Working With Difficult People [Mass Market Paperback]

Muriel Solomon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

Everyone's work day is filled with them--people who frustrate, impede, maneuver, undermine, plot, connive, and whine. This top communications consultant details specific techniques for handling all of them. Easy-to-follow scenarios for every situation are featured in this handy guide.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Have you ever agonized over how to handle a bully in the workplace--with pie-in-the-face retribution or a saintly smile? "The 100 people you'll meet on these pages," Muriel Solomon teases in her introduction to this hard-hitting and entertaining guidebook, "should be founding members of E.O.O.--Equal Opportunity Offenders. They show no bias. They are as obnoxious to their bosses as they are to their bookkeepers." But the teasing segues into practical advice for those seeking to do their work in--if not kind circumstances--at least unthreatening ones.

Designed as an at-a-glance reference tool, this 10-part guide describes 10 kinds of culprits, from tyrants, bullies, and sadists to the pushy and presumptuous to connivers and camouflagers. Each type is first defined, allowing for a peek inside the heads of both victim and victimizer and offering a helpful strategy for facilitating tactful dialogues that serves as excellent advice for diffusing workplace tensions and hostilities.

You may recognize these types as thorns in your side or--worse--real threats to your sense of well-being and work performance. This reference book packs a wallop, not only restoring your self-esteem but allowing you to create better relationships with the people at work who make your life miserable. Working with Difficult People may not disarm the despicable, but it will supply you with the ammunition you need to put the control back in your camp. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Muriel Solomon has been working in communications for over 35 years. She teaches to companies throughout the USA, and wrote a syndicated column for the "Miami Herald "for many years.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Press; Rev Exp edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735202915
• ISBN-13: 978-0735202917
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #225,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Business & Investing > Business Life > Etiquette

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good understanding for what motivates difficult people, January 19, 2002

By 

"noellefong" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Working with Difficult People (Paperback)

I bought this book when it first came out over a decade ago. It's a classic (or should be). It covers the behavior in groups (e.g. "Pushy/Presumtious People", "Exploitive People") and further divides each group into how it is manifested in Bosses, Peers, and Suborbdinates. The author is very perceptive in describing the patterns, what insecurities drive people to behave that way, and methods for dealing with them. The advice is very practical and appropriate to the case. Sometimes it's on the order of "give them some attention to get a return", sometimes it's "define your boundaries" and sometimes it's "this is toxic, walk away."

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Read "Winning with Difficult People" instead, April 17, 2002

By 

Michellea David "tx2cagirl" (Ladera Ranch, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Working with Difficult People (Paperback)

Try reading "Winning with Difficult people" instead of this book. This book did tell me about certain types of people and how to deal with them, but it didn't go into deal about why they are the way they are to others.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book for Dealing With People At Work, May 29, 2005

By 

Michael Taylor "Michael Taylor" (Indian Trail NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Working With Difficult People (Hardcover)

Solomon (not King Solomon, but does have some of his wisdom) has written a good book for dealing with workers of three different classes: bosses, colleagues, and subordinates. The book is also broken down into 10 major areas in dealing with all three types:

1. Hostile/Angry.
2. Pushy/Presumptuous.
3. Deceitful/Underhanded.
4. Shrewd/Manipulative.
5. Rude/Abusive.
6. Egotistical/Self-Centered.
7. Proscrastinating/Vacillating.
8. Rigid/Obstinate.
9. Tight-Lipped/Taciturn.
10. Complaining/Critical.

Each section also contains:

1. A brief definition of the person and the personality characteristics typically displayed.
2. Hypothetically what you may be thinking of that person.
3. What the person hypothetically may be thinking about you and the work place.
4. A strategy for dealing with that person.
5. Tactical talk - suggested actual words you may use.
6. Closing tips on what else you can do.

I enjoyed the narrative's smooth flow and practical advice. However, I sometimes believe the author treated the situation and offender with kid gloves. In today's work environment, bosses, colleagues, and subordinates have to be decisive and firm with problem employess who threaten to disrupt a work environment that is already tense due to the nature of work and long hours put in by many employees. Sometimes you just have to either let people go or put them in a situation where they will have to adjust their behavior to get along!

I would recommend the book as a primer, not the last word on workplace relations. There are other ones out there (John Maxwell, Max Dupree, Larry Burkett, etc.) who may give more substantative advice on dealing with people in the work place. Still a good read.