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The Living Dead
Book

The Living Dead

Switched Off, Zoned Out - The Shocking Truth About Official Life

David Bolchover
Capstone, 2005

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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

With wry British wit, David Bolchover skewers life in large corporations and exposes the extent of a phenomenon he calls "the living dead:" the masses of employees who are disengaged from their work, unproductive and unmotivated. Bolchover’s account of his own experience of falling through the cracks of a corporate behemoth is hilarious. But far from being just an amusing caricature of life in big companies, his book is a thoughtful consideration of the economic costs of boredom and inefficiency. He suggests ways that companies - and national economies - need to evolve to address these problems. Corporate leaders interested in fully utilizing their human capital will find this book insightful. And, if you feel yourself slowly turning into a zombie in a business suit, Bolchover offers insight into how to breathe life into your career. getAbstract highly recommends this book to students of organizational behavior and anyone who has ever played computer solitaire at the office.

Summary

The Dead Walk Among Us

Large corporations have created conditions in which many employees show up at work every day, and accomplish little or nothing. Bureaucracy and organizational inefficiency have created a whole class of people - "the living dead" - who are bored to tears in their jobs and contribute very little to their company’s progress. Consider these numbers:

  • 14.6 - The percentage of U.S. workers who visit nonwork-related Web sites "constantly" while at the office.
  • 8.3 - The number of hours an average employee spends weekly visiting such sites.
  • 7.9 million - How many U.S. workers visited dating sites while at work in 2002.
  • 70 - The percentage of their traffic that pornographic Web sites receive between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
  • 56.3 - The percentage of U.S. workers who "send up to five personal e-mails" daily.
  • 25 million - The number of days that employees faked illness in order to take a day off from work in the U.K. in 2003.
  • 25 - The percentage of Europeans who have napped in their offices.
  • 148,000,000,000 - The estimated dollar cost of hangovers to the U.S. economy.

These numbers indicate...

About the Author

David Bolchover is a former insurance executive and the author of the best-selling book The 90-Minute Manager, a compendium of advice derived from sports managers. His articles on business and management have appeared in major British newspapers, including The Times.

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