Feelings, Emotional Empathy and Decision Making: Listening to the Voices of the Heart

Argues that managers may rely too heavily on cognitively based decision‐making processes in an attempt to appear rational, logical and objective. However, the quality of decision making may be enhanced by also recognizing the legitimacy of an affective dimension of decisions, i.e. an ability to empathize with the feelings of employees, consumers and others affected by decisions. Discusses implications and makes recommendations for nurturing a sensitivity to the affective dimension.