Particularly given the increasing emphasis on teamwork in the workplace, emotional compatibility has become a significant factor of consideration for employers in many hiring decisions. "Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions" (Cherry 2013). However, in contrast to the scripted nature of emotional labor, EI requires that the employee have autonomous control over their emotions and can use their interpersonal skills in a creative and dynamic fashion. "The perception of emotion, the ability reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotion and the ability to manage emotions" are all part of EI (Cherry 2013). Even an engineer can benefit from a high degree of EI when working with other engineers on a team-based project. Similarly, a service employee with a high degree of EI is more beneficial for the company than one following a script, given that she or he can respond to immediate and unexpected customer demands.
However, merely demanding employees with a high degree of emotional...
Even employees with a high level of EI are not necessarily culturally sensitive. It can be very difficult to 'read' persons of different cultures, yet this is an important component of today's diverse workforce. Including cultural sensitivity training into the orientation and retraining of employees is vitally important as well as emphasizing EI: so is providing a venue where employees can discuss potential grievances like harassment, which can occur in any workplace, including one which emphasizes sensitivity and EI.
Works Cited
Cherry, K. "What is emotional intelligence?" About.com. [27 Jun 2013]
http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm
Resnikoff, N. "How companies force emotional labor on low wage service workers." MSNBC.
1 Feb 2013. [27 Jun 2013] http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/01/how-companies-force-emotional-labor-on-low-wage-service-workers/
