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How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed in the Back My Fingerprints Are On the Knife?
Book

How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed in the Back My Fingerprints Are On the Knife?

And Other Meditations on Management

Jossey-Bass, 1999 más...


Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Jerry B. Harvey, a professor of management science, offers a series of essays on various management topics, such as backstabbing, betrayal, deception and work environments. To make his points, he uses a kind of discursive, reflective approach that includes a mix of stories, fables, metaphors and considerations of language usage. Some might find his approach a refreshing narrative, complete with the feel of discovery you’d get from reading someone’s diary. Others may find that the essays ramble and repeat themselves. getAbstract agrees more with the first line of thinking. However, we do post the cautionary note that – although Harvey raises some generally unmentioned, intriguing issues in the politics of management – he does need to be more concise. In other words, perhaps he could have used that knife in his back to trim his prose a little.

Take-Aways

  • When backstabbing occurs in organizations, the Potential Victim is usually complicit in his own stabbing.
  • A Potential Victim contributes to his own backstabbing because fear of rejection keeps him from confronting the Potential Backstabber or the Messengers who warn him.
  • Asking the wrong question can be as productive as asking the right question.

About the Author

Jerry B. Harvey is a professor of management science at George Washington University. He is the author of The Abilene Paradox and Other Meditations on Management He has been a consultant for business, government, various health care services and the nonprofit sector and has published many articles concerning organizational behavior and education.


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    M. S. 7 years ago
    Author of Road to Abilene. Fewer pieces of actionable advice for alleged victims than I was looking for.