The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities in decision-making by the managers of the agro-industrial complex enterprises. Managing agrarian enterprises is connected with the necessity of considering multiple factors and risks. Therefore, the decision-making under uncertainty and risk is often stressful. Recently, the study of the role of the emotional intelligence and tolerance for uncertainty in decision-making has become relevant and indispensable. The authors conducted the research using four techniques in two groups – managers and students of universities studying on programs involving the future management of people. The positive correlation between emotional intelligence measured by the MSCEIT test and the subjects’ age was established. A higher ability to emotional self-control according to the EmIn questionnaire and emotional intelligence according to the MSCEIT test among managers were revealed. Iowa Gambling Test showed significant differences in the preference for the winning decks both by gender (higher for men) and in groups – the students showed a lower degree of self-control, but a greater propensity for risk. People who seek certainty and clarity perceive their loss very unambiguously and try to avoid the risk of such an outcome in the future. Thus, the ability to understand and regulate emotions is important in the choice of solutions; therefore, emotional intelligence plays an important role in decision-making.

Management of such a complex system as agriculture requires special attention to making managerial decisions. The most common situation in agriculture is decision-making in the risk environment. One of the groups of factors that affect the process of managerial decision-making are psychological factors, including what a particular person contributes to the process of developing and making the management decision, depending on personal qualities, abilities, experience, motivation, culture, competence. This paper presents the research of the empathy and emotional intelligence role for the decision-making process in the situation of uncertainty, using both known and new developed by us methods of the antagonistic game, in which the subjects have opposite interests. Research has shown that in a high-risk competitive situation, people tend to make their decisions not in the attempt to understand other people’s emotions, but in the attempt to influence the opponent’s emotional state. In a low-risk situation, managers prefer to focus on their own judgment and pay less attention to their opponent. This fact can also be interpreted as a tendency to allocate attention to more important tasks, which helps managers cope with difficulties, including those typical for the agricultural sphere.

The article is devoted to the study of the relationship between emotional intelligence, empathy and tolerance to uncertainty and their role in the formation of the managerial potential of managers in agricultural enterprises. The high level of uncertainty and risks that accompany the management process in agro-industrial enterprises places increased demands on the level of managerial competencies development in their managers. The development level of highly professional managers is one of the important factors for agribusiness, because the quality of management depends on the company’s effectiveness. The managerial potential of the manager, along with the personnel policy and management system of the organization, plays a leading role in the formation of the agro-industrial enterprise managerial potential. Managers with high emotional intelligence and tolerance to uncertainty are much easier to survive crises, which contributes to the development of the right management decisions and, as a result, the economic success of the enterprise. There were significant differences in the scales of expression control, tolerance to uncertainty, empathic fantasy, empathic distress, and empathic care for female and male managers.