Problem Employees and Their Personalities: A Guide to Behaviors, Dynamics, and Intervention Strategies for Personnel Specialists

About the Book

An important contribution to the human resources literature, this book is written for personnel and training managers who need specific information on how to recognize and deal effectively with problem employees. Based on Martin's experience with hundreds of employees in a variety of work settings over a 22-year period, the volume describes a number of employee types and the overt/covert behaviors they manifest, explains the personality dynamics involved, and offers practical advice regarding intervention strategies that can be effectively used in dealing with these employees. Throughout, case studies are used to illustrate typical behaviors and possible solutions.

Today's employment climate generally precludes the use of personality tests on prospective employees, and problems often surface after the fact when termination may be difficult. Thus, Martin focuses particularly on how to work with such employees to help them understand the counterproductive nature of their work behavior and how to place them within the most productive organizational setting possible. Following several introductory chapters, each subsequent chapter is devoted to a particular type of problem employee--primadonna, rebel, backstabber, that's not my job, etc. The individual chapters combine case examples with a collective discussion of behaviors, dynamics, and intervention strategies offering the busy practitioner both a better understanding of certain employee behaviors and a framework by which to deal with these individuals within the job and organizational realm. The book also offers suggestions for recognizing disruptive personality types at the interview stage.

Table of Contents:

Assessment of the Behavior Problem
From Normal to Maladaptive: Our Propensity to Type and Categorize Behavior
The Young, the Middle-Aged, and the Seeking
Authoritarian and "Do It My Way"
Needing Reassurance, Support, and Agreement
Prima Donna
Complainers and Critics
Rebels, Fighters, and Activists
That's Not My Job, So I'll Pass the Buck and Work Less
Overly Affiliative and Optimistic
It's a Lousy Job, Underpaid, But I Need Work
The Territorialist
Dickey Birds and Pussycats
Mudslingers, Backstabbers, and Benign Saboteurs
Compulsive, Rigid, and Entrenched
In Search of Pygmalion
The Socially Insensitive and Other Behaviors
Considerations in the Management of Problem Employee Behaviors
Index

About the Author :
WILLIAM T. MARTIN is presently working in the human services area in Texas while continuing his writing. He has formerly held positions of Director of Psychological Services, Staff Psychologist, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Instructor in Human Resource Management and Assistant Administrator in the Mental Health and Mental Retardation settings. Other experience was in the private sector business and industry area. Martin wrote Motivation and Productivity in Public Sector Human Service Organizations published by Quorum Books, 1988.

Review :
?In Problem Employees and Their Personalities, author William T. Martin uses a psychological approach to help readers better understand and more effectively deal with "problem" employees. The book describes several employee types including the prima donna, the rebel, the back-stabber and those employees who always say "that's not my job." The book relies on case studies to illustrate typical behaviors and reasonable solutions. . . . He suggests ways for managers to help these employees understand that their behavior is disruptive to the workplace. He shows how problem employees can be placed in a work setting where they will be most productive. The book begins with two introductory chapters and then focuses on the difficult types of problem employees. Individual chapters each present a discussion of a particular behavior type, intervention strategies and a case study to give the discussion real life perspective. The book also offers tips on how to recognize disruptive personalities in the interviewing process.?-HRMagazine "In Problem Employees and Their Personalities, author William T. Martin uses a psychological approach to help readers better understand and more effectively deal with "problem" employees. The book describes several employee types including the prima donna, the rebel, the back-stabber and those employees who always say "that's not my job." The book relies on case studies to illustrate typical behaviors and reasonable solutions. . . . He suggests ways for managers to help these employees understand that their behavior is disruptive to the workplace. He shows how problem employees can be placed in a work setting where they will be most productive. The book begins with two introductory chapters and then focuses on the difficult types of problem employees. Individual chapters each present a discussion of a particular behavior type, intervention strategies and a case study to give the discussion real life perspective. The book also offers tips on how to recognize disruptive personalities in the interviewing process."-HRMagazine