From Difficult to Disturbed: Understanding and Managing Dysfunctional Employees

Chapter 10. What a Job: Managing Dysfunctional Employees

This chapter and Chapter 11 lay out a program for managing problem employees that cuts across the personality types and diagnostic categories you’re already familiar with from reading this book so far. Indeed, after so many chapters on symptoms and syndromes, it may be hard to remember that people can cause trouble at work without necessarily having a formal diagnosis or psychological disorder.

Many of the ideas and applications presented in this chapter were developed through my experience working with law enforcement and public safety agencies where employee misconduct can have serious local, regional, and national repercussions in terms of expensive legal action, civil unrest, and loss ...