Biblio
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(2003). The Geek Syndrome.
Flattened workplace hierarchies are more comfortable for those who find it hard to read social cues. A WYSIWYG world, where respect and rewards are based strictly on merit, is an Asperger's dream.
(2015). The Growing Degradation of Work and Life, and What We Might Do to End It.
Abstract
"Corporations have used all of the control mechanisms at hand, techniques that have become both more sophisticated and punishing, to get fewer workers to convert ever more of their labor power into actual effort. This is true not just for manufacturing concerns like auto companies, which pioneered modern Taylorism, but by all private businesses (and public sector establishments such as colleges and the Social Security Administration), including especially today those in the service sector."
(1994). The Garden in the Machine.
(1985). The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense.
"It ought to be true that the support structure and the job success would come of themselves, automatically, as a result of your being a good person who does your work properly. I am sorry to have to tell you that the game is not played that way. People who assume it is will be trampled upon and will usually never know what hit them." (p. 244)
(2000). The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense at Work.
"The majority of illnesses and disorders that develop in the workplace have emotional stress and their direct or indirect cause." (p. 125)
(1978). Getting organized : the easy way to put your life in order.
"In other words, order is not an end in itself. Order is whatever helps you to function effectively—nothing more and nothing less. You set the rules and the goals, however special, idiosyncratic, or individualistic they may be." (p. 23)
(1993). Getting Past No.
"We all know people who take a job or enter a personal relationship, become frustrated with their boss or partner, and then leave without giving it a chance. Often they misinterpret the other person's behavior and do not try to work it out. A pattern of breaking off relationships means you never get anywhere because you are always starting over." (p. 36)
(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)
(1998). The Gift of Fear : Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence.
"The loss of a job can be as traumatic as the loss of a loved one, but few fired employees receive a lot of condolence or support." (p. 177)
(1999). The Gift of Wounding: Finding Hope and Heart in Challenging Circumstances.
"Balance is the key to truth rather than one rigid position or judgement. Balance can be experienced only after examining many different sides of an issue, and measuring their worth and integrity. We begin that process by recognizing from the outset that there are other sides and perceptions and that we want to learn from these, as well as from our own knowledge and experience." (p. 48)
(1973). The Great Jackass Fallacy.
"People will avoid, evade, escape, deny, and reject both the jackass assumption and the military style hierarchy, for few people can tolerate being a jackass in a psychological prison without doing something about it." (p. 13)
"...then the managerial task becomes one of alliance with the ego ideals of employees one supervises rather than fighting the individuals or manipulating them in the psychological prison that is the contemporary hierarchical environment." (p. 105)
(1989). Group Psychodynamics: New Paradigms and New Perspectives.
"Sifneos coined the term alexithymia or 'the absence of words for feelings'. He described alexithymic patients as having an impoverishment of fantasy life, a constriction of emotional functioning, and a tendency to describe endless situational details or symptoms." (p. 171)
(1988). Growing a business.
"Like canny investors, employees know exactly how much of themselves they will invest in a given work situation before they feel taken for granted or ripped off. For pragmatic reasons of productivity and employee satisfaction, if for no other reason, I advise employee ownership. Nevertheless, it is not a panacea. lf it is instituted as a 'technique,' it has no meaning and can backfire. There is no point in sharing equity if it does not stem from your sense of fairness. If you are not a fair person, don't fake it. Employees resent hypocrisy more than greed.
Fairness is something people feel. You cannot fool workers with fancy titles, by calling people 'associates' or holding pep rallies, or by convoluted profit-sharing schemes that vest on the seventieth birthday. So often in business literature the question comes up as to what is the best way to treat your employees. It is a question with no meaning. The question you should always ask is what do you think of your employees. What you think about the people you work with will decide how you treat them, and will determine how you structure your company." (p. 114)
Fairness is something people feel. You cannot fool workers with fancy titles, by calling people 'associates' or holding pep rallies, or by convoluted profit-sharing schemes that vest on the seventieth birthday. So often in business literature the question comes up as to what is the best way to treat your employees. It is a question with no meaning. The question you should always ask is what do you think of your employees. What you think about the people you work with will decide how you treat them, and will determine how you structure your company." (p. 114)
(2007). The Gulag Archipelago Abridged: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (P.S.).
"So, what is the answer? How can you stand your ground when you are sensitive to pain, when people you love are still alive, when you are unprepared?
What do you need to make you stronger than the interrogator and the whole trap?
From the moment you go to prison you must put your cozy past firmly behind you. At the very threshold, you must say to yourself: 'My life is over, a little early to be sure, but there's nothing to be done about it. I shall never return to freedom. I am condemned to die—now or a little later. But later on, in truth, it will be even harder, and so the sooner the better. I no longer have any property whatsoever. For me those I love have died, and for them I have died. From today on, my body is useless and alien to me. Only my spirit and my conscience remain precious and important to me.'
Confronted by such a prisoner, the interrogation will tremble.
Only the man who has renounced everything can win that victory."
Not to make light of Solzhenitsyn's very real and horrifying account, this passage reminded me of the following quote from Pritchett1: "Visionaries have to come to work willing to be fired. That's the price you must pay. You've got to be willing to take chances, to speak up, to rattle cages, to challenge the basic premises, to suggest a better way of doing things."
What do you need to make you stronger than the interrogator and the whole trap?
From the moment you go to prison you must put your cozy past firmly behind you. At the very threshold, you must say to yourself: 'My life is over, a little early to be sure, but there's nothing to be done about it. I shall never return to freedom. I am condemned to die—now or a little later. But later on, in truth, it will be even harder, and so the sooner the better. I no longer have any property whatsoever. For me those I love have died, and for them I have died. From today on, my body is useless and alien to me. Only my spirit and my conscience remain precious and important to me.'
Confronted by such a prisoner, the interrogation will tremble.
Only the man who has renounced everything can win that victory."
Not to make light of Solzhenitsyn's very real and horrifying account, this passage reminded me of the following quote from Pritchett1: "Visionaries have to come to work willing to be fired. That's the price you must pay. You've got to be willing to take chances, to speak up, to rattle cages, to challenge the basic premises, to suggest a better way of doing things."
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