Biblio
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(2002). The Anxious Organization: Why Smart Companies Do Dumb Things.
"In organizations where anxiety is often expressed as blame, to avoid being blamed becomes a constant preoccupation. People attempt to preempt blame by sending each other memos recapitulating who did what and when. Their attention shifts from avoiding a potential problem to avoid being blamed for it." (p. 145)
(1990). Shame & Guilt: Masters of Disguise.
"Children who grow up in shaming environments quickly learn that one must blame or be blamed. There are very few compromises in shaming environments. It often feels like we are playing 'emotional hot potato' in our adult relationships...Passing the blame to someone else is our attempt to protect an already injured self from more wounds." (p. 82)
(2005). International management: cross-cultural dimensions.
"Middle management often feels threatened by lower level autonomy." (p. 132)
(1994). Self-Esteem : A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing and Improving.
"Within a given profession or social level, our culture next awards worth based on accomplishments. Getting a raise, a degree, a promotion, or winning in a competition are worth a lot. Acquiring the right house, car, furnishings, boat, or college education for your kids—all those accomplishments are worth a lot, too. If you get fired or laid off, lose your home, or in any other way slip down the accomplishment ladder, you are in deep trouble. You lose all your counters and become socially worthless.
Buying into these cultural concepts of worth can be deadly. For example, John was a bank examiner who equated his worth with his accomplishments at work. When he was late in meeting an important deadline, he felt worthless. When he felt worthless, he got depressed. When he got depressed, he worked slower and missed more deadlines. He felt more worthless, got more depressed, worked less diligently, and so on in a deadly downward spiral." (p. 88)
Buying into these cultural concepts of worth can be deadly. For example, John was a bank examiner who equated his worth with his accomplishments at work. When he was late in meeting an important deadline, he felt worthless. When he felt worthless, he got depressed. When he got depressed, he worked slower and missed more deadlines. He felt more worthless, got more depressed, worked less diligently, and so on in a deadly downward spiral." (p. 88)
(1967). The Professional Manager.
"Often the provision of opportunities for intrinsic rewards becomes a matter of removing restraints. Progress is rarely fast because people who have become accustomed to control through extrinsic rewards must learn new attitudes and habits before they can feel secure in accepting opportunities for intrinsic rewards at work. If there is not a fair degree of mutual trust, and some positive support, the whole idea may appear highly risky to them." (p. 14)
(2000). Life Strategies : Doing What Works, Doing What Matters.
"Remember, I said earlier the number-one need in all people is acceptance. The number-one fear in all people is rejection." (p. 100)
(2001). Power talk: using language to build authority and influence.
"Surprisingly, authority can also he established by humor. The speaker who can make light of a topic demonstrates comfort in the circumstances and familiarity with the issues. The humor of the stand-up comic or the joke-of-the-week belong on late-night TV. But researchers like Robert R. Provine, professor of neurobiology and psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who study laughter and humor in common conversation, see laughter as 'social glue,' rather than a response to something inherently funny. Laughter binds speaker and listener. Most of the time, no one is telling jokes. But within the course of a conversation, tension is reduced and connections are made with humor. This is why when the boss laughs, everybody laughs."
(1985). Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Enjoy Helping Others Excel.
"Management by Encouragement
Scudder N. Parker once said, 'People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be—not what you nag them to be.' It is a very basic human need to have someone encourage us and spur us on to higher things." (p. 89)
Scudder N. Parker once said, 'People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be—not what you nag them to be.' It is a very basic human need to have someone encourage us and spur us on to higher things." (p. 89)
(2001). Driving Digital: Microsoft and Its Customers Speak About Thriving in the E-Business Era.
"If you think about the traditional corporate structure, what determines who's going to be a part of the debate? Simple: the people who are allowed in the meeting room." (p. 78)
"Two issues: Can your senior executive group adjust to a culture in which folks at the most junior levels of the organization have access to all but the most highly sensitive information about the company? And can they adjust to a culture in which they will receive e-mails from those same junior level folks? Will they be open and responsive to those e-mails? Are the managers at levels between the junior sender and senior executive who receives the e-mail going to revolt at not being consulted before the message gets sent, probably not even cc'ed?" (p. 84)
"Two issues: Can your senior executive group adjust to a culture in which folks at the most junior levels of the organization have access to all but the most highly sensitive information about the company? And can they adjust to a culture in which they will receive e-mails from those same junior level folks? Will they be open and responsive to those e-mails? Are the managers at levels between the junior sender and senior executive who receives the e-mail going to revolt at not being consulted before the message gets sent, probably not even cc'ed?" (p. 84)
(1997). Work for a Living and Still Be Free to Live.
"...humiliations from within and without were the chief complaints. Above all [Terkel] noted, 'To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.'" (p. 8)
(2001). Never Wrestle with a Pig: and ninety other ideas to build your business and career.
"I've always taken some comfort in the belief that the stronger an idea is, the harder it is to steal.
That's because the best ideas, by definition, are so original and unique that they cannot survive without their creator. He or she is the only one who understands the concept fully, who can execute it up to its full potential, and who has a personal stake in keeping the concept going despite all the obstacles." (p. 92)
That's because the best ideas, by definition, are so original and unique that they cannot survive without their creator. He or she is the only one who understands the concept fully, who can execute it up to its full potential, and who has a personal stake in keeping the concept going despite all the obstacles." (p. 92)
(1991). Statistics for Business & Economics.
(1995). Dynamics of software development.
"Scapegoatism is a maladaptive, defensive reaction in which failure and other evils are magically warded off by finding someone to blame. The team will find a scapegoat instinctively as a way of preserving local functionality in spite of a deteriorating general situation." (p. 138)
(2000). Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success.
"Why are people so hesitant to change? I believe that some, like Audubon, believe they are supposed to pursue a particular course of action for some reason—even though it doesn't suit their gifts and talents. And when they are not working in areas of strength, they do poorly." (p. 91)
(1981). Not Working: an Oral History of the Unemployed.
"There are people in this book whose living rooms have turned into prisons without bars, and others who gleefully feel they have escaped jobs that were jails. There are people who have been broken by years of idleness, and others who have discovered emotional resources that allow them to endure—even, in a way, to triumph. In short, the men and women in this book vary enormously. Yet amid the variety there is a common feeling, stated with bitter clarity at times, only half spoken at others, and occasionally not yet formed as a thought but rather a troubled notion whispering behind the words. It is a crime that has been committed." (p. 1)
(2014). Pouring Salt on the Wound: Psychologists Identify the Effects of 'Institutional Betrayal'.
Huffington Post. Abstract
"Institutional betrayal can involve acts of both omission and commission. Retaliation is the most obvious act of commission. A person complains and suddenly the organization turns hostile."
(1999). If work makes people with mental illness sick, what do unemployment, poverty, and social isolation cause?.
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 23(2), Abstract
"In fact, the change from the role of patient or client to a new role as worker in society is fragile at best. The journey to employment requires a more sensitive approach from all involved individuals (the worker, the professionals, family, and friends) to the extent that everyone can successfully leverage the potential and ability of the worker with an appreciation of the limitations that are part of the illness."
(1995). Building Community: The Human Side of Work.
"The best organizations consider the unique characteristics of each person: the needs of some for stability and others for variety; the needs of some for latitude and others for structure; the dependable delivery of some and the creative ideas of others; the open-mindedness of some and the rigid allegiances of others. What is consistent is that all people are treated with respect and dignity."
(1974). Anger.
"Some people unfortunately sacrifice their health and happiness on the altar of justice. Justice is an elusive ideal. If a situation bothers you, the best thing to do is to make the changes necessary for your own comfort. Insisting that blame be placed where it belongs and that the person at fault must be the one to change may only lead to further unhappiness." (p. 124)
(1998). Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top.
"Today, the numbers the phone company cares about are not on the clock but in the sales quotas. Salespeople can spend their working lives any way they care to, just so long as they hit their sales marks." (p. 295)
(1990). Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt.
"You'll find politics in every office, and I'm including a two-person hot-dog stand in my definition of an office. People are always jockeying for position, and the kinds of people I'm talking about are the only three kinds I'm certain are out there: sharks, shark-bait, and shark-proof. Which one are you?" (p. 49)
(1989). Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.
"Genius may not always be associated with messiness, but the following words are very much to the point:
Picture to yourself the darkest, most disorderly place imaginable...blotches of moisture covered the ceiling; an oldish grand piano, on which the dust disputed the place with various pieces of engraved and manuscript music; under the piano (I do not exaggerate) an unemptied chamber pot; beside it a small walnut table accustomed to the frequent overturning of the secretary placed on it; a quantity of pens encrusted with ink, compared with which the proverbial tavern pens would shine; then more music. The chairs, mostly cane—seated, were covered with plates bearing the remains of last night's supper, and with wearing apparel, etc.That passage is found in The Lives of the Great Composers, by Harold C. Schonberg. It is Baron de Tremont's description of Beethoven's 'Office." (p. 141)
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