31 Jan 2018

Workplace anger - it's not all bad

From Afternoons, 1:32 pm on 31 January 2018

Working in any organisation can be frustrating and sometimes infuriating.

An expert on organisational behaviour and work stress argues that while you probably shouldn't throw an office chair - a bit of anger in the workplace might not be a bad thing.

Associate Professor Peter O' Connor from the Queensland University of Technology says there are three main causes of anger.

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Photo: Pixabay

When people feel they've been unjustly treated by others, when they feel their goals have been obstructed and through interpersonal conflict.

When people feel their goals are being obstructed by either someone or something they can react quite negatively

He also says people who do well at work tend to be more prone to anger.

"It raises the question, is anger causing their success at work? What the research tends to show about that is the answer is probably no."

He says competitive people are likely to do well at work, and more likely to be prone to outbursts of anger.

"Anger is a bit of a side effect of being really competitive."

Anger can be used for good too, he says.

"If I'm at work and one of my colleagues is being bullied, this might initially make me angry which could be a powerful motivator to actually try and do something about."

Women however, seem to get less benefit from anger than men, O' Connor says.

"If females express anger at work those who witness that anger often see that anger as being more intense. Anger serves as a signalling function and when it's done by a female I think people read more into it than what it often is."

He says in both males and females controlled anger is best.

Certainly in both males and females it is best when it is controlled anger and that seems to be the case more in females than males.

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