The Office Survival Guide

by Marilyn Puder-York

Diffuse conflict, avoid negativity, and create a productive workplace


In The Office Survival Guide, clinical psychologist and executive coach Marilyn Puder-York offers practical solutions to the common problems that can ruin a career or simply make office life miserable. This book includes examples from real-life offices thatyou can adapt to your situation, and shows you how to "manage up" to problematic supervisors, "manage down" to difficult subordinates, and "manage across" to troublesome peers. In no time at all, you'll be better able to deal with

* Office politics * Crisis-management situations * Passive-aggressive colleagues * Corporate restructures * Mixed signals from superiors * New technologies in the office

"Every employee wants to know what are the secrets to getting ahead.  Marilyn Puder-York nails it with practical, how-to tips, ideas and solutions.  This should be a MUST read whether you are 26 or 46."--Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines

"A real find!! Sound and powerful advice for surviving office difficulties."--Maggie Gagliardi, Senior Vice President, Human Resources American Express Company

"Marilyn Puder-York has made an extremely positive impact on our ability to retain talented people in our organization."--Douglas Stern, President/CEO, United Media

Genres: Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 2005

Reviews

[Leslie Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book alongside several others workplace management and it didn't really stand out to me as unique or different at the time. However, upon review, I think there is more good information in here than I realized. The author presents an important idea of analyzing your own responses alongside your workplace situations to determine how your typical responses will and won't be good for you as you navigate the office. At times, some of the information feels dated and overly simplistic, but the advice is sound throughout.

I think this is the kind of book you have on your shelf as a reference for when things get tough. Great for calming your mind, giving you a better perspective, and some clear direction on how to approach a problem. One I'll definitely put on my "to buy" list!

[IDolciLibri · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very corporate view that seems to take away acknowledgement of the importance of a corporation seeing that their employees are workers. Maybe it is just a product of the times, or of personal biases, but I felt, while reading it, that I would not employ many of the techniques suggested as the environments suggested were so toxic that it would feel dehumanizing to engage in the system further.

It did have some useful information in it but I have accessed those suggestions through books that I found far more helpful than this one, thereby making it so I would not suggest this book, but another one that is related.