Effectively managing anger without killing people or getting on people's nerves.
This is absolutely not true as America puts strong emphasis on interpersonal skills. Now, of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Politicians often seem angry on the campaign trail for the most miniscule of reasons, but generally speaking, the United States is a place that values character. In other words, a person may get rejected by a university or not get a job because their personality doesn't “fit” with a particular organization expects. However, there are strong cultural & gnder bounds to this rule. In Hong Kong, for example, men are often expected to “take charge” in social settings and bosses often get very angry & aggressive, often requiring their staff to work overtime without pay. In fact, a typical question during an interview is “What is your understanding of a 9-to-5 working day?” and applicants are accepted and rejected based on their willingness to work unpaid for extra hours. This increases stress and therefore, anger. It is expected that people are paid to work and people work for money and so, unpaid overtime could be considered cruel.
VENTING ANGER IS HEALTHY
There are 2 sides to this argument. Some people say that we should “let anger out” while others believe that we should hold anger in. According to Prof. Nan Peck, an Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus, we can be an owl, a shark or a bear when dealing with anger. A shark is always thinking about him/herself (“I”), a bear is cute & cuddly (“Aw, you can have it”) and an owl is supposed to be impartial (i.e. “wise old owls”). Out of these 3 animals, a shark is most likely to vent. Venting may be effective if it's done in an appropriate setting. “Appropriate setting” is vaguely defined here, but we can probably all think of all think of places where venting is appropriate and places where venting is inappropriate.
Venting is appropriate in private settings where individual actions won't affect others'. So, for people who don't vent and still want to express their anger/dissatisfaction, what options do they have? One very good alternative to venting is sulking or appearing to be upset. Sara Wilson, ex-head of Business Education at Sha Tin College, who moved to Jakarta with lover Nigel Lock, is an expert at this art. She sulked over not getting a Diet Coke.
