Handling Criticism

Criticism Management: How to More Effectively Give, Receive, and Seek Criticism in Our Lives, by Randy Garner. The Woodlands, Texas: Prescient Press, 2006, 150 pp., $19.95 (paperback) Reviewed By Dan Richard Beto
Huntsville, Texas

In addition to possessing strong leadership qualities, persons charged with leading organizations, projects, or special initiatives, or who desire productive interpersonal relationships, must possess effective communication skills. And part and parcel of effective communication is one’s ability to deliver and receive constructive criticism. In Criticism Management: How to More Effectively Give, Receive, and Seek Criticism in Our Lives, Randy Garner has produced a fresh and insightful book on how one might better initiate and respond to criticism.

Garner, who possesses a doctorate in social psychology, has a distinguished record of service in the field of criminal justice, both as a successful practitioner and skilled educator. During a career that spans three decades, he has served as a Chief of Police, Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, founding Director of the Texas Regional Community Policing Institute, and Associate Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. He is currently Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Sam Houston State University.

In the first of 12 chapters, the author defines criticism and provides a brief history of the term. Most of the chapter is devoted to Garner’s own definition—“offering productive and constructive information intended to help others grow, recover, improve, prosper, or excel” (which he refers to as GRIPE)—and how criticism may best be conveyed. Building on the first chapter, in Chapter 2 Garner covers the subject of critical discourse, including why people criticize, who criticizes, types of criticisms, critical response, and the benefits of criticism. The challenge of giving and receiving criticism is discussed in Chapter 3, in which the author enumerates why people typically do not like to criticize or be criticized. In addition, self-criticism is also covered.

Chapter 4, “Critical Communications: Problems and Processes,” is particularly instructive, because the author provides suggestions on offering constructive criticism effectively while inflicting as little pain as possible. Addressed in the chapter is the role that nonverbal communication—facial expressions, body language, eye contact, vocal tone, and distance—plays in conveying criticism. In Chapter 5, Garner discusses the “art” of giving criticism, with considerable emphasis on preparing a “productive and constructive criticism plan,” which includes the following elements:

Chapter 6 continues with these helpful tips on giving criticism:
In the following chapter Garner provides techniques that may be employed when delivering criticism.
Chapter 8 describes how one should receive and manage criticism. More specifically, the author recommends that one should: This chapter concludes with a list of the elements of the criticism management process. Chapter 9 discusses in detail the LAURA method of handling criticism, which consists of the following components: listen empathetically, appraise the criticism, understand the criticism and the critic, respond effectively, and assess the outcome. Chapter 10, building on the previous chapter, provides suggestions on appropriately responding to the critic. And Chapter 11 offers strategies for seeking out constructive criticism.

In the final chapter, the author summarizes his book in a format that, for trainers, could be used as an outline for a PowerPoint presentation.

In Criticism Management, Randy Garner has provided a valuable tool for anyone responsible for supervising people, managing projects, and training skills in human resource management.

Dan Richard Beto is Chair of the Governing Board, Texas Regional Center for Policing Innovation, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.

INSIDE STORY

Inside: Life Behind Bars in America (First Edition), by Michael G. Santos. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, August, 2006, 299 pp., $24.95 (cloth).

Reviewed By Sam Torres, Ph.d.
Long Beach, California

In his newest book about prison life, Michael Santos, serving his 19th year of federal confinement, strives to bring the reader “inside” the different security levels of institutions within the massive bureaucracy that is the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). This is the fourth book he has written about prison life, and Santos once again describes the realities of everyday life “inside,” emphasizing his status as “one of them”(prisoner) (p. x) rather than an “outsider.” Given the fact that the author (BOP registration # 16377-004) has completed almost 20 years of incarceration in a myriad of BOP prisons, one can hardly disagree with his claim to know what it is like inside county jails, U.S. penitentiaries, Federal Correctional Institutions, and Federal Prison Camps. Although he has not been confined within a supermax facility, Santos has worked within the ADX Supermax facility at Florence, and is able to describe the atmosphere and confinement in prisons designated for the “worst of the worst.”

Hence, from the violent and dangerous maximum security prisons of the U.S. penitentiaries, to the gladiator schools of the medium security Federal Correctional Institutions, and ultimately to the minimum security Federal Prison Camps, Santos eloquently and engagingly captures the subculture of the prisoner. Short of the reader serving time, Santos offers the closest experience to the harsh reality of a federal prison. In doing so, he draws on his many years of imprisonment to describe the destructive nature of the prison environment both for those imprisoned and for those that work in this environment, serving time in 8-hour shifts. This book is not recommended for the faint of heart, as Santos describes in vivid and graphic detail violent assaults, sexual activity, and coarse language that is the daily life of prisoners. Since the book has been written for a general audience, Santos avoids academic or criminological jargon and instead presents the story of prison life in narrative form. Early in the introduction (p. xxix), Santos cautions the reader that he is presenting an authentic taste of prison life with all its coarseness, profanity, sexism, and blatant racism. He acknowledges that some readers will “cringe” at the profane language that is commonplace inside almost all prisons. These are “crass communities” (p. xxx), reports Santos, but to appropriately capture the atmosphere of prison life it is necessary to use the jargon, including the profanity that is the authentic language of the convict society.

“Inside” is a must read for students of criminal justice, practitioners that perhaps have little awareness of what actually occurs in these “correctional” facilities, prosecutors and judges, legislators who seek mostly to appease the punitive demands of the public, administrators who tend to exclusively emphasize security as a justification for illogical and sometimes irrational policies and decisions, and the general public, who must recognize that over 95 percent of those “inside” will ultimately be back “outside.” amongst us. Santos is not so naïve as to deny the need for prisons and the need to incapacitate dangerous offenders. However, he takes issue with the repressive and degrading techniques utilized in our prisons to manage offenders and maintain security. These strategies only serve to create greater hostility and distance offenders further from the values of society. Santos recognizes the challenge that correctional administrators face in managing the unmanageable, but from someone who has experienced what works and what doesn’t work from “inside,” he concludes that people respond better to the promise of incentives than they do to the threat of punishment. Santos argues that, as it is currently run, the Correctional System does not correct, instead breeding resentment and a vicious cycle of failure. Finally, it is the author himself whose experience exemplifies a system run amok in its fervor for harsher and at times irrational and cruel punishments. “Inside” will also serve as an excellent supplemental and easy-read text for courses in corrections, penology, criminology, sociology, and psychology.

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