The People Business: Psychological Reflections of Management

An alphabetically organized guide to workplace psychology

Adrian Furnham, draws upon psychological reflections to present a critical and challenging account of perceived wisdom and management fads. In this book he scrutinizes such subjects and themes as anxiety management, authenticity, the dark side of gift-giving, modern management styles, performance appraisal systems, and work life balance.

In this unusual book about the relationship between psychology and management, Adrian Furnham does not present a management system based on psychological principles, but rather a collection of observations arranged in loose alphabetical order, beginning with "the aging workforce" and ending with "workplace romantic relationships." Furnham says his purpose is "to educate in an entertaining way." For the most part, he succeeds. The book resembles an old-fashioned commonplace book, full of random ideas, quotations and lists. Some are striking, as when Furnham notes the similarities between CEOs and convicts - both tend to be paranoid, narcissistic and antisocial. Others seem not particularly earth-shattering, but no doubt time, mood and circumstances will determine the degree of relevance or utility readers find in any particular observation. We suggest dipping into this material occasionally for inspiration, rather than reading the book cover-to-cover.