EVEN
BETTER
MANAGER
HOW TO BE
AN
HTB An Even Better Manager HP 30/11/2004 12:18 Page 1
class="bi x6 y7 w3 h6"
A Complete A–Z of Proven
Techniques & Essential Skills
Sixth Edition
MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
London and Sterling, VA
EVEN
BETTER
MANAGER
HOW TO BE
AN
HTB An Even Better Manager TP 30/11/2004 12:18 Page 1
Masculine pronouns have been used in this book. This stems from a desire to avoid ugly
and cumbersome language, and no discrimination, prejudice or bias is intended.
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this
book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot
accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for
loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of
the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.
First published in Great Britain in 1983, entitled How to be a Better Manager
Second edition, 1988, entitled How to be an Even Better Manager
Third edition 1990
Fourth edition 1994

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk
Contents
Foreword to the sixth edition xiii
Preface xv
1. How to be a better manager 1
What management is about 2; The aims of
management 3; Purpose of management and
leadership 3; The processes of management 5;
Managerial roles 6; The distinction between management
and leadership 7; The fragmentary nature of managerial
work 7; What managers actually do 8; What managers
can do about it 9; Managerial qualities 10; Managerial
effectiveness 11; Developing managerial effectiveness 12
2. How to achieve results 14
What makes achievers tick? 15; What do achievers
do? 16; How to analyse your own behaviour 17;
Learning 18; Conclusion 18
3. How to appraise people 19
What is performance appraisal? 19; The aim of
performance appraisal 19; How performance appraisal
can help managers 20; The process of performance
v
appraisal 20; The performance appraisal cycle 20; Stage
1: How to plan for appraisal 21; Stage 2: Preparing for
the appraisal discussion 23; Stage 3: The appraisal
discussion 24; Appraisal discussion guidelines 24
4. How to assess your own performance 26
The self-assessment process 26
5. How to be assertive 29
Assertion and aggression 29; Assertive behaviour 30;

Neuro-linguistic programming 76; Developing your own
emotional intelligence 78
15. How to develop people 80
Investing in people 80; The manager’s contribution to
effective development 80; Management development 81;
Coaching 83
16. How to get on 84
Knowing yourself 85; Knowing what you want 88;
Personal qualities and behaviour 90;
Self-development 91; Identifying development needs 92;
Defining the means of satisfying needs 92; Personal
development plans 93; Ten self-development steps 93
17. How to handle difficult people 95
Why people are difficult 95; Ten approaches to handling
difficult people 96
18. How to handle negative behaviour 98
Causes of negative behaviour 99; Dealing with the
problem 99; Ten approaches to managing negative
behaviour 102
19. How to influence people 104
Persuading people 104; Ten rules for effective
persuasion 104; Case presentation 105
20. How to interview 109
The overall purpose of a selection interview 109; The
nature of a selection interview 109; Preparing for the
interview 110; The content of an interview 111; Planning
the interview 113; Interviewing techniques 114;
Assessing the data 117
21. How to be interviewed 120
Preparing for the interview 120; Creating the right

28. How to manage performance 163
How performance management works 163; How to
measure performance 165; Types of measures –
organizational 167
29. How to manage projects 170
Project planning 170; Setting up the project 172;
Controlling the project 172; Ten steps to effective project
management 173
Contents
viii
30. How to manage strategically 174
Strategic planning 174; Formulating strategic
plans 175; Strategic capability 176
31. How to manage stress 178
Symptoms of stress 179; Managing stress in others – what
the organization can do 179; Managing stress in others –
what you can do 180; Managing your own stress 180
32. How to manage time 182
Analysis 183; Organizing yourself 184; Organizing other
people 187; Time consumer’s checklist 188
33. How to manage under-performers 192
Why poor performance occurs 192; The steps required
to manage under-performance 193; Handling
disciplinary interviews 195; Dismissing people 195;
Ten steps to manage under-performers 196
34. How to run and participate in effective meetings 197
Down with meetings 197; What’s wrong with
meetings? 198; What’s right with meetings? 198; Do’s
and don’ts of meetings 199; Chairing meetings 200;
Members 201

Power – good or bad? 253; Sources of power 255; Using
power 255
43. How to make effective presentations 257
Overcoming nervousness 257; Preparation 258;
Delivery 262; Using PowerPoint 263;
Conclusion 265
44. How to prioritize 266
45. How to solve problems 268
Problems and opportunities 268; Improving your
skills 268; Problem-solving techniques 270
46. How to provide feedback 271
Aim of feedback 271; Giving feedback 272
47. How to be an effective team leader 274
The significance of teams 275; Self-managing teams 276;
Team effectiveness 277; Ten things to do to achieve good
teamwork 278; Team performance reviews 279; Checklist
for analysing team performance 280; Team working at
Dutton Engineering 280
Contents
x
48. How to think clearly 282
Developing a proposition 283; Testing propositions 283;
Fallacious and misleading arguments 284
49. How things go wrong and how to put them right 291
Studies of incompetence 292; Why things go wrong – a
summary 296; What can you do about it? 296; Trouble-
shooting 298; Planning the campaign 299; Diagnosis 300;
Trouble-shooting checklist 300; Cure 301; Using
management consultants to trouble shoot 302
50. How to write reports 304

Preface
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is for those who want to develop their managerial skills
and competences. It covers all the key skills that managers use, and
refers to the main aspects of managing people, activities and them-
selves with which they need to be familiar.
You can dip into this book at any point – each chapter is self-
contained. But it would be useful to read Chapter 1 first. This
defines the overall concept of management and the areas in which
managers need to be competent, thus providing a framework for
the succeeding chapters. These cover the following areas:
■ Managing people: appraising, coaching, communicating, conflict
management, delegating, developing people, handling difficult
people and negative behaviour, getting job engagement, leader-
ship, managing under-performers, managing your boss, moti-
vating people, objective setting, performance management,
power and politics, providing feedback, selection interviewing
and team management.
■ Managing activities and processes: change management, control-
ling, co-ordinating, crisis management, how things go wrong
xv
and how to put them right, meetings, organizing, planning,
prioritizing, project management and strategic management.
■ Managing and developing yourself (enhancing personal skills):
achieving results, assertiveness, clear thinking, communicating,
being creative, being decisive, developing emotional intelli-
gence, effective speaking, getting on, how to be interviewed,
influencing, managing stress, negotiating, problem-solving and
decision-making, report writing, self-development, and time
management.

also necessary to develop an understanding of how they are best
applied and modified to meet the particular demands of the situa-
tion in which you find yourself. This is not a prescriptive book –
‘Do this and all will be well’ – rather, its aim is to present
approaches which have been proved to be generally effective. But
they have to be adapted to suit your own style of managing and the
circumstances where their application is required.
To become a better manager it is necessary to develop each of the
50 areas of skills and knowledge covered by this handbook. But
you will be better prepared to do this if you have a general under-
standing of the process of management. This will provide a frame-
work into which you can fit the various approaches and techniques
described in each chapter. The aim of this introduction is to provide
such a framework under the following headings:
■ What management is about.
■ The aims of management.
■ The processes of management.
■ Managerial roles.
■ The fragmentary nature of managerial work.
■ What managers actually do.
■ What managers can do about it.
■ Managerial qualities.
■ Managerial effectiveness.
■ Developing managerial effectiveness.
WHAT MANAGEMENT IS ABOUT
Essentially, management is about deciding what to do and then
getting it done through people. This definition emphasizes that
people are the most important resource available to managers. It is
through this resource that all other resources – knowledge, finance,
materials, plant, equipment, etc – will be managed.

the organization and to individual managers. It is very much
concerned with adding value to these resources, and this added
value depends on the expertise and commitment of the people who
are responsible for managing the business.
PURPOSE OF MANAGEMENT AND
LEADERSHIP
The Management Standards Centre states that the key purpose of
management and leadership is to ‘provide direction, facilitate
change and achieve results through the efficient, creative and
responsible use of resources’. These purposes are analysed as
follows:
How to be a Better Manager
3
Providing direction
■ Develop a vision for the future.
■ Gain commitment and provide leadership.
■ Provide governance – comply with values, ethical and legal
frameworks and manage risks in line with shared goals.
Facilitating change
■ Lead innovations.
■ Manage change.
Achieving results
■ Lead the business to achieve goals and objectives.
■ Lead operations to achieve specific results.
■ Lead projects to achieve specified results.
Meeting customer needs
■ Promote products and/or services to customers.
■ Obtain contracts to supply products and/or services.
■ Deliver products and/or services to customers.
■ Solve problems for customers.

team.
4. Controlling – measuring and monitoring the progress of work in
relation to the plan and taking corrective action when required.
But this classical view has been challenged by the empiricists, such
as Rosemary Stewart (1967) and Henry Mintzberg (1973), who
studied how managers actually spend their time. They observed
that the work of managers is fragmented, varied and subjected to
continual adjustment. It is governed to a large degree by events
over which managers have little control and by a dynamic network
of interrelationships with other people. Managers attempt to
control their environment but sometimes it controls them. They
may consciously or unconsciously seek to plan, organize, direct
and control, but their days almost inevitably become a jumbled
sequence of events.
To the empiricists, management is a process involving a mix
of rational, logical, problem-solving, decision-making activities,
and intuitive, judgemental activities. It is therefore both science
and art.
How to be a Better Manager
5
Managers carry out their work on a day-to-day basis in condi-
tions of variety, turbulence and unpredictability. A single word to
describe all these features would be chaos. Tom Peters (1988), how-
ever, has suggested that it is possible for managers to thrive on
chaos.
Managers also have to be specialists in ambiguity, with the ability
to cope with conflicting and unclear requirements, as Rosabeth
Moss Kanter (1984) has demonstrated.
MANAGERIAL ROLES
During the course of a typical day a chief executive may well meet

management and leadership.
Management is concerned with achieving results by effectively
obtaining, deploying, utilizing and controlling all the resources
required, namely people, money, information, facilities, plant and
equipment.
Leadership focuses on the most important resource, people. It is the
process of developing and communicating a vision for the future, moti-
vating people and gaining their commitment and engagement.
The distinction is important. Management is mainly about the
provision, deployment, utilization and control of resources. But
where people are involved – and they almost always are - it is
impossible to deliver results without providing effective leader-
ship. It is not enough to be a good manager of resources, you also
have to be a good leader of people.
THE FRAGMENTARY NATURE OF MANAGERIAL
WORK
Because of the open-ended nature of their work, managers feel
compelled to perform a great variety of tasks at an unrelenting
pace. Research into how managers spend their time confirms that
their activities are characterized by fragmentation, brevity and
variety. This arises for the following six reasons:
1. Managers are largely concerned with dealing with people –
their staff and their internal and external customers. But
people’s behaviour is often unpredictable; their demands and
responses are conditioned by the constantly changing circum-
stances in which they exist, the pressures to which they have to
respond and their individual wants and needs. Conflicts arise
and have to be dealt with on the spot.
2. Managers are not always in a position to control the events that
affect their work. Sudden demands are imposed upon them

managerial work:
Reaction and non-reflection
Much of what managers do is, of necessity, an unreflecting
response to circumstances. Managers are usually not so much slow
and methodical decision-makers as doers who have to react rapidly
to problems as they arise and think on their feet. Much time is spent
in day-to-day trouble-shooting.
How to be an Even Better Manager
8