Description: For many companies, the past decade has been marked by a sense of turbulence and redefinition. The growing role of information technologies and service businesses has prompted companies to reconsider how they are structured and even what business they are in. These changes have also affected how people work, what skills they need, and what kind of careers they expect. One critical change in how people work, argues Larry Hirschhorn, is that they are expected to bring more of themselves psychologically to the job. To facilitate this change, it is necessary to create a new culture of authority -- one in which superiors acknowledge their dependence on subordinates, subordinates can challenge superiors, and both are able to show their vulnerability.

The first chapters of this book examine the covert processes by which people caught between the old and new culture of authority neither suppress nor express their feelings. The case studies of this process are instructive and moving. The book then explores how organizations can create a culture of openness in which people become more psychologically present.

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