Anger Utilization
What Can Anger Do For You?
Remember that anger use is a two-way street. Not only can you as a manager effectively use anger to communicate, but allowing your employees to use anger can be just as beneficial.
Manager's Use
Using anger effectively is a complex practice. Being a manager has its challenges, though.
"Anyone can get angry--that is easy...but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Anger is not considered to be the result of any disorder, unlike anxiety or depression. Yet we have anger management classes and anger is considered to be a major concern of many organizations. The reason for this could be linked to the strong effects that anger has on its user and its audience. Unlike other personality-altering emotions, anger can be used as a tool.
As a manager, you have the responsibility to communicate your messages efficiantly and clearly. Anger is a great tool to use to make a message very clear and almost guarantee that an employee will not make the same mistake twice. The practice of using anger cannot be overused in this way, however. If you use the right degree of anger too often, the seriousness of your messages will decline, and employees will no longer understand the severity of your messages, no matter how effectively you think your anger use is.
Employee's Use
Using the Dual Threshold Model, it is your job as a manager to determine exactly how large the expressed anger section is within the workplace. Allowing your employees to use anger leads to clearer communication with management and employees, thus strengthening relationships. Anger's primary function for an employee, therefore, would be voice. Instead of indirect communication through surveys or letters, you are allowing your employees to openly express their feelings to you, which will ultimately prevent suppressed anger and promote open communication throughout the workplace. Studies show that allowing employees to openly express their anger to management leads to higher employee satisfaction and identification to the organization. As long as the anger is kept within the two thresholds, and these boundaries are clearly stated and acted upon by the management, more positive outcomes are likely to rise from conflicts.
As a manager, it is also your job to monitor and enforce your limits on expressed anger. Certain studies conclude that verbal expression of anger is more likely to contribute to positive outcomes over nonverbal displays, such as slamming of doors or throwing objects.
It is also important to realize that this anger use should only be practiced within your power. That is, keep this policy only within your workplace. More importantly, communicate how this should only apply to interorganizational communication, and not to overflow to customers.