Overview

In this book about deception and self-deception in and beyond the workplace, Stein portrays a psychological, ethical, cultural, and spiritual crisis that cannot be reduced to a business crisis. He shows how the language of economics shrouds loss, dread, rage, despair, and brutality in the guise of rational business necessity. For example, the act of ridding a workplace of thousands of people has become magically, euphemistically transformed into an impersonal, bottom line based exercise in downsizing and outsourcing. As Stein explores the role of euphemism in the official doctrines and public claims of business, he also portrays how people experience the trauma of repeated mass layoffs, and the constant turmoil over shifting workroles and uncertain job security. Stein shows how the inner experience of downsizing, reengineering, and corporate medicine becomes part of a person's very essence and structure, not some unfortunate epiphenomenon. Three extensive case studies—one of downsizing (and related social engineering concepts), one of managed care, and another of the U.S. prairie's adaptation to life afterthe Oklahoma City bombing—provide the evidence for his interpretation. Stein supplements these with telling analyses of the concept of spin, the popularity of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoons, George Orwell's trenchant use of euphemism in his novels, and the web of words on which the Nazis' extermination program was spun. He shows how our priorities have created long-term massive social casualty for the sake of short-term gain. Further, he shows how a widespread cultural ethos of scarcity and callousness transcends the boundaries of workplace and business. He calls for an ethical awakening from our self-deceptions and the social harm we have done in the name of good business, and for direct, honest language that expresses our feelings and intentions.

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9781567201246

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Reviews

[This is] an important contribution not only to the study of organizational life, but to understanding hidden dimensions of our institutions and culture more generally. In reading the book, I came to see how the search for euphemism so common in organizational communication represents a flight from reality that can have the most damaging consequences for the health of organizations and of those who work in them. It is a vivid work, and one I highly recommend for all those who experience the frustrating and confusing mode of communication typical in organizations. Confusion is so much a part of our work experience, yet so little is written that dispels rather than adding to it. Professor Stein's work is the exception to this rule. He sheds light where others leave us in the dark. -David P. Levine Graduate School of International Studies University of Denver

<p>[T]rainers can use it to consider the ways we can positively contribute to our organizations....Just in time for you to prepare for the Millennium. - <p>Training Trends

[T]rainers can use it to consider the ways we can positively contribute to our organizations....Just in time for you to prepare for the Millennium. - Training Trends

Author Information

HOWARD F. STEIN is Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City. Dr. Stein is the 1999 recipient of the Omer C. Stewart Award for exemplary contributions to the field of applied anthropology. A specialist in medical, psychoanalytic, and applied anthropology and related fields ranging from rural health to ethnic studies, Stein has observed first-hand the changes that have taken place in health-care and in various other organizations. He is a member of numerous professional associations and author or coauthor of more than 20 books, among them The Human Cost of a Management Failure: Organizational Downsizing at General Hospital (with Seth Allcorn, Howell S. Baum, and Michael Diamond forum, 1996) and Prairie Voices: Process Anthropology in Family Medicine (Bergin and Garvey, 1996).

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