Building a Civilised Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.

The professor defines an asshole as someone who "oppresses, humiliates, de-energises or belittles a subordinate or colleague" and says that companies need to stamp out boorish behaviour that reduces productivity, drives away talented workers and ruins morale. Sounds slightly more like bullying but you get the drift.

Sutton goes on to give a comprehensive 12-point aid to identifying assholes, tips on how to avoid becoming an asshole and how to deal with assholes. He even recommends that we take these lessons from the office and apply them to everyday life.

To back this up he tells the story of visiting a local restaurant, famed for its open kitchen and the easy good-humoured banter between staff and punters. On this particular day one customer was getting on everyone's nerves by being rude to staff and loudly obnoxious in general.

Eventually, another customer approached him and told him that he'd be perfect for a book he was writing and could he have his name. Obnoxious Guy was flattered and gave up his name. His questioner wrote it down and said, "Thanks, I'm writing a book on assholes." Apparently the whole restaurant laughed at this Wildean wit. Obnoxious Guy exited looking shame-faced and all was right in the world again.

At no point does Sutton acknowledge that Obnoxious Guy was humiliated and belittled in his tale. Never is it countenanced that maybe he was simply out-assholed. If the solution to a bully is to find a bigger bully you're on a slippery slope but even Sutton acknowledges that sometimes being an asshole is necessary.

For example, Good cop/bad cop is a movie clich� for a reason. Research shows that criminals are more likely to confess when faced with such a duo, the contrast between them making the bad cop seem more menacing and the good cop seem warmer and more reasonable.

Pretty much every successful sports team has a manager or captain not averse to cajoling/bullying/ being an asshole. Sutton cites the example of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose temper tantrums are the stuff of legend.

But Jobs has a particular talent for inspiring quality in the people who work for him, his employees driven by both the 'stick' of punishment and humiliation and the 'carrot' of hard-won recognition and praise. And given that many people are best motivated by fear, it's unsurprising this method yields results.

Nobody likes working with assholes but Sutton's aim to eliminate them completely is a little na�ve - the best we can do is acknowledge they are a necessary evil and try to get their numbers to somewhere bearable.