Games At Work: How to Recognize and Reduce Office Politics

by Mauricio Goldstein; Phil Read; Foreword by: Kevin Cashman

• ISBN13: 9780470458839
• ISBN10: 0470458836
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-03-01
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

"A terrific read not only for senior leaders and executives but also for employees seeking growth in complex organizations. Goldstein and Read dissect the interpersonal dynamics that affect a company's performance, provide a framework to understand the games that are commonly played in businesses around the world, and offer practical tools to correct these behaviors and improve the organization's effectiveness." -Jacopo Bracco, executive vice president, DIRECTV Latin America"Whether you are an employee, manager, or CEO, this book will help you uncover the games that are going on around you and in your organization and will arm you with strategies to combat the negative effects of these games." -Corey J. Seitz, vice president, global talent management, Johnson & Johnson"This book is a good warning sign for organizational life. A road map of potholes and wrong turns. Written in a clear and down-to-earth way, its strength is its concreteness." -Peter Block, author, Community: The Structure of Belonging"Play or don't play, your choice. But if you need to manage and aspire to lead, you must read Goldstein and Read's helpful treatment of the games going on all around you all the time. Prepare to be entertained and disconcerted in equal measure." -Sefn Meehan, Martin Hilti Professor of Marketing and Change Management, IMD"Goldstein and Read provide an accessible and penetrating discussion of the twenty-two most common games at work and their individual and organizational causes, business costs, and remedies. Every working person who has ever been a victim or perpetrator of political games will profit from reading Games at Work." -Harvey A. Hornstein, emeritus professor of psychology; former director of Columbia University Organizational Development Programs; and organizational consultant

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Let The Games Begin

What Games Are and How They Are Played in Organizations

Playing To Lose

The Negative Impact of Games on Core Business Activities

Fertile Ground

Why Games Are So Pervasive in Modern Corporations

Eyes Wide Shut

Why People Don't Deal with Games at Work

An Eye-Opening Experience

Awakening to Games

Count Me Out

Choosing Not to Play

Game, Interrupted

Executing Your Choice

Interconnections

How Games Are Linked In to an Ecology

The Challenge Of Change

Toward a Games-Conscious Model of Transformation

Games At The Top

The Impact of Playing in the Executive Suite

A Sustainable Goal

Transforming Organizations in Small but Signifi cant Ways

Appendix: List of Games

References

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.