How to Combat the Psychological Recession That's Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business
Overview
Why are employees sleepwalking through their jobs without any buy-in or
passion? And what can we do about this dangerous epidemic?
800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards for 2007 (category: Human
Resources/Organizational Development)
Library Journal's Best Business Books for 2007
CEO Refresher The Best Books of 2007
As many as two-thirds of our employees are either actively looking for
new jobs or merely going through the motions at their current jobs.
Fearful and feeling vulnerable after years of watching friends get laid
off, they expect the worst to happen, and they see no reason to give it
their all. This phenomenon, identified by renowned author Judith M.
Bardwick as "the psychological recession,? can have a devastating effect
on a company's financial health.
Based on extensive research showing how costly bad management really is,
this eye-opening book offers concrete prescriptions for combating
alarming trends such as high turnover, low productivity, and lackluster
performance, including techniques for:
• strengthening the bonds of trust and respect between managers and
employees
• customizing working conditions and rewards for individual employees
• hiring for the "best fit? between the organization's core culture and
the personal qualities and priorities of the individual
Using hard numbers and current studies that prove the direct connection
between a company's financial performance and its employees' commitment,
this book is a wake-up call to organizations desperately needing to
restore the broken spirits at the heart of their companies, and enhance
their bottom lines.
About the Author
Judith M. Bardwick, Ph.D. (La Jolla, CA) is a highly regarded
writer, speaker, and management consultant whose clients have included
IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Johnson & Johnson. Prior to forming her
consulting business in 1983, she was a professor and associate dean at
the University of Michigan. She also served as a clinical professor of
psychiatry at the University of California—San Diego. Her previous books
include the national bestseller Danger in the Comfort Zone
(978-0-8144-7886-8).
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Know HR Blog Review
"If you're an HR strategist, buy One Foot Out the Door
right away…. you need to read this book. Dr. Bardwick, who was a professor of
psychology at the University of Michigan and is currently a Clinical
Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, did
the workplace research for you and presents facts and figures from
dozens of seminal employee motivation studies. You could pay a
consulting firm a ton of money to compile this information, or you could
just plop down 20 bucks and have it in one convenient volume. I don't
say this lightly, but if you're in HR and don't read this book you're
really missing out."
-Know HR Blog
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Businessweek.com
""[Bardwick] has always challenged conventional wisdom and I consider
her to be not only a great management thinker, but also a great thinker
about life."
-- Marshall Goldsmith, Marshall and Friends column in BUSINESSWEEK.COM
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Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xiii
CHAPTER 1
TOPSY-TURVY: THE SKY IS FALLING! 1
The World Turned Upside Down 2
The Crazy 1990s 4
Collapse 6
The Special Case of the Best and Brightest 6
Recovery and Productivity 9
CHAPTER 2
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RECESSION 13
How to Recognize a Psychological Recession 14
A Psychological Recession Is Self-Fulfilling 16
Perception versus Reality 17
Who Is Affected? 19
Why It Matters 21
CHAPTER 3
FEELINGS MATTER—"SOFT? IS "HARD? 25
Heart Trumps Head 27
People Are Not Commodities 31
Commitment Is Not Kindness 32
CHAPTER 4
BAD MANAGEMENT IS (REALLY) EXPENSIVE 35
Many Employees Feel Negatively about Work 36
The Number of Unhappy Employees Continues to Increase 37
Many Employees Feel Resentful 37
Low Rates of Employee Commitment and Loyalty Are Very Expensive 37
Downsizing Leads to Resentment, Which Leads to Terrible Customer Service
38
Many Employees Want to Move to a New Job 39
Unhappy Employees Are Unproductive Employees 39
Like Employee Loyalty, Customer Loyalty Cannot Be Takenfor Granted 39
The Gallup Surveys of Engagement 40
Engagement and Productivity: The New Century Example 42
What All These Data Mean 43
CHAPTER 5
GOOD MANAGEMENT (REALLY) MAKES MONEY 45
It's the Interaction Between Employees and Customers 46
Good Management Is Profitable 50
Motivated Employees and Profitablity 50
Costco versus Wal-Mart's Sam's Club 51
SAS Institute 52
Best Companies to Work for 53
Commitment Can Take Many Forms 56
Establish Family-Friendly Policies 56
Invest in Training 58
Communicate Honestly 59
Let Them Own a Piece of the Company 59
Act with Integrity 60
Widening the Road to Success 60
CHAPTER 6
COMMITMENT AND ENGAGEMENT—NOT MORALE OR SATISFACTION 63
Nurturing Commitment and Engagement 66
Ask the Right Questions 66
Hire the Right People 67
Measure the Right Attributes 69
Morale and Satisfaction Don't Count 71
Getting It Wrong 72
Getting It Right 75
CHAPTER 7
CREATE SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BOSSES AND SUBORDINATES 77
Employee-Boss Relationships 78
The Special Importance of Trust 80
Trust and Communication 81
Relationships at Work 83
Out of Touch with Subordinates 84
Leadership and "Average? People 87
Leaders for the Twenty-First Century 89
CHAPTER 8
STRENGTHEN THE BOND WITH EMPLOYEES BY CUSTOMIZING 91
Humanize the Workplace 95
Fair—But Not Identical 97
Involving Each Employee Individually 98
Today's Cluster of Priorities 100
Manage to Success: Customize Recognition 101
Suggestions for Customization Menu Items 104
CHAPTER 9
ACHIEVE A BEST FIT 113
Hiring for Best Fit 114
Managing to Success 116
Really Know Expectations and Priorities 117
The Question of Risk 118
Risk and Corporate Culture: Digging Deeper 120
Asking the Right Questions 122
CHAPTER 10
STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE 129
CHAPTER 11
HOW ARE WE DOING ECONOMICALLY? 147
Why Many People Feel Defenseless 152
The Perception of Change Is Greater Than the Reality 156
Scared, Passive, and Cynical 160
CHAPTER 12
A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SAFETY NET 163
Goals for a Twenty-First Century Safety Net 165
Goals 165
Critical Elements of a Safety Net 166
Education Reform 167
Healthcare Reform 173
Shoring Up the Employer-Based System 175
Less Government and More Free Market Forces 176
New Ideas and Different Views 178
A New Vision for Collaboration 179
More Ideas About a Modern Safety Net 186
CHAPTER 13
PSYCHOLOGY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ECONOMICS 189
America's Strengths 193
The Threat from Other Countries 196
Lose the Fear and Release the Energy! 200
ENDNOTES 203
INDEX 217
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