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Working out workplace woes healthily
Telecommuting. Job sharing. Employee empowerment. Downsizing. These are just some of the buzzwords used to make sense of the radically changing American workplace. The upshot of all these contributions to the language (and there are plenty more) is that everyone from 15 to 75 faces significant changes in the way we make our money. And since most people spend more time at work than engaged in any other activity (including sleeping), there's widespread interest in the seismic shifts going on at the office and on the factory floor. So it's no surprise that the past few years have seen a torrent of books chronicling the changes and dispensing advice on every aspect of the working life. Some of these books have been predictive, forecasting trends that are underway but have not yet touched the lives of most Americans. Many books have focused on "knowledge workers," those white-collar types who manipulate ideas. And while countless tomes have declared the one-company career dead and buried, retirement dinners are held every evening across the land honoring those who have put in 30, 35, or 40 years with a single employer. And while the pressures of the global economy certainly do mean that people have to take more responsibility for their careers in an environment of less job security, large numbers of people still work for a single company for a big chunk of time. Computer networking and other advances allow people to work at home, work while they travel, and otherwise employ "flex-time." But most people still show up at the same office at the same time, five mornings a week. The point here is that for many people work is still pretty traditional, though the winds of change are clearly blowing. No matter how significantly the outer trappings of work change, there are eternal verities likely to hold their ground. One is that some people are better performers at work than others. Another truth is that people who work together, form partnerships, or otherwise interact in a business venture will get into conflicts with each other. And in one form or another, people will continue to have bosses, though the nomenclature may well change. Three new books take on these work world constants: performance, conflict, and bosses. They provide facts, case histories, action plans, and generally good ideas on how to cope. |
REVIEWS BY NEAL LIPSCHUTZ
This "how-to" aspect is suffused with the rigor of first-hand knowledge and academic research, adding to the credibility of his suggestions. Kelley's target is the elite of the new knowledge-based economy. (He calls them "brainpowered" workers.) They are college-educated engineers, analysts, and the like. His program is not remedial. Instead, he attempts to convey what separates the merely good or average, but certainly acceptable performers, from the "stars." If you buy into the premise that "stars" are more productive than average workers, and that our economy is increasingly a knowledge-based one, it behooves us to make as many people as possible into "stars." That's because productivity gains are what drive real increases in our standard of living. To unfairly boil down Kelley's recipe for workplace stardom, start with top-notch technical skills in your chosen field of endeavor and add a flexible and secure ego and superior people skills. This is not a one-size-fits-all formula, but a well-researched and cleanly written treatise. Of particular interest are chapters on the need to employ creative "followership" and the advantages of "small-l leadership," the latter particularly well suited for teams brought together to address a particular issue.
Nine Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed By Robert E. Kelley Times Books, $25 ISBN 0812926765
Levine's step-by-step approach to resolution often involves a mediator, but at its heart it requires the people involved to face each other and to air their grievances. There has to be an authentic desire to reach a resolution that can be accepted by both sides. This is not easy. Because of that difficulty, people often hide behind professionals, usually lawyers, to be their advocates, and they turn to others, usually courts, to resolve their disputes. The author takes a basically optimistic view of people, "Taking care of others is natural for human beings." Such optimism is necessary in order to get people to confront problems head-on and come out with two winners, or at least two people who feel they received a fair shake and are ready to move on with their lives. As a mediator, Levine brings a useful sense of perspective to the disputes he helps resolve. He writes, "Often the essential part of resolution is reframing the perceived problem into something else." Though at times repetitive, Levine makes a solid case for a preferable path toward resolving problems. The methods can be applied to dissolving a business partnership or a marriage.
Turning Conflict into Collaboration By Stewart Levine Berrett-Koehler, $19.95 ISBN 1576750051
What's offered here is a host of testimonials by employees to the wrongheaded policies of their superiors. After each case study, the authors offer a short analysis of the negative dynamics at play. Authors William Lundin and Kathleen Lundin, who are consultants and the founders of Worklife Productions, roam across a host of industries to uncover dysfunctional scenarios. They document the resulting downside when today's management trends don't work, and they ruminate about why some people stay in bad work situations for long periods of time.
How to Survive in a Crazy and Dysfunctional Workplace By William Lundin, Ph.D., and Kathleen Lundin McGraw-Hill, $21.95 ISBN 0070391475
This book is part of the MasterMinds Series, a collection of accessible and concise books that aim to present "cutting-edge ideas by leading thinkers." That noble goal is fully achieved between these hard covers.
Elegance and the Heart of Technology By David Gelernter Basic Books, $20 ISBN 0465045162
Neal Lipschutz is managing editor of Dow Jones News Service.
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In How to Be a Star at Work: Nine Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed, productivity consultant and college professor Robert E. Kelley draws on experience he gathered working with such large companies as AT&T's Bell Labs and Hewlett-Packard. Summarizing his search for the holy grail of what makes a standout employee, he offers a nine-step program of strategies.
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Bring together a few people in a defined setting and sooner or later you have conflict. It doesn't matter if it's an old-age or new-age workplace. Any workplace will have at least a few people, some making judgments about the performance of others, some giving others instruction or direction. There will be conflicts, some that change people's relationships. Finding positive solutions to conflict is the subject of Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration, by mediator and attorney Stewart Levine. If more people followed Levine's advice, the world would be a better place. There would be less litigation and, more importantly, less lingering bitterness in the aftermath of conflict.
Most books about the workplace deal with best-case scenarios, using examples of innovations that can make things better. These two books showcase case histories of good employees becoming great ones and examples of creatively resolved conflicts. And while we nod our heads at positive examples to emulate, we all know the 9-to-5 world doesn't always allow us to practice enlightened work habits. That's where When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses: How to Survive in a Crazy and Dysfunctional Workplace by William Lundin, Ph.D., and Kathleen Lundin comes in. It features dispatches from the dark side of the office, where dictatorial bosses break people's spirits and shoddy management practices dominate. The authors write, ". . . dumbness at work deserves as serious a study as smartness."
Reading Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology by David Gelernter is like sneaking into the back of a college classroom and being treated to a free-wheeling, provocative lecture. Gelernter, a noted computer technologist and professor at Yale University, takes the reader on an exciting romp through the connections (too often ignored) between artistic beauty and excellent technology. From a broad discussion of the unexpected links between science, math, and aesthetics, to an idiosyncratic history of computing (the section on Apple versus Microsoft is topnotch), Gelernter's writing often achieves his stated goal in his technology work: elegance. He is erudite without being stiff, expert without being condescending. He can also be quite funny. He explains complex computing issues to those of us with no educational grounding in the subject and keeps us with him (most of the time).