Managing Anger in the Workplace

CHAPTER 2

The Costs of Anger in the Workplace

THE COSTS OF ANGER in the workplace can be devastating. Indeed, for many people the subject immediately evokes headlines of workplace shootings with terrible casualties. Such tragedies bear the highest price, from loss of life, serious injury, and psychological trauma to loss of productivity, property damage, and lingering confusion. They exemplify the most extreme, the most costly, and the most attention-getting manifestation of anger: actual violence. Fortunately, this is also the least common of anger’s many forms. Most angry feelings never result in violence. However, they can still be very costly if poorly managed.

The costs of nonviolent anger in the workplace stem from cold, festering anger ...