DEGREE PROGRAM:EXECUTIVE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (EMOD) EMOD 6010 A: ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND BEHAVIOR INSTRUCTOR: DR. SIKALIEH ASSIGNMENT: WEEK 5:ROLE PLAY – ANGER MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 2, FALL 2011 GROUP MEMBERS: Annie Violet Wakanyi Evelyn Etyang Francisca Ndawa Joan Karanja Kenneth Gitonga Susan Kambo

ANGER MANAGEMENT Richard S. Lazarus definition of emotions centers on a person’s goals. Accordingly his distinction between positive and negative emotions is goal oriented. Anger is a negative emotion that is experienced when what has happened is incongruent with a person’s goal. Anger is an emotion with a wide range of intensity from mild irritation to frustration to rage if uncontrolled.

Why is uncontrolled anger a sure road to failure? Controlled anger can be a motivator for someone to make changes that suit the person, but on the other hand uncontrolled anger can have destructive results as mentioned below; Can lead to problems at work and in personal relationships Anger leads to a downward spiral of problematic situations Uncontrolled and unexpressed anger can turn inward on oneself. causing health problems Can lead to situations that could have negative legal implications

Is it possible to express anger without insulting others? Yes, it is possible to express anger without insulting others. Anger can be suppressed and then converted or redirected much like the behaviour of energy using the following tips; When angry, you can tell the person who has made you angry and talk it over. When angry you have a choice not to talk immediately as it is possible you will hurt the person who you are angry with or you will hurt yourself. You can communicate later and do not criticize the person you are angry at. If angry at someone, do not bad mouth him as this will not help. Talk to them instead and confront the issues objectively. Focus your energy on getting solutions for the problem at hand or what is making you angry.

Which is more difficult, controlling anger in yourself or defusing someone else’s anger? It is more difficult to defuse someone else’s anger because the locus of control for emotions is inward and not outward. Therefore; It is easier to find out what it is that triggers one’s own anger than that causes anger to someone else and hence develop strategies to keep those triggers from tipping oneself over the edge. It is easier to develop and practice certain ways and strategies that can control one’s anger that might not be applicable to another person. Therefore, once you understand yourself, it becomes easy to control your anger than defusing someone else’s anger.

Which is more difficult, controlling anger in yourself or defusing someone else’s anger? Daniel Goleman, in his book Emotional Intelligence, says that emotional intelligence is the ability to manage oneself and one’s relationships in mature and constructive ways; he further proposes 4 key components of emotional intelligence which are stated below; Self awareness Self management Social awareness Relationship management The first two constitute personal competence and the second two feed into social competence. Building on the first two further, it is evident that the locus of control for anger sits within and not without hence for this reason it is easier to control one’s anger than defusing someone else’s anger.

What useful lessons did you learn from this role-playing exercise? Importance of self awareness and self management to enable social competence Managing anger in myself and others Ability to step away from the situation and observe it objectively to develop rational solutions Use of failures as learnings Perfection does not exist in human being however we can all pursue excellence Importance of forgiving Enhanced ability to adopt constructive, learning – oriented approaches to issues Appreciate diversity of people in terms of emotions and the need for exceptional emotional intelligence

Q&A

References L Gardenswartz and A Rowe, ‘Diverse Teams at Work,’ McGraw-Hill International, 1994 Robert Kreitner and Angelo Kinicki, ‘Organizational Behaviour,’ McGraw- Hill International, 2007