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The natural hyena is humorously applied to the corporate counterpart, the Corporate Hyena, to explain individual and organisational survival behaviour in a changing workplace. This callous survival behaviour results in bullying and victimisation, unfair dismissals, downsizing and an increase in stress-related ailments, leaving a "trail of angst" while unemployment figures world-wide are soaring.
This book articulates the feelings, insecurities and anger of employees world-wide while the metaphor and the Corporate Hyena typologies are vividly described in colourful and entertaining narrative style with appropriate cartoons to illustrate the essence. The message is serious and definitely positive. It is all about spotting and outwitting the Corporate Hyena, and therefore this book is both revealing and uplifting. Empowered responses by individuals and a mind shift by the corporate sector and other organisations are needed to face the challenges of the Information Age. The social and corporate ecosystems are compared with the natural ecosystem to offer new insights and solutions from this perspective. Essentially, as part of the solution, readers are empowered to "spot and outwit them" and take control of their situation. The "casualties" of the changing workplace are addressed too. The authors tell the reader how to heal and restore the balance in their own lives after a Corporate Killing. But it is not only the individual worker who needs to be empowered. Healing the Corporate Ecosystem calls for a revolution - the "Hyenawise" revolution or call it a mentality adjustment - to save the worker, and ultimately society, not only from the Corporate Hyena, but also from their own disempowerment.
What
people say... WHAT PEOPLE SAY....
"I was taken by surprise when I discovered that the authors are women, two Afrikaans women, who internationalised and dedicated this controversial book to South Korean trade unionists. Workers need this book and I have no doubt in my mind that it will make an impact world-wide." - Tito Mboweni, Minister of Labour (now governor of the SA Reserve Bank) at a the launch of the book at the Johannesburg Zoological Gardens
Organisational financial profit making since the Industrial Revolution, a process which has involved heinous human carnage, is succinctly exposed in this honest book with its tremendous therapeutic value! - Dr Dawid J Oberholzer (Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist and Stress Manager, Pretoria)
"The authors take up this powerful imagery to illustrate corporate iniquities - from Seoul to Johannesburg. This is an absorbing read that should not only appeal to those who fall victim to hyena behaviour, but also to corporate captains who should b on guard to inhibit their own hyena tendencies". - Zolile Nqayi, City Press (Sunday newspaper in SA) - Book of the Week, 25 January 1998
"The hyena archetype described in this powerful book is more than a curiosity. It is a wonderful surprise to see African tradition coming to the rescue of an organizational world driven half-mad by its own contradictions and confusions" - Michael Finley (co-author of "Why Teams Don't Work" and winner of the Financial Times/Booz-Allen and Hamilton Business Book Award in the USA).
"The ease with which the authors move the reader along, comes from a fine word-smithing we can appreciate. The book is a wonderfully crafted trip through a world hardly known to those of us Americans who don't safari Africa but which effectively delivers us to the front office door that we know so well. We were enthralled and impressed" - Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie, authors of "Bullyproof yourself at Work", Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, Wash8ington, USA: Read the complete review on the book by Dr. Gary Namie.
"I succumbed to the charm of the book... The authors have contributed to the empowerment of workers on all levels world-wide by writing an easy-to-read book in colourful and narrative style on how to understand, identify and counter (and get the better of!) the predatory elements found in the modern corporate world everywhere" - Prof. Marius van Wyk (Professor in Industrial Relations and Labour Law: University of South Africa Graduate School for Business Leadership.
"A powerful and well-written book. It should appeal to workers all over the globe" - Mr John Jaakkola, International Managing Director of ICS Deloitte Touche International during a visit to South Africa in 1998.
"This book as an appealing style with humorous cartoons. There is an uncomfortable similarity between the natural hyena and the one at the workplace. A wide variety of readers will find it interesting. The management of organisations as well as ordinary workers would also be interested" - Flip Meyer, Editor of Business-Mirror ("Sake-Beeld") in an article which appeared in the Afrikaans newspaper "Beeld" on 13 January 1998.
"Enlivened by real-life case studies, this book will be a comfort to current victims and an encouragement to get up and fight again" - Ian Smith, the Citizen newspaper, 2 February 1998.
"This contemporary work with its global appeal is a pioneering book on the impact of organisational and individual workers' survival behaviour in the Information Age. It is a unique African "lifesaver" for every worker" - CLOVER corporate magazine, Autumn edition, 1998.
"The Information Age has its own malady, called restructuring, and its healers were long in coming. I did not need mysticism, nor a set of lofty codes and hype on how to realise my full potential. I needed sober affirmation, and a new insight from communal minds. They understand where the Age is out of joint, and allow us to make sense of the howls and barking. I need this book!" - Ed Furter, senior journalist and editor, South Africa.
"The African Renaissance has arrived, with a revolutionary book leading workers into the new millennium!" - Gilbert Tsotetsi, Human Resources specialist, South Africa.
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