Yelling is intimidating to co-worker
During a meeting, a co-worker raised his voice at another co-worker. The other co-worker repeatedly asked him to lower his voice. The yeller’s reason for yelling was the other person kept interrupting him before he could get his point across, and he had to yell to get his point across. The boss understood the yeller’s reason. My opinion is if you feel interrupted you should ask the person to give you time to get your point across. Yelling at someone is intimidating. The feeling of intimidation could cause the other person to keep defending himself with interruptions.
Thank you for posting this scenario. I am teaching a medical assistant class and we are reviewing your scenario. The first thought is,
the boss should have thought about both sides, and what if the boss was being yelled at? Will the employees lose respect for their boss, because he/she is allowing this to occur? Will there be dysfunction among the workers due to the intimidation? Could the yeller have walked away from the situation?
The yeller just walking out is a question I had not thought about. My co-worker has guilty feelings because he didn't just walk out. It's a sad thing that none of this is being talked about by anyone, and the bullied remains bullied. The boss allowing any reason to be ok for someone to be yelled at is dysfunctional to me.
Yelling at someone is very intimidating. However, if someone is yelling, the best way I handle the situation is to stop talking and wait until things are calm before proceeding.
It's possible the yeller wasn't trying to intimidate the co-worker who wasn't listening. It could very well be due to frustration. The manager should have interceeded before it came to this. The manager should have stopped the co-worker from continually interrupting. This is disrespectful behavior on the part of the co-worker and the manager for that matter. Where was the mutual respect from the co-worker when they continued to interrupt and where was the mutual respect from the manager when he/she didn't ask the co-worker to respectfully wait?
Yelling should be stopped. Its disrespecting to everyone around. It can make tempers rise fast. I would remove the person yelling.
I have been yelled at and called names by a boss because i got a promotion and wondered when i was going to move to my new position. The power trip started and she just yelled at me and said i cant go until she says i could. Indimidation does not make your employee want to come to work. Lets just say yelling or talking down to an employee doesn't get their attention in the way the manager would like. It's very easy to have a normal conversation and get a point accross and i would have to say that the responce of the employee will be much more welcoming.
