| | |  | Career Books | Home » » Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job | | | | | | | Description: | | We’ve all worked with someone “difficult,” someone who could always be trusted to blow up to space out or do or say something wildly inappropriate. As it happens, those of us who concluded “the guy’s just nuts” were right: a fair number of those impossible-to-get-along-with employees actually do have full-fledged personality disorders. In Toxic Coworkers, the authors help us to recognize a variety of common personality traits and disorders, understand how they come about, and learn to develop effective strategies for dealing with them. So the next time the narcissist who runs the front desk is bugging you, or you need to squeeze a favor out of the schizoid who handles inventory, you’ll know exactly what to do.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Alan Cavaiola PhD | | Paperback:
| 207 pages | | Publisher:
| New Harbinger Publications | | Publication Date:
| January 15, 2000 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1572242191 | | Product Length:
| 9.14 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.02 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.49 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.66 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.65 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 24 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 24 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 44 found the following review helpful:
 Good inventory of disorders...Feb 24, 2005
By Paul D. Rasmussen Jr.
...as they manifest themselves at the office. You'll definitely see some of the traits and behaviors described in the people you're working with. But... when it comes to coping with these types, as the title promises, I found the book short on practical methods for dealing with problem people. In some cases, the books states there's little or nothing that can be done about jerks on the job.
38 of 41 found the following review helpful:
 Dealing with Dysfunctional CoworkersNov 02, 2004
By Andrea A. Russell
"dr_russell"
This easily and quickly read book should be helpful to the reader who struggles with a boss, coworker or subordinate. In almost every workplace, there is one person whose behavior generates more negative attention than most others around him (or her). The toxic coworker we all experience at one time or another already has a gun; while we can't change that person, we certainly want to avoid giving her any bullets. Toxic Coworkers can help you understand that person and take appropriate actions that will not contribute further to the time- and attention-consuming behaviors that seem to make everyone around her miserable.
While not all the advice offered is research-based, as a Clinician familiar with coaching supervisors and coworkers to deal with problem personalities, the authors' descriptions of personalities and behaviors are accurate. I believe most readers will instantly recognize their problem-personality type from the descriptions based on the DSM-IV and the authors' experiences.
Cavaiola and Lavender advise against waiting for management to act; instead, they propose that readers arm themselves with the information and tactics that can protect themselves and their families from personality-disordered individuals on the job. I couldn't agree more. The authors repeatedly counsel readers to avoid taking the toxic-worker's actions personally and remind us all that we are not stuck in a hostile work enviroment. This book encourages the reader to take actions for self-protection and personal boundaries rather than to change the other person.
These two-hundred pages are cluttered with a number of typographical errors. I hope readers will allow themselves to ignore these errors in favor of gaining insight into themselves and others.
21 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 TOXIC COWORKERS - A MUST-HAVE IF YOU WORKOct 11, 2005
By Sue L. Whitehead
This book is absolutely the best guide I have seen for helping a working person deal with those people who just can't be dealt with at work. It goes into detail about Personality Disorder characteristics and how to deal with people who have a personality disorder, from the prospective of the co-worker, manager, and subordinate. It also covers other types of mental problems in addition to personality disorders. It really helped me in the area of giving real background information and vocabulary in order for me to let my manager know exactly what one of my subordinates was like. It gave a me a good handle on how best to deal with this "toxic co-worker". Even though I am not able to keep his problem from negatively impacting the work area completely, at least I have the peace of mind that it is his problem and not my imagination running wild!
18 of 20 found the following review helpful:
A must have...Nov 01, 2000
I took my first managerial postition and a few months ago and was aware of an ongoing situation with a few of my co-workers who were now my responsibilty. Toxic Co-workers laid out a variety of disfunctional personality types but more importantly described how to deal with them in layman's terms. I can see this book as a staple for anyone in today's fast paced work environment that has to deal with a Toxic Co-Worker! It has helped me tremendously.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Excellent "Handbook" for navigating toxic personalitiesJun 30, 2008
By Charlotte
"Toxic Coworkers" was an easy read, and it delivers what the cover promises: "How to Deal with Dysfunctional People." Covering all the major players- all 10 of the personality disorders described by the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), it is an excellent resource for identifying exactly what type of problematic personality you might be dealing with, allowing the reader to then focus their search for additional literature pertaining to the specific personality disorder at hand.
Not only do the authors provide realistic and DO-ABLE solutions and strategies, their advice is organized by both which disorder you are dealing with, as well as the reader's relationship with the personality-disordered individual. (i.e. Boss/Administrator, Coworker, or Subordinate.) Additionally the book can be used as a guide for dealing with other toxic personalities in your life- a "parent" can substitute for the boss, a sibling or neighbor for "coworker", or a child for the "subordinate."
If you already know which disorder you are up against, you can jump to the appropriate chapter and start learning right away. I was able to start implementing solutions for dealing with a personality-disordered relative the same day!
This publisher needs to fire the editors of this book, as there were many small typos and grammatical errors, but don't judge the book on this alone. I am an educated adult with a background in scientific research, and found the authors to back up their ideas with solid information and strategies... that are already proving successful for me.
As a side-note, if you are seeking information about sociopaths (Antisocial Personality Disorder), I highly recommend this book along with The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout. If you are seeking help in dealing with a Narcissistic personality, I again highly recommend both this book, along with Joan Lackhar's How to Talk to a Narcissist. Both Stout and Lackhar offer understandable insight and sound advice backed by strong research and building on both accepted literature from experts who have come before them the past 50 years, as well as more recently discovered data.
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