Emotional competence at work

Abstract

Purpose

The study investigated emotional competence at work and elaborated emotional competence in relation to sociocultural aspects of emotions at work.

Design/methodology/approach

Emotional competence at work was explored via interviews, surveys and observations. The study was conducted over one year, during which an emotion-training intervention was conducted within a medium-sized company, operating in the healthcare sector.

Findings

The study shed light on emotional competence at work, identifying three domains: individual emotional competence, emotional competence within interactions and emotional competence embedded in workplace practices.

Research limitations/implications

This study was conducted in one organization.

Practical implications

Organizational developers are recommended to implement activities such as training interventions in order to build emotional competence; this applies not only at the individual level but also to achieve interaction among members of the organization within collective workplace practices.

Originality/value

Previous studies on emotional competence have been limited to the individual level. The sociocultural approach to emotional competence adopted in this study recognizes – in addition to the individual and interactional level of emotional competence – emotional competence at work as related to practices at work.

Citation

Ikävalko, H., Hökkä, P., Paloniemi, S. and Vähäsantanen, K. (2020), "Emotional competence at work", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 33 No. 7, pp. 1485-1498. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-01-2020-0024