What are the reasons for the aggressive behavior of an employee?

I think one of the main reasons for aggressive behaviour among the employees can be the dysfunction in the organisation which results in I think Overwork and Stress because of which, the problem becomes both mentally taxing and deadly to the productivity of a person or of an organisation. It impairs analytical thinking, creative insight, and problem solving. The dysfunctional dynamic is not addressed by the leadership and the employees were not responsible for relationships at the workplace. On changing the entire environment requiring leadership to be closely involved. They had to claim full responsibility for the state of the workplace, include/support HR and make an obligation to do what it takes to create a prosperous and efficient workplace.

I will attribute any aggression / stress / disinterest of an employee to faulty leadership unless it is an inherent nature of an employee.  Because all these are symptoms and its root cause is lack of a good and potent leadership.

Leadership is the foremost quality required for any team , unit, organization etc to work effectively.  And this leadership is required at all levels of an organization per se. Because if you talk about any reason like HR policies, administration, project management etc which make the employees irate are all linked to the leadership of that organization and how are the issues handled at a given pertinent level.  So somewhere, the leadership team is not able to handle or understand an employee's requirements and even if they do, they are not able to satisfy them completely or at least not able to justify their reasons for not doing it.

Whereas on the other side, if there is effective leadership at all levels ( ideally ) then a general attitude or culture gets developed wherein everyone knows that for any incorrect action at his level, a justification would be solicited at the higher level and this makes the whole system work in sync.  You can hence fit this model to any organizational unit and it will work.  No one, would then be able to take undue advantage of his his cohort, sub-ordinate or superior.

I have personally had this experience of effective leadership and can vouch for this model at any given time. 

To end it on a lighter note "One donkey cannot lead 10 lions but one lion can lead 10 donkeys and get the work done :-)".

If more than 90% people are devoid of good sleep as a recent survey shows, what can be the reason else than stress & its the stress, might be due to professional/financial or social or family reasons, that leads to either over aggression or sometimes to depression.

All the reasons like lack of leadership, stress, too much intervention, and time factor are partly contributory factors. They are circumstantial and may induce a person to act with aggression to some extent. But the same circumstances need not necessarily elicit aggressive reaction from all. They would be totally ineffectual with a strong-willed person with right attitude.

In a business place, we shall have to meet persons of different abilities and manners; there will be urgency sometimes; unexpected happenings, mistakes, disappointments, irritations are bound to raise their ugly heads now and then. The individual should cultivate the right attitude not to be disturbed by them; not to turn aggressive when provoked.

The individual employee / manager may opt for aggression because:

1. He may wrongly think that it would earn him respect and command;
2. He may not be able to differentiate it from efficiency;
3. He may wrongly equate it with result-oriented approach;
4. He may suffer from a touch-me-not mental attitude;
5. He may suffer from an inferiority complex and aggression may be his safety-exterior,
6. He may be a victim of self-pity.
7. He may have a need to project himself as a leader and show his importance (example a union leader or cheap politician).
8. He may be very inefficient and may try to hide his inefficiency.
9. He may be a fanatic of caste, religion, language etc, and spew hatred wherever he goes.
10. He may be trying to take undue advantage of timid colleagues (sometimes young ladies).

That is the reason!!

It has got nothing to do with work colleagues, nor the process and system of the work place. Lets admit that if we are amoungst people who are competitive and have the "never-give-up" attitude, it is indeed a place where you will grow mentally and professionally. 80 to 90% of the times employees draw negative conclusions from such an environment. They take it as attitude shown towards them, competition is miscontrued as agression, small whispers are taken as plottings and biting behind the back. It has to do with a persons own inefficiency to understand human behaviour and adapt to surroundings!!

systems and process of a work place cannot be changed for one unless it is seriously flawed. It has the be the human being and nobody else. To hide his incapacities the man actually turns to show agression as an attitude to send wrong signals and in return get respect which he will never get!!

In most of the companies, you will find a statistics that show almost 40 -45% are non working and act as a vigilence means most effective, 40% are real working, 10% are real sense leaders and only 5% are real thinker. I experienced.

These 40% real working, 5% thinker  and 10% leader employees are having aggression, due to dis satisfaction. Normally thinking that their capabilities are not being utilized properly, therefore they are not able to demonstrate and contribute something fruitful to the organization.

They need empowerment by participating in small improvement projects where they can act independently and exhibit their capabilities.

Aggression is a psychic process which Psychologists define in many ways. It can be "displaced aggressio" where "repressed emotions" originating somewhere where one cannot respond back is manifested elsewhere.

It is understood that the general expression of aggression originates betwen men due to ones need to spread one own genes rather than the other ones. This is the basis for all aggressive behaviors between men and even conflicts between clusters.

Bullying, aggression and abuse of power are all about insecurity, which is made worse by stress.  I remember reading somewhere that a study showed that 75% of higher level managers feel deep down that they are in their role under false pretences - one day someone will 'find them out'!

80% of work place bullies are managers.

Yes friends , i do agree with all of you for all the reasons mentioned for the aggressive nature being seen among people in the work place.But there is also a very deep rooted reason behind  this attitude and that is the change which has got into our daily life style, believs ............. Lack of spiritualism.India has great lineages of saints, spiritual leaders, scripts. How many of these employees (or honestly this is for all of us)even do 5 minutes pooja? I know people will laugh on me hearing this, they have their own answer ......God we are damn busy you know, dont have the time .....

But friends do we forget to eat, breath even if we are busy? Any form of pooja, meditation will always give mental strength, will enhance the concentration, memory and positivity.I dont advocate that people should indulge into long session of poojas, but instead of running in this mad materialistic world blindly , and building up blood pressures and aggressiveness, need to be calm ,compose and positive, which can be achieved if start believing in our scriptures again that ....We need to give our best (in personal as well as professional world)with full believe, result will be rewarded by life positively(so no need to get into aggressiveness out of insecurity, stress etc) .

To all the valid reason expressed here, I would only add that in some organizations aggressiveness is considered a required skill for the leadership positions. Therefore, the employees that want to be considered for a promotion show aggresive behavior to indicate that they can be "good" leaders.

recession = salary cut >  in work force at lower salary than the previous > mental tension ,,,,

When the employees are taken as Work Force then aggression is one of the key features of that force.

If aggression is meaningful then no problem OR it should serve the proper purpose only.

Aggression within the Constructive limits is a powerful ingredient......................

Stress that only make one to aggressive behavior, Everyone has some disappointment in their life .even if they had lot of money in hands they donot know to control them self. I suggest 1.Exercising 2.Meditation 3.Using cosmic power 4.Early morning breathing may be in walking etc.5.Daily books reading in nights .6.Avoiding sitting on net 7.Small tour or picnic with staff

Dysfunctional workplace behaviours are just part of work. It may not adversely affect the company. I think the main reason for aggressive employee behaviour is "Office intervention" because of which an employee's morale and productivity. Dysfunction can even be overcomed by good employee relationships but if too much of intervention comes from co-workers, then the employee's productivity declines and as a result he becomes more and more aggressive...

37% bullied :: but by whom ...

rule of the game ;;;

if somebody smothers you with love , accepted ..

but , in case , anyone tries to use force .... well only answer  ... mug the person ..on the spot ..goddamnit whatever may be the consequences .. who cares ..

It leaks from head to the all kind of levels. Non qulalified CEO,COO and non-qualified CxO managers.If they are aware of theirselves unsuccesity they select other levels from non-qualifieds. And wrongly,  smart,genious employee enters to this team main  caos will be started.All chiefs would be catched fire and then wholly unsucccesful team will start the defeat this person. Leak of effective Leadership. But its stands for all management team.

As per oligopolistic competition every organisation has an agenda to reach there respective goals. So in that scenario there is a lot of pressure to the employees in the organisation. To overcome this type of problem each an employee should know about the valus of the organisation.Than only they will behave assertive in the esteemed organisation.

• Lack of flat hierarchy
• Undermining performance in promotion
• Politics
• Individual shortcomings

Given the conditions where the work pressure is more and delivery is important, it would make a world of difference if the employer empathizes with his/her employees. This would not yield him more results. 

Aggressive behaviour in employee may be due to peoples , company, functions either any one or in combination.

Some reason in brief can be expressed as follow :

High stress, Low comfort, poor commom sense, low tolerance, low accuracy and effectiveness, more reactive low proactiveness.

I know more than others. Poor continuous improvement, poor training, improper priorties fixation,

Slow work more cost

Diagnosis is subjective. Not able to extract out good from averages.

I think the environment in which an employee is working is matters a lot.

Also the attitude and the way of looking towards other peoples irrespective of behavior of others with you. And specially EGO problem is another reason for the aggressive behavior of an employee.