Personality disorders are a special group of psychological disorders of which the general public and most workplaces are unaware. Working with a person with a personality disorder can be one of the most stressful things a worker will encounter on the job or any work type relationship.
I have read COUNTLESS books on the subject of dealing with "impossible" or "difficult" people and the book titled "Toxic Co-Workers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job - Working with the narcissists, borderlines, sociopaths, schizoids, and others" by Alan A Cavaiola, Ph.D., and Neil J. Lavender, Ph.D., has been the most beneficial and by far the best.
The book covers the topics of how persons with Personality Disorders cause significant problems in the workplace. But most importantly, it provides advice on how to effectively detect these personality types and better work with them, so looking for another job isn't the only option available.
All the Apprentice candidates would have benefited greatly from having this book in their possession during the series. It may have changed the outcome of which teams could have been more productive.
People are people, and most are different and need different glove-handling. People want to be treated with respect. office worker conflicts occur all the time because people are not robots without emotions. We still haven't solve employee behavior as to why and what motivates violent murders, arson, bombing threats, and hostile work environment etc. IMHO, toxic enviroment exists in the office more frequently in the following instances:
[1] Competitiveness for year end bonuses,
[2] Subjective narrative of individual performance evaluation
[3] Unequal treatment where people talk behind people's back
[4] Lack of team work and clear measurement for the group successesAs long as workers have an incentive to move up the ladder or survive in corporate rightsizing, the working atmosphere is polluted, Cavaiola and Lavender focused on the individuals and not the systemic problems affecting the individual workers, whether the boss, the supervisor, higher level managers and executives etc. My experience tells me that the existing competitive office policies and procedures are the fundamental causes in conditioning dysfunctional people on the job, more than personality disorders as the results.
quote:
Conflict in the Cubicles -Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job
By Alan A. Cavaiola, PhD, and Neil J. Lavender, PhD - Reviewed by Todd Woody
Who hasn't felt, at one time or another, that a boss, coworker, or employee was driving him nuts? You know the type: The manager who zealously scrutinizes every detail of your work, always finding fault with something. The self-absorbed colleague who demands you constantly cover for him so he can look good. The charming but scheming subordinate who steals your ideas on the scramble up the corporate ladder.
Those individuals may be more than difficult; they could be downright diagnosable. Such obsessive-compulsive, narcissistic, and antisocial behaviors are among a class of psychological conditions known as personality disorders, and they can create havoc in the workplace, say psychologists Alan A. Cavaiola and Neil J. Lavender.
Over the years the authors, practicing psychologists who teach at New Jersey's Monmouth University and Ocean County College, respectively, became convinced that personality disorders in the workplace were not only widespread, but extremely destructive. Despite talking to client after client about dysfunctional bosses and employees, they found a paucity of literature on the phenomenon. So they decided to do their own research and write a book -- to help employees and managers recognize and cope with personality disorders. The result is Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job.
04-24-2004 09:50 PM
