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Product reviews for Is Your Boss Mad?
HR Network Scotland
This is definitely one of those books you've probably wondered whether someone has taken the time to write after a particularly frustrating day with their boss. Well someone has indeed put finger to keyboard and the result is a fairly interesting read.
There is an element of attempting to empower the workforce with some of the topics covered which are, at the same time, both basic if not a little futuristic in their thinking. This appears to be a book borne out of personal experience and covers a multitude of scenarios most of us have been exposed to at one time or another.
This book lends itself to the prospect of being able to influence the boss providing. for example, suggestions on how to conduct that all important initial job interview to understand what kind of person you might end up working for. Tips on how to 'manage' your boss, their outbursts and lack of direction all add up to added power to the worker's elbow.
Conversely for those of us who have been or are considering being a boss, there are some handy hints to move from being the ogre to the object of admiration. This includes such time honoured favourites as inclusion of everyone in decision making and the all important skills of communication, communication, communication.
The real nub of the book however is split into sections according to what type of boss you might work for. Walker has split the head honchos of commerce and industry into nine categories, the details of which take up some 70% of the book's content. Each section details the traits expected of bosses falling into the various categories and how a change of behaviour on the part of the employee might help alleviate any painful clashing of heads.
However the content is made slightly heavy with tong winded case studies' of how employees have been affected by the behaviour of their boss. Although they do help to put the categorisations in context, I'm not convinced the length of them is warranted. That said, there are some fairly useful anecdotal points raised such as attempting to understand some of the more odd foibles of our bosses and how we might deal with these without having steam coming out of our ears.
Although intended to get a serious message across there are elements of the way the book is written which raises a smile. You may have a superior who falls under the category of a 'Boss in Love' who loses all capability of national thought after falling victim to cupid's arrow. However there is a fly in the ointment - you may be the object of his or her affections " so what do you do now, ignore or encourage?
On a more serious note, the content also covers how to deal with bosses who are bullies. Practical advice on where to turn in times of distress provide a reference framework all too lacking at times throughout the book. However the ten-page chapter on stress and how to deal with it provides a suitable backdrop to the subject of how mad or bad bosses can, as research has proven, be the instigators of stress.
The author comments that it was not difficult to research the book which unfortunately points to the fact that poor management is still so very common. What the book does show us is that with a little forethought the employee can help influence the state of mind of the boss by, for example, introducing a little levity into the workplace.
This book allows anyone to identify, from the start, what sort of boss they may be letting themselves in for. Strategies suggested are practical and straightforward and focus on improving communication skills, body language and actions. This book also works for bosses if only to understand what category they fall into and what effect they have on their teams.
An important message being conveyed here is that the behaviour of bosses can seem surreal and unacceptable at times but this is often done out of ignorance rather than deliberately. To help the boss realise this. the worker is equipped with some remedies having read the book.
The book's publishers extol the virtues of this publication along the lines of 'it reasserts the fact that not all is lost in the working world just because your boss couldn't organise the proverbial drink-up in a brewery!!' In some ways the reader of the book might need that drink to get through some of the more laborious parts of it.
There is an element of attempting to empower the workforce with some of the topics covered which are, at the same time, both basic if not a little futuristic in their thinking. This appears to be a book borne out of personal experience and covers a multitude of scenarios most of us have been exposed to at one time or another.
This book lends itself to the prospect of being able to influence the boss providing. for example, suggestions on how to conduct that all important initial job interview to understand what kind of person you might end up working for. Tips on how to 'manage' your boss, their outbursts and lack of direction all add up to added power to the worker's elbow.
Conversely for those of us who have been or are considering being a boss, there are some handy hints to move from being the ogre to the object of admiration. This includes such time honoured favourites as inclusion of everyone in decision making and the all important skills of communication, communication, communication.
The real nub of the book however is split into sections according to what type of boss you might work for. Walker has split the head honchos of commerce and industry into nine categories, the details of which take up some 70% of the book's content. Each section details the traits expected of bosses falling into the various categories and how a change of behaviour on the part of the employee might help alleviate any painful clashing of heads.
However the content is made slightly heavy with tong winded case studies' of how employees have been affected by the behaviour of their boss. Although they do help to put the categorisations in context, I'm not convinced the length of them is warranted. That said, there are some fairly useful anecdotal points raised such as attempting to understand some of the more odd foibles of our bosses and how we might deal with these without having steam coming out of our ears.
Although intended to get a serious message across there are elements of the way the book is written which raises a smile. You may have a superior who falls under the category of a 'Boss in Love' who loses all capability of national thought after falling victim to cupid's arrow. However there is a fly in the ointment - you may be the object of his or her affections " so what do you do now, ignore or encourage?
On a more serious note, the content also covers how to deal with bosses who are bullies. Practical advice on where to turn in times of distress provide a reference framework all too lacking at times throughout the book. However the ten-page chapter on stress and how to deal with it provides a suitable backdrop to the subject of how mad or bad bosses can, as research has proven, be the instigators of stress.
The author comments that it was not difficult to research the book which unfortunately points to the fact that poor management is still so very common. What the book does show us is that with a little forethought the employee can help influence the state of mind of the boss by, for example, introducing a little levity into the workplace.
This book allows anyone to identify, from the start, what sort of boss they may be letting themselves in for. Strategies suggested are practical and straightforward and focus on improving communication skills, body language and actions. This book also works for bosses if only to understand what category they fall into and what effect they have on their teams.
An important message being conveyed here is that the behaviour of bosses can seem surreal and unacceptable at times but this is often done out of ignorance rather than deliberately. To help the boss realise this. the worker is equipped with some remedies having read the book.
The book's publishers extol the virtues of this publication along the lines of 'it reasserts the fact that not all is lost in the working world just because your boss couldn't organise the proverbial drink-up in a brewery!!' In some ways the reader of the book might need that drink to get through some of the more laborious parts of it.
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15/02/2008 00:00
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