Organizational pressures and anxiety can trigger expressions of anger.

When women and men express anger at work, they receive different evaluations of their competence, leadership effectiveness.
Both male and female evaluators conferred lower status on angry female professionals, regardless of the women’s rank, reported Yale University’s Victoria Brescoll and Eric Luis Uhlmann of HEC Paris School of Management.

Negative evaluation of women who express anger was consistent across job role, from female CEOs to female trainees.
In contrast, men who expressed anger in a professional context were conferred higher status than men who expressed sadness.

Similarly, women who express anger and sadness were rated as less effective than women who expressed no emotion, found Kristi Lewis Tyran of Western Washington University.
Men who expressed sadness received lower effectiveness ratings than those who expressed neutral emotions.

Observers attribute different motivations and causes to anger expressions by women and men.
Women’s angry emotional reactions were attributed to stable internal characteristics such as “she is an angry person,” and “she is out of control,” in Brescoll’s and Uhlmann’s research.
In contrast, men’s angry reactions were attributed to changeable external circumstances, such as having external pressure and demands.

These differing evaluations are related to societal norms for women to regulate anger expressions, suggested Fairfield University’ s Donald Gibson and Ronda Callister of Utah State University.

Women may buffer the status-lowering, competence-eroding, and dislike-provoking consequences of anger at work by:

• Pointing to external causes of angry expressions,
• Expressing warmth and concern for others,
• Demonstrating generosity and philanthropy.

-*What impacts and consequences have you observed for people who express anger in the workplace?

RELATED POSTS:

• Power of “Powerless” Speech, but not Powerless Posture
• Women’s Likeability – Competence Dilemma: Overcoming the Backlash Effect
• How Effective are Strategic Threats, Anger, and Unpredictability in Negotiations?

©Kathryn Welds