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New book perhaps of interest to some SIM members...  (apologies for crossposts)

Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace

by Bruce Barry, Vanderbilt University

Berrett-Koehler, June 2007

ISBN: 978-1-57675-397-2

Cloth, 285 pages, $27.95

Speechless examines the imperiled state of freedom of speech in and around the workplace from legal, managerial, and ethical perspectives.  Bruce Barry reveals how our legal system grants employers wide discretion to manage employee speech both on and off the job, while imposing few limits on how that discretion is exercised. Speechless also analyzes how issues of civil rights and discrimination (race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation) are intertwined with workplace free speech.  It includes an in-depth look at how digital media and and information technology (the Internet, blogs, email, instant messaging, and all the rest) are changing the landscape for free expression by American workers. Speechless argues that a repressive climate for workplace speech diminishes not just our rights as employees, but also our effectiveness as citizens-as participants in the civic conversations that make democracy work in a free society.

Bruce Barry is a professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. His research in management, social psychology, and business ethics has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, and he is a coauthor of three widely used textbooks on negotiation. He has been a contributing writer for two weekly Nashville newspapers, and is president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

More info and sample chapters at www.speechlessthebook.com.

"Bruce Barry exposes the shameful fact that most Americans are forced to check their civil liberties – and especially their freedom of speech-at the workplace door. I'm hoping this important book will inspire a new civil rights movement, this time for American workers of all collar colors."

- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bait and Switch and Nickel and Dimed

"A compelling argument that the trend toward greater restrictions on employees' speech has implications that reach beyond the office walls and jeopardizes the well-being of our democracy."

- Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union

"A must-read for those who care about the vitality of public discourse, the state of civil liberties, corporate compliance with law, or the intelligent management of a modern workforce."

- Cynthia Estlund, author of Working Together: How Workplace Bonds Strengthen a Diverse Democracy and Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law at New York University