Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

As online distractions increasingly colonize our time, why has productivity become such a vital demonstration of personal and professional competence? When corporate profits are soaring but worker salaries remain stagnant, how does technology exacerbate the demand for ever greater productivity? In Counterproductive Melissa Gregg explores how productivity emerged as a way of thinking about job performance at the turn of the last century and why it remains prominent in the different work worlds of today. Examining historical and archival material alongside popular self-help genres--from housekeeping manuals to bootstrapping business gurus, and the growing interest in productivity and mindfulness software--Gregg shows how a focus on productivity isolates workers from one another and erases their collective efforts to define work limits. Questioning our faith in productivity as the ultimate measure of success, Gregg's novel analysis conveys the futility, pointlessness, and danger of seeking time management as a salve for the always-on workplace.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• I Theory
• Introduction: The Productivity Imperative (p. 3)
• 1 A Brief History of Time Management (p. 22)
• II Practice
• 2 Executive Athleticism: Time Management and the Quest for Organization (p. 53)
• 3 The Aesthetics of Activity: Productivity and the Order of Things (p. 78)
• III Anthropotechnics
• 4 Mindful Labor (p. 103)
• Conclusion: From Careers to Atmospheres (p. 127)
• Postscript: A Belated Processing (p. 141)
• Acknowledgments (p. 143)
• Notes (p. 147)
• Bibliography (p. 179)
• Index (p. 191)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

An Intel Corporation principal engineer, respected researcher, and prolific author, Gregg has written a book that will change the way people look at the notion of time management. Counterproductive examines the concept of time management from the perspectives of workforce productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Gregg presents the four chapters under three headings: "Theory," "Practice," and "Anthropotechnics." The theory section includes the introduction and a substantive and extensively documented history of time management. The two chapters in the practice section highlight the significance of organization and productivity. The anthropotechnics section includes a chapter on mindfuless and a conclusion that addresses an array of issues in the contemporary workplace. The list of references is impressive, as is the bibliography, which includes both classic and contemporary books and articles. Useful as a primary, secondary, or supplementary text, this volume will benefit those interested in business, management, human resources, psychology, or sociology. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals. --Mark J. Safferstone, formerly, University of Mary Washington

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Melissa Gregg is Principal Engineer and Research Director, Client Computing Group, Intel; coeditor of The Affect Theory Reader, also published by Duke University Press; and author of Work's Intimacy.