| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Goleman’s approach is also that to which reference is most commonly made when emotional intelligence is specified, as is often the case, in the calls for the development of soft skills. In particular, see BCA and ACCI (2002) and Rychen and Salganik (2001).
A central feature of Goleman’s conceptualisation is an emotional competence framework. The skills selected relate to and extend the concept of the competency of emotional awareness as it is found in this framework. Those selected are as follows:
- • general emotional awareness
- • the awareness of anger
- • the awareness of happiness
Goleman’s framework, thus, will be extended by addressing differentiated emotions. Within this framework, emotional awareness has only been identified in a global and undifferentiated manner (Goleman, 1998).
The competencies thus under development will be contextualised in three ways. Firstly, they will be developed within the context of the way that Australian workplace competency standards are developed (ANTA, 2001g). Secondly, they will be related to the key competencies as their point of relevance in such development. This will involve consideration of current research related to the definition and selection of key or generic competencies (BCA & ACCI, 2002; Rychen & Salganik, 2001, 2003a). Finally, they will be framed within the context of Goleman’s emotional competency framework.
The three selected competencies have been chosen from among many possibilities. The reasons for their selection are as follows. Firstly, the category of emotional awareness is afforded a foundational place within Goleman’s framework (BarOn, 2001, p. 84; Goleman, 1998 pp. 63–68; Goleman, Boyatzis, & Rhee, 2000, p. 50; Lane, 2000, pp. 186–187). In Goleman’s framework, emotional awareness belongs to the general category of self-awareness into which it has been clustered alongside accurate self-assessment and self-confidence.