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How to Manage Problem Employees
Book

How to Manage Problem Employees

A Step-by-Step Guide for Turning Difficult Employees into High Performers

Glenn Shepard
Jossey-Bass, 2005
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Editorial Rating

7

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  • Applicable

Recommendation

getAbstract recommends this book to everyone who has employees: managers, supervisors or small business owners - especially if you are new to your position, are a first time manager or supervisor, have just hired your first employee or are about to do so. If the employees are running the ship at your company, it’s time to take back control. Author Glenn Shepard tells you exactly how to do so in easy-to-implement logical steps. With this guide, even the most wishy-washy manager can become a model of strength, leadership and authority.

Summary

The Condition of America’s Work Ethic (Oh, Dear)

Over the past few decades, life has gotten much easier for most Americans. The increasing availability of technology - such as remote controls, computers, the Internet and WiFi - has made many Americans lazy. Getting up and going to work is an inconvenience.

As a people and a society, Americans lack self-discipline. Parents spoil their children who grow up with no desire or reason to accept responsibility. Society isn’t helping young people build a strong work ethic. Cultural trends in the 1990s created a generation that dresses down instead of dressing up, listens to whining lyrics and watches TV shows that mock authority instead of teaching respect. Talk shows focusing on horrible events and rare maladies, plus constant prescription drug ads have created a nation of complainers, hypochondriacs, pill poppers and people who think the world owes them something. The increasingly litigious society encourages a victim mentality. The tendency to blame others makes businesses a prime target for lawsuits. It encourages people who abuse the system - trying to live on disability, unemployment compensation, welfare and workers...

About the Author

Glenn Shepard leads seminars for managers from small and large businesses and organizations, including Fortune 500 companies. He is also the author of How to Make Performance Evaluations Really Work.

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    S. H. 1 year ago
    The summary is a valuable expression of the book, but the advice is HORRIBLE and authoritarian. It gives zero honor to the employee, painting them as lazy and usurious. The draconian attitude the text seeks to instill in a "manager" is simply antithetical to any modern concept of LEADERSHIP. Good job of summarizing a book full of negative, management-serving concepts. Use this book as an example of how NOT to think about your workforce.