Rude Awakenings : Overcoming the Civility Crisis in the Workplace (Hardcover)

by Giovinella Gonthier (Author), Kevin Morrissey (Author) "You get into your car on a dark, cold, blustery winter morning for the long commute to work..." (more)
Key Phrases: civility program, civility training, civility message, United States, Civility Associates, Giovinella Gonthier (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
While bad manners aren't often cited as a workplace "failure," they do affect productivity and service at the office. Rude Awakenings: Overcoming the Civility Crisis in the Workplace addresses impolite business behavior, such as interrupting others, setting impossible deadlines, sending crabby e-mails and bullying co-workers. Author Giovinella Gonthier, a former ambassador, offers suggestions for various situations, from conferences and meetings to restrooms and copy machine areas. Although the likely audience for her book is managers who have to deal with impoliteness (will ill-mannered employees really pick this book up?), the tips are valuable for anyone working in an office environment.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Gonthier presents her case in a well-written, humanistic manner ... gives even the best-behaved workers something to think about." -USA Today -- USA Today, 6/09/02

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Business; 1 edition (March 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 079315197X
• ISBN-13: 978-0793151974
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #576,408 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye-Opening Book, July 8, 2002

By	Ohioan - See all my reviews

Civility is profitable for everyone - employers, employees, customers, and society as a whole. And incivility is harmful and unprofitable to everyone. That is the message of this book, and it is a message well presented and well supported. As a retired operations VP for a firm dealing exclusively with Fortune 500 companies, I was amazed at the insights Gonthier has into the lack of civility so common in today's workplace and into the causes of that lack of civility. And as a consumer and a customer, I was impressed by the breadth of her understanding of the stress and rudeness we all face in today's world and the straightforwardness of her approach to addressing and reducing those problems. While she does have a thorough and extremely helpful chapter on specific breaches of etiquette, this is really not a book on business etiquette. It is about how profitable it would be for all of us if we all treated each other with basic respect. She has very helpful ideas for implementing programs in the workplace to create a civil environment that is conducive to retaining the best workers, retaining customers, and building profitability.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good history but not prescriptive for individuals, July 19, 2004

By	J. I. Hritz (Ann Arbor) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rude Awakening does an excellent job of relating how the rise of incivility occurred. Where it falls short is in providing options for those of us on the opposite end of inappropriate behavior. If you're not in a position to institute policy revisions at your workplace, Rude Awakenings will be a frustrating read. Gonthier and Morrissey are targeting human resources and management NOT individuals with their remedies.