Daisey, M.
(2002).
21 Dog Years : Doing Time @ Amazon.com.
"When you work in an office everything becomes an abstraction. The higher you travel up the chain, the less actual work is being done, as everyone becomes responsible for overseeing those below them, who are supervising those below them, ad nauseam. In the Vedic tradtion Hindus believe that the world's firmament rests on four elephants, who in turn stand on the back of a turtle. The question always comes: 'What's holding up the turtle?' And the answer is: 'It's turtles all the way down.' Likewise in corporations—it is all turtles, straight to the bottom, and after a while it becomes impossible to feel what is happening at an experiential level. Only lunch meetings persist. Postmodern capitalism." (p. 167)
See also the second chapter titled "Turtles all the way down" in Kantrow.
Tolstoy, L.
(2002).
Anna Karenina (Signet Classics).
"They were the same memories of happiness that were now lost forever, the same sense of the meaninglessness of everything that he might still hope from life, the same consciousness of his own humiliation, and all of them followed in the same sequence of of images and feelings." (p. 423)
Miller, J.
(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)
Docherty, P., Forslin J., & Shani A. B.
(2002).
Creating Sustainable Work Systems.
If one is to believe history, intensity of work has been a central issue in management science ever since the start of industrialization and a problematic one at that, as it captures the essence of the antagonism between the person who does the work and the person who wants it done; sometimes formulated as a conflict between capital and labour, inherent in the capitalistic industrial system. This perspective does not indicate many remedies apart from a proletarian revolution—still there would be conflicting interest." (p. 15)
Syrett, M., & Lammiman J.
(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)
Whyte, D.
(2002).
Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity.
"For real conversation we need a real language. To my mind that is the language not enshrined in business books or manuals but in our great literary traditions. Keats or Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson or Mary Oliver often say more in one line about the invisible structures that make up the average workday than a whole shelf of contemporary business books."
Gilman, C.
(2002).
Doing work you love: Discovering your purpose and realizing your dreams.
"Innovation requires risk and independent-minded people with self-employed attitudes.
Asking permission is giving up your power and not accepting responsibility for the outcome.
There are organizations where it may seem as though you are not allowed to do anything without a boss's permission. It may also appear as though there are unwritten rules that say you have to do things in a particular way. But look more closely..." (p.93)
Zukav, G., & Francis L.
(2002).
The Heart of the Soul: Emotional Awareness.
"Boredom is the failure of the search for external fulfillment and refusal to look at what drove the search. Boredom is deep-rooted resistance to experiencing emotions after all efforts to distract attention from them have been ineffective. The root of boredom is resistance to painful emotions. This is the root of workaholism and perfectionism, also. In some cases the root produces boredom first, and then an escape into workaholism or perfectionism. In other cases, the workaholism or perfectionism comes first, and then boredom." (p. 193)
Gladwell, M.
(2002).
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.
"The mistake we make in thinking of character as something unified and all-encompassing is very similar to a kind of blind spot in the way we process information. Psychologists call this tendency the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE), which is a fancy way of saying that when it comes to interpreting other people's behavior, human beings invariably make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimating the importance of the situation and context. We will always reach for a 'dispositional' explanation for events, as opposed to a contextual explanation."
Caroselli, M.
(2002).
Leadership Skills For Managers.
"W. Edwards Deming, one of the founding fathers of the quality movement, asserted that employees are rightfully entitled to the 'pride of workmanship'. Essential to that pride are job security, expectations, clear communications, and the proper tools." (p. 7)
Brinkman, R., & Kirschner R.
(2002).
Dealing with people you can't stand: how to bring out the best in people at their worst.
"All of these intents, getting it done, getting it right, getting along, and getting appreciation have their time and place in our lives. Often, keeping them in balance leads to less stress and more success. To get it done, take care to get it done right. If you want it done right, avoid complications by making sure everyone is getting along. For a team effort to succeed, each party much feel valued and appreciated." (p. 19)