Emotional Intelligence: A Workplace Issue

The term emotional intelligence (EI) is defined by Cary Cherniss (3) as "the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in the self and the others." Other definitions of emotional intelligence were offered by Daniel Goleman (14): "Abilities to recognize and regulate emotions in ourselves and others." This very parsimonious definition, said Goleman (14), suggests four major EI domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

The value of EI was identified by Cherniss (5) in the context of organizations and professional workplace settings with respect to such features of these environments as the necessity of rapid change, the need to find ways of becoming self-motivating, the need to embrace innovation, the need to capitalize upon the special talents and skills of a diverse workforce, and the need to constantly improve profitability, productivity, and customer loyalty.

Cherniss (5) asserts that EI plays an important role in meeting and satisfying each and every one of these needs. It is also important to recognize that EI is extremely useful in reducing or ameliorating the interpersonal conflicts, tensions, and even crises that are unfortunately internal to all human organizations and groups. Given that this is the case, the purpose of the present essay is to use variou

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y intelligent leadership is key to creating a working climate that nurtures employees and encourages them to give their best." It is the climate created by the leader that motivates employees to success and helps employees recognize that they are valued within the organization. What I failed to recognize in managing this situation was that I had two deeply committed, talented, and valued sales agents who looked to me for support as they went about attempting to sell products. Each had a right to expect that I would provide this kind of support and certainly, both had a right to expect that I would reward them and respect their feelings. In the case of the successful seller, I more than lived up to these obligations. In the case of the frustrated sales agent who did not close the deal, I became the immediate target of his frustration over a lost sale. Looking back, I realized that I did not in any way offer this employee my sympathies for a lost sale or indicate that I understood his frustration over the lost sale. Instead, I focused all of my energy on congratulating the victor in this rivalry and I ignored the needs of an equally valuable employee. I lacked the EI to recognize that the unsuccessful salesperson
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2320
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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