How Do You Manage Employee Anger in a Manufacturing Setting? Seeking Advice!

Suggest ways to control employee anger in a manufacturing unit.

Regards,
Umesh

Understanding Employee Anger

"Anger of Employees" is a vague expression. If it involves anger among all employees in groups, then something is wrong; there is a system failure, and the root cause needs to be identified. It is a communication failure. The root cause should be identified during the 'smoldering fire' stage itself, and a correction procedure should be put in place if the communication/interaction system between shop floor supervisors, managers, and workers is in place.

Addressing Individual Conflicts

If the issue is between two employees, they are subject to disciplinary action. Find out the cause and decide on appropriate action.

Understanding and Managing Workplace Conflict

This is in addition to what Mr. Babu Alexander has said. If there is a conflict at the workplace, you need to first study the theory of conflict management. After studying this theory, you should investigate and categorize the incidents of conflict into three categories: process conflict, task conflict, and relationship conflict.

Reasons for Workplace Conflict

Apart from categorizing the incidents, the following could be the reasons for the conflict:

a) Roles and responsibilities of the employees are not defined properly
b) Quantification of the performance is not done
c) Systems and processes are defined, but there is no measurement of the process turnaround time
d) Inadequate resources, shortages of tools, and other supporting materials
e) Focus is on people rather than ratios or costs associated with the business
f) Employees have two bosses, and divergent instructions come from both bosses
g) Lack of an interpersonal environment in the company; management does not make efforts to foster a culture of a healthy interpersonal environment
h) Inadequate skills of the employees. Management hires substandard staff to reduce the wage bill, but this increases quality costs that they do not understand
i) Neither the Cost of Quality (COQ) nor the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) is measured
j) Poor managerial skills among the managers. Rather than focusing on manager-like qualities, promotions are based on the length of service
k) Uncouthness of the staff. The staff is not refined.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

What is the cause of anger? Is it an individual employee displaying anger or a group? You need to provide details for better answers.