Category: Anger

There are many ways to express emotions, but the most powerful and effective way is using the language. Language is the method of human communication, but it is also used to convey emotions. According to Ambrose Bierce: “ Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” This quote shows how people speech effect by emotions, especially when it contains toxic emotions such as anger and rage. People usually regret what they speak when they get furious because of the consequences, illogical actions and think they had.

Anger is a complex feeling that usually overtaken people’s mind. Like what Ambrose Bierce said: “ Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” When people get angry, they tend to lose control of themselves, and it will make the way they speak hashes and hurtful. When this feeling comes out through the speech, every word they said might damage other people’s lives and feelings more than they imagine. For example, humans tend to act before thinking about the consequences when angry. As a result, everything they say and act usually illogical and self-centered. Generally, it comes from their emotions instead of their minds. During this situation, people often use their anger as a weapon to hurt other people such as cursing, throwing things and yelling. In the name of anger and pain, people often unaware that they gave themselves the right to hurt others. The decisions and actions taken in this situation will make people feel regret soon afterward. Most of the time, people feel regretful, and ashamed of themselves when they allow their anger to control and speak, instead of themselves. In short, anger will make people do bad things to others because they are unable to control themselves. Later, they will regret when they see the consequences of their actions and decisions they made while angry.

People’s personality usually affected by their unique experiences and the world around them. Likewise, an author’s background will affect the way he writes, thinks and says. An exemplar of this topic is Ambrose Bierce-American journalist, satirist, and an author of sardonic short stories. Famous for his dark and sardonic views as a critic, earned him the nickname, “ Bitter Bierce” or “the wickedest man in San Francisco.’. The combination of his sardonic view and black humor makes him not afraid to show his view of human nature. For example: “ Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”. In this quote, Bierce is sarcastic people who allow their anger to control what they say instead of themselves. In brief, the author’s background will influence what they think, write and say.

The use of language to express emotions usually effective when every word holds in many thoughts and hidden feelings. Anger: a special feeling that overpowers other feelings tend to make trouble when using language as a tool to convey emotions. Most of the time, anger makes people lose control of themselves and forget the consequences afterward. Thus, to use language as a powerful way to express emotions, people need to think before they speak or it will be the best speech they will ever regret.

Although Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart is the broadly read African novel, the failure of its main character leaves readers with many unanswered questions. Central to the many questions is why Achebe allowed the aspiring but brutal young person to take away his life at the time everyone looked unto him? Other commentators argue that Okonkwo’s pride and anger contributed to his downfall while others blame the fragmentation of the Umuofia society coupled with cultural destruction by the white man (Lakshmi 167). Yet, others support both views. These factors indeed contributed to Okonkwo’s failure, but to assume that they are the main reasons why Okonkwo failed is limiting the perceptions presented in the novel. From the book, the reader can conclude that the many harmful effects in Okonkwo’s family, society, and personal life are not necessarily due to his pride and anger. Still, instead, they are functions of heroism in the cultural belief systems of the Igbos. The many harmful effects in Okonkwo’s family, society, and personal life are not necessarily due to his pride and anger, but instead, they are the primary functions of heroism among the people of Igbo.

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is not a book without a cultural setting; instead, it is a novel rooted in a set of specific social traditions, cultural beliefs, and customs of a people. The characters and events in this book are better understood from this perspective. Analyzing or viewing the novel from a different perspective is in itself rendering the imprecise of the book’s particular actions, actors, and events. Achebe provides a vivid description of the Igbo society at the end of the 19th century. Additionally, Chinua Achebe highlights the positive and harmful cultural practices of Igbo’s social practices, political organizations, religious, and festivities of the season. On other occasions, when asked to comment about the Igbo society as presented in Things Fall Apart, Achebe said that the characters in the book are normal people and their actions reflect the events of a natural human being (Cobham and Bernth 91).

Achebe presents a society that has unwittingly given in to a new faith and ways of living which is contrary to the ancestral wish. Before colonialism took root in Africa, Africa had its religion and culture. With the advent of colonialism, Achebe presents an Umuofia society that is overburdened by the white culture of hope and colonialism. This culture forces people to blasphemy their ancestors and their hero are fractured. Additionally, the people are divided, and society’s perception is shattered. The British District Commissioner takes control over people with the full imposition of his culture in Umuofia society. In this case, Achebe presents a society where the total imposition of the white man’s culture, values, and political structure are imposed upon the Igbo culture. Subsequently, Okonkwo, the hero finds himself plunged into disaster with no option to save his family, society, or himself against the enemy but to take away his life. Obirieka describes Okonkwo as one of the greatest men in Umuofia who the society had forced to kill himself and now buried like a dog (Achebe 147). However, Okonkwo’s suicide does not surprise the community because taking away ones’ life is a conception of a hero in the Igbo community. Obirieka’s description discredits the notion that Okonkwo’s pride and anger led to his failure. Instead, his action is a function of heroism according to the Igbo culture.

Achebe describes a hero in the Igbo community as a courageous person with the ability to destabilize the communal forces while pursuing his interests. Additionally, in a unique way, he is a man noted because of his actions that stand out uniquely. Hence, his works are defined ambivalently and that they must be above the typical behaviors. In this sense, a hero does not operate in seclusion, but he is a product of a social milieu in which he lives (Tobalase 23). This is the person who is determined by consistently opposing society’s cause of tensions to gain personal reputation and fame. Paradoxically, a hero is a both a disintegrating and a disrupting principle of the community. In this context, Okonkwo becomes the epitome of this complex perception of the journey towards heroism in Igbo culture. Achebe describes Okonkwo’s journey as a life-spring mission with the ultimate goal of becoming a hero (Achebe 92). Unfortunately, the journey to heroism in his society is fraught with myriad difficulties. Perhaps, these difficulties contributed to his anger for not achieving his mission, making him fail his family, community, and even himself.

Okonkwo was determined to emulate his father’s reputation, who has, however, achieved nothing. Since a man is judged with his worth rather than the worth of the parent, Okonkwo wants to succeed in every aspect that the father had failed. Achebe juxtaposes the two views of success and failure and tries to reconcile them. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, is a lazy and idle person who does not even afford to think about tomorrow (Achebe 3). Achebe describes him as a person who takes pride in drinking palm wine and dancing as a way of avoiding responsibility. Unoka had no title in society and that he would not endure a place of blood (Achebe 8). This description contrasts with Okonkwo’s character. Hence, for Okonkwo to become a hero, he knew that he had to achieve whatever his father failed to accomplish in Igbo. At the novel’s onset, Achebe describes Okonkwo as a person who does not take fortitude with failed persons in Igbo. Okonkwo’s life was characterized by anxiety to lose. Since he did not like the place of his father in society, he hated him but wanted to work to prove a hero in him.

Additionally, the pressures to balance between personal, family, and social life contributes to Okonkwo’s downfall as the hero of Igbo. Most often Okonkwo found himself at the crossroads on which route to go as he pursues fame and reputation. A typical example involves when the Priestess of Agbala comes for Enzinma to get Agbala’s blessings. Although he is committed to obeying the laws of the land, he is, however, reluctant to these blessings and wants to oppose the traditional social order (Achebe 79). Okonkwo saw the Priestess’ arrival as an intrusion to the family’s private life. On seeing the disapproval from Okonkwo, the Priestess screams telling him that it is a curse for Okonkwo to talk while a god is speaking. Obierika, a character who claims that Okonkwo is not committed to obeying and following the society’s culture, agrees that there is a lack of balance between private life and societal expectations from a hero. Unlike Obierika, Okonkwo is a calm person who lets his actions speak for him. However, the accumulation of these pressures internally leads Okonkwo to kill himself (Achebe 88).

Contrary to some arguments that Okonkwo’s pride and anger contributed to the many problems in his family, society, and personal life, his failure is also as a result of the lack of balance between private life and societal expectations from the person they accord respect and hope in society. Additionally, Okonkwo’s failure to live like a hero is defined by the lack of equilibrium between the two cultures and he decides to take a short cut in life by terminating his life.

There are fairly good statistics on the number of people who suffer from anxiety, depression, and other emotional problems as well as the personal and economic costs associated with them. We do not, however, have reliable statistics on anger, though the incidence of ‘Road Rage’ and other threatening public outbursts would indicate that it is an issu to contend with. Furthermore, while anxious or depressed individuals often seek out professional help, angry people rarely do. Our society often identifies anger as a normal, healthy emotion that should be expressed, not held in. It is considered a normal and expected response to a wide variety of events.

Some research in the past few years, however, has suggested that anger presents a serious threat to one’s health; and my own professional opinion is that anger of all kinds is detrimental to mental well-being.

Held In or Let Out, Anger is Harmful

The conventional wisdom is that anger, if used constructively and expressed rather than held in, is a healthy emotion. But while it may sometimes look good and play well with our friends, anger is now known to be quite detrimental to us physically and psychologically.

Medical Concerns

Almost everyone remembers when the research about Type A personalities was made public. It showed that men who were controlling, workaholic, and intense are more likely than others to suffer from heart disease and other stress-related illness. In the October 27, 1997 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, a top medical journal, a report by Duke University research team filled in an important piece of previously missing information about Type A personalities. The team’s question was, ‘What specific personality characteristic causes physical illness?’ The answer it found: Anger. The Duke University study showed that cognitive/behavioral stress reduction sessions lowered the level of both anger and anxiety in patients with chronic heart problems, and that their physical improvement was related specifically to a reduction in their anger.

Futhermore, while it is generally agreed that holding anger in causes stress and physical illness, recent research shows that people who express anger often actually experience more physical symptoms and illness than those who hold their anger in.

Psychological Concerns

As a cognitive/behaviorist, I do not subscribe to the Freudian definition of depression as ‘anger turned inward.’ However, I do believe that anger can be psychologically debilitating. People often see themselves as a being strongest and most assertive when they are angry. Actually, the opposite is true.

To be angry means that you have to see yourself as a victim—someone or something did something to you. You believe that you were treated unfairly, or that someone is not behaving properly toward you, or that traffic is making you late, and so on. Anger is often made more intense by feeling helpless, as well as victimized. Helplessness can result in depression and demoralization (the feeling that life has defeated you.) And repeated anger damages our relationship with those closest to us. Anger toward others takes the form of criticism and can eventually erode the quality of a relationship.

The Mechanisms of Anger

Almost all instances of anger result from expecting and demanding one thing and getting something else. People, especially those who tend to be controlling, enter most situations with a list of expectations. The longer and more unrealistic the list of expectations and demands, the less likely they are to be met. We all know that the universe does not cooperate with our plans, but emotionally we behave as if we expect it to. For example, we get into our car, get stuck in traffic, and become angry. Or while waiting for a friend who is late, we get more and more angry.

My favorite story about anger involves a group of government office workers who were in one of my stress reduction courses. They were a very angry group. Why? Among a long list of grievances was the fact that the thermostat at their office did not work. It had not worked for four years, and attempts to repair it had all failed. For four years, some of these individuals were angry every day as soon as they got to work. In discussions, it became clear what was happening. On their way to work, in their car, on the bus, these people were repeatedly saying to themselves, ‘I hope the thermostat is working.’ ‘Today is going to be hot, so that thermostat better be working.’ As soon as they entered the building they would ask, be told that the thermostat was not working, and immediately become angry. This sequence of events is the same, no matter what the anger-producing situation. More often than not, anger is generated in repeated, predictable circumstances.

How is Anger Encouraged?

Provided their behavior is not too aggressive, angry people generally receive secondary gains from those around them. These social and personal factors reinforce the tendency to get angry.

We typically become angry when we believe that we have been treated wrongly or unfairly. As the ‘wronged party,’ we feel that we are entitled to receive sympathy and even encouragement for our anger, and we often do. Being supportive, our friends and relatives will say that we are right, that the other person is wrong, and that we are perfectly justified in our anger. This is a positive reinforcement for most of us.

Anger is also rewarded when others, in an effort to avoid unpleasantness or confrontation, give in to us when we display anger. It is a convincing scenario, ‘I do not get what I am entitled to unless I get angry.’ In addition, many people use anger as a queue to spur them on to action. This is common in unassertive people, who are usually reluctant to speak up to defend even their legitimate rights, unless they are angry. These individuals see anger as something that helps them determine when to take action when they believe they are being taken advantage of.

Learning to Be Less Angry

How can we learn to be less angry? One way is to change our expectations. I used this approach with my group of disgruntled office workers. My instructions were simple to understand, but required effort and practice:

‘On your way to work tomorrow, I want you to say to yourself that you are expecting the thermostat not to work. You are expecting that, because it has never worked in the past. Say these sentences several times on the way to work. Do not say anything else to yourself about the thermostat.’

With the government office workers (and others I have worked with), changing expectations eliminated their anger.

In general, if you prepare in advance, anger can be eliminated from much of your life. Think about what you are likely to have to deal with when you visit your parents, drive to work, go to the bank, and so forth. Do not hope for the best or expect the worst. Expect what you are likely to get, based on your past experience. Say to yourself, for example, ‘I’m expecting that there may be a long line at the bank and not enough tellers.’

People fail to adjust their expectations in response to their experience because they believe (a) what they are expecting and demanding is reasonable and/or (b) that not to get angry is means accepting a situation that is not acceptable. I would almost never argue with (a). Most people’s expectations are reasonable; but to continue insisting that they must be met when experience indicates otherwise is irrational. It is reasonable not to be blamed for things you did not do, but to expect and demand that you not be does not make as much sense.

However, I do take exception to (b). The goal should be not get angry. If you can correct a situation by acceptable means, you should do so. Keep in mind that you must have realistic expectations about your attempts to correct situations that involve other people’s behavior or factors not under your control. Complaining to the Bank Manager should be done with an expectation that no matter what is said, there probably won’t be an increase in the number of tellers on duty. What you can do is change banks or take other actions within your control if you find the situation unacceptable. But getting angry is not necessary or desirable, and is even unhealthy.

Stop telling yourself that it is awful or terrible that you have to wait on line, get caught in traffic, get treated unfairly, receive inferior service at a restaurant, etc.; they are merely unavoidable, if unfortunate, facts of life.

Anger is considered a part of an healthy emotion. However, if left uncontrolled, it can devastatingly affect your health and relationships at work and with your family. It can be quite tasking to control your anger, but you can use simple anger management tips to keep your anger in check.

In this article, we briefly examined ten (10) effective anger management tips that can be beneficial to you if you always lose it. There are 10 anger management tips you can use to keep your anger in check.

Think before uttering any word

Hurtful words uttered in anger are like bullets that cannot be reversed. It is common to blurt out cruel and spiteful words that you would later regret when you are in a calmer state. Ensure you gather your thoughts warily and guardedly before speaking. Also give others the opportunity to speak out.

Express mild anger in calmer state

When you are later in a calmer frame of mind, you can proceed to express your grievances, howbeit in a calmer approach that wouldn’t incite the other person to anger. Ensure you are not offensive. State your distresses and needs plainly without causing any harm to the other person.

Exercises help

Getting regular exercises and physical activities can help cut down stress that triggers anger. If your anger level begins to mount, immediately leave the aggravating scene and take a brisk walk or run. You can also engage in some other activities you consider pleasurable.

Take a timeout

Taking time out on regular basis is also among anger management tips. It would help if you take short breaks during nerve-racking times to let off some steam. You can recuperate, think better, and organize your thoughts when you get some moments of quiet time. You can better control what lies ahead without aggravation when you take a timeout when you encounter stressful circumstances.

Identify possible solutions

You should work on recognizing possible solutions to the causal problems of your anger instead of centering on what incited you to anger. If chatting with a colleague at work always ends with him or her getting you livid, it would help to ignore such person(s).

Use the ‘I’ statements

Using statements that begins with “I” instead of “You”, would always help to curtail your anger rising disproportionately. Using the “I” statements when explaining the issue would overcome the issue of you apportioning blame and would ease tension. For instance, instead of saying “You are always late”; use “I’m not happy that you always keep me waiting.”

Avoid harboring bitterness and grudges

To forgive is divine. Forgiveness is an influential tool, don’t hold on to grudges. Don’t permit antagonism and other negative feelings to push out positive feelings. However, if you can pardon someone of any wrongdoings, forgive and totally forget, you might both learn from the situation and reinforce your relationship.

Use humor to release tension

Another effective anger management tip is to use hilarity to diffuse any mounted tension that could lead to anger. Use humor to help you confront what is responsible for your anger and curb any unrealistic outlook you have for how things should be.

Practice relaxation skills

Engage relaxation skills like listening to music or doing yoga when your temper flares. Taking a deep breath or repeating soothing phrases like “take it easy”, “I’ve got this”, or “everything’s fine” may help you relax and extinguish your anger.

Know when to seek help

It may be difficult for you to learn ways to control your anger. Seek help for anger issues if your anger appears to be uncontrollable and hurt people around you.

Conclusion

It is okay to get angry over issues once in a while. However, it becomes abnormal if you allow your anger get out of the borders of your control. The 10 anger management tips above are effective at helping you manage your anger. You should seek counsel if your anger is unmanageable. Always remember that anger won’t solve the issue on ground and might only aggravate an existing situation.

Introduction to Diversity and Demographics in the Workforce

It is imperative to call to mind that workforce diversity represents or refers to how employees are similar or different from each other. In other words, diversity refers to the characteristics that are either similar or different in a particular work unit such as race, religion, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or functional background among others. Workforce diversity may occur concerning any characteristics. However, the main focus is usually on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and physical ability (Harvey & Allard, 2015). Understanding how the stated characteristics shape organizational behavior of any corporate entity very important. Many business organizations are in a hurry to embrace workforce diversity due to the benefits it brings in an organization. However, many find it very challenging to effectively manage diversity and many well-known business organizations find themselves facing accusations about discrimination based on different characteristics. This section of the manual provides a brief explanation of religion, race, gender, age, and immigrant vs. native-born and how they relate to the workplace, the current, recent, and forecasted demographic trends of the US population, the customs and values of 2 of the largest minority races or religions in the workforce, the need for sensitivity to their differing values and customs, and legislation affecting supervisor regulations relating to these groups.

Different forms of discrimination are experienced in the United States and the same go the extra mile to affect the places of work. For example, many people are discriminated against their religious background and this affects the hiring decisions where in most cases, job applicants who are Muslim are often turned away or forced to observe certain rules that are too discriminatory (Harvey & Allard, 2015). On the other hand, racial profiling is a common phenomenon in the United States. People of color and Hispanics find it extremely difficult to secure employment because they are discriminated against based on their race. An example of workplace racial discrimination is where a person unsuccessfully applies for a job and when he makes a follow-up, he is told by the human resource manager that people from his country have been employed in the company before by they all do not share the work ethics of the company.

The stereotypes and assumptions made against millennials and mature workers have a great impact on hiring decisions. In some cases, the human resource departments fail to interview some people under the pretext that they are too young or too old to fit in with other staff members. Immigrants face the worst form of discrimination in the United States. Sometimes, employers may discriminate against immigrants based on their immigration status, the nationality of origin, or language pronunciation (Wrench, 2016). The Immigrants and Nationality Act protects immigrants from being subjected to discrimination based on their nationality of origin. Finally, where a person’s parents were born affects the hiring and promotion decisions in many business organizations even if one was born in the United States. Children of immigrant parents still experience difficulties at the paces of work.

The population of the United States stands at 329.45 million people with a majority being the whites. America is 60.4% white, foreign-born, 12.1% African American, 16.3 Hispanics, and Latinos. The remaining percentage constitutes immigrants. The recent trends indicate that 78% of the workforce is made up of whites, 13% are Blacks and 6% are Asians. Further, 15 of the labor force represent the Indian Americans and Native Alaskans whereas mixed races make the remaining 2%. Elsewhere, the current statistics indicate that as at the end of 2018, an average of 60.4% of Americans was employed. 60.7% of whites were employed, 58.3% of African Americans were in employment, while Hispanics and Latinos topped the list at 63.2%. It is expected that by 2020, African Americans will constitute 10.2% of the workforce in America; Asians will constitute 30.1%, Hispanics will constitute 34%.

There has been a dramatic increase in Muslim and Hispanic percentages in the workforce in the last couple of years. This dramatic increase is a true reflection of how employers are slowly becoming conscious of the need to diversify their workforce. Employers need to understand that Hispanics place more values on family, culture, and the desire to improve their status. Therefore, a recruitment and retention strategy that has Hispanics in mind needs to be anchored on these values (Harvey & Allard, 2015). Elsewhere, Muslims put more value on religious practices and family. Therefore, employers need to understand these two core values and incorporate them into their hiring and retention strategies to accommodate Muslims.

There is a need to appreciate the importance of employers sensitizing their human resource managers and existing employees on Muslim and Hispanic values and customs to ensure that cultural diversity is embraced within an organization. Appreciating the values and customs held by others create a conducive working environment for everyone irrespective of their backgrounds. Finally, the most important legislation that affects regulations about Muslims and Hispanics is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Act prohibits employers or those in higher positions to discriminate against anyone based on various backgrounds such as religion, the nationality of origin and gender among others.

Historical Issues of Different Races in the Workplace and how to handle them

Racial diversity in the workplace is an important phenomenon in every business organization that needs to attain a competitive advantage. Initially, not so much emphasis had been placed on the need to diversify business organizations based on race, religion, and age among others. However, various strengths associated with workforce diversity have driven almost every business organization to give diversity a second thought. At the moment, many business organizations are using others as benchmarks to diversify their workforce in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Looking at the current United States racial demographics, one can conclude that workforce diversity has taken a positive trajectory and the majority race is no longer dominating employment in the United States. Various racial minorities such as Hispanics and African Americans are equally competing with whites at the places of work. In the past few decades, African Americans, Hispanics, Indian Americans, and Native Alaskans did not have a level playing field with whites (Wrench, 2016). However, the current demographic trends indicate that 60.7% of whites are employed, 58.3% of African Americans are employed and Hispanics top the least by a representation of 63.2% irrespective of their minority status. In the foreseeable future, Hispanics will likely constitute 34% of the United States workforce; African Americans will slightly decline to 10.2% whereas Asians will form 30.1% of the total workforce in the United States.

Leaders need to focus on specific issues that create tension between different groups in the workplace. Some of these issues include racial bias, ethnic and cultural difference, and respect. Racial bias occurs when one race is given preferential treatment at the expense of others. The ethnic and cultural difference occurs when one ethnic or cultural group harbors unfair prejudice against other groups. Finally, respect is eroded when one racial group fails to accept that individual difference is vital in creating a productive work environment (Wrench, 2016). Therefore, leaders need to acknowledge these issues and adequately address them to give diversity a space to thrive. Some of the ways to solve these issues include adopting a more diverse definition of diversity and putting in place diversity training programs. The other way is to standardize interview processes to reduce biases. Standardized interviews will ensure that only those who are qualified are selected irrespective of racial or cultural background.

Overcoming Gender Issues in the Workforce

When focusing on population, sex or gender is one of the factors that help in understanding how the population has changed over time. Like several other countries across the world, men in the United States are more likely to participate in the labor market compared to their women counterparts. However, these differences have for been narrowing down for quite some time especially in the past decade. Female participation in the labor force is high in most developed countries including the United States (Sakdiyakorn & Wattanacharoensil, 2018). This is because of the changes that have occurred over time. Research findings indicate that the gender gap narrowed down by 26% between 1980 and 2008. The beginning of the 20th Century saw a surge in the number of women participating in the labor force in most developed nations. However, in the 21st Century, the United States saw a steady decline in the number of women participating in the labor market but has since then taken a positive trajectory (Guillaume, Dawson, Otaye‐Ebede, Woods & West, 2017). Research findings indicate that changes in education in the United States have facilitated the integration of women in the workforce. On the other hand, various factors have equally contributed to the gender mix in the United States labor force. Demographic patterns such as the aging baby boomers are equally fueling the integration of millennial women in the workforce.

The chief executive officer talked about various gender issues regarding the company’s workforce. These issues are work strife attributed to demographic changes, an overwhelming number of men in the company, and male dominance of human resource managers and supervisors. According to the CEO, the company has experienced a growing trend of strife in the company and has reasons to believe that this was caused by sustained changes in the company’s demographic patterns (Sakdiyakorn & Wattanacharoensil, 2018). Elsewhere, she stated that the company has had an overwhelming number of men in the past and this could equally be a reason for difficulties experienced by the company in its workforce. Finally, the stated that the company’s human resource and other vital departments have in the past been dominated by men and this has adversely impacted the company in its bid to achieve the required strength.

To address these issues, it is important that the sensitivity of every towards gender issues is raised. For this reason, the CEO will need to inform every supervisor on the need to achieve and maintain a diverse business organization by working towards balancing the ratio of men to women in the company (Guillaume et al., 2017). Addressing it this way will let everyone understand the importance of achieving diversity with regards to the benefits it brings in the organization. Equally, the supervisors can be sensitized on these issues by educating them on the dangers of discriminating against anyone based on sex, race or religion.

In order to make the supervisors understand fully the need to be sensitive about gender-based issues that may affect the organization, decided cases can be used to explain. One of these cases is Griggs v. Duke Power. This case decided way back in 1971 with an emphasis on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when making hiring decisions. In this case, arbitrary tests are forbidden when testing employees as a way of curbing discrimination.

In every state in America, there is a minimum entry requirement for every job that is applied for. For example, in Texas, the minimum job entry requirement for accountants department is a bachelors’ degree in from accredited university or college with majors in accounting or finance. Therefore, an applicant will be required to ensure that his or her academic credentials meet the minimum threshold (Guillaume et al., 2017). Finally, when communicating to a department about a female employee becoming part of the team, a supervisor needs to redefine the meaning of diversity and request the organization to establish diversity training programs so that every employee understands its importance. This will make it easier to explain to them that the department needs to introduce a female employee who will come with a different perspective and enable everyone to be more innovative in his ways of doing business.

Reference

1. Guillaume, Y. R., Dawson, J. F., Otaye‐Ebede, L., Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2017). Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 276-303.
2. Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity: readings, cases, and exercises. Pearson.
3. Sakdiyakorn, M., & Wattanacharoensil, W. (2018). Generational diversity in the workplace: A systematic review in the hospitality context. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 59(2), 135-159.
4. Wrench, J. (2016). Diversity management and discrimination: Immigrants and ethnic minorities in the EU. Routledge.

Sexual coercion (SC) is among other sexual assaults that have created public concern in the United States. SC is the use of pressure on another person which causes them to submit into a sexual act. SC can vary from persuasion to a forceful contact. Whichever form it takes, SC is in the continuum of sexual offences since it takes away the other persons consent to the act. In most instances of SC, studies have revealed that most of them have relationship with the coercer’s anger. This paper intends to provide an analysis of the past literature on the traits of anger and their relation to sexual coercion. The paper starts by analyzing the prevalence of SC in globally and in the united states. From there, the paper discusses anger and its relation to SC.

Sexual Coercion

The benefits of romantic relationships are considered social and personal. To an extent, romantic relationships can become negative thus endangering life and health particularly when it involves coercion. The work of Benbouriche and Parent (2018) defines sexual coercion (SC) as the use of tactics or strategies with the intention of taking someone else the free will or consent to engage into a sexual act. An analysis of the global prevalence of SC shows that the behavior varies across countries (Song, Ji, & Agardh, 2014). For instance, in developed countries like the US, the study estimated the prevalence of SC to be about one in every six women and one in every thirty men (Song et al., 2014). In less developed countries like northern Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, and Peru, the rate ranged between 5 to 50%. In China, the study reported prevalence of 40.9% in girls and 29.5% in boys (Song et al., 2014). While analyzing past studies that relied on self-reported data in Canada, Benbouriche and Parent (2018) the study found that about a third of female students reported having been victims of SC.

In the US, in particular, the 2010-2012 analysis report by (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[CDC], 2017) found that approximately about 13.2% have experienced SC one or several times in their lives. Though the analysis did not rely on a 12-month reported cases, about 2.0% of the women reported having experienced SC 12 months prior to the survey. The report further stated that there were 5.8% cases of SC experience among men and 1.4% men reported to have experienced it 12 months prior to the study.

The study of Benbouriche and Parent (2018) has presented the school environment as involving high levels of social interaction which is one of the factors for SC. This is evident from some of the studies that have analyzed data from student environment. For instance, from the study of Song et al. (2014), the authors reported that the prevalence of SC among the US students was 11.9% in female students and 6.1% among males students. This trend was also the same in different countries though it varied from one country to another.

Anger

Anger is a social emotion that modulate a person’s risk to aggression. The work of Tafrate, Kassinove, and Dundin (2002) defines anger as a basic emotion common to some human beings which is a response to unfriendly and strange behaviors from others. However, studies on the analysis of anger in some people have identified it as a trait which is a different view from seeing it as an emotional state common to all persons. Among them is the work of Novaco (2011) that has identified different levels of anger between men and women. From an analysis of studies that focused on analyzing anger from forensic population, the author identified that women have higher levels of anger than women. The views are consistent with the results of the study of Tafrate et al. (2002) which analyzed episodes of anger in people consider to have high (HTA ) levels or low (LTA) levels of anger. From the study, those with HTA exhibited higher levels of anger reactions than the LTA (Tafrate et al., 2002).

Episodes of anger manifest themselves differently among individuals. For instance, the study of Tafrate et al. (2002) found that people with HTA had reactions such as negative responses in conversations, use of drugs, physical aggression and other anger-related outcomes. In relation to manifestation of anger, most studies have confirmed that aggression is the most common manifestation of anger. From the analysis of Novaco (2011), most studies conducted on violent offenders both in prisons and hospitals had a conclusion that anger is the main activator or aggression.

In addition to aggression, anger manifests itself in some individual as frustration. From the study of (Tafrate et al. (2002) both groups the HTA and LTA showed moments of frustrations as a sign of anger, but tolerance to frustration was lower in HTA than LTA. In addition, people with HTA also rated themselves low in positive approaches to dealing with provocations. Another manifestation closely related to anger is belligerence. While analyzing anger, Novaco (2011), states that is belligerence one of the main risk factor to violent behavior. Novac (2011) further states that the usage of ‘anger’ is interchanged with ‘aggression’, and ‘hostility’ which all intends to define anger as a harm-doing behavior that easily ends up as ‘belligerence’.

Anger & Sexual Coercion

There are numerous studies that have provided a direct relationship between anger and SC. Some of these studies have explained this relationship from the concept emotions disablement. These are mainly situations where one is unable to control their hostility behavior and ends up offending the other person sexually such as in the case of SC (Thomas & Gorzalka, 2012). In another view, Pundik (2015) explains that when people are considering moral judgement when taking negative actions such as SC, they tend to ascribe their judgement to anger or resentment.

Some authors have also attributed aggressive sexual behaviors in men as the consequence some individual or community factors such as hostility (Sierra, Gutiérrez-Quintanilla, Bermúdez, & Buela-Casal, 2009). The authors explained that in most the cases related to SC, there is always an interaction between anger and hostility. In addition, Thomas and Gorzalka (2012) found that the anger caused by loneliness and humiliation among the convicted sexual offenders caused them to engage in increased coercive and aggressive sexual fantasies as well as masturbatory activities. Thomas and Gorzalka (2012) also explain anger induction and its relation to SC. These are the cases where a man would be insulted or aggressively provoked by a woman in a negative interaction.

Conclusion

Particular attitudes and trait s are predictors of sexual coercion. This notion has been explained in studies that have sought to examine the levels of aggression, anger and impulsivity as personality traits that lead to sexual coercion and other offences. The intention of this paper was to demonstrate an association between anger and sexual coercion. By a review of past literature, this paper has found that anger is linked to aggression and other hostility behavior.

I was born into a family of six, with myself being the middle child. Anyone who has ever grown with siblings throughout their young life knows anger. Anger runs rampant in us all and having siblings tends to bring that out in us. However, how does one determine the difference between someone being angry and someone who has a problem with anger? A difficult question but one I have had the luxury of witnessing first hand throughout my life.

Joshua, my older brother, 13 months older exactly; has struggled with anger his entire life. I have witnessed firsthand anger completely tear someone apart from the inside out. It’s the look in the person’s eyes when you realize there is nothing there but hate and anger and all sense of logic has vanished. Anger is hard to manage, even harder to measure, though it can be done. In my brothers’ case, anger and selfish desires has controlled his life since his maturity, even before that. This emotion has destroyed parts of his life he can never get back and quite honestly, I have never understood why,

According to Webster’s Dictionary anger is, by definition, a strong feeling of displeasure and usually antagonism. Anger can be caused by a number of things, hunger, stress, nervousness, sickness, boredom and many other reasons depending on the person. There is almost one similarity that you can track between people who get angry quite often, blaming others for their problems; which then creates an environment that is uncomfortable to the person, due to the fact that they are now convinced that the problem was not their fault, but someone else.

For Joshua, this is his only defense towards any issues that he creates himself. It is never his fault. This intrigued me for some time; it never really made sense as to why someone was unable to recognize his faults in the problems that he created. For the longest it seemed like the environment that he was in was not suitable for his personality. My mother and father tried everything, switching schools, homeschooling, counseling, one on one counseling, forcing him to leave the house, forcing him to obey new rules yet it all seemed useless as the same actions would come around again, just like they always have. A study done by Quigley and Tedeschi in 1996 concluded that, “Feelings of anger and thoughts of blame regarding a situation where someone harmed the participant escalated in a recursive loop, such that the more anger one experienced, the more blame on the perpetrator, and vice versa.” (Lerner 2006) In essence, the higher the situation was escalated, the more the person in anger felt that is was the other person’s fault; which in Joshua’s case, relates to every fight or argument we’ve ever had.

Examining someone’s anger is a gray area, at the end of the day; you never really know all the variables, especially one like ADHD, which my brother Joshua has. From an outside perspective it’s easy to judge but when you bring into account mental disorders, it changes the game. ADHD has been linked to anger issues, especially within men. An article written by Terry M. Dickson states that, “…have a difficult time regulating their emotions and when they are faced with overwhelming situations can have ‘angry outbursts’ that hurt their relationships.” (Dickson 2013) Anger may already stem from some deep saddening childhood trauma story, but when you mix an emotionally unhealthy teenager with anger issues and ADHD, then you’re in for a bumpy ride.

It had always been in the back of my mind that maybe my brother just had something wrong with him. Then I take a look at his social life, the friends he makes the people he likes to surround himself with. In my opinion, not the best choices, choices that led him down a dark path of alcohol and drug abuse, and as far as I’m concerned, a path he is still on. Now almost everyone understands the relationship between alcohol and drugs during rough times or for people with minor mental disabilities, or even in your normal every day person. If you take someone who is inherently angry, with ADHD and substance abuse, what can be done?

The film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, directed by Edgar Wright, is overdramatized however, it does conclude very well that anger and fear are instinctual emotions that are primarily connected with motivation. Motivation and Emotions are distinct constructs however, when dealing with emotions of instincts, namely fear and anger, motivation and emotion have more similarities than differences. Fear is an emotion that one experiences when feeling endangered and drives individuals to follow their instincts to escape or freeze. Anger is a complex emotion that a human individual experiences when feeling insulted which drives one to confront, fight or any other instinct responses. These two negative emotions will be explained more in depth and how they are both linked to motivation.

Anger and fear are portrayed by the character Knives in the movie. Knives who is a young Asian American character in the movie ends up having a romantic relationship with an older male named Scott Pilgrim. She falls head over heels for Scott and loves the idea that he is older and is in a band. Scott unfortunately loses interest and breaks up with Knives, because he falls in love with a girl named Ramona. Knives has cognitive evaluations and experiences emotions of fear after being rejected by Scott due to the fact that she maybe felt that Scott perceived her as being unworthy or unattractive. As time went on in the movie the emotions of fear within knives caused anger due to the fact that she feels like she should not have been rejected or cheated on because she realized that she does have self-worth. This anger that Knives generated caused her to take action and to physically want to fight with Scott. This pop culture reference portrays that Knives being rejected by Scott stemmed instinctive emotions of fear and anger which quickly progressed into avoidance of the situation with Scott to having the motivation to confront and seek revenge with Scott.

Motivation is the desires, drives, and needs that prompt us to take action or to do something. The cognitive evaluation theory describes that there are two motivation systems: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivators perform for their own achievement and satisfaction. Intrinsic motivators believe they are doing the work for self-fulfillment instead of getting paid or some other extrinsic reason like promotion, feedback or working conditions. Extrinsic motivators are motivated by the pay, acknowledgment, working conditions and feedback. Extrinsic motivators are usually controlled by other people like a boss who persuades them to work harder for promotions and etc (Kopp, 2019).

Emotion is referred to the cognitive evaluations, subjective changes, autonomic and neural arousal, impulses to action and behavior designed to have an effect upon the stimulus that initiated the complex sequence (Shiota & Kalat, 2018). Paul Ekman presented the neurocultural theory of emotion which was the first attempt to express where and how culture can influence universal emotion processes (Shiota & Kalat, 2018). Ekman stated that, “emotion involved with biological features, including autonomic nervous system changes, cognitive biases, and automatic facial expressions generated by an innate and universal facial action program. If conditions are right, then these biological features, as well as consciously felt motivations, lead to prototypical emotional behavior” (as cited in Shiota & Kalat, 2018). This statement emphasizes that emotions are very influential to human individual’s motivation. Based off Knives’ emotions from getting rejected her body responses was to confront her issues on why she was getting dumped. Which means her emotions motivated her to act out.

Motivation and emotion may be different from each other but they are used together when dealing with the emotions of fear and anger. The theorist James Lange proposes that, “every shade of emotion might be associated with a unique profile of changes throughout the body, . . .thus, the difference between one emotion and another like fear reflects real differences in your body’s instinctive responses to the eliciting situations to danger to loss” (as cited in Shiota & Kalat, 2018). This concludes, that altogether different emotions like anger and fear which are categorized as negative emotions may result a human individual to have physiological and behavioral changes.

Based off of the basic/discrete emotion model, anger and fear are some of the emotions that serve a distinct adaptive function. Anger and fear are two of the six basic emotions that evolved to handle threats and challenges in the human environment (Shiota & Kalat, 2018). Anger is an emotion which is an intense feeling of annoyance or hostility. Anger is developed when an individual feels insulted or when the individual perceives disrespectfulness from another being or animal which may result in psychological changes and furthermore behavioral changes such as reacting, confronting or fighting with another.

Fear is an unpleasant emotion individuals feel when they are in danger. Fear is an emotion that selects and drives overt defensive action. But the emotion also contains the autonomic changes supporting these behaviors and the conscious experience that accompanies danger (Lebel & R.D, 2017). “A fear response includes heightened visual acuity, attention compelled toward nearby threats, increased fight–flight sympathetic nervous activation preparing the body for physical activity, increased tension in the large skeletal muscles, and an impulse to freeze or run, as well as subjective feelings associated with danger” (Shiota & Kalat, 2018, p.16). This accentuates that fear and anger may be intense feelings and result an individual to have different reactions physiologically and behaviorally. However, these specific emotions anger and fear may be actually being linked to motivation due to the fact that these instinct emotions result an individual to have motivations. For an example Knives was feeling angry and fearful on what to do when her relationship ended with Scott. Her drives was to immediately get revenge and answers by fighting with her ex-boyfriend.

Although anger and fear are different cognitions and behaviors they are both high arousal emotions of negative feelings. Researchers stated that “experiences of negative emotions are generally associated with negative behaviors and outcomes. However, negative emotions such as anger and fear can spark proactive behavior by signaling a need to change the status quo” (Lebel & R.D, 2017). To break this example down: employees who are not satisfied in their jobs and dislike their environments are more likely to be motivated to make change. These individuals might use negative feelings of anger or fear in their workplace to make a difference. They may use anger which compels an individual to be motivated to take action to correct a perceived wrong or to act against the source of blame. The individual may also use fear which compels an individual to be motivated to take safety and leave from either physical or psychological threats. However, as the individual goes about the situation they may use these instinct emotions to help them be proactive and to make an action to fulfill themselves whether it be quitting their jobs or asking for a raise. Anger generates an instinctive behavior associated with approach or fight, whereas fear generates instinctive behavior associated with a tendency to avoid or take flight (Lebel & R.D, 2017).

James-Lange, a theorist of emotion, suggested that instinctive physical reactions are the basis of emotional feelings (Shiota & Kalat, 2018). That being said, emotions like fear and anger include physiological, motivational, and behavioral responses (Shiota & Kalat, 2018). Animals are good examples of portraying how emotions and motivation link together. Emotions like anger and fear can motivate prey to act in a defensive manner. In a study that was performed to compare prey and snake paradigms, researchers found how panic attacks and anticipatory anxiety-like behaviors were portrayed in rodents. For one of the trials they placed a constricting snake in a complex maze with a rodent. Researchers found instinctive fear-induced defensive responses that were evoked by the confrontation between the rodent (House Mouse) and a South American Boa constrictor for 5 min in the polygonal arena of the complex maze. The prey felt threatened by the snake and its instincts showed anxiety/fear-related responses: alertness, inhibitory avoidance, and stretch attend posture. It also showed panic attack-like responses: freezing and oriented escape displayed by prey threatened (Combrias et al., 2017). “Researchers further found that a potential threat can also elicit avoidance, activating the anterior cingulate cortex and amygdaloid complex, resulting in anxiety. Distal threats can cause freezing behavior through the activation of the ventral columns of periaqueductal gray matter, resulting in instinctive fear. Finally, a proximal threat elicits freezing or fight or flight behavior via the activation of dorsal columns of the periaqueductal gray matter, resulting in a generalized panic reaction” (Combrias et al., 2017). Basically the rodents exhibited common anxiety symptoms based off of induced fear. Human individuals can portray similar reactions in their environment when threatened. For an example when Knives got broken by Scott she froze and couldn’t believe that her love life was ended. Knives also tried avoiding her problems by staying away from Scott after getting broken up. These reactions are all based off the emotion fear.

Going back to the pop culture reference of Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Knives who was rejected by Scott stemmed instinctive emotions of fear and anger which quickly progressed into avoidance of the situation with Scott and motivation to confront and seek revenge with Scott. Knives should know that even though negative emotions seem to help us address threats to adaptive fitness she needed to learn that fighting isn’t a constructive behavior, knives should know that conflict with other people is a major cause of anger and one reason for conflict is poor communication. She should know that anger or fear is not inherently bad. Whether it is helpful or harmful depends on what circumstances arouse it, and how the person expresses the anger or fear (Shiota & Kalat, 2018 ). Instead of Knives fighting Scott she should have used other tactics like evaluating a situation before the individual takes action. Knives could have also seen a therapist for cognitive restructuring and social training. These are two strategies to help manage anger and fear in tactful ways. It’s important to know that anger and fear can be expressed but when the emotion motivates one to harmful actions then the individual should seek help on how to manage to reduce the intensity of people’s emotions.

In conclusion this information should portray that even though motivation and emotions are two separate constructs they do have more similarities than differences. Anger and fear are two emotions that are very similar to motivation. These two instinct emotions can be helpful in creating drives for humans and animals. In the United States under appropriate circumstances small displays of anger can sometimes improve social interaction and increase confidence for that individual (Shiota & Kalat, 2018 ). Small amounts of anger can display healthy boundaries as well. The emotion fear helps us to avoid repeating mistakes we’ve already made. Fear can also be a sign of a healthy life and a willingness to try new adventures (Shiota & Kalat, 2018 ). However, these emotions are only helpful when they are managed well by the human individual.

Rubbish surrounds my feet as I struggle for fresh air, the ocean waves are not as bright as they used to be. The beach was my happy place, the place where I felt free. Not anymore. The surface of the ocean is covered with garbage, the sky is gray. This is what the earth will become, thanks to us! And that makes me really angry. I’m angry that we didn’t do the ‘right’ things earlier. That we humans have brought the earth to such a state with our reckless and thoughtless actions. I am also outraged that even though the consequences of our behavior are already being felt, people still continue to damage our land. We should come to our senses. There is still time, we can still make a difference, but we need to work together to save our home, not destroy it.

Scientists say that around the world about one million birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals and sea turtles die each year from being trapped in plastic or eating it, thinking it’s a tasty treat. That’s bad, right? What’s also bad is that it takes about 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose. That could be five times your life! Think about all those plastic bottles at the moment being used, chucked out, or sold right this minute. Hundreds, thousands, or even millions. Why can’t we just use reusable? But everyone wants better-tasting water, right? Maybe it’s the label on the bottle that makes you think that it’s better, or does it actually taste better in general? Well, research says that tap water is just as safe to drink and tastes the same too. But all it takes is for a drink bottle to be washed out to the ocean for a sea animal to gobble it up or get stuck in it, not knowing it could kill them.

Bottled water businesses probably make a bit of money, but money can’t buy us a happier, healthier, and cleaner earth. Money also can’t buy the time that we need to repair the damage that we have created to earth. Research says that on average Americans spend about one hundred dollars per person each year. I don’t see why people can’t just buy a reusable bottle that you fill up with tap water. It only costs fifteen to thirty dollars and lasts for several years.

Global warming is another one of the many problems that we need to act on. Global warming is affecting our oceans, weather, food, and health. Our sea levels are rising, but is anyone doing anything major about it? Many countries in the world have acknowledged the need to act on global warming. Some countries have taken action, like Paris in 2015, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

It makes me angry to think about how many politicians could be doing something when they’re not. This is our future, our world we’re wrecking, our home that’s falling apart in our hands. But some people don’t even care. And that angers the most. Will there be a future? Will there be a healthy place where we can live? Some people say it’ll be fine, but to face the truth it won’t if we don’t do anything about it.