Forward to Managing People During Stressful Times: The Psychologically Defensive Workplace

The popular management and business press these days is filled with upbeat, optimistic, positive images of the grand future into which we will march, assuming that we link arms and march fearlessly into the unknown with passion, empowerment, creativity, and teamwork under the guidance of transformative leaders. Each nostrum is followed by another; each book holding out the promise of greater glory and success. Now and then I come across a book that serves as an antidote to the numbing effects of the typical literature. This volume by Seth Allcorn and Michael Diamond provides just this kind of counterpoint. Sober, thoughtful, and grounded, these authors address critical aspects of our emerging organizations clearly without being simplistic. In particular, they examine the psychological impact of todays work settings and confront the very real and troubling reality that is caused by the unceasing turbulence, the ungluing of authority relations, the blinding changes in technology, and the host of other features of our emerging postindustrial world.