Janice Langan Fox – författare

Written by researchers who are true experts in the field of each occupation, this comprehensive compendium reviews stress in a wide range of jobs including transport, education, farming, fishing, oil rig drilling, finance, law enforcement, fire fighting, entrepreneurship, music, social services, prisons, sports, and health including surgery, internship, dentistry, nursing, paramedics, psychiatry and social work. Several occupations such as oil rig drilling are reviewed; these jobs have always been stressful but have received little attention by researchers, and only now receive more focus due to the Bay of Mexico accident. Other occupations demand more of our attention because there have been substantial technological changes in particular jobs, such as in dentistry, nursing, and surgery.

This lucid and insightful compendium will be a source of inspiration for those in the helping professions and all those individuals working in the industries described in the book. More specifically, the Handbook will strongly appeal to human resource specialists, psychologists, occupational health and safety professionals, managers, nurses and therapists. Written in highly accessible language, it will also provide rich reading to lay audiences including job incumbents themselves, as well as specialists in industry and academia. Academics and postgraduate students of business, management, and psychology will find plenty of detailed information regarding stress associated with occupations.

In more recent times, the essence of the gatekeeper''s role has moved to the ''boundary spanner'' - a systems thinker who understands the specific needs and interests of the organization and whose greatest asset is their ability to move across and through the formal and informal features of the modern organization.

There are many types of boundaries associated with an organization, for example, horizontal, (function and expertise), vertical (status, hierarchy), geographic, demographic, and stakeholder. Boundaries are "the defining characteristic of organizations and, boundary roles are the link between the environment and the organization" (Aldrich & Herker, 1977) with functions crucial to the effectiveness and success of the organization.

Despite being a critical success factor for an organization, beginning in the 1970s, the term - ''boundary spanning'' has had an intermittent research history: there has been no systematic body of research that has evolved over time. This book aims to invigorate, excite, and expand the literature on boundary spanning in a diverse range of disciplines such as sociology, organizational psychology, management, medicine, defence, health, social work, and community services. The book serves as the first collection of reviews on boundary spanning in organizations.

In more recent times, the essence of the gatekeeper''s role has moved to the ''boundary spanner'' - a systems thinker who understands the specific needs and interests of the organization and whose greatest asset is their ability to move across and through the formal and informal features of the modern organization.

There are many types of boundaries associated with an organization, for example, horizontal, (function and expertise), vertical (status, hierarchy), geographic, demographic, and stakeholder. Boundaries are "the defining characteristic of organizations and, boundary roles are the link between the environment and the organization" (Aldrich & Herker, 1977) with functions crucial to the effectiveness and success of the organization.

Despite being a critical success factor for an organization, beginning in the 1970s, the term - ''boundary spanning'' has had an intermittent research history: there has been no systematic body of research that has evolved over time. This book aims to invigorate, excite, and expand the literature on boundary spanning in a diverse range of disciplines such as sociology, organizational psychology, management, medicine, defence, health, social work, and community services. The book serves as the first collection of reviews on boundary spanning in organizations.

This Companion not only explores organizational dysfunction as it concerns individuals, it also examines broader issues of dysfunction and its effects with regards teams, managers and organizational systems. Lively discussion encompasses the symptoms of distress, illness, absenteeism, and inefficiency that point towards behavioural disorders and system-wide malfunction. From personality disorders to wars over ''territory'', the book chronicles and reveals the true nature of often hidden workplace problems including bullying, unethical behaviour, loss of trust, organizational deviance, cowardice, workaholism, negative humour and emotions, personality disorders, mismanagement, and malfunctioning performance and selection systems. So what can be done? Practical solutions to these dysfunctional phenomena are presented by international experts from a range of disciplinary backgrounds including management, psychology and economics.

This fascinating, highly original book will be of enormous interest to students, researchers, academics and practitioners across all sectors of business and management, human resource management in particular.