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Jerry B. Harvey is a professor in the field of management science. His essays concern various management issues such as backstabbing, disloyalty, fraud, and specific work scenarios. His literature language is full of metaphors, fables, and a mixture of stories. He has been a consultant in the areas of religion, education, military, government, and private sector. Currently, he researches moral, ethical, and spiritual issues concerning any organization. This book is deals with various challenges that a person in management will experience from the employees. The issues arise from different angles of their social life. The book has used different styles to bring out organizational behaviors in management (Harvey, 1999).
Summary
The book establishes the part a person plays in their own downfall in management. It elaborates the moral, ethical, and spiritual issues that people face at the workplace in the modern world. The author uses philosophical scenarios and humor to explain the organizational behavior that management faces from its workers. The twelve different essays by Harvey reveal the meaning of the title of the book. The book explains that a person is backstabbed in secret, because the individuals do not intend to show him or her their face for criticism or to expose their identity. The author encourages individuals to be aware of backstabbers, because it is a dynamic of a group of workers. Further, backstabbing is a healthy part of an organization, which enables it to function more efficiently. The metaphor of Judas and the last supper scenario is critically discussed and used to show the way backstabbing can be seen. The book discourages those who think a workplace is a safe place to manage. The reasons being that there are different persons at a workplace who are from different backgrounds and of different motives. The book encourages an honest and open discussion concerning poor office behaviors that may arise (Harvey, 1999).
Authors Arguments
The book presents a major opinion and arguments concerning management in workplaces. Its purpose is to bring out the different difficulties that the management faces from workers. The book elaborates how the employees and management can avoid backstabbing. Also, it highlights how the management can solve cases of backstabbing or poor behavior in a workplace. In every essay of his book, the author brings out various points (Harvey, 1999).
Harvey argues that a place of work is like a political scene. He elaborates all this by the manner in which the workers from different groups communicate. These groups, just like in politics, have their different views and goals. There are those which will support the policies of the management while others will criticize it. The political scenarios make the management aware of all the pending outcomes which they have to solve in any possible manner. The author suggests an open and honest discussion between the management and an employee. He also provides the approaches to tackle any poor organizational behavior that may arise in the workplace (Harvey, 1999).
Backstabbing as an issue is brought out through his arguments. Most persons who backstab do so in secrecy to avoid being identified and punished. The management can fail to handle backstabbing if it is a group thing among workers. The author argues that backstabbers are mostly influenced by their moral, spiritual, and ethical issues. These three aspects determine the type of the organizational behavior. Harvey elaborates that poor office behavior can be addressed through open and honest discussions. These discussions are to be instituted by the management to curb poor and hostile behavior in the workplace. The workers have to be understood individually because of their backgrounds. Every issue should be treated differently as there are different backgrounds and beliefs. The authors mixture of stories and metaphors concerning management helps in clarifying the behaviors of workers (Harvey, 1999).
Evaluation
Harvey discusses the issue of office politics in his book. This though has left out some other aspects which might also affect the persons involvement into the office politics. Apart from the moral, ethical, and spiritual aspects, we also should consider financial status of workers and policies of the management. In places where workers get minimal salaries, there is a tendency of office politics to engage with the management. In places where the policies are harsh towards employees, they tend to create more politics in the office. Such factors have been sidelined by the author by only giving his own perspective. He negatively regards the issue of backstabbing. Backstabbing can be positive in the scenarios where the management is forced to implement good policies. The management will be afraid of the system failure and thus will be forced to come to an agreement with workers.
On the other hand, the arguments of the author leave more questions than provide answers. Most management personnel would require solutions on how to handle such negative force within their supervision. The solutions are provided in the book though to a limited work scenarios.
Harley has brought out different arguments he experienced to offer solutions to the challenges of work management. He has raised issues concerning poor behavior organization, backstabbing, and work politics. His arguments on poor behavior in the organization have been proved by social conditions in which people are brought up. The issues of morals, finances, ethics, and spiritual matters have to be incorporated to handle such behavior. Further, backstabbing as a management issue has been emphasized by the Judas story from the Bible to show how workers can treat their employers in case of a change in options.