hemisphere of most people's brains has an largely linear mode of operation, working in an ordered way. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, appears to operate in a more holistic, relational way, specialized for simultaneous processing. Mintzberg tries to answer three questions in order to find about the hemispheres of the human brain: (1) What does this specialization of the brain mean for the way people function?; (2) How can we distinguish the two hemispheric modes of "consciousness"?; and (3) What about the discrepancy between planning and managing? He then turns his focus to the managing part in the right hemisphere and the implications on the left hemisphere. Mintzberg concludes that managers need to be careful to distinguish between analysis and intuition. He also cannot resist his usual dig at the, in his opinion, too academically curriculum of the business schools.

In this challenging article Mintzberg discusses the "relationship between analysis and intuition", with a reference to the strained relationship between planners and managers. The article does not resolve the issue, but at least it opens up an important discussion. It also provides some interesting insights into managerial behavior. Highly recommended to leaders, managers and MBA-students. The author uses simple business US-English, with some psychological terms.

Mintzberg's book is one of those papers that must be read for anyone interested in the drives that shape the organization structure. It's well organized and starts out by the basics as coordination mechanisms and dives into the driving forces (internal and externals) through all the literature available by that time.
Its final explanation of the structure as the outcome of forces and drives shed insight into structure as an outcome (affected even by fashions). This envision is clear even if new forces are uncovered by the experts.
On the drawbacks side, the book is slightly out of date regarding the research background for a nowdays reader(not its fault since the book is 20 years old), some chapters as the impact of some factors in structuring are padded out and the human being behavior impact is lightly treated. Some outlooks have failed (20 aditional years gives you some "foresight" to see why they went wrong, which is funny).
All in all, even if it's slightly outdated, it is worth to have a go at it. It's easy to read and offer a good overview.

Mintzberg is a brilliant strategist, and due to the extensive knowledge, it is hard at times to get to point of the concept. In some cases, the information is provided in almost elementary style, which is not bad, but most of the writings are very hard to digest. I did learn a great deal from this book, but I admit, I will have to reengage it again to get the full benefit.

Don't expect a textbook on how to develop strategy (although, expect a similar result). Well thought-out and structured set of readings that provide insight into the process of developing strategy, from SWOT and Rumelt analysis (Conistency, Consonance, Feasibility, Advantage) through organizational structure and Entrepeneurship.

However, I found the readings extremely hard work to read. It may be inexperience, but (especially in the early chapters), the readings simply take a LONG time to do (and I'm not a slow reader). A nice addition might be a more comprehensive summary of the readings at the start or end of each chapter.

Overall, I go with a 3-star, mainly because of the reading difficulty more than the actual content.

Great book and "great" price

I started reading this book in one of the lounges at JFK's Terminal One (and continued reading it over an excellent glass of wine on my way to Frankfurt). Hence the atmosphere was right somehow). Mr. Mintzberg is one of these "Professor of Economics Guru" who's frequently travelling and knows all about the world - except the real one. The "real one" in today's economics is surviving, especially for the airline industry. Airlines do have to fill their planes and make more revenues than they do have cost - as simple as that! Obviously Mr. Mintzberg has a hard time to get used to the fact that airlines can't give away anything for free. He's one of these guys spending 150 bucks for going overseas and expecting - of course - an upgrade for free including all the good stuff served in Business and First Class. Since that does not happen all the time he's blowing out all of his frustrations in this book. I feel sorry for having spent the money for this book, it's not worth it.

So, I'm at O'Hare and I pick up this book because I hate flying too. Read the first ten pages or so and realized to my horror that this piece of tripe was all I had to read for the next few hours.

The purchase of this book led to me reading the inflight magazine. Dreadful, just dreadful. The only reason I didn't leave it in the seatback in front of me is because I didn't want to inflict the same damage on another poor traveler.

I was at the bookstore buying more serious books on Six Sigma when this little gem jumped out at me.

By the time I got to the chapter dealing with food I was weeping with laughter. Just about everyone cops a swipe in this book and as an Australian, MBA qualified manager who used to work at Sydney Airport, I felt a few barbs myself.

Henry is working outside of his normal style and doesnt always pull it off but I nonetheless was refreshed to see that this world-wide authority on management shares some of my own misgivings about Globalism with a big G and Management with a big M.

The insights are a useful whack on the side of the head for anybody involved in managing any business. Readers who have travelled only a fraction of Mintzberg's air-miles are also bound to identify with at least some of his anecdotes, as I did.

By the end of the book you should understand the difference between Customer Service and customer service.

So, if your management-reading palate is a little jaded then treat this as sorbet-for-the-management soul.