The work of Mintzberg (1973) and others has inspired a substantial literature identifying the work activities conducted by managers. This article contributes to that literature by examining which of their many activities managers find enjoyable and which they find unpleasant. The data base included 1,174 subjects from Australia and the US, most of whom were working managers. Findings indicated that managers most enjoyed the activities associated with leading employees, networking and innovating. Women and men in Australia and the US showed highly similar rank‐orderings of preferred managerial activities, though some small gender and country differences in average ratings were observed.
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