Frustration at work Free Essay Example

Frustration is the result of persistent emotional imbalance at work place. It also implies to work that is unsatisfying. It also pertains to colleagues at work that are difficult to get along with in the work places or and make life unbearable for others. Another elaborative definition of work frustration is organizational structure that are difficult to comply with and in the long run an employee is deprived of his time and his desire to grow is diminished with time hence the ability to be creative or innovative is also suppressed.

Work aggressions can also be brought about by clients or customers in an organization. They can cause physical assault to staff serving them as a result of anger triggered by heated argument or exchange of words. One of the most rampant work place aggressions is bulling which is categorized into incivility which implies to rudeness and discourteous verbal behaviors. Bulling also involves yelling, constant reminder to an employee’s errors,snubbing and interpersonal conflict which entails heated arguments and character wildness.

Bullying at the work place undermines ones respect at work and has adverse effects.

Bullying entails verbal abuse, language that belittles an individual like high levels of criticism. Irrelevant comments on an employee’s personal life and family. Other forms of work frustration entails segregating employees, assigning unattainable jobs to the employees, causing great inconveniences to work employees by abrupt roasters changes and purposefully hiding vital information that is required to perform a task. (Kelly 2005, pp. 120) Aggressive behavior at work is linked with a wide range of repercussions to both an individual and the organization at large.

These include a negative attitude towards work or can even result to death or injury resulting from assaults. Low morale, high labour turn over tarnished business names, heavy financial costs coupled with low productivity. The most common medium used to administer aggression is communication. Most instances of these aggressions are either direct or indirect, verbal like rumors spreading or a silent treatment to an individual. Through communication, other great offenses like sexual harassment are expressed and again it only takes communication to resolve work place aggressions.

How frustration occurs Employees who care and have a positive attitude towards their jobs always have a burning desire to excel in their performance but when the management fails to recognize their efforts and their desire for change is not implemented, it leads to frustration. Resistance to change brings frustration. When employees ideas are suppressed they quickly give up and develop an I don’t care attitude. This comes about after a long struggle and too much pain which enhances negativity in employees. Individual indifferences

Trait anger and negative affectivity are individual behaviors which refers to constant personality characters. They include trait anger, age, and sex, alcohol abuse only to mention but a few. These play a vital role in work place aggressions. If anger is not properly managed it people can get into heated arguments that can result in assaults or any other adverse attitude. Individual and situational predictors of work frustration Work frustration can be triggered by a number of factors which can be classified as either situational or individual.

Situational derived factors which are the social context are regarded by people and greatly influenced by other members of an organization. For instance, injustices and provocation triggers have been regarded as key aspects in determining aggression. Provocation can entail factors that kill a person’s ambition to attain a certain goal and unruly conduct of character. Employees can resort to aggression as one way of equitable justice to be practiced or as a way of retaliation or fighting back to unfair practice.

Its evident that employees who undergo emotional disturbances like hostility, anxiety or fear are highly prone to negative events. It is quick to also note that individuals act reversely when they feel bad but those who have high negativity tend to react more. Procedural injustice. It is unfairness practiced in arriving to an answer. This can adversely affect an employee’s salary. This can also promote retaliation by employees towards the management. Processes and procedures are determined by the organizations management bodies. If these are unfairly practiced then it can trigger aggressions.

Distributive injustice. Individuals who find that their distribution 0f work are unfair will blame the originality of the decision and turn to the individual responsible for the practice. If it is the supervisor, employees can reduce productivity. Interpersonal conflict. If an employee handles another with maltreatment it will trigger an aggression as tension builds among them and contributes to high levels of suspicion. Situational constraints. They are related to the work place and employees’ productivity like resources availability.

They can lead to employees’ emotions as once an employee cannot attain a goal due to lack of resources, he becomes frustrated which later turns out to aggression. Other education factors can crop from training and scheduling. Job dissatisfaction. Employees who are not contented with their jobs direct little or less effort into it. They are likely to act in a damaging manner in the organization. Job dissatisfaction are enhanced by rewards and type of work. The dissatisfied employees engage more in organizational aggression than the interpersonal aggression.

Employees who love and enjoy their jobs are more likely to develop positive attitude towards the work environment and their co-workers. Employees can decide to resort to aggressions as a way of enforcing the management to practice equitable justice or as a way of retaliation of fighting back. Power and Control. For one to be in full control he has to have power over people so that he can influence them. Control is an essential part to every organization. The management process is incomplete without control functions. The process involves evaluating performance and taking necessary actions for corrections.

Control involves the following functions:setting standards,measuring performance against standards and correcting and adjusting for deviations from the standards. After the original goals are translated into plans,the plans are translated into specific tasks for designated individual and groups. The control structure then monitors the specific activities of individual employees or groups so that organizational objectives are achieved. Control activities must be consistent with planning. There are a number of control techniques and these includes historical control or commonly known as feedback or post action.

This Control provides information on how goals are met in an organization for instance income statement. Frustration can occur in this type of control if information that is vital is held by a supervisor or an influential manager. If the measured activity has occurred and its impossible to go back and correct performance to bring it up for change instead correction must occur after the fact which can take the form of disciplinary action,performance appraisal, financial and budgetary inspections. To avoid aggressions these actions must be consistent to all. (Routle 2003 pp. 187) Concurrent control.

This is also refers to as real time control because the techniques immediately consider any problem and analyze it to take the necessary and corrective steps before any major damage is done. Frustration can occur to an employee he cannot annalyse the problem and the management responsible is not taking any corrective steps before a damage is done . This could end up in criticism over his work and unnecessary shouting. Predictive control also known as feet forward control is whereby the management can predict or anticipate a problem that the organization can encounter in future .

For instance the cash budget can estimate the next years flow of cash and in case of a shortage in a particular month the management can organize for a loan or any other alternative to cover for the short falls in cash during that period. Its in the power of the management to control . It can lead to frustration in that should the management predict such an event and do nothing about it then some employees will be greatly affected by the levels of inconveniences. (Green 2004, pp. 167. ) Political tactics and work frustration

Politics usually involve intentional acts of influencing other people for the purpose of enhancing or protecting the self interest of individual or groups. Sources and types of power Reward power The ability to grant or withhold rewards is a major source of power by any one who has control over the resources that are of value and can actually exert power over the beneficiaries. In organizational context,managers have many potential rewards such as pay rise, promotion ,favorable work assignment,more responsibility,feedback and recognition.

If promotions are done selectively to a few employees it develops to tension and resentment in employees. Another form of power is Coercive power which is the ability to force other people to act against their wishes,This force of power depends on fear hence people may comply with the power agent because they are afraid of losing their jobs,rejected,bullied,physical harm or suspension from duty. In an organization context managers frequently have coercive power in that they can fire or demote subordinates. They can suspend or hold their faith.

It is probably because of this fear that gets people to come to work on time and to look busy when the boss walks through the area. This control enhances anxiety that leads to aggressions. There is also Position power that is derived from the office that a person occupies. This formal authority translated to an office does not constitute actual power but the person can derive power from the office. This is because people are actually conditioned to accept the authority of managers . They believe that superiors have the right to lead them. A manager can use position to bully subordinates. (Jon 2002, pp. 135)

Expert power. People with expert knowledge and information that other people need can exert substantial power in organizations. Managers exercise expert power because they have more job experience and knowledge and skills than their subordinates Subordinates who have expert knowledge and skills can exert power over their superiors by becoming independent. By refusing to give vital information can causes aggressions. Last but not least, there is Charismatic power which is derived from ones special quality which are inborn or inherited such as public speaking abilities in a personal style or high moral standards.

Charismatic individuals may have no position but would have the ability to satisfy other peoples needs for identification or emotional support. A manager can feel threatened by such a subordinate and may use many forms of aggressions to frustrate his characters . In turn an employee is denied an opportunity to excel. This can only end up in negativity toward the manager. (Anderson 2001, pp. 110) Political tactics of gaining power Maintaining alliance with powerful people Forming alliances is critical to the acquisition of power in the organization.

Forming alliances with members of important departments or with members of upper level management gives somebody power. This coalition is developed to establish exchange relationships among groups to accommodate with other needs and expectations,to provide each other with special favor and privileges and enhance in-groups relationship. Divide and rule This widely known political and military strategy can also apply to the acquisition of power in modern organizations. It is believed that those who are divided will not form an alliance amongst themselves.

Subordinates who are divided can never unite to fight aggressions in work place hence it gives a manager full control of them. Controlling information This method is used to hide an important issue that can be politically damaging. A manager may control the information inflow so that other people can rely on him for the information dissemination. Developing a base of support High level managers spend a lot of time and effort communicating ideas to others before final decision are made as well as building a support base before a meeting is called and having other people contribute their ideas in order to ensure their commitment.

Managing Impressions This is behavior aimed at promoting self interest. Image building is a common approach in this tactic and it relies on general appearance,Self grooming and adherence to organization norms and being part of important activities. Another approach is to build a reputation by being likable, enthusiastic,honest and thoughtful. These traits are derived by influential individuals particularly managers in the organization because they are highly important in cases of promotion consideration. (Chin 2005, pp. 113).