Variables that relate employee personality to behavior
Question:
Discuss about the Expressing Anger at Workplace is Beneficial.
Organizational behavior accounts for a very important component of corporate life and professional career. It helps depict and interpret particular characteristics of individuals from their behavior at work. According to McShane and Von Glinow (2013), there are variables that help relate the personality of an employee to the influence of his behavior on the work he does. In this context it is important to note the difference between moods and emotions, where emotions are short lived stances; moods are long term and take longer time to be dealt with. It has been asserted in many researches that emotional behavior is very different from social behavior. Social behavior is more restricted and depends on the circumstance and a number of other variable factors unlike emotional behavior wherein, the individual is usually more expressive. Thus, situational factors play a very important role in shaping the corporate behavior of individuals. Emotional labor is generally the term that is used to describe the behavior of professionals at workplaces. According to studies based on Affective Events Theory, it has been noticed that neurotic professionals experience negative events and conscientious people help in facing challenges and accomplishing tasks. Whether a person chooses to react to a situation by losing his temper or dealing with it depends on the above mentioned traits. It also depends upon the duration of the mood and timing of the event that triggers the behavior in the form of anger. However, most studies suggest that in certain cases expressing the anger can help face challenges and achieve goals in an easier way.
One of the most argued topics in the context of corporate workplaces is that sometimes expressing anger and taking a stand for oneself is actually a good predictor of one’s personality trait. It helps depict how an individual can take a stand for himself and stick to the decision he has made in the course of events and under the given circumstances. According to Nielsen and Einarsen (2012), the expression of anger and dominance has proved to be very effective in case of events where the individual is susceptible to be bullied and considers himself to be a victim of corporate bullying. In this context, use of anger is considered to be extremely important as in such cases the application of emotional intelligence in order to differentiate between one’s own feelings and thinking and behave accordingly is very much needed.
According to, Pond et al. (2012), not expressing anger or inconsistency in behavior will only build up stress which in turn will lead to dissatisfaction at work eventually causing the employee to quit his position. It has also been reported that in certain cases a big problem can be solved only by expressing dominance or anger, especially where immediate action needs to be taken or in a case where anger is followed by a surge of satisfaction or happiness of being able to express or getting the work done. Anger expression has also been claimed to be an effective instrument when concessions and payments are to be obtained on an urgent basis. Anger can thus be treated as a very extreme organizational tool for combating severe situations related to negotiations and deals. In this context, it is also important to mention that if anger and disappointment are channelized to deal with sponsors or partners, it can help achieve objectives that were earlier unachievable.
The difference between moods and emotions
Another important benefit of being able to express anger at workplaces is in the context of decision making through arguments and debates. Anger helps put emphasis on matters that are crucial and helps the defender in proving and standing by the point he is trying to make. It helps employees as well as managers to better deal with competitors and helps them to persevere goals that are not easily achievable. In other words, it is used as a tool that focuses on smart work in certain situations where hard work fails. According to Stickney, L.T. and Geddes (2014), it has been notices that this in turn helps drive quality of work and perfection. It also accounts for changes, innovations and implementation of ideas that have not been put into effect before. Anger helps in instilling a sense of insight into individuals; helps relieve stress and hence come up with better solutions to problems.
Studies generally talk about the positive and beneficial aspects of being angry. However, according to Yin, Bond and Zhang (2013) show how anger can also be extremely detrimental in certain cases and lead to negative outcomes both in production and employee retention. According to Cohen and Collens (2013), if not efficiently managed anger in most cases can lead to unprecedented negative impacts. According to Affective Events Theory mentioned in the study by Jones and Youngs (2012), the manifestations of anger at workplace cause lack of coordination, absenteeism and lack of cooperative nature in teams as well as the organization on the whole which are all examples of lack of job satisfaction. The employees stop enjoying their job and get impacted mentally and eventually leave their jobs. Anger from an employee belonging to a higher hierarchy is reported to stimulate anger in 86% individuals, sadness in 56% individuals and fear in 46% individuals on an average (Hülsheger et al. 2013). Such impact has been reported to cause negative impact on the clients of the firm or the organization. Sometimes simple upbraiding which is used as a tool for improving performance of workers and instilling a sense of competition can have adverse effects causing the employee to react in a completely opposite way. In order to channelize anger and upbraiding in a positive way, it is important to control the intensity and consistency of such events. It has been suggested in many studies that instead of using direct approaches, manipulated approaches like sarcasm have a simpler and long lasting impact on the employees. It has been reported that anger is expressed by 45% employees in most businesses and organizational frameworks which induces mental stress in on around 60% of the workforce (Meier et al. 2013).
According to Stickney and Geddes (2016), the observers of an angry conversation or scenario are also impacted in a negative way to the extent that they often get impacted in the context of health. Anger causes increased levels of stress and blood pressure for both people involved and people observing the scenario. The feeling that the targeted individuals go through is that of defense and shame. The feeling that the observers go through however, depends upon their relation with the people involved in the conflict. The anger instilled in the third party or the observer depends upon the already existing mental health and proximity of that person (Sloan 2012). It has often been observed that if one client or customer observes another such client being treated in a questionable an unethical way, it generally instills a feeling of anger, sadness or insecurity in the mind of the client observing the situation. The most harmful impact of anger is that of contagion. According to Johnson and Connelly (2014), contagion causes the observers of a situation to mimic or behave in a similar way when such a situation arises in that employee or individual’s personal or professional life. This can affect not only one observers but a group of observers belonging to the same team in the same office. When such a group expresses and evokes anger in a similar manner, the workplace fills up with incivility and hostility. The moral code of conduct is also lost eventually. The reactions of the employees in the group may range from surface level acting, where they only pretend that they have been immensely affected but have not to deep acting where the individual thinks he is actually affected by the ongoing events and aligns his emotions according to the situation whereas in reality he has actually not been affected at all.
Conclusion
Thus, to sum up it can be concluded that anger, disappointment and inconsistency in behavior of workforce are not only necessary to maintain mental and physical stability but can also be used at tools in the process of allocation, decision making and achieving of targets. Anger not only is the perfect answer to workplace bullying and harassment but also helps secure deals and obtain compensations and concessions from the partners or sponsors. It is a very important personality trait and organizational behavior that helps measure capacity and efficiency and the strength to deal with situations for most employees. It helps concluding points and reaching solutions in lesser time in case of debates and constructive arguments. However, at the same time anger can lead to violence at workplaces causing detrimental effects on health and job satisfaction of workers. Sometimes it can also lead to contagion where increased number of employees react in the way they observe two other employees behaving at a corporate conflict. Even then sometimes channelized use of anger and dominance can push limits of working capabilities, help in innovation and easy achievement of targets.
References:
Cohen, K. and Collens, P., 2013. The impact of trauma work on trauma workers: A metasynthesis on vicarious trauma and vicarious posttraumatic growth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 5(6), p.570.
Hülsheger, U.R., Alberts, H.J., Feinholdt, A. and Lang, J.W., 2013. Benefits of mindfulness at work: the role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), p.310.
Johnson, G. and Connelly, S., 2014. Negative emotions in informal feedback: The benefits of disappointment and drawbacks of anger. Human Relations, 67(10), pp.1265-1290.
Jones, N. and Youngs, P., 2012. Attitudes and Affect: Daily Emotions and Their Association with the Commitment and Burnout of Beginning Teachers. Teachers College Record, 114(2), p.n2.
McShane, S. and Von Glinow, M., 2013. M Organizational Behavior. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Meier, L.L., Gross, S., Spector, P.E. and Semmer, N.K., 2013. Relationship and task conflict at work: Interactive short-term effects on angry mood and somatic complaints. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 18(2), p.144.
Nielsen, M.B. and Einarsen, S., 2012. Outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying: A meta-analytic review. Work & Stress, 26(4), pp.309-332.
Pond Jr, R.S., Kashdan, T.B., DeWall, C.N., Savostyanova, A., Lambert, N.M. and Fincham, F.D., 2012. Emotion differentiation moderates aggressive tendencies in angry people: A daily diary analysis. Emotion, 12(2), p.326.
Sloan, M.M., 2012. Controlling anger and happiness at work: An examination of gender differences. Gender, Work & Organization, 19(4), pp.370-391.
Stickney, L.T. and Geddes, D., 2014. Positive, proactive, and committed: The surprising connection between good citizens and expressed (vs. suppressed) anger at work. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 7(4), pp.243-264.
Stickney, L.T. and Geddes, D., 2016. More than just “blowing off steam”: The roles of anger and advocacy in promoting positive outcomes at work. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 9(2), pp.141-157.
Yin, D., Bond, S. and Zhang, H., 2013. Anxious or angry? Effects of discrete emotions on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews.
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