Biblio
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(1983). Previews & Premises: an interview with the author of Future Shock and The Third Wave.
"In Third Wave industries, the talk is all about employee participation in decision-making; about job enlargement and enrichment, instead of fractionalization; about flex-time instead of rigid hours; about cafeteria-style fringe benefits which give employees a choice, rather than a fait accompli; about how to encourage creativity rather than blind obedience." (p. 31)
(1995). Moral Imagination.
"It is this imagination of what it is like to be humiliated, oppressed, or treated cruelly that can provide the bridge between us and our moral enemies. While we know when we are being treated cruelly or have been humiliated, it is not always so easy to recognize our cruelty to others, nor how such cruelty has affected their lives." (p. 257)
(1995). Do What You Are.
"Pressure to be what you aren't can cause lifelong confusion. If you are obliged to fit into a certain group mentality that really doesn't suit you (this could be a family dynamic, a school or community setting, or a professional environment), you may end up denying your true nature and not enjoying your required role. If you spend twenty years at a job you don't enjoy, you may end up not only out of touch with your natural interests but—even worse—with a distorted view of your own competence." (p. 90)
(1998). A New Attitude: Achieve Personal and Professional Success by Keeping a Positive Mental Outlook.
A New Attitude.
"Research shows that people in the lower echelons of their companies are more susceptible to stress and its negative effects than those at the top. Employees on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder often have high-demand jobs and little control." (p. 99)
(2007). Do You Exist?.
Computerworld.
"You can no longer expect your professional standing to progress if you dont have an easily accessible, broadly informative presence on the Web. And while that virtual existence is essential in itself, it's not enough. You have to contribute something..."
(2004). The organization of information.
(1967). The Principles of Scientific Management.
"The knowledge obtained from accurate time study, for example, is a powerful implement, and can be used, in one case to promote harmony between workmen and the management, by gradually educating, training, and leading the workmen into new and better methods of doing work, or, in the other case, it may be used more or less as a club to drive the workmen into doing a larger day's work for approximately the same pay that they had received in the past." (p. 134)
(1989). Anger: the misunderstood emotion.
"The anger that fuels revolt does not arise, therefore, from objective conditions of deprivation or misery. As long as people regard those conditions as natural and inevitable, as God's Law or man`s way, they do not feel angry about them. So sociologists speak instead of 'relative deprivation,' the subjective comparisons that people make when they compare their actual lives to what might be possible. Alexis de Toequeville observed that 'evils which are patiently endured when they seem inevitable become intolerable when once the idea of escape from them is suggested,' and the freed slave Frederick Douglass put the same idea more passionately. 'Beat and cuff your slave,' he wrote, 'keep him hungry and spiritless, and he will follow the chain of his master like a dog, but feed and clothe him well, work him moderately, surround him with physical comfort, and dreams of freedom intrude.'" (p. 261)
(2000). Digital Capital : Harnessing the Power of Business Webs.
"Corruption thrives in a culture of secrecy." (p. 182)
(2002). Creativity.
Express Exec.
"Many of the most important tasks related to shaping and fostering ideas are not a 'mandated' part of a manager's role. The experimentation and play that is so important to creativity will not occur unless managers match what they say with what they and the organization do to reward and recognize risk taking, whether or not it is successful." (p. 85)
(1999). The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits.
"The recent book Finding Time: How Corporations, Individuals, and Families Can Benefit from New Work Practices describes work stress among software engineers, thus highlighting issues important throughout many occupations. 'Knowledge workers, like senior executives, experience immense pressure to . . . put work above all else,' observes University of Michigan business professor Leslie A. Perlow, who studied a Fortune 500 company to write the book. 'Engineers believe that they must be perceived as always willing to "accommodate the demands of the work." . . .They should be willing to do whatever is asked, not just in terms of producing output but also in terms of working whatever hours are deemed necessary to get the job done.' As long as nobody's getting hurt, what's the big deal? The big deal is—somebody's getting hurt." (p. 179)
(2005). Innovation at the Speed of Laughter: 8 Secrets to World Class Idea Generation.
"Unfortunately some individuals who are full of wonderful and innovative ideas may be viewed as sullen, non-participating appendages, disconnected or, worse yet, lazy. Perhaps the real truth is that they are being asked to create ideas (already an emotional risk) in a way that is not suited for their style or comfort with focus. A drastic example of this sort of misclassification is Albert Einstein, who was labelled by many as lazy and arrogant by traditional academic standards of the time because he preferred a process of discovery and innovation that was isolated and introspective."
(1979). Power plays: How to deal like a lawyer in person-to-person confrontations and get your rights.
"Remember, an employer who won't give you your rights when you ask for them must be convinced that it is in his interest to give you your rights." (p. 105)
(2007). The paranoia switch.
One instructive example is the Office of Financial Management at the University of Washington, which reports that those who are willing to admit mistakes belong to a category of leaders who have a genuine 'work process focus,' a quality that involves recognizing and supporting the team, and an interest in how the job gets done. In contrast, those who lead by using our fears focus solely on achieving and maintaining personal influence—regardless of how this is accomplished—and characteristically such leaders are unwilling to acknowledge their mistakes." (p. 182)
(1989). Management.
"Rosabeth Kanter has argued that power can easily become institutionalized. Those whom others believe to possess power seem to find it easier to influence other people around them—and thus to garner even more genuine power. By the same token, 'powerlessness' is a difficult condition to overcome." (p. 306)
(2002). Defying the Crowd: cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity.
"Creative people are those who consciously and purposefully decide to follow their own path. They do it because they want to, not because someone makes them." (p. 237)
(2001). Nothing personal, just business: a guided journey into organizational darkness.
"Witnessing, bearing witness, and writing for others to see and hear—these are the beginning of hope for genuine change. If I cannot alter what I see, I can at least attest to the fact that it happened and is still happening." (p. xvi)
(1990). Working With Difficult People.
Phenomenal advances in technology have led to a demand for speedier production. Couple that with hiring and firing in the labor market, and stress may become overwhelming. Even patient people can appear apoplectic."
(1998). Is It Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus?: Finding the Life You Really Want.
"'I get myself up in the morning. I shave my face. I dress in my clothes. I go to my office. I do my work. I come back to my house. But I feel like I'm only doing an imitation of myself, and it's not a terrific impersonation.'"
(2000). Work Rage: Identify the Problems, Implement the Solutions.
"Ocassionally, I encounter and organization that really does practice what it preaches, or 'walks the talk'. But I can say with great certainty that the companies that really do a lot of talking and walking are few and far between. There is a lot of talking but very little walking out there in the big wide world of management.
The potential for rage in these controlling organizations is going to be higher, and for several reasons. When you have a mentoring, coaching, and collaborative management style, employees tend more toward higher productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and there is a happier workplace atmosphere. Conversely, when there is a domineering, controlling, or even bullying environment, the employees feel threatened, are less productive, feel highly stressed and are unhappy." (p. 53)
The potential for rage in these controlling organizations is going to be higher, and for several reasons. When you have a mentoring, coaching, and collaborative management style, employees tend more toward higher productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and there is a happier workplace atmosphere. Conversely, when there is a domineering, controlling, or even bullying environment, the employees feel threatened, are less productive, feel highly stressed and are unhappy." (p. 53)
(1998). The Mentor's Spirit : Life Lessons on Leadership and the Art of Encouragement.
"There is a clear link between mentoring and the unleashing of leadership power. New managers frequently experience self-doubts when needing to control their work team's outcomes. Yet early in a career nothing is more natural than wanting control over results. Mentors can help proteges notice their cultural programming: Have they learned to be excessively docile? Are they able to say no or do they get pushed around? Or are they bullies? The young, unaware that creativity needs autonomy in the sphere of expertise, may thwart their finest impulses. The desire to retain creative control over work is often a sign that one is tending toward self-actualization. Shaping outcomes, carving out privacy, or protecting independence are elementary aims of inventive sorts." (p. 122)
(1989). Getting Unstuck: Breaking Through Your Barriers to Change.
"Cooperation increases when your criticism decreases. If negative criticism worked, you would not spend so much of your time nagging, complaining, and repeating yourself. The next time you feel the urge to criticize—STOP. Instead, ask yourself: Will what I am about to say really help the other person? Will it really get me more of what I want? Is the damage it might do to my relationship in the long run worth the short-term benefit of being right or feeling superior to the person I am about to criticize?" (p. 212)
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