Book Reviews
Building a Culture of Respect: Managing Bullying at Work.
Noreen Tehrani (2001) (Ed.)
London: Taylor & Francis.
ISBN: 0 415 246 474 (hardback)
ISBN: 0 415 246 482 (paperback)
Written within the ‘Issues in Occupational Health’ series, this book presents academic and practical understandings of workplace bullying and possible solutions. A broad range of authors, each with well-established expertise in their area, contributed chapters. These include: Diane Beal; Cary L. Cooper; Neil Crawford; Helge Hoel; Claire Lawrence; Patricia Leighton; Chris Manning; Tom Mellish; Brigid Proctor; Steve Rains; Michael Scott; Steven Stradling; Noreen Tehrani; and Vivienne Walker.
Sometimes
dry, technical, and grounded in strong evidence, and sometimes
inspiring, easily accessible, and drawing on relevant practical
experience, the book’s authors approach workplace bullying
from an array of perspectives, and with varying styles. Although
each chapter can be read on its own, making this an ideal
reference book, the text progresses naturally from chapter
to chapter to form a coherent whole. Beginning with a general
consideration of the nature of workplace bullying, leading
into a discussion of the problematic nature of tackling this
bullying, ‘Building a Culture of Respect’ follows
with an examination of the legal obligation of organisations
to adopt a preventative stance on bullying in the workplace.
The book’s authors then present a number of examples
of organisations attempting to ‘build a culture of respect’,
and provide practical advice on how the more challenging difficulties
can be anticipated and overcome. The final chapter concludes
by drawing together the book’s themes and arguments into
a more general understanding within which to approach workplace
bullying.
Created
explicitly for an audience with expertise and authority (i.e.
organisational management, unions, human resources managers,
lawyers, general practitioners, occupational health psychologists,
and counsellors), this book would be less appropriate as a
resource for the individuals directly involved in the bullying
or for a peer support network. The more academic reader will
also note that authors of ‘Building a Culture of Respect’
only refer to texts falling within the behavioural and cognitive
psychology paradigms, perhaps unaware of recent social constructionist
work on the topic of bullying. Otherwise, this book is comprehensive
in both the audience it seeks to inform, and the knowledge
on which it draws.
On the
whole, bringing together a wealth of current understanding,
this book would be a strong beginning point for any organisation
seeking to uncover, understand, and prevent bullying at work.
Rowan Hotham-Gough.
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