Harvard Business Review November-December 1974

Management
time:
An analogy that
Who's got underscores the value
of assigning, delegating,
the monkey? and controlling.

William Oncken, Jr. and

Donald L. Wass

In any organization, Mr. Oncken is chairman Why is it that managers are typically running out
the manager's of the board, The William of time while their subordinates are typically run-
bosses, peers, and ning out of work? In this article, we shall explore
subordinates - in Oncken Company of
return for their Texas, Inc., a. the meaning of management time as it relates to
active support - management consulting the interaction between the manager and his
impose firm. Mr. Wass is boss, his own peers, and his subordinates.
some requirements, president of this
just as one imposes company. Specifically, we shall deal with three different
upon them some of kinds of management time:
'
his own where they
are drawing upon Boss imposed time - to accomplish those
his support. These activities which the boss requires and which
demands on him the manager cannot disregard without direct
constitute so much and swift penalty.
of the manager's
time that successful System imposed time – to accommodate
leadership hinges those requests to the manager for active
on his ability to support from his peers. This assistance must
control this also be provided lest there be penalties,
"monkey-on-the-- though not always direct or swift.
back" input
effectively. Self imposed time - to do those things which
the manager originates or agrees to do
himself. A certain portion of this kind of time,
however, will be taken by his subordinates
and is called “subordinate imposed time”. The
remaining portion will be his own and is called
“discretionary time”. Self-imposed time is not
subject to penalty since neither the boss nor
the system can discipline the manager for not
doing what they did not know he had intended
to do in the first place.

The management of time necessitates that

the manager get control over the timing and
content of what he does. Since what the boss
and the system impose on him are backed up
by penalty, he cannot tamper with those
requirements. Thus his self-imposed time
becomes his major area of concern.
The manager’s strategy is therefore to increase the “discretionary"
component of his self-imposed time by minimizing or doing away
with the "subordinate" component. He will then use the added incre-
ment to get better control over his boss-imposed and system-
imposed activities. Most managers spend much more subordinate-
imposed time than they even faintly realize. Hence we shall use a
monkey-on-the-back analogy to examine how subordinate-imposed
time comes into being and what the manager can do
about it.

Where is the monkey?

Let us imagine that a manager is walking down the hall

and that he notices one of his subordinates, Mr. A, coming
up the hallway. When they are abreast of one another, Mr.
A greets the manager with "Good morning. By the way,
we've got a problem. You see ...”. As Mr. A continues, the
manager recognizes in this problem the same
two characteristics common to all the problems
his subordinates gratuitously bring to his
attention. Namely, the manager knows (a)
enough to get involved, but (b) not enough to
make the on-the-spot decision expected of him.
Eventually, the manager says, "So glad you
brought this up. I'm in a rush right now.
Meanwhile, let me think about it and I'll let you
know." Then he and Mr. A part company.
Let us analyze what has just happened. Before
the two of them met, on whose back was the
"monkey"? The subordinate's. After they
parted, on whose back was it? The manager’s.
Subordinate-imposed time begins the moment
a monkey successfully executes a leap from
the back of a subordinate to the back of his
superior and does not end until the monkey is
returned to its proper owner for care and
feeding.

In accepting the monkey, the manager has

voluntarily assumed a position subordinate to
his subordinate. That is, he has allowed Mr. A
to make him his subordinate by doing two
things a subordinate is generally expected to
do for his boss - the manager has accepted a
responsibility from his subordinate, and the
manager has promised him a progress
report.
The subordinate, to make sure the manager Why does it all happen? Because in each
does not miss this point, will later stick his instance the manager and the subordinate
head in the manager's office and cheerily assume at the outset, wittingly or unwittingly,
query, "How's it coming?" (This is called that the matter under consideration is a joint
"supervision.") problem. The monkey in each case begins its
career astride both their backs. All it has to do
Or let us imagine again, in concluding a now is move the wrong leg, and presto - the
working conference with another subordinate, subordinate deftly disappears. The manager
Mr. B, the manager's parting words are, "Fine, is thus left with another acquisition to his
Send me a memo on that. menagerie. Of course, monkeys can be
trained not to move the wrong leg. But it is
Let us analyze this one. The monkey is now easier to prevent them from straddling backs
on the subordinate's back because the next in the first place.
move is his, but it is poised for a leap. Watch
that monkey. Mr. B dutifully writes the Who is working for whom?
requested memo and drops it in his out
basket. Shortly thereafter, the manager plucks To make what follows more credible, let us
it from his in basket and reads it. Whose move suppose that these same four subordinates are
is it now? The manager's. If he does not make so thoughtful and considerate of the manager's
that move soon, he will get a follow-up memo time that they are at pains to allow no more than
from the subordinate (this is another form of three monkeys to leap from each of their backs
supervision). The longer the manager delays, to his in any one day. In a five-day week, the
manager will have picked up 60 screaming
the more frustrated the subordinate will monkeys - far too many to do anything about
become (he’ll be "spinning his wheels") and individually. So he spends the subordinate-
the more guilty the manager will feel (his imposed time juggling his “priorities."
backlog of subordinate-imposed time will be
mounting). Late Friday afternoon the manager is in his
Or suppose once again that at a meeting with office with the door closed for privacy in order
to contemplate the situation, while his
a third subordinate, Mr. C, the manager agrees
subordinates are waiting outside to get a last
to provide all the necessary backing for a chance before the weekend to remind him that
public relations proposal he has just asked Mr. he will have to "fish or cut bait." Imagine what
C to develop. The manager's parting words to they are saying to each other about the
him are, "Just let me know how I can help.” manager as they wait: "What a bottleneck.
He just can’t make up his mind. How anyone
Now let us analyze this. Here the monkey is ever got that high up in our company without
initially on the subordinate's back. But for how being able to make a decision we'll never-
long? Mr. C realizes that he cannot let the know."
manager “know" until his proposal has the
manager's approval And from experience, he Worst of all, the reason the manager cannot
also realizes that his proposal will likely be make any of these “next moves” is that his
sitting in the manager's briefcase for weeks time is almost entirely eaten up in meeting his
waiting for him to eventually get to it. Who's own boss-imposed and system-imposed
really got the monkey? Who will be checking requirements. To get control of these, he
up on whom? Wheel spinning and needs discretionary time that is in turn denied
bottlenecking are on their way again. him when he is preoccupied with all these
monkeys. The manager is caught in a vicious
A fourth subordinate, Mr. D, has just been circle.
transferred from another part of the company
in order to launch and eventually manage a
newly created business venture. The manager But time is a-wasting (an understatement). The
has told him that they should get together manager calls his secretary on the intercom
soon to hammer out a set of objectives for his and instructs her to tell his subordinates that he
new job, and that “I will draw up an initial draft will be unavailable to see them until Monday
for discussion with you.” morning. At 7:00 p.m., he drives home,
intending with firm resolve to return to the office
Let us analyze this one, too. The subordinate tomorrow to get caught up over the weekend.
has the new job (by formal assignment) and He returns bright and early the next day only to
the full responsibility (by formal delegation), see, on the nearest green of the golf course
but the manager has the next move. Until he across from his office window, a foursome. Guess
makes it, he will have the monkey and the who?
subordinate will be immobilized.
That does it. He now knows who is really working
for whom. Moreover, he now sees that if he
actually accomplishes during this weekend what
he came to accomplish, his subordinates' morale
will go up so sharply that they will each raise the
limit on the number of monkeys they will let jump
from their backs to his. In short, he now sees,
with the clarity of a revelation on a mountaintop,
that the more he gets caught up, the more he will
fall behind.

He leaves the office with the speed of a man

running away from a plague. His plan? To get
caught up on something else he hasn't had time
for in years: a weekend with his family. (This is
one of the many varieties of discretionary time.)

Sunday night he enjoys ten hours of sweet, un-

troubled slumber, because he has clear-cut
plans for Monday. He is going to get rid of his
subordinate imposed time. In exchange, he will
get an equal amount of discretionary time, part
or which he will spend with his subordinates to
see that they learn the difficult but rewarding
managerial art called “The Care and Feeding of
Monkeys."

The manager will also have plenty of

discretionary time left over for getting control of
the timing and content not only of his boss-
imposed time but of his system-imposed time as
well. All of this may take months, but compared
with the way things have been, the rewards will
be enormous. His ultimate objective is to
manage his management time.

Getting rid of the monkeys

The manager returns to the office Monday
morning just late enough to permit his four
subordinates to collect in his outer office waiting
to see him about their monkeys. He calls them
in, one by one. The purpose of each interview is
to take a monkey, place it on the desk between
them, and figure out together how the next
move might conceivably be the subordinate’s.
For certain monkeys, this will take some doing.
The subordinate's next move may be so elusive
that the manager may decide - just for now -
merely to let the monkey sleep on the
subordinate's back overnight and have him
return with it at an appointed time the next
morning to continue the joint quest for a more
substantive move by the subordinate.
(Monkeys sleep just as soundly overnight on
subordinates' backs as on superiors’.)
As each subordinate leaves the office, the Namely, a manager can develop initiative in
manager is rewarded by the sight of a monkey his subordinates; he must see to it that they
leaving his office on the subordinate's back. have the initiative. Once he takes it back, they
For the next 24 hours, the subordinate will not will no longer have it and he can kiss his
be waiting for the manager; instead, the discretionary time good-bye. It will all revert to
manager will be waiting for the subordinate. subordinate-imposed time.
Later, as if to remind himself that there is no Nor can both manager and subordinate
law against his engaging in a constructive effectively have the same initiative at the
exercise in the interim, the manager strolls by same time. The opener, “Boss, we've got a
the subordinate’s office, sticks his head in the problem” implies this duality and represents,
door, and cheerily asks, “How's it coming?" as noted earlier, a monkey astride two backs,
(The time consumed in doing this is which is a very bad way to start a monkey on
discretionary for the manager and boss- its career. Let us, therefore, take a few
imposed for the subordinate.) . moments to examine what we prefer to call
“The Anatomy of Managerial Initiative."
When the subordinate (with the monkey on his
back) and the manager meet at the appointed There are five degrees of initiative that the
hour the next day, the manager explains the manager can exercise in relation to the boss
ground rules in regards to this effect: and to the system: (1) wait until told (lowest
initiative; (2) ask what to do; (3) recommend,
“At no time while I am helping you with this or then take resulting action; (4) act, but advise
any other problem will your problem become at once; and (5) act on own, then routinely
my problem. The instant your problem report (highest initiative).
becomes mine, you will no longer have a
problem. I cannot help a man who hasn't got a Clearly, the manager should be professional
problem. enough not to indulge himself in initiatives 1
and 2 in relation either to the boss or to the
“When this meeting is over, the problem will
system. A manager who uses initiative 1 has
leave this office exactly the way it came in - on
no control over either the timing or content of
your back. You may ask my help at any
his boss-imposed or system-imposed time.
appointed time, and we will make a joint
He thereby forfeits any right to complain
determination of what the next move will be
about what he is told to do or when he is told
and which of us will make it.
to do it. The manager who uses initiative 2
has control over the timing but not over the
"In those rare instances where the next move
content. Initiatives 3, 4, and 5 leave the
turns out to be mine; you and I will determine it
manager in control of both, with the greatest
together. I will not make any move alone”.
control being at level 5.
.
The managers job, in relation to his
The manager follows this same line of thought
subordinates’ initiatives, is twofold; first, to
with each subordinate until at about 11:00 a.m.
outlaw the use of initiatives 1 and 2, thus
he realizes that he has no need to shut his
giving his subordinates no choice but to learn
door. His monkeys are gone. They will return
and master "Completed Staff Work"; then, to
-but by appointment only. His appointment
see that for each problem leaving his office
calendar will assure this.
there is an agreed-upon level of initiative
assigned to it, in addition to the agreed-upon
Transferring the initiative time and place of the next manager-
subordinate conference. The latter should be
What we have been driving at in this monkey- duly noted on the manager’s appointment
on-the-back analogy is to transfer initiative from calendar.
manager to subordinate and keep it there. We
have tried to highlight a truism as obvious as it
is subtle.
Care & feeding of monkeys

In order to further clarify our analogy between the monkey-on-the-back and the well-known
processes of assigning and controlling, we shall refer briefly to the manager’s appointment
schedule, which calls for five hard and fast rules governing the "Care and Feeding of Monkeys”

Rule 1
Monkeys should be fed or shot. Otherwise, they will starve to death and the manager will waste
valuable time on postmortems or attempted resurrections.

Rule 2
The monkey population should be kept below the maximum number the manager has time
to feed. His subordinates will find time to work as many monkeys as he finds time to feed, but
no more. It shouldn't take more than 5 to I5 minutes to feed a properly prepared monkey.

Rule 3
Monkeys should be fed by appointment only. The manager should not have to be hunting down
starving monkeys and feeding them on a catch-as-catch-can basis.

Rule 4
Monkeys should be fed face to face or by telephone, but never by mail (If by mail, the next move
will be the managers - remember?) Documentation may add to the feeding process, but it
cannot take the place of feeding.

Rule 5
Every monkey should have an assigned “next feeding time” and “degree of initiative”. These may
be revised at any time by mutual consent, but never allowed to become vague or indefinite.
Otherwise, the monkey will either starve to death or wind up on the manager’s back.
 Concluding note

"Get control over the timing and content of what you do” is appropriate advice for
managing management time. The first order of business is for the manager to enlarge his
discretionary time by eliminating subordinate-imposed time. The second is for him to use
a portion of his new-found discretionary time to see to it that each of his subordinates
possesses the initiative without which he cannot exercise initiative, and then to see to it
that this initiative is in fact taken. The third is for him to use another portion of his
increased discretionary time to get and keep control of the timing and content of both
boss-imposed and system-imposed time.

The result of all this is that the manager will increase his leverage, which will in turn
enable him to multiply, without theoretical limit, the value of each hour that he spends
in managing management time.