Workplace Anger Management- ATN Magazine (David Alssema- Interview/Article)

Anger and bullying in the workplace has become a subject for discussion like never before.  In decades past it was ignored, tolerated or even encouraged as a management tool.

Of course today it is neither ignored nor condoned but it still prevails in this industry. In any male-dominated work place in fact it can, in some circumstances, even be seen as a part of the job.

But anger and bullying in the workplace is a serious issue—one which is being stamped out across the country through government bodies such as Worksafe Victoria and other state-based and federal organisations focused on workplace bullying. In some cases it can even be a legal matter.

If you are business owner, anger and bullying can lower productivity, impact on the health of your staff and encourage high staff-turnover, so getting the issue under control is in everyone’s interests—including yours.

According to a Duncan and Riley study, about one in six people are bullied at work; in some industries the figure is higher, ranging from 25 percent, 50 to 97 percent.

The Beyond Bullying Association estimates that between 400,000 and two million Australians will be harassed at work (in 2001), while 2.5 to 5 million will experience workplace harassment at some time during their career.

David Alssema from Western Australian-based Paramount Training and Development specialises in managing anger, bullying and communication in workplaces working with transport companies across the country.

The training and development specialists provide one on one coaching, conflict resolution and psychological training within the workplace. 

“We bring employees and staff together and look at ways to avoid and repair workplace conflicts,” he says.

Alssema says many people he sees believe they are managing things the best possible way—with communication systems at the core of eliminating the issue.

“The main issue is the communication issue because [in the transport industry] a lot of managers haven’t articulated specific needs between staff, between managers and between operations managers, even when they think they have.”

Management systems and effective handing over mechanisms can alleviate many anger-based issues in the workplace.

“When specific outcomes are not being communicated and systems haven’t been put in place, there isn’t strategy.  Staff need to make their decisions based on strategy rather than on thought. This takes a lot of stress out of the decisions because there is a specified outcome written in black and white,” he says.

“Again it is communication.  Written form is good if they need to refer back to it. A lot of the time, if information is verbal, people forget.  People can go back to it if the need is there.”

BULLYING, ANGER AND THE LAW

The Australian Human Rights Commission is a federally-funded body formally known as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

The commission’s role is to resolve complaints of discrimination or breaches of human rights under federal laws “by holding public inquiries into human rights issues of national importance.”

One such discriminatory issue is workplace bullying—too often an off shoot of anger in a high-stress environment.

Bullying is covered under Occupational Health and Safety legislation and is therefore a possible legal issue if not managed effectively.

That said, although many people refer to bullying as harassment or discrimination, while the effects are essentially the same, bullying “may not be unlawful under federal and state anti-discrimination legislation unless the bullying is linked to or based on one of the attributes covered by federal anti-discrimination legislation.”

The commission says one definition of workplace bullying is “the repeated less-favourable treatment of a person by another or others in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate workplace practice.”

 It includes behaviour that intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates a worker.

“Bullies usually utilise power attributed to their status, skills or position in the workplace, and both men and women can be the targets and/or the perpetrators. Workplace bullying can occur between a worker and a manager or supervisor, or between co-workers,” a spokesperson for the commission says.

“There are a range of psychological and physical illnesses and injuries that can be caused by exposure to bullying in the workplace, including anxiety disorders, stress, depression and insomnia.”

WorkSafe Victoria’s acting Executive Director Stan Krpan says recent coverage of workplace bullying sent a message to the entire community.

“Employers must set and enforce clear standards for their staff and act when it is identified. Put simply, it is about treating people with respect. Failing to set and maintain standards can destroy employment relationships and irretrievably undermine individuals and the business.”

COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR STAFF (AND YOURSELF)

Alssema says standards and systems as simple as weekly or monthly meetings at all levels of the business are a great avenue to find issues before they become motivations for anger issues.

“Floor staff having an opportunity to openly express issues or solutions they may have found to an issue can help everyone feel more in control,” Alssema suggests.

“Being personable is another key skill managers sometimes need help with. Managing voice volume and body language are great ways to control a situation without intimidating an employee,” he says.

“If managers are failing in the need to communicate the bottom line is they often need outside help, either from upper management or from a company such as ours.

“They always need to look at the larger situation. Normally you get more volume, swearing.  You need to know what is professional and where the line is drawn.

“What a lot of them don’t understand is that by communicating better they will get better results than by just getting angry.”

Managing stress levels and self-talk are keys to eliminating anger from a management point of view, Alssema says.

As emotion is a key to anger, simply by sitting down when having a conversation with a staff member can lower emotive reactions and stress in general.

“Engage in self talk.  Tell yourself to calm down.  They main thing is we often un-consciously mirror people’s behaviour. So if you slowly drop volumes, the other person will usually follow suit.  And create a more easy going communication,” he suggests.

INTERCEPTING AN ARGUMENT

Suggesting an altercation such as two drivers in a dispute, Alssema says the first port-of-call is to ask questions and not tell the individuals what to do.

He says anger is an emotion and therefore not rational.  Asking questions forces the emotive individuals to use rationale to answer them—breaking the cycle they are in.

 “A lot of people go up to them and say calm down, calm down.  But the best thing to lower the situation is to ask questions. What do you think about this? Ask questions that articulate their situation.

“Questions are the best thing to help to calm down an individual as most anger is the result of not being heard,” he says.

Secondly Alssema says the interceptor must be acutely aware of his or her own body language and the personal space of the people quarrelling.

“Body language is really important. Don’t touch, don’t have your arms folded.  You want to go in there with open arms and an open body language,” he says.

Again he suggests slowly lowering the volume of voice as a key to help the two arguing follow suit.

But what if these patterns become just that, and do not respond to basic psychology?

CHANGING CULTURE:

If specific employees do not respond to usual management techniques or indeed if a particular manager  is an issue, often courses in self-awareness can be helpful.

 “A lot of people say, ‘it is just me’ or ‘it’s my personality’ but this isn’t true,” Alssema says.

“Everyone can change, they just have to want to do it and the company culture must cultivate it.

“Knowing what is appropriate is the first step.  Some people speak too softly, some too loud.  At the end it is not about changing personality, it is just about ironing out the kinks and bad habits. Sometimes behaviours can be unproductive, and not necessarily anger-related.”

Alssema says it is really important to speak to both parties involved in the bullying or anger issue and making it clear what is and isn’t allowed.

“If it is happening all the time, then we talk about these issues within a full package. A lot of the time we have management and staff together in the course and this is usually really productive as for the time spend in the class room, there is a level of equality.

 “Quite often staff bring up issues the manager wasn’t even aware of, so even from that perspective it is quite beneficial to have both parties in a training session,” he says.

“Anger is more prevalent than people think it is, I believe. Put them in a circumstance that is heated where they don’t know how to act and you’d be surprised how they act.  As they say, character is shown in the worst circumstances.

ANGER TRIGGERS

Anger is the result of belief systems not being honoured, Alssema says.

“A lot of it comes down to our own thinking.  Are we being controlled, ignored?  For instance, if we value time and someone else doesn’t than that will make us angry because a value that we hold isn’t being respected.

“Anything we value that is not respected created anger,” he says.

“So again it comes down to communication. If someone knows what you expect and value, anger can be avoided. Using the time example, if an employee knows you value time and an appointment is set for 1pm, he or she will know if you they may not be late for this appointment.

“Let your staff know what you expect.”

Lastly, Alssema says eating a balanced diet; regular exercise and your own positive perceptions are a recipe for anger-management success.

“If anyone is put in a bad circumstance—a series of bad events, by the end of the day they are ready to crack. Much of this comes down to perspective and how you feel.

“It is all about building up that positive series of events rather than negative.

“If you tell yourself you are going to have a good day every morning, chances are you will.”

David Alssema’s top tips for managing anger in your workplace:

• Tell your staff what you expect
• Articulate your values to your staff
• Create affective handing-over strategies in operational environments
• When approaching a conflict gradually lower your voice and focus on ‘open’ body language
• Create a culture that supports the company values

Bullying behaviour

According to the Chair of the Work and Organizational Psychology Division at Frankfurt University Professor Dieter Zapf there are five main types of bullying in the workplace:

• Work related
• Personal attacks
• Social isolation
• Verbal threats
• Spreading rumours

Bullying can be:

• Aggressive: Screams, threatens and blames is easily noticed
• Passive: Subtle, camouflaged, hard to identify, divisive, undermining

The bullying behaviours:

• Bantering
• Teasing
• Verbal abuse
• Blame
• Humiliation
• Personal and professional denigration
• Overt threats
• Racially motivated, gender or sexually-based harassment or discrimination
• Manipulation of job specifications
• Unrealistic workload
• Micro–management
• Cyber bullying or notes
• Professional and personal exclusion or isolation
• Sabotage career and financial status
• Whistleblower attack
• Blackmail
• Overt aggression / violence
• Criminal assault and murder

*WorkSafe Victoria has produced two useful guides on bullying – ‘Prevention and responding to bullying at work’ and ‘What to do if bullying happens to you.’ These publications and WorkSafe’s ‘Bullying Guidance Note’ are available by calling WorkSafe publications on 03 9641 1333 or by visiting the website.