Discussing the Undiscussable: A Guide to Overcoming Defensive Routines in the WorkplaceISBN: 978-0-7879-8632-2
Paperback
288 pages
September 2007, Jossey-Bass
This is a Print-on-Demand title. It will be printed specifically to fill your order. Please allow an additional 10-15 days delivery time. The book is not returnable.
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Since his 1990 landmark book Overcoming Organizational
Defenses, Chris Argyris has extensively researched and written
about how well-meaning, smart people create vicious cycles of
defensive behavior to protect themselves from embarrassment and
threat. In Discussing the Undiscussable, Bill Noonan
enlivens the scholarly work of Chris Argyris through the use of
reflective exercises and easy-to-read chapters that illuminate the
basic human experience endemic to the creation of defensive
routines. This book offers hope for altering organizational
defensive routines by leveraging the greatest opportunity for
change—the way we think and act.
Discussing the Undiscussable provides a set of practical “how to do” exercises for detecting, surfacing, and discussing organizational defensive routines in a safe and productive way. The combination of text, business fable, and interactive and reflective exercises is versatile in its application to both individuals and groups. The companion DVD contains video vignettes of the book’s business fable where the actors model both defensive routines and virtuous cycles of behavior. Readers will instantly recognize what has long been going on in the workplace, and will be able to develop the skills to talk about it productively.