Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job [Paperback]

Alan Cavaiola Ph.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2000

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Toxic Coworkers helps us make sense of work relationships that defy logic and consume our day. It is the perfect tool to help us understand and manage difficult people, the result of which is increased productivity and decreased frustration on the job.”
– Heidi Remak, M.A., CEAP, Manager, EAP, Lucent Technologies

“In the tradition of Robert Ringer’s Winning Through Intimidation and Wayne Dyer’s Your Erroneous Zones, Cavaiola and Lavender have made a big leap forward in showing how important psychological insights and principles can be readily applied to everyday problems in the workplace. From now on I’ll be handing frustrated employees, administrators, and executives a copy of Toxic Coworkers, an dI’ll feel confident that they will have a powerful tool for dealing with the dysfunctional people and warped behavior they encounter on the job.”
—Dr. Robert J. Phillips, President, Corporate Extension Services, Providing Organizational Development, Team-building, Personnel Problem Resolutions, and Executive Coaching

About the Author

Alan Cavaiola, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Counseling at Monmouth University where he is a member of the graduate faculty. He is a licensed psychologist, a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor, and a licensed professional counselor. In addition to his teaching, Cavaiola has been a practicing psychologist since 1988. He is coauthor of Toxic Coworkers, Assessment and Treatment of DWI Offenders and A Practical Guide to Crisis Intervention.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572242191
• ISBN-13: 978-1572242197
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #98 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Decision-Making & Problem Solving

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good inventory of disorders..., February 24, 2005

By 

Paul D. Rasmussen Jr. (Pittsburgh PA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job (Paperback)

...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 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dealing with Dysfunctional Coworkers, November 1, 2004

By 

Andrea A. Russell "dr_russell" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job (Paperback)

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.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOXIC COWORKERS - A MUST-HAVE IF YOU WORK, October 11, 2005

By 

Sue L. Whitehead (Spartanburg, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job (Paperback)

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!