Why Work Is Weird

by Jerry Connor, Lee Sears

Employees who find work frustrating and oftentimes downright weird will enjoy this book. which takes a serious but humorous look at the issues that make people unhappy and provides insight into what motivates workplace behavior. Loss of identity, individuality, and integrity at work; work–life imbalance; and the impact of power and politics in organizations are just some of the topics explored. Utilizing a character called the "Work Doctor," these issues are examined and explained in a series of cases modeled around a patient–doctor dialogue. The patients' "diseases" include being a workplace chameleon, a jargon junkie, a repentant workaholic, and an addictive competitor.

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jarkko Laine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why Work is Weird makes many good points about workplace culture and the things that don't quite work as they should in the corporate life. Nothing too new, though.

That said, I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone -- there are so many better books out there. While the content of the book is decent, the writing style put me off. The book is written as a story where a fictional "workdoctor" takes care of his patients solving their work related problems. I don't usually like mixing non-fiction with fiction, as it easily makes the book sound childish. The same is true with "Why Work is Weird". Unfortunately.