Managing a Work Force-by Paula Santonocito
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HR Primer |
12/04/2006 |
Angry Employees
Paula Santonocito
Everybody has
the occasional bad day, but how does management address the chronically angry
employee?
Getting to
the source
Although the
inclination may be to avoid an angry employee, there are good reasons for
management to get involved. Left unaddressed, anger can affect other employees,
department productivity, and even corporate goals.
The angry person
also puts him/herself at risk. A study conducted by Daniel Vinson, M.D., at the
University of Missouri
Vinson and his
colleagues interviewed patients at three emergency rooms over a two-year
period. Anger more than quadrupled a person's odds of being injured, they
found.
The first step
in addressing anger in the workplace is at the direct report level, according
to Ari Novick, Ph.D., a Certified Anger Management Professional and trainer.
However, if anger is chronic it will need to be addressed by human resources,
he says.
Novick conducts
workshops and seminars for both public and private sector employers and is
coauthor of the highly acclaimed workbook on anger management, "Anger
Management for the Twenty-First Century."
He finds
companies are increasingly interested in helping employees manage anger.
Frequently, they refer people to outside help. With proper assistance, people
can learn to manage anger, Novick says.
But there is one
caveat: A person has to be willing to take responsibility for his or her anger.
"If a person doesn't view it as their problem, that it's everyone else,
then it's usually not helpful," Novick says.
Focusing on
treatment
Conversely, if a
person sees that his behavior is a contributing factor, he can be helped.
People can be
treated in groups or one on one. Treatment sometimes depends on the person's
level in the organization. If an executive or other employee with a lot of
managerial responsibility has anger management issues, he can benefit from
one-on-one anger management coaching, Novick says.
Individual
treatment allows for a detailed assessment of that individual, he explains. The
focus includes looking at how well the person manages stress, how much empathy
he has, how impulsive he is, whether he is aggressive or passive, and his
overall communication style.
Some people are
not comfortable when singled out and prefer to work in a group situation,
Novick says. Regardless of the approach, it's important to understand what
anger management involves.
"Anger
management and psychotherapy are very different," says Novick, who is also
a licensed psychotherapist. "Anger management by definition is educational in
nature. It teaches them skills."
Finding new
tools
These skills, or
"anger control tools" as Novick calls them in his book, include
stress management, empathy, and communication, among others.
"We also
teach skills in forgiveness, which can also be a big problem in the
workplace," Novick says. In addition, there are skills on how to manage
expectations by adjusting them to an appropriate level. Anger management
training also teaches skills that can help a person stay calm.
"People
with chronic anger don't want to be angry," Novick says. "They just
default to whatever they've learned."
The objective is
to help them to unlearn some bad behaviors and apply new skills, he explains.
Good companies
tend to refer out as to a qualified provider, as opposed to another approach,
which is giving an employee unpaid leave, Novick tells HRWire.
But he cautions
employers, and employees, about appropriate treatment. "Anger management
is not meant to be long term," Novick says, indicating eight to 10
individual or group sessions will be sufficient for "a reasonably
intelligent person who is motivated, regardless of how good the provider is or
the program is."
Novick's
practice, the AJ Novick Group, created in response to demand for anger
management training, gets a lot of employee referrals. In working with
employees, Novick finds that most people want to take a look at anger
management.
Which employees
are most frequently referred for training? "Mostly middle and upper
management, mostly because the stress level is so high for them," Novick
tells HRWire.
Those who manage
many employees frequently face situations they're just not trained to address;
they don't have the skills, he says.
Determining a
course of action
Anger management
training can be a very effective way of teaching skills and improving morale,
and it can be cost effective, even one on one, Novick says.
Indeed, in the
book, "Anger Management for the Twenty-First Century," Novick and
coauthor Anthony Fiore cite the business cost of unmanaged anger. "Studies
show that up to 42% of employee time is spent engaging in or trying to resolve
conflict. This results in wasted employee time, mistakes, stress, lower morale,
hampered performance, and reduced profits and/or service," they write.
However, employers
should evaluate potential providers. "Anger management as a field is
fairly unregulated. If a company is shopping around, ask about training and
level of education," Novick advises.
Employers may
also want to consider online training. Novick has found his group's online
training offers a number of advantages. "It's really effective because the
employee doesn't have to leave work," he says. Because training is broken
into modules, a person can also approach it at his own speed.
Regardless of
training method, anger management can be successful. "The employees that I
see, when I'm done treating them, they are just so thrilled that their
employers allowed them to do it," Novick says. Employer feedback has also
been positive.
Nevertheless,
before signing on, employers and employees should understand the goal of anger
management training.
"Anger
management is not about teaching someone not to be angry anymore," Novick
says. "It's about how to handle those emotions in a more appropriate
way."
Contact: Ari Novick, Ph.D., Certified Anger
Management Professional and trainer, the AJ Novick Group, ari@ajnovickgroup.com.
Online: "State Anger and the Risk of Injury: A Case-Control and Case-Crossover Study," by Daniel C. Vinson, MD, MSPH and Vineesha Arelli, BS, Annals of Family Medicine, http://www.annfammed.org/cgi/content/full/4/1/63; AJ Novick Group, including online anger management classes and workplace programs, http://www.ajnovickgroup.com
Certification Training Programs at www.centuryangermanagement.com .
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