Office Rage

When people work together in a stressful environment, perhaps in an open-plan office, there is a serious risk that someone will show symptoms of 'office rage'. Stress is often regarded as being the basic cause of such outbursts. It is clear, however, that poor manners can be a major contributor to the build up of this problem in yourself or your colleagues.

Commonly quoted causes of 'office rage' include:

• Intrusion into a person's working space, such as perching uninvited on their desk, dumping files or handbags on top of papers or moving items to make space for their own work.

• Regularly leaving a copier, printer or fax machine jammed or out of paper.

• Leaving housekeeping routines on PCs or networks for colleagues to complete.

• Persistent untidiness, such as leaving unfinished food or drink around the working space or failing to return files or records used by others to their proper places.

• Lack of civility in such things as basic greetings or unwelcome teasing.

• Irritating personal habits such as muttering, whistling, constantly fidgeting and so on.

• Poor personal hygiene. Smokers causing a nuisance to non-smoking colleagues.

Every one of us is guilty of the occasional blunder and act of thoughtlessness in the way we treat our colleagues. When this happens a rapid and complete apology is what is required.

The symptoms of office rage in oneself vary according to the individual but are often generally described as feelings 'boiling up'. You may act out of character, being peevish to colleagues innocent of the offences that are troubling you. Almost certainly the quality of your work and your motivation will suffer. The more polite and considerate a person you are, the more likely it is that you will suppress your feelings over a long period. The eruption, when it comes, is then equally likely to be more violent. When his or her patience is finally exhausted the enraged person often acts totally irrationally, probably screaming and shouting at everyone in general or collapsing in floods of tears. Deal calmly and rationally with the person involved until the outburst is over. Never allow yourself to become caught up in the emotion of the moment however much you may sympathise with its cause.

To avoid office rage you should:

• Talk to colleagues and your boss about the problem.

• Make constructive suggestions about improvements to working practices.

• Keep your sense of humour.

• Find someone you can let off steam to when the pres­sure mounts.

If all this fails you may have to decide whether or not you can continue to work in a job that causes you unnecessary stress.