Bringing together contributors from a wide range of disciplines, countries and perspectives this book provides a thought-provoking overview of the human dimension of the workplace. It covers workplace problems as well as potential solutions. Essential reading for anyone committed to making the workplace a humane and effective place.
About the Author: SETH ALLCORN, PhD is the Vice President for Business and Finance for the University of New England. Dr Allcorn has over twenty years of experience working with physicians, hospitals and academic medical centres. He has served as Associate and Assistant Dean for three schools of medicine and as a medicine department administrator at a fourth. He has worked for twenty-five years as a part-time and full-time organizational consulting specializing in the management of change, strategic planning and organizational restructuring. He is the author or co-author of twelve books and over sixty papers that have appeared in scholarly and practitioner journals. He is a founding member of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations. GIORGOS BITHYMITRIS is a PhD candidate in social policy at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. His main research interests concern the political sociology of trade union movements, labour history and organized interests in contemporary Greece. JOHN BOTTOMLEY is Director of Creative Ministries Network, an agency of the Uniting Church in Australia. After a congregational ministry in Melbourne's outer suburbs, his experience as a researcher for the union Shop Committee in a ship-building yard galvanized his interest in workplace issues. This interest has developed into a concern for addressing the trauma caused by the deep-seated violence in the way work is shaped by and shapes both our free-market economy and our political system of government. John seeks to integrate the arts and faith with a commitment to personal and social transformation for healing, justice and reconciliation. SUKI DESAI currently works as a senior lecturer at the University of Hull. She has experience of working in multidisciplinary mental health settings including hospital, community-based teams and the voluntary sector. Suki has also previously worked as regional director for the Mental Health Act Commission and has sat on Mental Health Review Tribunals as a lay member. PETER GILBERT is Professor of Social Work and Spirituality, Staffordshire University, NIMHE Project Lead on Spirituality, and Visiting Professor with both Birmingham and Solihull NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Worcester. Peter is keen to ensure the integration of theory with practice. He has co-authored a training pack on Supervision and Leadership with Neil Thompson, and is the author of Leadership: Being Effective and Remaining Human (2005) and 'The Value of Everything (2003). Peter and his co-editors published: Spirituality, Values and Mental Health, in 2007. He is currently working on a position paper for the Social Care Institute for Excellence on leadership. BRIAN HEATH is principal lecturer in occupational and public health at Glynd?r University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, for whom he is also a registered tutor and examiner. In addition to lecturing, Brian has consulted extensively in a range of industries, including aerospace, construction, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, process manufacturing, health care and engineering The focus of this work has been on health and welfare in the workplace and on health protection systems. VASILLIS IOAKIMIDIS PhD is a lecturer in social work at Liverpool Hope University. His main research interests include international social work, history of Greek social welfare and radical approaches in social work theory and practice. Vasillis actively participates in the Social Work Action Network, a radical social work movement that opposes managerialism and promotes social work theory and practice based on social justice. IOLO MADOC-JONES began his working life as a probation officer in the North West of England, working with a diverse client group, many of whom had problems in relation to alcohol and drug misuse. He then moved into academia and is currently principal lecturer in criminal justice at Glynd?r University in North Wales. He has published widely on issues related to justice and social inclusion and is currently completing his PhD looking at language issues in the criminal justice system. He has had articles published in the British Journal of Social Work, the Howard Journal and Child and Family Social Work. BERNARD MOSS is currently Professor of Social Work and Spirituality at Staffordshire University, where he has been teaching social work students for 15 years. He has a multidisciplinary background, having previously been a probation officer, family mediator, university chaplain and faith community leader. He has published widely on the theme of contemporary spirituality. His teaching excellence has been recognized by the Higher Education Academy with the award of a prestigious Senior Fellowship and a National Teaching Fellowship. His latest multidisciplinary book is Communication Skills in Health and Social Care (2008) published by Sage. His website is at: www.bernardmoss.org.uk. GURNAM SINGH (PhD Warwick) is Co-Director of the Applied Research Group in Social Inclusion and principal lecturer in social work at Coventry University where he has been working since 1993. Prior to this he worked as a professional social worker in Bradford. He has been, and continues to be, actively involved in community-based activism and is a passionate advocate for social justice and human rights. He has published widely on the subject of 'racism', anti-racism and anti-oppressive practice. Linked to this is a deep commitment to critical pedagogy and popular education and emancipatory research. SIU-MAN NG is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration, and Associate Director of the Centre on Behavioral Health, The University of Hong Kong. Ted C.T. Fong and Xiaolu Wang are research co-ordinator and postdoctoral fellow respectively at the Centre on Behavioral Health, the University of Hong Kong. Their common research interest is on management of nonprofit organizations, especially in relation to combating burnout, enhancing work engagement, meaning making and spirituality in the workplace. They have conducted extensive studies on the well-being of care staff working in rehabilitation services in Hong Kong. MARY TEHAN has held different positions in hospice/palliative/end-of-life care and social/restorative justice areas over many years. Her Master's in Public Health study has centred on compassionate leadership in the workplace in relation to employees diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or employed carers of a person with a life-threatening illness, including bereaved carers. Mary is also an educator in a public health/health promoting palliative care approach to spiritual care/grief, loss and bereavement. Mary is a member of a wide range of professional associations and vice chair of the board of Creative Ministries Network. She has established her own consultancy service: Ultimacy. SUE THOMPSON is a director of Avenue Consulting Ltd, a company offering training and consultancy around workplace well-being issues. She has experience as a nurse, social worker, mentor and educator and has written, or co-written, several books, book chapters and articles, including; The Social Work Companion (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) and The Critically Reflective Practitioner (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). She also has publications relating to ageing, spirituality and loss and grief and is currently involved in cross-cultural research into the significance of reciprocity in the care of dependent older people.