Euphemism, Spin, and the Crisis in Organizational Life

Subjects:

• Business » Industrial Organization
• Business » Management
• Business » Human Resources/Personnel Management
• Psychology » Social Psychology

Reviews:

• [T]rainers can use it to consider the ways we can positively contribute to our organizations....Just in time for you to prepare for the Millennium.
  —Training Trends

• Endorsement From Guy B. Adams
  Professor of Public Administration
  University of Missouri-Columbia: [This] is a profoundly disturbing book, but one that is essential reading for anyone who wishes to begin the hard work of creating healthy organizations in which people can labor productively and generate meaning and value for their own lives and those of others....Stein sees in euphemism and spin the face of organizational evil. This fine book provides an illuminating analysis of the psychodynamics of euphemism, opening up whole new areas of inquiry into the rampant psychological violence we do to each other in the workplace, which is the crisis that Stein correctly identifies for us. For readers who want a deeper level of understanding of organizations and who seek answers beyond tomorrow and the next quarter's profits, this book has wisdom.
• Endorsement From Deward E. Walker, Jr., Ph.D
  Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies
  University of Colorado: Once again Howard Stein has forced us to honestly confront the consequences of downsizing in the health care industry. He has taken us beyond the denial through euphemism of what is really happening and what down-sizing means in human terms. For Howard Stein it is not the budgetary bottom line that matters most, but instead the human costs that must be given primary consideration in the down-sizing so often associated with managed care.
• Endorsement From David P. Levine
  Graduate School of International Studies
  University of Denver: [This is] an important contribution not only to the study of organizational life, but to understanding hidden dimensions of our institutions and culture more generally. In reading the book, I came to see how the search for euphemism so common in organizational communication represents a flight from reality that can have the most damaging consequences for the health of organizations and of those who work in them. It is a vivid work, and one I highly recommend for all those who experience the frustrating and confusing mode of communication typical in organizations. Confusion is so much a part of our work experience, yet so little is written that dispels rather than adding to it. Professor Stein's work is the exception to this rule. He sheds light where others leave us in the dark.
• Endorsement From Harry L. Moore, Ph.D
  Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Ethics
  St. Gregory's University
  University of Central Oklahoma
  University of Oklahoma: Dr. Stein has not only captured and defined the truths within the corporate world but within our worldwide culture(s). I find his book honest, disturbing, saddening and also quite inspiring. ...I find the content and truth too valuable not to incorporate [in my syllabus].

Table of Contents:

• Foreword by Seth Allcorn
• Introduction
• A Survey of the Work of Euphemism
• Death Imagery, Euphemism, and the Experience of Organizational Downsizing
• The Language of Euphemism and the World of Managed Care: Some Thoughts on Doctors, Patients, Organizations, Ethics, and Culture
• Trauma and its Euphemisms
• Conclusions: Can We Transcend Euphemisms in Organizations, and Beyond?
• Bibliography
• Index