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- CHICAGO (Reuters) -- As
many as one in four U.S. workers may be chronically angry on the job, with
irate employees also more likely to be bored, have low energy and feel
"stuck" in their posts, according to a report out on Tuesday.
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- Employees are most likely to be angered by a boss or
supervisor, by a fellow employee or by others in the workplace not being
productive, by tight deadlines or heavy workloads, said Donald Gibson,
a professor at the Yale School of Management.
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- The findings, from a 1996 poll of 1,000 workers, were
contained in a report Gibson released at a meeting of the Academy of Management
in Chicago.
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- "A turbulent economic environment that has produced,
on the one hand, productivity and growth and, on the other, wrenching change
and uncertainty, has buffeted the workplace," the report said.
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- "While a majority of employees are responding to
these conditions with reports of workplace satisfaction there remain a
substantial portion who are dissatisfied, even angry, at work," it
added.
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- "Most visibly, anger is linked to workplace aggression,
which appears to be increasing: We are weekly confronted with stories of
workers taking aggressive, even violent, action particularly against supervisors."
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- The survey found that 25 percent of those contacted said
they were at least somewhat angry at work on a continuing basis.
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- Angry employees tend to have less energy and interest
in the job, and tend also to be bored, according to Gibson. And angry employees
tend to feel "stuck" in the job.
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- The study did not speculate on what percentage of angry
workers are likely to resort to violence. It did find that they feel less
loyal to an employer.
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- There have been a number of workplace shootings in the
United States over the years, most recently rampages in Georgia and Alabama
which left 12 dead.
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