Is There Room for Anger in Management?

rom the responses I get to the question, “What is the least effective emotion you experience most frequently?”, it seems that anger impedes our effective functioning most often.

Broadly speaking, in the workplace, it seems that we experience anger in a few scenarios:

1. Anger directed against another - due to my error. 

This is the scenario where I hurriedly issue instructions, without clarifying expectations, ensuring understanding or offering support - and then am angry with the outcome. A colleague hasn’t delivered the customer presentation with the relevant messages or level of detail. The sales person hasn’t arranged the meeting with all of the key decision makers. I’m angry, but it’s my fault.

2. Anger at willful ineptitude. 

I’ve spent time explaining the objective, sharing expectations, answering queries and providing guidance – and in spite of this, my colleague delivers a dud.

3. It didn’t go my way. 

Rather like a child throwing the toys out of the pram, I am angry with a decision that didn’t meet my expectations. I didn’t get any additional budget. The boss didn’t appreciate my point of view. The customer used me as a negotiating ploy and then went with someone else.

4. Anger borne out of injustice.

We promote ourselves as an equal opportunities employer, but there isn’t a minority face in sight, or a wheelchair ramp on the premises. Our organization pays taxes but there is no improvement in city’s infrastructure. My boss is a bully.

As we probably all know, there is nothing inherently wrong with feeling anger – it’s whether we actually register the emotion and how we choose to channel it that counts. How do we show the anger, who is it directed at, for what purpose and in what situation?

The key here is: for what purpose? If I get angry, how does it serve me and the other party?

So, revisiting these scenarios, what do we choose to do?

1. Anger directed against another - due to my error.  

It takes some amount of self-awareness and/or openness to feedback to recognize that anger directed at others for my errors is never excusable. We’ve all done it – we might not have had a clear vision in mind, or a clear sense of how to get to the goal, or perhaps we were unable to communicate our objectives well, or unwilling to answer questions from team members. Regardless, it’s our fault.

Here, a 3-step process can help – with the caveat that progress to the next step is only possible once the previous step is in place:

• Do I have clarity?

• Have I clearly communicated the expectation?

• Does the other party fully understand – and am I open to questions if they don’t?

If these 3 aren’t in place and the outcome is poor, then by all means get angry, but direct the anger at yourself.

2. Willful ineptitude.

If I have followed the 3 steps, provided feedback and guidance, and the person isn’t meeting me at least half-way, then is anger justified? Perhaps this is an instance where a display of managed anger is appropriate. If the other person isn’t pulling their weight, perhaps they might be galvanized to action by a managed display of anger. Important here is the word ‘’managed’’. Another option is to follow the official route to dismissal – constructive action, open to a positive outcome, with no anger.

3. It didn’t go my way.

In this scenario, somewhere along the line, the fault lies with us. The customer didn’t sign with us because we didn’t present the right solution, didn’t instill confidence, didn’t provide a roadmap, didn’t bring the relevant expertise. In this situation, perhaps I would benefit from channeling the anger into a learning opportunity.

4. Anger borne of injustice.

Where situations are deeply unjust, a controlled anger, directed at resolving the injustice, serves us – and the wider community – well. Anger borne of injustice will also probably hone our strategic thinking, decision-making and influencing skills, as well as strengthen our creativity and resilience.

Finally, it's important to note that anger is a core emotion. Recognizing and acknowledging the anger, and then making a choice on how to use that emotion most effectively, and in a way that best serves us, is always a choice.