| Despite the importance of organizational climate and emotions within organizations, there are very few, if any, organization development (OD) interventions that directly address the understanding and managing of emotions as a means of affecting climate change. To address this gap, and based upon the action research process, a long-term organization development (OD) intervention rooted in the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso ability model of emotional intelligence (EI) was developed to demonstrate organizational leaders can acquire emotional intelligence skill sets, which directly affect, and subsequently change, the organizational climate.; The ten-month organizational intervention responded to a compelling need identified in a medium-sized California printing corporation, which had experienced a hasty merger. The writer developed the intervention strategy in conjunction with the corporation's owners and managers who participated as an executive team. The process included quantitative and qualitative assessments of organizational issues, and based on the data collection, Emotional Intelligence Skill Set Development (EISSD) was developed, designed as an intervention, and implemented.; Prior to the separation phase in the action research process, the effectiveness of the project design was evaluated, as post-intervention assessments indicated a dramatic shift in employee perceptions generating a positive change in the organizational climate. |
