Henry Mintzberg

Title: 
John Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies (Strategy & Organization); Academic Director, International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL), International Masters Program for Managers (IMPM)
Henry Mintzberg
Contact Information
Phone: 
514-398-4017
Email address: 
henry.mintzberg [at] mcgill.ca
Alternate email address: 
santa.rodrigues [at] mcgill.ca
Address: 

Bronfman Building [Map]
1001 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3A 1G5

Degree(s): 

BEng, McGill University, Canada
BA, Concordia University, Canada
SM Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Area(s): 
Strategy & Organization
Office: 
547
Biography: 

For more information on Dr. Henry Mintzberg, please go to his personal website www.mintzberg.org.

Group: 
Faculty
Tenured & Tenure Track
Research areas: 
Managing the Myths of Healthcare
Public, Private & Social Organizations in a Balanced Society
Selected publications: 

Forthcoming publications

Analysis: Framing and Frame Breaking (with Kunal Basu) to appear in Mindsets for Managers (Book in preparation)

Developing Managers, not MBAs (in preparation) - nearing completion of several years of collecting, contemplating, and writing on my views about the education and development of managers

Getting Past Smith and Marx... toward a Balanced Society (pamphlet, in preparation) - using my knowledge of organizations to seek a balance in society between the economic, the political, and the social

Managing: 29 Days in the Lives of Managers (in preparation) - a return to the subject of my first book, in this case based on 29 days in the lives of managers

Strategic Management Upside Down: A Study of McGill University from 1829 to 1980 (with Janet Rose, submitted for publication)-the strategy process in a university, which never changed on the broad level and never stayed put in its details

Articles in refereed journals

Mintzberg, H. "Managing Health and Disease: Up and Down, In and Out," Health Science Management Research (2002)

Mintzberg, H., "Reseaching the Researching of Walking," Journal of Management Inquiry, 2002.

Mintzberg, H., "The Economist who never came back Scandinavian Journal Management (2002).

Mintzberg, H., "Decision-Making: It's not what You Think," Sloan Management Review , v. 42, no. 3, Spring 2001 - Seeing First and Doing First as compared with Thinking First

Mintzberg, H. "Managing Exceptionally, " Organizational Science, v. 12, no. 6, 2001 - a day in the lives of two Red Cross managers at refugee camps

Glouberman, S. and Mintzberg, H., "Managing the Care of Health and the Cure of Disease: Part 1: Differentiation, Part II: Integration,"Health Care Management Review, (Winter, 2001)-a broad framework to think and rethink about this field

Mintzberg, H., "The Yin & Yang of Managing," Organizational Dynamics, v. 29, Nov. 2001 - a day in the life of the male head of Médecins sans frontiers and the female head of Paris's fashion museum

Re-viewing the Organization (with Ludo Van der Heyden) Ivey Busines Journal (September/October, 2000)-different ways to conceive processes in organizations

Sustaining the Institutional Environment, (with Frances Westley), Organizational Studies (Issue 0, 2000)-a day in the life of two Greenpeace managers

Managing Quietly, Leader to Leader (Spring, 1999)-enough hype, time for low key managing

Organigraphs: Drawing How Companies Really Work (with Ludo Van der Heyden) Harvard Business Review (September-October 1999)-mapping processes in organizations

Reflecting on the Strategy Process (with Joseph Lampel,) Sloan Management Review (Spring 1999)-ten schools of strategy, and beyond

Covert Leadership: The Art of Managing Professionals Harvard Business Review (November-December, 1998)-a day in the life of an orchestra conductor, questioning the myths

A Day in the Life of John Cleghorn, Decision (Fall, 1997)-following the CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada

Managing on the Edges, International Journal of Public Sector Management, (10, 1997)-a day in the lives of three managers in hierarchical succession in the western Canadian Parks who must manage on all kinds of physical, administrative, and political edges

Toward Healthier Hospitals, Health Care Management Review (Fall 1997)-another perspective on managing hospitals, based on a consulting study

Customizing Customization (with Joe Lampel) Sloan Management Review, (Fall, 1996)-the concept of customization is too standardized, an effort to nuance it

Managing Government, Governing Management, Harvard Business Review, (May-June, 1996)-a critique of the customer is everything, business is smarter, management has all the answers, capitalism has triumphed, and suggestions for an alternative perspective

Mirroring Canadian Industrial Policy: Strategy Formation at Dominion Textile from 1873 to 1990 (with Barbara Austin) Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (13, 1996)-study of tracking strategy research

Musings on Management, Harvard Business Review (July/August 1996)-ten points of the superficiality of management and my thinking

Some Surprising Things About Collaboration, with (Deborah Dougherty, Jan Jorgensen, and Frances Westley), Organizational Dynamics (Summer, 1996)-some additional thoughts about collaboration

The "Honda Effect" Revisited, Califiornia Management Review (Summer, 1996)-a set of writings I drew together, some old, some new, including a couple of my own commentaries, to revisit Richard Pascale's Honda story

Diversifiction and Diversifact (with Sumantra Ghoshal), California Management Review, (Fall 1994)-grew out of joint effort to rethink how to organize multi-business enterprise

Managing as Blended Care, Journal of Nursing Administration, (September 1994)-based on a day observing the head nurse of a hospital ward

Rounding Out the Manager's Job, Sloan Management Review, (Fall 1994)-a more integrated framework than my earlier work to consider the manager's job

That's Not `Turbulence,' Chicken Little, It's Real Opportunity", Planning Review, (Nov-Dec. 1994)-excerpt from my planning book

The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning Harvard Business Review (January-February, 1994)-summary of my planning book (title change from my book "Rise and Fall" done without my advice or consent)

The Pitfalls of Strategic Planning, California Management Review (Fall 1993)-excerpt from my book on Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning

Commentary on "MBA: Is the Traditional Model Doomed?" Harvard Business Review (November-December, 1992)-a shot at the dysfunctions of the MBA

Cycles of Organizational Change (with Frances Westley) Strategic Management Journal, (13, 1992)-attempt to draw dimensions of process together

Learning In (and from) Eastern Europe Scandinavian Journal of Management 1992;-more learning at grass roots level and fewer planners/economists might help

Managing the Form, Function, and Fit of Design (with Angela Dumas) Design Management Journal (Summer 1991)-adding fit to form and function and discussing models of cooperation

Strategies in the Financial Services Industry (with Maria Gonzalez) McKinsey Quarterly (1991)-framework of strategies that grew out of a consulting experience

The Effective Organization: Forces and Forms Sloan Management Review (Winter, 1991)-beyond configuration, playing "LEGO" with the dimensions

The Design School: Reconsideration of the Basic Premises of Strategic Management Strategic Management Journal (1990)-criticising the dominant Harvard view of strategy making

Managing Design, Designing Management (with Angela Dumas) Design Management Journal (Fall, 1989)-stages in managing the design process

Visionary Leadership and Strategic Management (with Frances Westley) Strategic Management Journal (l989)-probing beyond, and into vision

Another Look at Why Organizations Need Strategies California Management Review (June l987)-various reasons delineated

Crafting Strategy Harvard Business Review (September - October, l987; winner of second McKinsey Prize for that year)-main summary piece out of tracking strategy research

Five Ps for Strategy California Management Review (June l987)-ideas to open up the definition

Imaging Strategy (with Frances Westley) Journal of Management (1985)-just a fun page, strategy as images

Of Strategies, deliberate and emergent (with James Waters) Strategic Management Journal (l985)-summary piece, out of tracking strategy research, especially with regard to deliberate/emergent strategy

Strategy Formation in an Adhocracy (with Alexandra McHugh) Administrative Science Quarterly (1985)-tracking strategy research

The Organization as Political Arena Journal of Management Studies (l985)-out of my Power book, another configuration

Tracking Strategies in the Birthplace of Canadian Tycoons: The Sherbrooke Record 1946-l976 (with William Taylor and James Waters) Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (June, 1984)-tracking strategy research

Who Should Control the Corporation? California Management Review (Fall, 1984)-out of my Power book, eight perspectives, left meets right and center differs

Tracking Strategy in an Entrepreneurial Firm (with James Waters) Academy of Management Journal (1982)-tracking strategy research

Organization Design: Fashion or Fit Harvard Business Review (January-February, l98l)-practitioner-oriented summary of Structuring book

What is Planning Anyway? Strategic Management Journal (1981)-reply to critique of my views of POSDCORB

An Emerging Strategy of "Direct" Research Administrative Science Quarterly (December, l979)-inferring my own research methodology

Patterns in Strategy Formation Management Science (May, 1978) also guest editor of grouping of four articles in that issue)-first paper on "tracking strategy" research

Team Teaching General Management: Theoretically, Experientially, Practically (with Walter Balke and James Waters) Exchange: The OB Teaching Journal (June 1978)-the theory/field study course at McGill coupled to the skill development course

Policy as a Field of Management Theory Academy of Management Review (January, 1977)-view of the field in general

Planning on the Left Side and Managing on the Right Harvard Business Review (July-August, l976; also in French in La revue internationale de gestion, Novembre 1976)-impulsive piece about two hemispheres of the brain related to managing

The Structure of "Unstructured" Decision Processes (with Duru Raisinghani and André Théoret) Administrative Science Quarterly (June, 1976)-empirical study of 25 decision processes

Making Management Information Useful, Management Review (May 1975)-summary of the monograph below

The Manager's Job: Folklore and Fact Harvard Business Review (July -August, 1975), winner of the McKinsey award for the best HBR article of l975-roles and characteristics of managerial work

Policy as a Field of Management Theory Journal of Business Policy (Summer, 1973)-a way to research and teach it in the theory-oriented business school

Strategy-Making in Three Modes California Management Review (Winter, 1973)-recurrent theme re planning, adapting, entrepreneurship

The Myths of MIS California Management Review (Fall, 1972)-thesis findings on information systems

Managerial Work: Analysis from Observation Management Science (October, 1971)-summary of thesis findings

Making a Science of Management Canadian Business (March, 1970)-brief review of early ideas for practitioners

Structured Observation as a Method of Study Managerial Work The Journal of Management Studies (February, 1970)-thesis methodology

The Planning Dilemma, (with James Hekimian), The Management Review (May, 1968)-first paper, recurrent theme, biblical vs. Darwinian approaches

The Science of Strategy-Making, Industrial (now Sloan) Management Review (Spring 1967)-managers versus planners

Books and monographs

Mintzberg, H., Managers Not MBAs: A Hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development, CA: Berrett-Koehler, distributed in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa by Pearson Education, June 2004, pp. 480.
Related Link: Berrett-Koehler listing

Why I Hate Flying (Texere, 2001) - spoof of the flying and the managing businesses, and of commercialism in general.
Related Link: Why I Hate Flying

Managing Publicly (with Jacques Bourgault; Institute of Public Administration of Canada, Toronto, 2000) - based on study I did of 8 Canadian public sector managers, published with commentaries

Strategy Safari (with Bruce Ahlstrand and Joe Lampel, Free Press and Prentice-Hall International, 1998) - as the subtitle says, "A Guided tour Through The Wilds Of Strategic Management"
Related Link: Amazon listing

The Canadian Condition: Reflections of a "Pure Cotton" (Stoddart [en français: Les Propos d'un "Pur Coton," Québec/Amérique] 1995) - expression of some personal feelings about what Canada is all about (not a management book!)

The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning: Reconceiving the Roles for Planning, Plans, Planners (Free Press and Prentice-Hall International, 1994) - review of the process, very critical, though ends on a positive note
Related Link: Amazon listing

Mintzberg on Management: Inside Our Strange World of Organizations (Free Press, 1989) - an effort to draw together my main material for practitioners, including some other (mostly polemic) material
Related Link: Amazon listing

The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, Cases (with J.B. Quinn. various editions, Prentice-Hall, since 1988) - I did the text, which comprises selected readings, including some of my own, all shortened
Related Link: Amazon listing

Power In and Around Organizations (Prentice-Hall, 1983) - attempt to draw together the literature of power around notion of configurations

Structure in 5's: Designing Effective Organizations (Prentice-Hall, 1983) - condensed version of The Structuring of Organizations
Related Link: Amazon listing

The Structuring of Organizations: A Synthesis of the Research (Prentice-Hall, 1979) - attempt to draw together the empirical literature on structuring, using five configurations as integrating devices-my most integrated book
Related Link: Amazon listing

The Nature of Managerial Work (Harper and Row, 1973, reissued by Prentice-Hall, 1983) - roles and characteristics of managerial work, based on my doctoral thesis (study of five managers)
Related Link: Amazon listing

 

Articles in technical/professional publications

Mintzberg, H., "Third-Generation Management Development," Training and Development Magazine, March, 2004.

Gosling, J. and Mintzberg, H., "The five minds of a manager," Harvard Business Review, November 2003, pp. 54-63.

Huy, Q.N. and Mintzberg, H., "The rhythm of change," MIT Sloan Management Review, v. 44, no. 4, Summer 2003, pp.79-83.

HR.Com: "Depressing is Hardly the Word," March 11, 2002. Related Link: Article

Mintzberg, H. "Managing to Innovate," in Leading for Innovation (Volume II of the Drucker Foundation Wisdom to Action Series) 2002.

Mintzberg, H., "Reality Programming for MBAs," Strategy and Business, issue 26, first quarter 2002.

Opening up Decision Making: The View From the Black Stool (with Ann Langley, Pat Pitcher, Elizabeth Posada, and Jan Saint-Macary) Organization Science, (May-June 1995)-extensive paper critiquing conventional views of decision making

Some Fresh Air for Management? in Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett (Harvard Business School Press, 1995)-introduction to Follet's wonderful chapter on cooperation

Rethinking Strategic Planning: Parts I and II Long Range Planning (June 1994)-summary of my planning book

Une polémique en appelle une autre Revue Française de Gestion (janvier-février 1994)-my response to an article criticizing my critique of Henri Fayol

A Letter to Marta Calàs and Linda Smircich Organizational Studies, (1991)-my reply to their to "deconstruction" of The Nature of Managerial Work (which is not about rape!)

Learning 1, Planning 0 (Reply to Igor Ansoff) Strategic Management Journal 1991-is strategy making deliberate or emergent

Does Decision Get in the Way? (with James Waters) Organization Studies (1990)-"decision" is a construct

Emergent Strategy for Public Policy (with Jan Jorgensen) Canadian Public Administration (Summer, 1987)-applying notion of emergent strategy to public sector

Power and Organization Life Cycles Academy of Management Review (l984)-out of my Power book on power-driven life cycles

A Note on the Unionization of Professionals from the Perspective of Organization Theory Industrial Relations Law Journal (l983)-out of my Power book, reflecting concern about unions in professional organizations

Strategy Formation in the University Setting (with Cynthia Hardy, Ann Langley and Janet Rose) The Review of Higher Education (Summer, 1983); also in J. Bess (ed.) College and University Organization (New York University Press, l984)-think piece on how strategy making is different in professional organizations

The Case for Corporate Social Responsibility Journal of Business Policy (Fall, l983)-out of my Power book, summary of arguments for and against social responsibility

Why America Needs, But Cannot Have, Corporate Democracy Organizational Dynamics (Spring, l983)-out of my Power book, on democratization of the corporation

Structure in 5's Management Science (March, l980)-summary of Structuring book

Strategy Formulation as an Historical Process International Studies of Management and Organization (Summer, 1977) also Introduction to the Conference (same issue) and guest editor of the Summer and Fall-Winter issues of ISMO-research on strategy as historical pattern

A National Goals Hierarchy, Optimum (1974)-Malsow's needs-hierarchy theory adapted to government activity

A New Look at the Senior Manager's Job Organizational Dynamics (Winter, 1973)-summary of thesis findings for practitioners

Jeu des influences et buts organisationnels Commerce (juin, 1973)-first shot at power material

A Framework for Strategic Planning Canadian Forum (January-February, 1972)-toward a National Industrial Strategy for Canada

 

Artciles/chapters in books and monographs

A Guide to Strategic Positioning, in The Strategy Process, (Mintzberg and Quinn, Prentice Hall, 1997)-a fancy framework to think about positioning

Whining and Dining: Une table de joyeuses lamentations, ou une soirée, québeçoise parfaitment canadienne, in M. Briere (ed.) Le Gout du Québec (Editions Hurtubise, 1996)-an evening on the Quebec debate

Case Study Research, in N. Nicholson (ed.) The Blackwell Dictionary of Organizational Behaviour (Blackwell, 1995)-brief comments on case-type research method

Parting Shots: Our Real Ridge, in Building the Strategically Responsive Organization (Wiley, 1994)-bringing practitioners and academics together

25 Years Later...The Illusive Strategy, in A. Bedeian Management Laureates: A Collection of Autobiographical Essays, Vol. II (Grennwich, Ct., JAI Press, 1993)-autobiography of my working career, a detailed, ordered review of my research and writing

Globalization: Separating the Fad from the Fact, in D. Wong-Reiger and F. Reiger (eds.) International Management Research: Looking to the Future (de Gruyter, 1993)-summary comments at conference

Managerial Work: Forty Years Later, in Sune Carlson Executive Behavior, Textgruppen i Uppsala, 1991 (book originally published in 1951)-revisiting my thesis subject, to celebrate Carlson's 80th birthday

Strategic Thinking as "Seeing," in Juha Nasi (editor) Arenas of Strategic Thinking (Helsinski, Finland, Foundation for Economic Education) 1991-comment on papers and theme of a Finnish conference, different ways to "see" strategically

Strategy Formation: Schools of Thought, in J. Frederickson (ed.) Perspectives on Strategic Management (Harper & Collins, 1990)-extensive piece (half the book) on different viewpoints in the field

Analysis and Intuition in Management, in Mintzberg on Management (Free Press, 1989)-some correspondence with Hebert Simon and other thoughts

Society Has Become Unmanageable as a Result of Management, in Mintzberg on Management (Free Press, 1989)-cerebral style management is destroying our organizations and our social fabric

Training Managers, Not MBAs in Mintzberg on Management (Free Press, 1989)-why we need to rethink degree management education

Generic Strategies: Toward a Comprehensive Framework, in R.B. Lamb and P. Shivastava (eds.) Advances in Strategic Management (JAI Press, l988; shorter version in The Strategy Process, Prentice-Hall, 1991)-foray into Porter territory, an exhaustive/ing typology

Profiles of Strategic Vision: Levesque and Iacocca (with Frances Westley), in J. Conger and R. Kanungo (eds.) Charismatic Leadership: the Elusive Factor in Organizational Effectiveness (Jossey-Bass, l988)-comparative study of visionaries' autobiographies

Strategy of Design: A Study of "Architects in Co-Partnership" (with Jamal Shamsie, Susann Otis, and James Waters), in J. Grant (ed.) Significant Developments in Strategic Management (JAI Press, 1988)-tracking strategy research

Does Planning Impede Strategic Thinking? Tracking the Strategies of Air Canada from l937 to l976 (with Pierre Brunet and James Waters), in R.B. Lamb and P. Shivastava (eds.) Advances in Strategic Management (JAI Press, l986)-tracking strategy research

Researching the Formation of Strategies: The History of Canadian Lady, l939-l976 (with James Waters), in R.B. Lamb (ed.) Competitive Strategic Management (Prentice-Hall, l984)-tracking strategy research

The case for Configuration (with Danny Miller), in G. Morgan (ed.) Beyond Method (Sage, 1983); also in Miller and Friesen Organizations: A Quantum View (Prentice-Hall, 1984)-advantages of taking configurational approach to theorizing

The Mind of the Strategist(s) (with James Waters) in S. Srivasta (ed.) Executive Mind (Jossey-Bass, l983)-summary material on tracking strategy research

The Mind of the Strategist(s) (with James Waters) in S. Srivasta (ed.) Executive Mind (Jossey-Bass, l983)-summary material on tracking strategy research

Commentary, in Ungson and Braunstein (eds.) Decision Making: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry (Kent Publishing, 1982)-comments off on decision making

If You're Not Serving Bill and Barbara, then You're Not Serving Leadership, in Hunt, Sekaran, and Schriesheim (eds.) Leadership: Beyond Establishment Views (Southern Illinois University Press, l982)-sounding off on useless leadership research, plus speculations about how two managers might have reacted to conference papers, followed by their actual reactions

Configurations of Organizational Structure, in Meltzer and Nord Making Organizations Humane and Productive: A Handbook for Practitioners (Wiley, l98l) reprinted in modified form as A Typology of Organization Structure, in Miller and Friesen Organizations: A Quantum View (Prentice-Hall, l984)-practitioner-oriented summary of Structuring book

Organizational Power and Goals, in Schendel and Hofer Strategic Management (Little Brown, 1979)-summary of material in my Power book

Reviews

Review of the "New Science of Management Decision," by Herbert Simon Administrative Science Quarterly (June l977)-follows correspondence with him (see Chapter 4 of my 1989 book), beginning of my questioning of his view of intuition

 

Working Papers

Some Fresh Air for Canada (working paper, 1992)-foray into political issues, re Canadian constitutional debate

Positioning the Positioning School: A Framework for Strategy Content Research (Working Paper, 1989)-trying to pin down so-called content side of strategy

Ten Years Later: Some Personal Reflections on Management and Methodology (Working Paper, l978)-reflections based on series of talks at business school

The Joint Doctoral Program in Administration (working paper, with Jean-Marie Toulouse, 1978; presented at ASAC Conference)-statement of program we designed for four Montreal universities, mid-way between European and American approaches

Other papers and publications

A Note on that Dirty Word Efficiency Interfaces (October, 1982)-out of my Power book, on problems of quantification

Mintzberg's Final Paradigm, letter to Administrative Science Quarterly (l978)-enough of that word

Conference proceedings

Beyond Implementation: An Analysis of the Resistance to Policy Analysis (Proceedings of the 1978 IFORS Conference) in Haley (ed.), Operational Research '78 (North-Holland, 1979: 106-l62) shorter version appeared in INFOR (May, l980)-extensive paper on why analysis is resisted

Research on Strategy-Making, Proceedings of the Academy of Management Conference (1972)-first notions of strategy as pattern

 

Research monographs

Impediments to the Use of Management Information (monograph of the National Association of Accountants (U.S.) and Society of Industrial Accountants (Canada, 1975)-summary of literature on impediments to MIS

Normative Models in Managerial Decision-Making (monograph of the National Association of Accountants (U.S.) and Society of Industrial Accountants (Canada, 1975, with Larry Gordon and Danny Miller)-on various models

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 

Awards

30th place, World’s Top 50 Business Thinkers

2011: Management Book of the Year, Chartered Management Institute

2008: Carl Sloan Consultant of the Year, Association of Management Consulting

2007: Creation of Mintzberg Center for Management Research, Renmin University, Beijing

2006: Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in Social Sciences and Humanities

2006: Hebert Simon Award, Corvinus University

2006: Prix Gerard-Parizeau

2005: Grand Montréalais, Chambre de Commerce

2004: Best paper in Strategy, Strategic Management Journal

2004: Best paper in Strategy, ASAC Journal

2003: Lifetime Achievement Award in Workplace Learning and Performance, American Society for Training and Development

2000: Distinguished Scholar Award for Contributions to Management, Academy of Management

1999: Who’s Who in the World

1998: Officier de l’ordre national du Québec

1996: Cleghorn Chair in Management Studies, McGill University

1996: Distinguished Scholar Award, Organization and Management Theory Division, Academy of Management

1996: Prix du Québec in Social Science

1995: George R. Terry Award for the best book of the year, Academy of Management

1993: Economist de l’année (Categorie: Organisation et management) Le Nouvel Economiste

1993: Special Award for Contribution to the Field, AMOD (The Association for the Management of Organizational Design)

1992: Who’s Who in America

1991: Laureat du Merit Annuel pour le Réalizations Exceptionnelles dans le domaine des Resources Humaines, L’Association des Professionnelles en Resources Humaine du Québec

1987: McKinsey Prize for Second Best Article, Harvard Business Review

1986: First Honorary Member, Institute of Management Consultants of Quebec

1983: Grand Prix des Meilleurs Livres de Management, Harvard L’Expansion

1982-1996: Bronfman Chair

1980: Gold Medal for best publication by a member, Canadian Operational Research Society

1975: McKinsey Prize for Best Article, Harvard Business Review

Fellowships

 

Grants

 

 

 

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