How to create angry [fill in the blank]


Ben Franklin’s satire was top notch.  Witty, engaging, well-written, there was always a barb — and the targets of the barbs had to be complete dullards to miss them.  If a pen can be as powerful as a sword, Franklin showed how words can be used to craft scalpels so sharp they can leave no scars, or stilettoes that cut so deep no healing would be possible. 

Franklin wrote a letter to ministers of a “Great Power,” noting the ways by which they might act in order to reduce the power of their nation over its colonies, “Rules by Which a Great Nation May Be Reduce to a Small One.”

It is in that vein that Mr. Angry, at Angry 365 Days a Year, offers “Top Ten Tips for Creating Angry Employees.”  As he explains [please note:  some entries at that site may be unsuitable for children, or contain strong language]:

This is not intended as a how-to guide for wannabe satanic managers. I did briefly consider that this might be akin to distributing a bomb-making recipe (very dangerous information in the wrong hands) but I actually believe most bad managers aren’t deliberately bad. They are far more likely to be ignorant of how destructive their actions are. As Hanlon’s Razor states: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

So please, anyone in doubt, this is top 10 list of things NOT to do.

Without mention of Herzberg, Likert (see here, too), Argyris, MacGregor, Maslow, nor even resort to Frederick Taylor, Mr. Angry lays it out.  He aims for general offices, and especially automated offices — but these rules apply equally well to college departments and faculty at public and parochial schools.  It’s not Franklin, but it’s useful, for non-evil purposes. 

One Response to How to create angry [fill in the blank]

  1. DavidD says:

    I looked at this list and said, “Gee, I’ve adapted to many of these at times, maybe all of them”. What I realize is missing from the list is personal attacks on me. Those I’m not as good at adapting to. Those make me angry. Even then someone would have to know where they can attack me and have it hurt. Some much of the oneupsmanship I run into on the internet is meant to hurt me, but the perpetrator has no idea who I am, so misses by a wide mark what would have zinged me. “Hey, I’ve been insulted by a lot more effectively abusive people than you, buddy.” I never actually said that.

    The other thing is when others try to hurt my clients at the charity. There’s always someone doing that, whether it’s the hodgepodge system the society has to help people, the low priority most religious people make the needy or some specific individual hurting a specific client. So I always feel anger. It’s a rare boss at the charity who makes that worse by blaming the clients for their deficiencies. I had one like that for a couple of years, someone who saw the clients as the enemy more often than not. He wasn’t happy doing that, but he was stuck in some way. Fortunately, as a volunteer I could get away with telling him at every opportunity how wrong he was. I never made him cry, but I did make him angry at least once. I think it was good for him. He calmed down, and then we did it my way on that one. Anger can clear the air. It takes some discipline to do that safely, but it can be done.

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