Reading Workplace Dynamics offers a renewed ethos for public librarianship synthesizing frontline practitioner outcomes with scholarship via a blend of chapters presenting innovative and bold testimony on ways in which COVID-19 forever changed public librarianship.

This [book] is ... an examination of the workplace from a diversity perspective. [The author's] goal is to open the reader to different avenues of thinking about important areas of organizational life. This book was written to express and value the perspectives and realities of women, people of color, and gay and lesbian workers so that their experiences are primary rather than an afterthought.-Pref.

In Reading the Room, renowned systems psychologist and family therapist David Kantor applies his theory of structural dynamics to help leaders and coaches understand and improve communication within their teams. He helps readers understand how and why they and their teams communicate differently when faced with low-stakes or high-stakes situations, and he provides a framework to help improve leadership behavior in high-stakes situations. Acknowledging that early personal history and adult relationships have an impact on individual leadership and communication, the author discusses how leaders’ awareness of their personal histories can help them become more effective in their leadership teams. Armed with the information outlined in this groundbreaking book, coaches and leaders will be able to: intervene effectively to produce positive change in both the group’s dynamics and its outcomes, help people in the room alter their behavior to better reach their aspirations, identify the recurring sequences of behavior taking place in a group, understand why differing individual preferences for boundaries and rules affect their conversation, and much more. Written to help readers understand the reasons why leaders and teams get along—or don’t—when they communicate in a group, this book will serve as the leader’s “go-to” resource for insight and perspective in leading their team.

Contemporary worklife builds upon a foundation for teamwork among skilled and dedicated people. Despite the utility of supportive working relationships and despite extensive consulting activity on leadership and team building, employees complain extensively about mistreatment by their bosses and colleagues. Analyzing and Theorizing the Dynamics of the Workplace Incivility Crisis presents a theoretic framework for considering the fundamental issues of group dynamics and individual psychology that lie behind this ongoing workplace incivility crisis. It contextualizes the need for belonging as a motivation that shapes expressed social behaviour and intensifies received social behaviour. Looking at cognitive elements as well as rudeness rationales that pertain to workplace incivility and its justification, this work maps social constructs, including the role of team leadership, that lead to setting implicit social norms. In addition to formulating a theoretical framework, Analyzing and Theorizing the Dynamics of the Workplace Incivility Crisis considers methods to address the dynamics that perpetuate incivility at work and actively points at setting an action agenda to evaluate their impact.

This text explores changing understanding of literacy and its place in contemporary workplace settings. It highlights questions and dilemmas to consider when planning and teaching workplace education and challenges traditional thinking about workplace literacy as functional skills.

How well do you read the body language of the people around you? Researchers estimate that nonverbal communication comprises between 60 and 93 percent of all communication. How much are you missing? In Reading Hidden Communications Around You, author Anne Beall shares her approach to reading individuals in the workplace. Beall describes an easy, intuitive way to interpret body language called PERCEIVE, a technique Beall developed after an exhaustive review of relevant academic studies conducted in the fields of psychology, anthropology, and communication. PERCEIVE can be used to identify receptivity, like, dislike, discomfort, stress, deception and emotions. It can also be used for impression management to increase perceptions of credibility, trustworthiness and likeability in the workplace. Beall provides insight into the major aspects of nonverbal communication, including facial expressions, physical contact, eyes, gestures and voice, as well as proximity and relative orientation, which are the foundation of body language. With real-life examples and photos, Reading Hidden Communications Around You helps you observe nonverbal behavior, use the PERCEIVE method to read peoples reactions and emotions, and present an appropriate response for each situation.

Reading and Writing in the Global Workplace: Gender, Literacy, and Outsourcing in Ghana by Beatrice Quarshie Smith explores the conditions that underlie the outsourcing of US data-processing work in Ghana. Here Beatrice Quarshie Smith describes the convergence and interplay of at least four different socio-economic forces: (1) the digital and satellite technology enabling virtual environments for global outsourced data-processing; (2) the historical development of Ghana as a politically-stable Anglophone society with a relatively strong tradition of public education; (3) the neoliberal economic restructuring policies advanced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; and (4) the ready availability of women seeking to enter the formal wage economy either to seek independence from their roles within traditional families, or in order to support their families. The author's comparative study of two distinctly different workplaces reveals significant insights about problems of organizational hierarchy and management-employee relations in the cross-cultural environments of out-sourced business and IT process work. Through extensive interviews, the book sheds light on the educational backgrounds, day-to-day struggles, fears, and aspirations of the workers. Quarshie Smith develops this multi-faceted analysis with keen insights into the representational limitations and ethical responsibilities of the researcher. This pioneering study about outsourced data-processing work in West Africa opens up a new area for research and offers a fresh perspective from which to consider outsourcing in other regions of the globe.

A highly practical guide to help leaders make intentional choices and draw on their assets, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to influence others, bridge differences, and initiate positive change. Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influence Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change is based on the premise that if people act with integrity and learn to develop positive workplace relationships, a ripple effect can engender similar changes in the organization as a whole. Of extraordinary value to leaders, middle managers, and management students, it is a fresh and practical how-to manual for putting new ways of thinking to work in an organizational setting—one that backs its advice with results from a rapidly growing body of rigorous social science research. Organized around a series of essential skills, Reframing Change shows readers how to test assumptions about others, clear negative emotions and augment positive ones, build effective relationships, bridge cultural differences with people, deal with difficult situations, and initiate change in work environments. This advice is driven home with the stories of real people in real situations that explain key underlying principles, with a single storyline running through each chapter.

Workplace Intelligence provides a range of insights into the unconscious processes at play in the workplace and an introduction to a balanced approach to organizations. The book explores key concepts, showing how our emotions and early experiences inform the roles we play at work, as well as how we react to other people. It encourages close observation and reflection and utilization of this knowledge for managing ourselves and others fruitfully. It also provides managers with the methods to intervene and tackle these issues, elaborating on topics from leadership and group dynamics to meetings and work-life balance. The book will be a fascinating read for those in leadership roles, organizational consultants, executive coaches, students of occupational psychology, as well as anyone interested in understanding workplace dynamics in general.

This action-oriented book presents the revolutionary J Curve model, which tracks people's performance, thoughts, and emotions at each of the five stages of the change process, from resistance through positive acceptance-key knowledge you need to lead your team and speed implementation. Used by leading companies such as IBM, Chevron, Toyota-Lexus, and 3M, the J Curve gives you proven tactics and tools for quickly getting employees to a positive stage on the curve. In this groundbreaking book, Jellison introduces a new approach to change-Activation. Communication and persuasion aren't enough to help people overcome their doubts and anxieties. You'll put these Activation techniques to work immediately as you learn how to Communicate at ground level-breaking change down into doable steps so people can achieve the goal Front-load rewards-motivating people to persist through the most difficult phases of change Create accountability-linking performance to larger organizational goals Personalize praise-tailoring approval to individuals to motivate higher levels of performance Managing the Dynamics of Change presents an innovative method for getting employees to quickly commit to change efforts and simultaneously ramp up their performance. Drawing upon his extensive field research and consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies, Jerald Jellison, Ph.D. reveals how effective change occurs and shows you how to manage your employees' reaction to change, engage your team's emotions and actions, and move employees up the curve as fast as possible.