Leadership and Emotional Intelligence: A Detailed Workplace Report

This report analyzes the application of emotional intelligence (EI) in a workplace setting, focusing on leadership, employee morale, and cultural awareness. The report addresses a scenario involving a store manager's poor communication and its impact on employee motivation, proposing strategies for improvement through transformational leadership and performance recognition. It explores the absence of key EI principles like self-regulation and motivation in the manager's behavior and suggests alternative communication methods. Furthermore, the report examines the challenges of cultural diversity in the workplace, offering solutions for cross-cultural training and communication. It also delves into the importance of understanding employee feelings, personality styles, and communication styles to resolve conflicts. The report emphasizes the relationship between emotionally effective employees and goal achievement, the significance of assessing emotional impact in decision-making, and policies to manage emotions in the workplace, including counseling and stress management training.

Running head: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional Intelligence
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
Question 1........................................................................................................................................2
Response to the Staff Manager....................................................................................................2
Principles of Emotional Intelligence Absent in the Manager......................................................2
Manner in which the Store Manager Should Have Communicated............................................3
Connection between the Store Manager’s Behaviour and Store Morale.....................................3
Question 2........................................................................................................................................4
2 Possible Misinterpretations Arising in a Diverse Workplace...................................................4
Teaching Cultural Awareness to the Employee who came to Complain....................................4
Raising Cultural Awareness in the Sales Team...........................................................................5
Question 3........................................................................................................................................5
Identification of the Employee Feelings......................................................................................5
Application of Knowledge of Personality Style or Communication Style in Understanding the
Situation.......................................................................................................................................5
Application of Awareness of my Feelings to Solve the Problem................................................6
Question 4........................................................................................................................................6
Relation between Emotionally Affective People and Goal Achievement...................................6
Importance of Assessing Emotional Impact of Employees in the Decision-making System......7
Decision-making Process Considering Emotional Impact on Employees..................................7
Policies, Procedures, Legislation, and Safety Concerns to Manage Emotions at Workplace.....8

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Reference List..................................................................................................................................9

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Question 1:
Response to the Staff Manager:
As the new General Operations Manager of the company, it is my responsibility to ensure
employee well-being by lifting employee morale. Since the Store Manager has unnecessarily
yelled at the managers, whose motivation level might have been affected, I would call the Store
Manager to interact with me personally. I would request him to control his emotions of stress and
anxiety at workplace, and would ask him to contact the Marketing and Distribution team for
organizing a meeting to formulate strategies to boost the store sales growth. Also, I would make
him understand that each business has its ups and down, but as a leader, the Store Manager’s
duty is to retain and develop an optimistic outlook amongst its employees, and keep up their
morale, instead of sounding too “bossy” to them.
Further, in order to model positive leadership behaviour at workplace, I would arrange in-
house training as well as external workshop training sessions for the leaders of the organization
so that they can learn to lea, control and motivate at the same time. I would hold a meeting with
the Team Leads and Managers proposing the implementation of the Transformational Leadership
style at workplace, so that the employees’ efforts do not get unrecognized and unrewarded
during the peak hours (Laschinger et al. 2014). In order to build an employee-leader rapport, the
organization will introduce its performance recognition policy, where the Departmental
Managers will be asked to recognize the best talent in their department, and reward the
employees with their own hands, instead of the General Managers doing the same.
Principles of Emotional Intelligence Absent in the Manager:

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The Store Manager failed to exhibit two important elements of Emotional Intelligence
while dealing with the employees. First of all, he lacks self-regulation, as he was unable to
control his emotions of frustration and anxiety while dealing with his employees. Secondly, he
also lacks the motivation element, as he fails to cheer up his employees, and inspire them to
accomplish sales growth, despite the odds.
Manner in which the Store Manager Should Have Communicated:
The Store Manager should have called all the Departmental Managers for an interactive
session, where he should have communicated the crucial issue affecting the company and ask
them to offer innovative strategies to improve the same. He should have called in the Marketing
and Distribution team as well, asking for their opinions, while announcing reward and
recognition for the 2 best performing departments in the store, who would have over-achieved
the sales target and provided the best quality service to the consumers. This would have created
an urge amongst the employees to work more productively, without suffering from a fear of job
loss.
Connection between the Store Manager’s Behaviour and Store Morale:
The Store Manager, as the management body, represents the vision and outlook of the
company, and his behaviour should essentially reflect the organizational culture the company
believes in. His aggressive approach towards the managers deflated employee morale, who might
interpret his behaviour as a reflection of the organization’s attitude towards them (Goleman et al.
2013). This would have easily led to the problem of low employee motivation and engagement,
ultimately resulting in low productivity, higher staff absenteeism and turnover rates. The

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Managers would have held grudge against the management, and their disengagement would
inevitably lead to low store performance.
Question 2:
2 Possible Misinterpretations Arising in a Diverse Workplace:
First of all, it may happen that an Asian worker is working in collaboration with an
Australian employee on a specific project. Owing to the highly individualized culture of the
latter, the Australian would tend to be highly professional, avoiding invasion of personal space,
while the Asian coming from collective culture, may find his co-worker’s behaviour cold,
unfriendly and rude. Again, in American organizations, apart from hard work and dedication, an
employee must be able to speak loudly about his accomplishments to facilitate his career
progression. However, the same man coming in Latin America, speaking of his achievements
may be interpreted as rude and proud, as hard work with a humble behaviour is the key to
success, as believed by the Latinos.
Teaching Cultural Awareness to the Employee who came to Complain:
I would appreciate the effort of the employee for communicating the issue that has been
bothering the team. Next, I would explain the employee some basic issues about the woman, who
having come from a different culture, might not be comfortable in engaging certain activities
which are apparently “normal” for the other co-workers. I would research a bit about the cultural
background, and the basic ideals, norms and beliefs of the people of that culture, to make him
identify and appreciate the inherent differences lying in the cultural outlook of the new employee
and that of the other employees.

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Raising Cultural Awareness in the Sales Team:
In order to avoid cross-cultural differences and ensure effective communication, I would
introduce cross-cultural training sessions and workshops at workplace that would help in
enhancing the cross-cultural communication and behavioural skills of the employees. Further, I
would myself hold an interactive session with the employees, explaining them about various
cross-cultural concepts and theories, including the famous Hofstede’s theory of Cultural
Dimensions (Ishihara and Cohen 2014).
Question 3:
Identification of the Employee Feelings:
Empathy and social skills are the two important elements of emotional intelligence that I
would utilize here to solve the situation. I would call the employee for a one-to-one session, and
would ask him why he stays aloof. I would try to empathize with his situation, and understand if
he feels too new to interact, or he is shy by nature, or if he had any unfavourable experience at
workplace in the past (Baojuan and Qing 2017). I would try to extract as much information as
possible from him regarding his personal emotions at workplace, and would first try to
understand his own perspective on interacting with his fellow co-workers, before forming any
opinion about him.
Application of Knowledge of Personality Style or Communication Style in Understanding
the Situation:
Before forming opinion about an individual, it is important to develop an in-depth
understanding of the various factors influencing the behaviour of the individual. Accordingly, i

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would research about the personality type of the employee to understand the implications of his
behavioural patterns. He may possess the Systematic Personality Type, whereby he is more of a
deadline-driven, professional personnel, who appreciate strictly formal behaviour at workplace,
and refrain from anything that he finds to be irrelevant for his job role. In this case, he needs to
be called in and made aware of his professional and career benefits of attending the workplace
training sessions (Laborde et al. 2014). Again, he may have a passive communication style for
which he fails to assert himself and his needs properly, and prefer to remain aloof, instead of the
team-building exercises. In that case, the other co-workers especially the managers should be
asked to approach him, and initiate conversation with him, until he feels at ease with them.
Application of Awareness of my Feelings to Solve the Problem:
I would first try to understand the employees’ perspectives, in terms of his behavioural
patterns or communication style, and accordingly I would try to adjust the same with the needs
of the organization. Being aware of the employees’ social and emotional needs, will help me
counsel him and make necessary arrangements to communicate the issue with the team leads or
departmental managers so that they can take up strategies to create employee rapport (Shaw et al.
2014). This can be done through frequent ream outing plans, interactive game sessions including
not more than four people in each team, that will help the employee develop bonds with the other
members, and appreciate the company more than a mere professional sphere (Côté 2017).
Question 4:
Relation between Emotionally Affective People and Goal Achievement:
Since the organization has decided to delay the training sessions, and enhance
performance targets, the emotionally effective employees might interpret this move of the

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company, to be insensitive, and they may experience high level of employee dissatisfaction and
disengagement, thinking that the company policies are not at all employee-friendly, and the same
will eventually lead to their oppression and exploitation at workplace as well. Now, needless o
say that these employees will feel frustrated and depressed with the sudden change in their
targets, and will eventually disassociate themselves from any productive work at workplace
(Kaplan et al. 2014). While their disengaged behaviour would lead to absenteeism and high
employee turnover rates as well, they might also end up frustrating their co-workers, further de-
motivating them. Consequently, all these would impede the accomplishment of goals in the
company.
Importance of Assessing Emotional Impact of Employees in the Decision-making System:
It is highly important to assess the emotional impact of any decision on the minds of the
employees, before taking any decisions, simply because it helps the management authority to
evaluate the possible emotional responses of the employees to the situation, and act accordingly
(McMann et al. 2017). For example, in the present scenario, the organization has decided that it
will enhance performance targets of the employees, which means the employees will have to
work for longer hours. In absence of effective communication, explaining the scope, purpose and
benefits of the sudden change in the working policy, the employees might feel frustrated, and get
disengaged, while resisting change.
Decision-making Process Considering Emotional Impact on Employees:
A decision-making process that takes into account the emotional impact of the
employees, must involve effective engagement of the employees’ perspectives and opinions in
the decision-making process and proper communication amongst the staff members and the

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managers. Any change such as increase in targets or delay in the training program is always
implemented on the employees, and hence even though the management has the last word to say,
the employees should feel heard (Hun ad Kaplan 2015). Next, proper communication to the
employees about the duration and benefits of the change will help in receiving more sensible and
mature employee reactions.
Policies, Procedures, Legislation, and Safety Concerns to Manage Emotions at Workplace:
In order to help employees manage emotions at workplace, the company will adopt
counselling, relation training as well as stress management training at workplace. The employees
will be made aware of the nature and source of stress and anxiety at workplace and are to be
trained to combat the same. My every channel of communication such as email id and contact
number will be given to each employee, so that they can communicate to me, in case they feel
emotionally tortured and low, and wish to inform me of grievance. Strict human resource
policies will be enforced in the company prohibiting employees from using any form of
aggressive means of communication, deemed inappropriate in a workplace scenario.

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Reference List:
Anthony‐McMann, P.E., Ellinger, A.D., Astakhova, M. and Halbesleben, J.R., 2017. Exploring
different operationalizations of employee engagement and their relationships with workplace
stress and burnout. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 28(2), pp.163-195.
Baojuan, Y. and Qing, Z., 2017. The Effect of Psychological Empowerment on Job Satisfaction
of Principals in Rural School: The Mediating Role of Professional Identity and the Moderation
Role of Emotion Intelligence. Journal of Psychological Science, 3, p.027.
Côté, S., 2017. Enhancing managerial effectiveness via four core facets of emotional
intelligence: Self-awareness, social perception, emotion understanding, and emotion
regulation. Organizational Dynamics.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R.E. and McKee, A., 2013. Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of
emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Hu, X. and Kaplan, S., 2015. Is “feeling good” good enough? Differentiating discrete positive
emotions at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(1), pp.39-58.
Ishihara, N. and Cohen, A.D., 2014. Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and
culture meet. Routledge.
Kaplan, S., Cortina, J., Ruark, G., LaPort, K. and Nicolaides, V., 2014. The role of
organizational leaders in employee emotion management: A theoretical model. The Leadership
Quarterly, 25(3), pp.563-580.

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Laborde, S., Lautenbach, F., Allen, M.S., Herbert, C. and Achtzehn, S., 2014. The role of trait
emotional intelligence in emotion regulation and performance under pressure. Personality and
Individual differences, 57, pp.43-47.
Laschinger, H.K.S., Wong, C.A., Cummings, G.G. and Grau, A.L., 2014. Resonant leadership
and workplace empowerment: The value of positive organizational cultures in reducing
workplace incivility. Nursing Economics, 32(1), p.5.
Shaw, W.S., Besen, E., Pransky, G., Boot, C.R., Nicholas, M.K., McLellan, R.K. and Tveito,
T.H., 2014. Manage at work: a randomized, controlled trial of a self-management group
intervention to overcome workplace challenges associated with chronic physical health
conditions. BMC public health, 14(1), p.515.