medpundit |
||
|
Wednesday, October 12, 2005Seth Allcorn, author of the book 'Anger in the Workplace,' argues that people often use anger to establish a defensive perimeter, or shield, against being dragged into tasks. He once worked with several women who seemed to be particularly fragile emotionally. When he asked one to renumber a document he had been working on, she snatched it from him and slammed it on the desk. 'Their behavior toward me tended to make me feel [reluctant] to ask them to do anything,' he says. Of course, there's always the option of asking them to leave. UPDATE: More uses of anger from a reader: C. Northcote Parkinson spotted an example of those who use anger as a tool long ago. In "In-Laws and Outlaws", there is a chapter on "Chairmanity", the art of making a committee do whatever the chairman wants. Parkinson identified four distinct schools of Chairmanity. Inanimism: the chairman pretends to be deaf, thus having a perfect excuse to ignore all debate or dissent. Blahmanism: the chairman swamps the committee members with a flood of details, preferably 'scientific' and abstruse. Most memberw will be intimidated and unwilling to object. Confusionism: the chairman allows the discussion to decay into a babel of competing speeches and conversations, then announces that a vote has been taken. No one can dispute this, because no one can be sure what happened. The good Confusionist always makes sure the official minutes record efficient, orderly proceedings. Browbeatnikism: the chairman implies that the item has already been decided, and responds to any dissent by taking it as personal criticism, with the continual threat of a fit of rage if the dissent is not withdrawn. The members submit rather than make a scene. You've probably encountered all four types yourself. Why, yes, I have. Just didn't have names for them. posted by Sydney on 10/12/2005 07:18:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|