ANGER management

Story By Peter Sanders, Daily Breeze | Photo By Scott Varley, Daily Breeze | Illustration By Tom Sorensen, Daily Breeze

John Elder seems an unlikely person to illustrate examples of workplace anger.

The 43-year-old anger management counselor exudes a calmness projected by his quiet manner and the small yin-yang earring that peeks from behind his long brown hair.

He sits in a chair and relates the story of a screaming match between an employee and his boss that became so heated, the nearly 500-person calling center came to a standstill to watch the argument.

Although the fight didn't end in violence and the valued sales employee kept his job, the company -- a major Torrance corporation -- sent the man to anger management training.

The training is an increasingly popular tool for companies trying to help employees cope with workplace anger, according to consultants and company representatives.

George Anderson has witnessed this change, seeing his employee-anger related business increase. Anderson is a trained psychotherapist and founder and president of Anderson & Anderson, an anger management firm with an office in Lawndale, where Elder leads his groups.

"Things really changed after 9-11, and we saw an overwhelming number of referrals," said Anderson, 65, in a recent interview at his Brentwood-area headquarters. "Companies and organizations started to recognize there was a need for this kind of service and that it could be truly beneficial."

Hard data on anger in the workplace is thin, and experts acknowledge the field is still fairly new when applied to the work setting.

As a concept, anger management training was popularized -- although in a highly fictionalized way -- in the recent Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson film "Anger Management."

But Anderson, who served as an adviser for the film, says that criminal and family courts have been sending people to anger management training for years.

"About 40 percent of my business comes from court-ordered referrals," he said. "In the last few years people convicted of road rage, simple battery and other offenses have been sent to counseling as a way to take the burden off the courts."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roy Paul specializes in family law and has been sending people to anger management counseling for years. He said the training can be applied to many different settings.

"A lot of people don't cope with anger properly," Paul said by telephone from his office. "A well-managed class can teach somebody to recognize their conduct and alter it into acceptable behavior.

"That training can be brought into any arena where one's behavior is not constructive or healthy," he said.

Anderson's classes typically teach participants how to recognize their anger and then use relaxation methods to calm themselves.

Employees referred to Anderson usually attend 10 counseling sessions, often as a contingent requirement for continued employment.

Depending on the situation, sometimes the company covers the expense and sometimes it comes out of the employee's pocket, Anderson said.

Another of Anderson's primary functions is training facilitators nationwide who can either enact programs within their corporations or at consulting services that contract with companies.

The U.S. Postal Service, frequently the butt of many workplace anger jokes and a few outbursts of workplace-related violence, recently decided to train its in-house facilitators and disperse them to facilities nationwide.

An official with the Postal Service's National Center for Employee Development in Norman, Okla., confirmed that a contract had been signed with Anderson's firm, but would not comment on the record, saying that the program was in its trial phase.

Once an initial batch of facilitators had been trained, the Postal Service would evaluate the program's effectiveness, the official said. He noted there was no specific push for the implementation of the course, saying only that like any large corporation, the Postal Service has many employees who deal with stressful situations.

Although companies are understandably reluctant to discuss anger in the workplace, many companies have systems already in place to deal with it.

At Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA, employees have access to assistance and counseling services paid for by the company.

"Toyota is very concerned with the well-being of its associates," spokeswoman Diana DiJosephs said. "Our Associate Support and Assistance Program is a confidential resource for resolving personal and work-related issues."

The employee assistance program Toyota contracts with also can refer employees to a separate anger management service that will design one-on-one training programs for employees and managers, DiJosephs said.

In other industries, where anger is a daily issue, workers are trained before the fact.

Tow truck drivers, for instance, tend to get more than the usual share of frustration and vitriol flung at them.

Jeff Hunter, executive director of the Palm Springs-based California Tow Truck Association, said members of his group receive customer relations training, which includes managing angry motorists.

"Things are taken out on tow truck drivers by customers. Customers aren't mad at them, but are angry at the situation," Hunter said. Drivers are trained how to defuse the situation and hopefully keep their own stress levels down.

Where anger management falls into the realm of treatment and its proper place in the workplace remains murky.

The Arlington Va.-based American Psychiatric Association, which represents 35,000 doctors, has not taken an official position on the issue, but anger is not typically considered a medical condition, so it usually falls out of the scope of medically trained psychiatrists.

Similarly, the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C. , would not take an official position for the record. However, in the past it has stated anger management programs may be beneficial.

Dr. Richard Driscoll, a Knoxville, Tenn., psychologist, believes that anger in the workplace has increased as society's views about expressing emotions have changed.

"Today's society places a greater emphasis on expressing your feelings, while a generation ago the emphasis was always on controlling your feelings," he said by telephone from his Knoxville practice.

"The upside is we are freer to say what's on our minds. The downside is what we say can often be extremely hurtful and cause a stressful situation," Driscoll said.

The key to managing workplace anger, both Driscoll and Anderson believe, lies in training executives and managers.

George Anderson offers individual counseling sessions under the euphemism "Executive Coaching." He routinely coaches movie studio executives, esteemed university professors and Fortune 500 CEOs.

"Controlling your anger and your emotion is a skill," Anderson says. "It's amazing to see the change in the entire work environment if someone at the top is able to do business in a calmer and more controlled manner."

Major companies also have employed stress management, sometimes known as "Emotional Intelligence," into their corporate training programs and research.

Technology giant Corning, in conjunction with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, recently conducted a wide-ranging study using the company's holistic stress management program, according to a study published by the company.

In the 12-week study, about 3,000 Corning employees nationwide met in group sessions to discuss personal and workplace stress, and learned techniques to cope with their stress and anger.

The company also provided discounted health club memberships and yoga and tai chi classes. An evaluation of the 12-week study revealed that most of the employees' workplace stress declined significantly, although the study did not include solid numerical data showing the change.

Driscoll believes this is a first step in the right step. "Management skill level in America is getting better," he said. "But that doesn't always mean it is a less angry workplace."

Publish Date:February 29, 2004