Toxic Workplace!
Managing Toxic Personalities and Their Systems of Power
1st Edition
Published on 29. April 2009
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-470-42484-1 (ISBN)
Description
"The day this person left our company is considered an annual holiday!"
THIS QUOTE, taken from Kusy and Holloway's research on toxic personalities, echoes the frustration and confusion that come from working with or managing an extremely difficult person. Just one toxic person has the capacity to debilitate individuals, teams, and even organizations.
Toxic Workplace! is the first book to tackle the underlying systems issues that enable a toxic person to create a path of destruction in an organization, pervading others' thoughts and energies, even undermining their very sense of well-being. Based on all-new research with over 400 leaders, many from the Fortune 500 list, this book illustrates how to manage existing toxic behaviors, create norms that prevent the growth or regrowth of toxic environments, and ultimately design organizational communities of respectful engagement.
Kusy and Holloway's research reveals the warning signs that indicate a serious behavioral problem and identifies how this toxicity spreads in systems with long-term effects on organizational climate, even after the person has left. Their two-year, cutting-edge research study provides very specific actions that leaders need to take to reduce both the intensity and frequency of toxic personalities at work. No other book provides this menu of options from a systems perspective with practical relevance in real work situations.
You'll learn how to identify the toxic personality and describe the leader reactions and approaches that typically don't work. Toxic Workplace! provides hands-on approaches that work with research-based strategies at the individual, team, and organizational level.Toxic Workplace! will provide new insights on how leaders lead, how organizational cultures sustain themselves, and how teams deal with toxic personalities.
THIS QUOTE, taken from Kusy and Holloway's research on toxic personalities, echoes the frustration and confusion that come from working with or managing an extremely difficult person. Just one toxic person has the capacity to debilitate individuals, teams, and even organizations.
Toxic Workplace! is the first book to tackle the underlying systems issues that enable a toxic person to create a path of destruction in an organization, pervading others' thoughts and energies, even undermining their very sense of well-being. Based on all-new research with over 400 leaders, many from the Fortune 500 list, this book illustrates how to manage existing toxic behaviors, create norms that prevent the growth or regrowth of toxic environments, and ultimately design organizational communities of respectful engagement.
Kusy and Holloway's research reveals the warning signs that indicate a serious behavioral problem and identifies how this toxicity spreads in systems with long-term effects on organizational climate, even after the person has left. Their two-year, cutting-edge research study provides very specific actions that leaders need to take to reduce both the intensity and frequency of toxic personalities at work. No other book provides this menu of options from a systems perspective with practical relevance in real work situations.
You'll learn how to identify the toxic personality and describe the leader reactions and approaches that typically don't work. Toxic Workplace! provides hands-on approaches that work with research-based strategies at the individual, team, and organizational level.Toxic Workplace! will provide new insights on how leaders lead, how organizational cultures sustain themselves, and how teams deal with toxic personalities.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Charts: 13 B&W, 0 Color; Tables: 4 B&W, 0 Color; Graphs: 1 B&W, 0 Color
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
526 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-470-42484-1 (9780470424841)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Mitchell Kusy | Elizabeth Holloway
Toxic Workplace!
Managing Toxic Personalities and Their Systems of Power
E-Book
04/2010
Jossey-Bass
€17.99
Available for download
Mitchell Kusy | Elizabeth Holloway
Toxic Workplace!
Managing Toxic Personalities and Their Systems of Power
E-Book
04/2009
Jossey-Bass
€17.99
Available for download
Persons
Mitchell Kusy, PhD, is a consultant and full professor in the graduate program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University. A 2005 Fulbright Scholar in international organization development, Dr. Kusy consults globally in strategic planning, leadership development, 360-degree feedback, organization development, and designing organizational communities of respectful engagement. He is a visiting professor at several universities internationally.
Elizabeth Holloway, PhD, is a consultant and full professor in the graduate program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University. A Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Holloway has had more than 25 years' experience as a practitioner, educator, and consultant with organizations, groups, and mental health clients. She consults globally on system approaches to mentoring, coaching, and creating organizational communities of respectful engagement.
Elizabeth Holloway, PhD, is a consultant and full professor in the graduate program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University. A Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Holloway has had more than 25 years' experience as a practitioner, educator, and consultant with organizations, groups, and mental health clients. She consults globally on system approaches to mentoring, coaching, and creating organizational communities of respectful engagement.
Content
Part One: Understanding Toxic People and Toxic Environments 1
1. The Human and Financial Costs of Working with Toxic People: Toxic Behaviors are Just the Tip of the Iceberg 3
2. Recognizing the Toxic Personality: It Isn't as Easy as You Think 21
3. Leader Reactions and Strategies That Typically Don't Work: Why Identify Strategies That Don't Work? 43
4. Organizational Culture: How Toxicity Spreads Like an Infection 67
Part Two: The Toxic Organization Change System Model 85
5. Organizational Strategies: Dealing with Toxicity at the Highest System Level 89
6. Team Strategies: Dealing with Toxicity at the Team Level 111
7. Individual Strategies: Dealing with Toxic People One-on-One 151
8. Myths and Truths About Toxicity-and Renewal from a Toxic Environment: How to Move Beyond Toxicity 181
Appendix A: Our Research Methodology 209
Appendix B: National Survey Responses on Toxic Behaviors 215
Notes 233
The Authors 237
Index 239
1. The Human and Financial Costs of Working with Toxic People: Toxic Behaviors are Just the Tip of the Iceberg 3
2. Recognizing the Toxic Personality: It Isn't as Easy as You Think 21
3. Leader Reactions and Strategies That Typically Don't Work: Why Identify Strategies That Don't Work? 43
4. Organizational Culture: How Toxicity Spreads Like an Infection 67
Part Two: The Toxic Organization Change System Model 85
5. Organizational Strategies: Dealing with Toxicity at the Highest System Level 89
6. Team Strategies: Dealing with Toxicity at the Team Level 111
7. Individual Strategies: Dealing with Toxic People One-on-One 151
8. Myths and Truths About Toxicity-and Renewal from a Toxic Environment: How to Move Beyond Toxicity 181
Appendix A: Our Research Methodology 209
Appendix B: National Survey Responses on Toxic Behaviors 215
Notes 233
The Authors 237
Index 239