Workplaces With 'Kings' or 'Queens' Are Twice as Likely to Experience Desk Rage

Workplaces where "Office Kings" or "Office Queens" hold sway are twice as likely to experience incidents of desk rage as normal workplaces, according to a new pop culture survey by Rachelle Canter, PhD, author of "Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job." (Wiley, $21.95)

According to Canter's survey, 30% of workers in jobs where an "Office Queen" or "Office King" hold sway have witnessed acts of "desk rage" in their workplace -- compared to a "desk rage" occurrence rate of only 14% in the typical workplace nationwide.

Canter's findings are the result of a random telephone survey conducted among a national probability sample of 506 employed adults 18 years and older living in private households in the continental U.S. The study was conducted with the assistance of Opinion Research Corp. Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey, and has a margin of error of 5%.

"As part of a larger study, we asked workers a few light-hearted questions just for fun, and one of those questions was whether or not there was a workplace 'king' or 'queen' where they worked," said Canter. "We were stunned to find such a strong connection between our theoretical 'office royalty' and the level of 'desk rage' in the American workplace."

Canter theorizes that a lack of democracy and the tendency of this theoretical "office royalty" to issue arbitrary and unreasonable requests that can't be appealed might be some of the attributes of an unhealthy "workplace monarchy" that would logically cause a dramatic rise in desk rage levels. "In terms of causation, it may well be that desk rage is more of a people-issue or a power issue, rather than a workload issue, if we can take these results as a clue," theorizes Canter.

Overall, according to the survey, 21% of American workers are employed by a company that has a workplace "queen," while 18% work where there is a workplace "king." (And completing the set, 48% of companies also have a Workplace Princess, while 34% of those surveyed say there is a Workplace Joker at their firm.)

According to Canter, Workplace Kings and Queens may be driving their subordinates into acts of desk rage because they lack "Emotional IQ." "Workplace royalty don't see the importance of other people so they don't value people skills," says Canter. "And eventually it sinks their careers -- just not fast enough to avoid causing others a lot of stress."

According to Canter's new book, "Make the Right Career Move," research shows that people skills, also known as Emotional IQ, are twice as important as IQ and technical skills combined in predicting workplace success.

As outlined by thought leaders such as Daniel Goleman, the key tenets of Emotional IQ include:

-Self-awareness and control, which is an awareness of one's values, emotions, skills, and drives, and the ability to control one's emotional responses

-Empathy, which is an understanding of how others perceive situations

- Social Expertness, which is the ability to build relationships based on an assumption of human equality

- Mastery of Vision, which is the development and communication of a personal philosophy

"The good news is that this type of behavior can be learned by individuals," says Canter, "and the Workplace Kings and Queens can, in effect, dethrone themselves and stop making everyone around them miserable, ineffective -- and full of desk rage."

Overall, says the study, the level of desk rage in the American workplace has held fairly steady over the past seven years. An identical survey in the year 2000 showed 13% of workplaces experiencing an incident of desk rage, compared with 14% experiencing desk rage in the workplace in the 2007 survey.

What has fallen, however, is the level of verbal abuse in the workplace, which has dropped 45% since a similar survey in 2000. While 29% of workers in 2000 reported that workplace stress had caused them to yell at a co-worker, only 16% reported yelling taking place on the job in 2007.

"Verbal abuse in the workplace is just not acceptable behavior any more, and in-house corporate training programs as well as public awareness programs have given individuals the information they need to stand up to verbal abuse," says Canter. "Even shrieking, cell-phone-throwing supermodel Naomi Campbell couldn't get away with verbal and physical abuse forever -- and was recently seen cleaning streets in stilettos."

Nevertheless, according to the survey, the workplace remains a stressful environment, with 22% of workers reporting having been driven to tears as a result of workplace stress, 16% reporting company property being damaged as a result of workplace stress, 9% reporting physical violence occurring at their workplace due to stress, and 10% reporting their fear that their workplace environs might not be safe. These levels remain fairly stable from 2000.

About the author: Rachelle Canter, PhD, has a doctorate in psychology and is President of RJC Associates, a San Francisco-based consulting firm that provides career, executive, and team development services to corporations, professional service firms, and other organizations. She has spoken and written widely on career, executive and organizational development issues, and is the author of the just-released book "Make the Right Career Move." She can be reached at (415) 956 8438 or rjc @ rjcassociates.net.

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