Trouble at Work

Description

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Trouble in the workplace - whether it is bullying, harassment or stress - is always in the headlines. Yet, in many discussions, the research and statistics that are cited prove unreliable. This book summarizes the largest specialist research programme on ill-treatment in the workplace so far undertaken. It provides a powerful antidote to half-truths and misinformation and offers a new way of conceptualizing trouble at work, moving the discussion away from individualized explanations - and talk of 'bullies' and 'victims' - towards the workplace characteristics that cause trouble at work. The biggest problems arise where organisations fail to create a workplace culture in which individuals really matter. Paradoxically, these are often the organizations which are well-versed in modern management practices.

Ralph Fevre is Professor of Social Research at Cardiff University, UK. His publications include The Sociology of the Labour Markets (1992), The Demoralization of Western Culture (2000) and The New Sociology of Economic Behaviour (2003). Duncan Lewis is Professor of Management at Plymouth University, UK. His recent publications include articles in Public Management Review and Public Administration. Amanda Robinson is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Cardiff University, UK. She has recently published in the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, and in Violence Against Women: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal. Trevor Jones is Deputy Director of the School of Social Sciences, and Reader in Criminology at Cardiff University, UK. He is co-author of Plural Policing: A Comparative Perspective (2006) and Policy Transfer and Criminal Justice: Exploring US Influence Over British Crime Control (2006).