Toxic workplace! : managing toxic personalities and their systems of power

Toxic WorkPlace
......Page 1
Contents......Page 3
Part One: Understanding Toxic People and Toxic Environments......Page 5
THE HUMAN AND FINANCIAL COSTS OF WORKING WITH TOXIC PEOPLE
......Page 6
The Ubiquity of Toxic People......Page 8
Why We Wrote This Book......Page 9
How We Researched the Problem of Toxic Personalities at Work......Page 10
Toxic People Thrive Only in a Toxic System......Page 13
The Hidden Chunk of the Toxic Iceberg......Page 15
The Hidden Costs of Uncivil Behavior......Page 17
How Human Resource Professionals View Toxicity......Page 18
Why Not Just Fire Toxic People?......Page 20
Beware the ‘‘Bad Apple’’ Effect of Toxic Behavior......Page 21
Summing Up......Page 22
RECOGNIZING THE TOXIC PERSONALITY
......Page 24
Three Types of Toxic Behaviors That Drive People to Distraction......Page 26
How These Behaviors Work Together to Keep Toxicity in Place......Page 39
The Two Faces of Toxic People: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde......Page 42
Toxic Behavior Can Literally Make People Sick......Page 43
Summing Up: It’s the Behavior That Matters......Page 45
LEADER REACTIONS AND STRATEGIES THAT TYPICALLY DON’T WORK
......Page 46
How Leaders Typically React to Toxic People......Page 47
Strategies Leaders Use to Deal with Toxic People......Page 57
Summing Up Formal Strategies......Page 69
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
......Page 70
Evaluate Your Organization’s Culture......Page 72
System Dynamics: How an Organization’s Culture Can Promote Toxicity......Page 74
Summing Up......Page 87
Part Two: The Toxic Organization Change System Model......Page 88
ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES
......Page 91
Formally Integrating Values into Your Organizational System......Page 92
Informally Integrating Your Organization’s Values Through Leadership Modeling......Page 101
Developing Values Relevant to Your Organization......Page 102
Summing Up......Page 111
TEAM STRATEGIES
......Page 112
Proactive Strategies to Deal with Toxicity at the Team Level......Page 113
Developing Team Values Without Clearly Defined Organizational Values......Page 124
Reactive Strategies for Dealing with Toxic Teams......Page 132
Summary of Team Interventions......Page 149
INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES
......Page 151
Strategy 1: Managing a Toxic Individual’s Performance by Providing Targeted Feedback......Page 154
Strategy 2: Using Performance Appraisals to Integrate Values......Page 163
Strategy 3: Coaching......Page 168
Strategy 4: When All Else Fails: Terminate the Toxic Individual......Page 175
The Critical Importance of Formal Authority......Page 178
Conclusion......Page 179
MYTHS AND TRUTHS ABOUT TOXICITY—AND RENEWAL FROM A TOXIC ENVIRONMENT
......Page 181
Myths and Truths......Page 183
Fostering Renewal from Toxicity for the Leader and Team......Page 193
Our Final Words......Page 206
Appendix A: OUR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......Page 208
Appendix B: NATIONAL SURVEY RESPONSES ON TOXIC BEHAVIORS......Page 213
Notes......Page 230
The Authors......Page 233
Index......Page 235