Top strengths and emotional intelligence can be used to a great benefit in the workplace, as well as in private life. The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths test can give a person an idea of what their most powerful characteristics are, even when they are not aware of them. By properly utilizing them, the person could achieve a much better work experience and performance. Emotional intelligence is more focused on different types of awareness and management that come with analysis and understanding of the actions of a person and their surroundings. This paper will analyze three different cases that concern these concepts.
The Cases
This case presents a scenario where a manager named Susan, believes that her strengths would not be useful in her work life and thinks about keeping her workflow the same as it was before. The strengths that the test gave her were “humor” and “teamwork.” Despite her initial choice of ignoring those results, I would recommend considering a different approach. Dr. Martin Seligman suggests that in cases where the application of the strengths is not obvious, the person should try to use them while performing their lease favorite work task.
This could help her improve her workflow. Perhaps she could use teamwork to organize a small team to help her complete these tasks. She could also try to find a brighter side of her least liked tasks through joking about them (Seligman, 2009).
The second scenario showcases Harold who just got an MBA from Harvard. He is a motivated worker and is planning to be a CEO before he turns 45. His networking skills are impeccable, but employees see his actions as self-motivated and only beneficial to him, instead of the company. This description suggests that while he is good at interacting with the people who can advance his career, his emotional intelligence is low, as he lacks social awareness, relationship management, and some crucial parts of self-management. His self-awareness could be high, however, as he is very self-confident and must have good self-assessment because his networking skills have gained him great benefits so far (Tearle, 2014).
The third case presents a situation where the manager named Carl is great at understanding his employees, but unfortunately, he often takes every issue very personally. This is starting to affect his work because he had to take a few days off after a fall in profitability. This case suggests that Carl has very high levels of social awareness, and social skills, but still needs to work on his self-management and self-awareness. It is clear that Carl is not aware of his emotions and has no control over them which suggests a need for further improvement (Sterrett, 2000).
Conclusion
Emotional intelligence and the top strengths defined by the VIA test can be a powerful tool. However, they should be properly utilized to gain their full potential. As these cases suggest, a lack of one aspect may bring detriments even in situations where other aspects are very well developed, especially in cases of Carl and Harold. Both of these people have a certain level of emotional intelligence, but it is not balanced properly and is leading to negative outcomes for their teams and organizations. All four aspects should be balanced for the full effect of EI to be seen.
Sterrett, E. (2000). The manager’s pocket guide to emotional intelligence: From management to leadership. Amherst, MA: Human Resource Development Press.
Human emotions and feelings dictate the manner in which people achieve their potentials. Individuals with developed emotional intelligence (EI) will recognize the feelings of others, motivate them, and focus on the best outcomes. The EI concept has become critical since more people are required to complete numerous tasks. When a person possesses the most desirable EI competencies, he or she finds it easier to deal with changes successfully (Hess & Bacigalupo, 2013). Personally, I have developed a number of competencies that make it easier for me to achieve my potentials. However, I should address some gaps in order to become successful. This discussion outlines the major EI competencies associated with my leadership style. The paper goes further to present powerful experiments or action plans that have the potential to address the key areas affecting my leadership skills.
Selected competencies
Competency Strength
The ESCI model outlines various areas that dictate the performance and success of many people. The major areas include cognitive, self-management, social awareness, relationship management, and self-awareness (Hess & Bacigalupo, 2013). These competency fields work synergistically to improve an individual’s effectiveness (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). People should consider a number of strategies to improve the competencies in an attempt to realize their objectives. I strongly believe that I have unique competency strengths that make me a successful leader. Some of these strengths include achievement orientation and adaptability.
After collaborating with my coach, we outlined achievement orientation as the most outstanding strength that dictates my effectiveness as a team player. This competence focuses on a person’s ability to act as a leader and guide his or her followers. I always use my skill sets to lead, guide, and empower others. It is notable that this competence does not require me to act in a formal manner. As a worker, I always collaborate with my teammates to focus on the targeted goals and support one another. This competency strength explains why I bring people together, encourage them to deliver results, and address the existing issues (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). This practice has made it easier for our team to achieve its objectives.
There are several abilities that support my achievement orientation strength. For instance, I always use the strength to deliver positive results within the shortest time possible. It has been possible for me to state the best goals and visions for my teams. The skill makes it easier for me to motivate, empower, guide, and inspire my followers. The best emotional reactions are catalyzed in order to produce the best results. The team finds it easier to achieve its objectives. This skill explains why I have managed to bring out the best in my team members (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). Individuals who want to realize their objectives must work hard to develop this competency strength.
This discussion shows conclusively that I am a great leader who addresses the issues experienced by different individuals. As a team manager, I use this skill to monitor the performance of every follower. This competence makes it easier for me to analyze every situation in order to understand the best strategies towards delivering positive results (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). It is my goal to create the most appropriate environment for the targeted workers. This competence will definitely support my personal and professional goals.
That being the case, adaptability is a powerful trait that guides me to act flexibly and tackle various situations. It is undeniable that leaders work in different environments. The competence makes it easier for me to collaborate with different persons from diverse backgrounds. Individuals with diverse cultural competencies and skills will behave differently. As a leader, I have been able to adapt and deliver the most desirable support to the targeted followers (Hess & Bacigalupo, 2013). The possession of this skill explains why it has been possible for my team to realize most of its objectives.
The situation explains why I find it easier to perform optimally when the situations change (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). It is also possible for me to guide individuals from diverse backgrounds. This strength shows conclusively that I can work with different groups. I always change my perceptions or ideas “on the basis of new evidence” (Batool, 2013, p. 86). Different changes affect my performance and contributions to the targeted company. Most of my followers are also guided by this strength in order to deliver positive results.
However, it is agreeable that I have been unable to use the competence to coach and mentor others. My approaches to teamwork empower different workers to focus on the targeted results. The process makes it easier for them to use the right resources in order to deliver positive outcomes. Unfortunately, I do not exhibit the best mentorship skills (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). This gap explains why I will use a powerful strategy to improve my abilities and mentor others. The strategy will play a critical role towards making me a competent organizational leader.
Weakness: Competencies to Develop
Lifelong learning is a powerful strategy that empowers people to embrace new skills in order to emerge successful (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). This concept is used by individuals who want to improve or develop better competencies that have the potential to support their personal goals. Although I possess numerous skills that support my effectiveness, it is agreeable that there are some areas that should be improved. The coach guided me to identify the major competency areas that can be improved in order to become a successful leader. After conducting the exercise, the coach guided me to understand the importance of relationship management skills (Hess & Bacigalupo, 2013). These skills “help more people to apply appropriate changes that can result in the most desirable behaviors” (Batool, 2013, p. 85). When positive relationships are developed, the individual finds it easier to engage in the most appropriate practices and eventually realize the targeted goals.
During the process, the coach pointed out that my skills such as conflict management, influence, and ability to coach others were underdeveloped. The exercise showed conclusively that new measures were needed in order to support my personal goals. The coach indicated that it was hard for me to act and lead others in accordance with the existing circumstances. My achievement orientation and adaptability skills were appropriate towards empowering different followers in the working environment (Batool, 2013). The possession of these skills made it easier for me to support the diverse needs of my teammates. However, I found it hard to work effectively in teams or influence others.
That being the case, it will be appropriate for me to focus on a powerful strategy to improve these competencies. The skill has the potential to address the challenges affecting my performance as a leader. Since situations and events are unpredictable, competent leaders should be able to adapt and implement the most appropriate strategies (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). They should overcome the challenges associated with new changes and support their followers. A proper approach will make it easier for me to improve my relationship management skills.
Areas that Block my Personal Success
I have been using powerful achievement orientation and adaptability competencies to influence the performance of my team members. Without using the formal aspect of leadership, I use the competence to address the needs affecting my teammates. This practice explains why I always empower my teams. However, several areas make it impossible to emerge successful as a leader. For example, I lack the right competencies to mentor and guide my teams (Batool, 2013). This gap explains why I have been unable to lead others successfully. I also find it hard to influence my followers. My approach to teamwork is also ineffective.
The next weakness is that I lack adequate relationship management skills. More often than not, I fail to consider the values and cultural aspects that dictate the performance of my teams. I have realized that people’s behaviors and actions are usually guided by their cultures aspects. My conflict management skills are inadequate (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). That being the case, I strongly believe that any move to improve this skill will definitely make me a successful leader.
My insensitivity to new changes explains why I find it hard to adapt to different situations. More often than not, I fail to analyze the situations experienced by my team. Conflicts are major challenges that affect the performance of teams. This analysis, therefore, shows clearly that new measures are needed in order to improve my relationship management skills (Batool, 2013). When these competencies are developed, it will be easier for me to realize my goals and support the performance of others.
Action Plans/Experiments to Improve the Above Key Areas
My ultimate goal is to develop new competencies that can support my organizational and personal goals. In order to improve these skills, it is mandatory to use a powerful action plan characterized by different experiments. Such strategies will definitely address the gaps that make it impossible for me to advance my leadership and organizational practices. Evidence-based approaches will play a positive role towards supporting my professional and personal objectives (Batool, 2013). The best experiments to improve the targeted key areas are presented below.
The first area that should be improved is conflict management. This area explains why I have been unable to deliver positive results using my leadership strategy. The first step towards improving this area is through continuous learning. This practice will make it easier for me to identify new practices and strategies that can improve my organizational awareness competencies. I will go further to interact with my teammates and followers. By so doing, I will learn more about their cultural attributes and organizational behaviors (Batool, 2013). I will also make the practice part of my leadership philosophy. The process will ensure my leadership practices are guided by the same initiatives. When the organizational attributes of my followers are clearly understood, it will become possible to address the challenges affecting them. The process will also ensure the leadership approach delivers positive results. I will interact will other leaders in order to achieve better skills. These experiments will definitely make it easier for me to become a competent organizational leader.
As mentioned earlier, my inspirational leadership skills are underdeveloped. Consequently, I have been unable to address the needs of different followers from diverse backgrounds (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2016). Several experiments or initiatives will be required to improve this area. The first one is the use of change models. Kurt Lewin’s change theory can be used to guide and mentor different members of a team. The model will make it easier for me understand the diverse needs and expectations of the targeted individuals.
This move will outline new approaches that can be used to address the challenges affecting my teams. I will always be on the lookout for new challenges and barriers affecting the performance of my team members. During the process, I will liaise with different stakeholders and leaders in order to improve my competencies. It will also be appropriate to consider specific theories and different leadership models in order to realize my potentials. My teammates will also be involved throughout the process. They will identify specific action plans that can be used to deliver positive results whenever new changes emerge. This idea is based on the fact that every individual can take up leadership roles in an attempt to produce positive results (Batool, 2013).
The other weakness area that affects my performance area is the inability to guide and mentor others. In order to address this issue, I will read a wide range of organizational leadership materials (Hess & Bacigalupo, 2013). This move will make it easier for me to acquire new ideas to empower others. I will offer constant feedbacks to my teammates. This process will guide me to understand the unique challenges affecting my followers. It will be appropriate to support and appreciate the strengths of my followers. A new approach to caring will be embraced. The practice will ensure the challenges affecting my teammates are addressed in a timely manner. I will design a powerful mentorship philosophy. This model will guide me to guide me to examine the gaps in the targeted teams (Batool, 2013). The next move will be to implement the best initiatives to address the needs of my followers. Every individual will be involved throughout the mentorship program. This experiment will play a critical role towards making me a successful leader.
Concluding Remarks
Managers should be aware of the major issues surrounding the area of organizational development. In order to become successful managers, individuals should improve their competencies and address the changing needs of their followers. This discussion has showed conclusively that I possess specific competencies that support my leadership style. My inspirational leadership strategy guides and empowers others in order to produce positive results. On the other hand, my adaptability approaches are underdeveloped (Hess & Bacigalupo, 2013). I am therefore planning to use powerful initiatives in an attempt to improve my leadership competencies. It will be appropriate to collaborate with my coach, different leaders, and my followers in order to improve the above key areas. I will also make lifelong learning a useful process aimed at improving my leadership practice. The acquired skills will eventually make me a successful manager who supports the changing needs of every follower.
References
Batool, B. (2013). Emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 84-94.
Goleman, D., & Boyatzis, R. (2016). Feedback group: What is emotional and social intelligence? New York, NY: Hay Group.
Hess, J., & Bacigalupo, A. (2013). Applying emotional intelligence skills to leadership and decision making in non-profit organizations. Administrative Sciences, 3(1), 202-220.
Organizations focus on resource management to improve service delivery. Two examples include private companies and governmental agencies such as the Department of Culture and Tourism. Some of the targeted resources include human skills, inventory, information technology (IT), and finance. Unfortunately, emotional intelligence (EI) is yet to be taken seriously whenever recruiting new employees and leaders to achieve the organization’s goals.
Problem Analysis
Efficient resource management practices promote and enhance the success of projects in different fields. Unfortunately, the role of emotional intelligence whenever pursuing organizational goals has been ignored (Thory 2013). The inability to manage emotions is a major predicament that affects the performance of the project. This gap explains why numerous challenges continue to affect the sector’s performance. Since many interviewing procedures do not reveal candidates’ EI abilities, there is a need for managers to empower and guide their followers to control their emotions. This practice will eventually support the success of every project.
Research Questions
The questions presented below will be considered throughout the research study:
How can workers develop emotional intelligence (EI) in a particular project?
How can different organizations recruit for EI for evidence-based resource management and capabilities?
How can managers utilize and propagate the concept of EI to promote responsiveness and deliver their projects on time?
Methodology
An effective research methodology ensures that quality information is gathered to inform the targeted discussions and recommendations (Mansour 2016). A detailed qualitative study is expected to deliver meaningful insights. This means that several articles published in academic journals and books will be identified and analyzed. Quality articles will be identified through the use of these keywords: emotional intelligence, resource management, and organizational culture.
Additionally, quality information will be collected by interviewing several employees from these two organizations: the Department of Culture and Tourism and Majid Al Futtaim Company. The respondents will explain how EI empowers them to pursue various projects and deliver desirable results. The relationship between EI and happiness will also be studied. The interviewer will encourage the targeted respondents to examine how the two can affect project delivery.
Data
The targeted data will focus on these key areas:
The number of projects the concept of EI can support
How organizations can hire employees proficient in EI
How managers can encourage their workers to improve their EI competencies
The importance of EI in different organizational projects
Strategies and initiatives that can guide companies to make EI part of their organizational cultures
Gathering Process
As indicated earlier, the targeted data will be gathered by analyzing the selected journal articles carefully. The insights gained from the interviewees will then be used to develop meaningful discussions.
Data Analysis
A detailed data analysis procedure is unnecessary because a qualitative approach will support the intended study process. The observations and inferences obtained from the articles will result in an informative discussion (Viskupičová 2016). The information gained from every respondent will result in superior action plans that can guide managers to improve their EI capabilities and empower their followers.
Conclusion
The proposed study will offer meaningful concepts to support the power of EI in organizations. Individuals who have high EI scores appreciate, discern, and manage emotions in an attempt to deliver positive results. Managers will also be encouraged to embrace the concept if they want to succeed and achieve their potential. The completed study will, therefore, offer evidence-based insights for supporting the performance of various organizational projects.
Reference List
Mansour, SA 2016, Emotional intelligence: the road to success, Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.
Thory, K 2013, ‘Teaching managers to regulate their emotions better: insights from emotional intelligence training and work-based application’, Human Resource Development International, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 4-21.
Viskupičová, H 2016, ‘Emotionally intelligent leadership as a key determinant of strategic and effective management of human capital’, Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 68-78.
The context for this presentation is a seminar at an international conference for company CEOs. The CEOs participating in this seminar would like to understand the benefits they can derive from Emotional Intelligence (EI) training for their employees. This comes from the realization that IQ testing is not a good indicator of employee performance. Rather, interpersonal relationships are increasing in importance in every line of work. Technical skills alone are not sufficient for success in business today. The CEOs come from different countries in the world, representing different cultures. They represent different types of companies and different industries.
The two main issues in international business communication of interest in the presentation include the universality of emotional communication and the role of non-verbal communication in intercultural communication processes. One of the fundamental assumptions made in the process of preparing this presentation is that emotional communication is universal regardless of the culture. The specific manifestation of emotions varies from culture to culture. Nevertheless, all the fundamental emotions are similar in every society.
The second main issue the presentation addresses is the use of nonverbal communication. Again, this is a common characteristic of international communication. The presentation has references regarding the situation and the role that non-verbal communication plays in EI. Nonverbal communication is important because it varies from culture to culture.
The presentation is suitable for a multicultural context because of the following reasons. First, the examples chosen for use refer to issues that anyone in business will understand. This includes the use of common business processes such as procurement, product design, and salary negotiations. These factors are not unique to any nation. Therefore, anyone who is in business from any place on earth will identify with these procedures.
Secondly, the presentation uses IQ as a peg for linking information relating to IE. IQ is famous and widely used across the world. IE is less famous. Thus, the audience will find a basis for relating to IE, assuming it is the first time they hear about IE. The idea, in this case, is to present new information based on what the audience already knows.
Thirdly, the benefits chosen are universal. Every business would like to have better processes, better talent management systems, and better customer care. This means that culture will not be a barrier to understanding the benefits that accrue from IE training outlined in the presentation.
Emotion: Emotions relate to feelings based on a person’s state of mind, usually determined by the immediate environment;
Intelligence: Refers to the capacity to obtain and apply information and skills.
Therefore, EI is the capacity to obtain and apply information and skills pertaining to the management of emotions:
EI is a meta-cognitive skill, that enables someone to mentally pull away from their current environment in order to analyze it for emotional cues.
Emotional Intelligence comes from two words. Emotions refer to personal feelings arising from the state of the mind of a person. This state of mind can be influenced by his immediate surroundings or by past experiences under consideration. Intelligence on the other hand refers to the ability of an individual to obtain and apply information and skills. Therefore, EI is the “capacity to obtain and apply information and skills pertaining to the management of emotions”. Please note that EI is a meta-cognitive skill. This implies that it is a skill that often requires an individual to take himself away from the current position to study the prevailing emotions, and to develop responses based on it.
EI versus IQ
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is a good predictor of how someone will perform in school. However it is a poor predictor of how successful someone will become in life.
EI is a better predictor of how successful someone will become in life.
For an organization to be successful, it needs to be aware that IQ testing alone is not sufficient as an indicator of the performance of a potential employee.
EI testing is a better predictor of the performance of the employee.
IQ is better known and more widely used compared to EI. There are subtle differences that exist between these two types of intelligence. For Instance, IQ can give an indication of how well someone will perform in school, but not how successful that person will become in life. EI predicts success in life much better than IQ. The implication of this relationship to organizations is that if an organization focuses on IQ testing alone, it may not have a proper view of an employees potential to perform well at work. EI is a better measure of this aspect.
EI
IQ
Predicts the chances of a person becoming successful in life
Predicts how well someone can perform in school and in cognitive tasks
Gives a good indication of how well someone can handle people
Does not indicate an individual’s capacity to relate with other people
Is a trainable aspect of intelligence
Is not trainable. It is static
This table compares three aspects of EI and IQ. First, EI predicts the chances of a person becoming successful in life, while IQ predicts how well someone will perform in school and in cognitive tasks. Secondly, EI gives a good indication of how well someone can relate with other people. On the other hand, IQ does not indicate an individual’s relational capacity. The third and most relevant aspect in this presentation is that it is possible to train employees to increase their IE. This is not possible with IQ. IQ is a static quality of the mind.
Aspects of EI: Reasoning with Emotions
Reasoning with emotions refers to the ability to evaluate an emotion and to determine the best course of action. This is the response formulation stage.
In a specific situation, reasoning with emotions often determines whether a situation spirals out of control, or goes back to normal.
Someone with a higher EI will handle an irate customer better than the person who best understands the product, but has lower EI.
The second aspect of EI is reasoning with emotions. This is the ability to evaluate emotions in order to find the best course of action. This ability can influence whether a situation will spiral out of control or whether it goes back to normalcy. Someone good in reasoning with emotions will know how to handle an irate customer even without a detailed understanding of the product features a customer is complaining about.
Aspects of EI: Perceiving Emotions
Perceiving of emotions is the first aspect of EI in the Salovey and Mayer Model.
EI requires individuals to possess the capability to distinguish and recognize emotions in other people:
This involves an understanding of both verbal and non-verbal cues when communicating with other people
It also requires the capacity to recognize someone’s own emotions:
The best way of knowing one’s emotions is to reflect and meditate on issues.
The Salovey and Mayer Model shows that IE has four aspects which we will apply to determine the importance of EI training for organizations. The first aspect is perceiving emotions. Perceiving emotions is the ability of an individual to identify emotions. This is either his own emotions, or the emotions of the people around him. It requires an understanding of both verbal and non-verbal cues present in all human communication processes.
Aspects of EI: Understanding Emotions
Understanding of emotions is developing the correct interpretation of an emotion that someone else displays.
When a customer expresses anger, it is important to know whether the anger is due to delays in customer service, or a problem with the parking attendant!
Understanding emotions is critical in implementing a response plan.
EI calls for the understanding of the emotion displayed on the spot and formulating a response on the spot.
The third aspect of EI is understanding emotions. This aspect in interpretive in nature. The question a customer care staff member would ask himself is “why is this customer angry? Is she angry because of the product or is she angry because of the parking attendant?” The purpose of understanding emotions is also to develop a response plan. However, all this must happen on the spot. It is impossible to take off to another location to understand an emotion before engaging with the situation.
Aspects of EI: Managing Emotions
Managing emotions is the capacity of an individual to harness and control their emotional responses regardless of stimuli.
This is the most important component of EI.
The ability to manage emotions requires a conscious appraisal of the situation and a deliberate choice of response.
Managing emotions has two components:
Regulation of personal emotions;
Measured responses to stimuli.
The fourth and final aspect of EI is managing emotions. The emotions in question include internal and external feelings. Internally, a person needs the mental ability to control his emotions regardless of the disturbances in the external environment. It is the most important aspect of EI. This ability requires an act of the will. The person appraises the situation and makes a deliberate choice to respond in a particular manner. In summary, managing emotions require the capacity to self-regulate, and the capacity to influence the emotions of other people.
Organizational Benefits of EI Training
Better customer care:
Every organization that has people with high EI will provide better customer care.
Purchasing decisions are not just financial decisions. They are also very emotional processes.
Getting repeat customers depends on how customers handle the post purchase dissonance. A customer service agent with high EI can influence this.
Customers who are not happy with their purchase are better dealt with by employees with high EI because of the emotional issues that such customers stir up.
Three of the benefits that an organization experiences when it trains its employees in EI are as follows. First the organizations will have better customer care. When customers walk into a shop or an organization to buy anything, the experience is very emotional. It is not simply a financial experience. People with high EI skills can manage them better. Repeat customers are usually people who have had good experiences with a company. These experiences are usually emotional in nature. At the same time, some customers are usually not happy with their purchase. Customer service agents with a high EI are better at handling such customers.
Better decision making in organizational processes:
Design process: this is where decisions regarding product design are made. The process is stressful and requires careful emotional management.
Procurement process: purchases made by the organization depend on the emotional state of the purchasing officers. Officers with a higher EI can tell which are the best offers when purchasing any product.
Salary negotiations: negotiating pay rises is one of the most emotional experiences for both employees and management. Good EI can make the process less stressful.
The second benefit of EI training is that it leads to better decision making processes in the organization. Three examples of areas that can benefit from better decision making include the design process, the procurement process, and the negotiation of salaries. The design process can be stressful hence the need to manage the emotions of the design team. The procurement team is better placed to get the best items for the organization if it has people with high EI. They can tell whether they are getting the best deal for the organization. The negotiation of salaries is also very emotional. If handled by people with high EI, the process would be less stressful.
Better talent acquisition and management:
Interviews: Getting the right people into the organization is crucial to organizational success. If the HR department has people with high EI, they will recruit high quality employees.
Appraisals: Appraisals are very emotional activities in organizations depending on their significance when making retention and promotion decisions. If people with a high EI handle them, then the organization will benefit more from the appraisals.
The final benefit that would accrue to an organization from an EI training is better talent acquisition and management. This would accrue when the organization carries out interviews. A HR department with people who have high EI will recruit people with a high EI. Similarly, conducting appraisals would also be less stressful if the organization is rich in EI.
Emotional intelligence (EI) plays a significant part in modern leadership theories as many scientists believe it is a crucial element of the decision-making process. As it is known, emotions tend to influence people’s minds at the moment they have to decide, which is why emotional management may be considered a key factor in successful decision-making. People who can control their emotions can objectively analyze the situation and make the best possible choice. However, researchers nowadays suggest two complementary yet still different visions for EI, namely ability emotional intelligence and trait emotional intelligence. Although these two perspectives have some conceptual differences, emotional management, and rationality can play an essential role in decision-making, as demonstrated by the example of Warren Buffett’s career.
Differences between Trait and Ability Emotional Intelligence
The ability stance on EI suggests that it is an ordinary form of intelligence that standard performance tests can logically measure. According to Udayar et al. (2020), ability EI is more related to objective performance than subjective. People with high-ability EI can efficiently adapt to a specific situation using their emotional skills and ultimately outperform to achieve the highest possible results. In other words, a person’s actual ability to manage an emotional situation can directly impact the general performance level (Udayar et al., 2020). Performance indicators, in this case, can be used as a measuring test for ability emotional intelligence, meaning that they can illustrate the actual relation between emotional management and decision-making effectiveness in various situations.
Another viewpoint on EI suggests that it is a unique personality trait. Udayar et al. (2020) state that trait EI pertains “to people’s behavioral dispositions for dealing with emotional situations and assess it with self-report questionnaires” (p. 1). In contrast to ability EI, trait stance suggests that performance can be predicted when assessed from both objective and subjective perspectives. Individuals with high trait EI are usually less impulsive and have a significant level of self-control (Udayar et al., 2020). In many senses, trait EI is highly efficient in stressful situations as it can facilitate productive persistence.
Warren Buffett’s Rationality
Despite the conceptual differences between the two perspectives on emotional intelligence, they both suppose that rationality as part of emotional management is an essential factor that can significantly influence one’s career. It is acknowledged that emotionally intelligent people can “recognize, understand and manage own and others’ emotions” (Edelman & van Knippenberg, 2018, p. 592). The successful career of Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, exemplifies the significance of rationality in decision-making. Buffet believes that earning high amounts of effortless money can easily sedate rationality, which is why business people need to stay rational to succeed (as cited in Bloch, 2021). Throughout his career, Buffett has understood and managed his own emotions, which is why he has become such a successful businessman.
Conclusion
Viewpoints on emotional intelligence as a trait and an ability have some conceptual differences, but both perspectives suppose that it is an essential element of business decision-making, as illustrated by the successful career of Warren Buffett. Ability EI is based on objective performance, while trait EI refers to performance assessment from both objective and subjective perspectives. An example of the importance of emotional management is Warren Buffett’s career, which was successful due to his rationality and understanding of his own and others’ emotions. Overall, emotionally intelligent people have a high potential to become efficient decision-makers as they can make reasonable choices in stressful situations.
References
Bloch, R. L. (Ed.) (2021). Warren Buffett book of investing wisdom: 350 quotes from the world’s most successful investor. Skyhorse.
Being wise about own emotions and emotions of the clients and people around.
Ability to address issues of others without getting emotionally involved.
Possessing skills emotional management.
Being a role-model.
“Developing higher levels of emotional intelligence has been proven to be the single most powerful thing you can do to advance your career, professional and personal relationships, and overall happiness” (Mitten, 2013).
EI gives abilities
To be a good leader.
Manage relationships.
Impact and inspire others.
Regulate own behavior.
EI influences productivity and efficiency of a worker, helps with team collaboration.
Most workplaces
Believe that EIC benefits their organization.
Improves the company’s bottom line.
Have a part of their managers as coaching staff.
Use external coaches.
Encourage their managers to get trained as coaches.
Emotional Intelligence Coaching (EIC)
Selection reasons:
Challenging (not every coach can master this area and skills needed for that).
Highly professional (EIC characterizes a mentor as a rare talent).
Very helpful (skills and training in EIC can help cope with difficulties of professional and personal character).
Inspiring (being an emotional intelligence coach gives an opportunity to create significant influence on people’s lives and wellbeing, inspire and empower).
My ex-manager once said I was an emotional intelligence coach and she did not like it that served as the main reason that made me research the field of Emotional Intelligence Coaching. Reading about this sphere of coaching seemed attractive and quite natural to me.
Emotional Intelligence Coaching
Is not counseling or therapy.
Is the capacity to perceive, process, understand, address and manage emotions of others as well as own emotions.
Is focused on a client’s professional performance.
Views emotions as the base of people’s actions and decisions.
EI skills are extremely important in business.
Emotional Intelligence means knowing how to deal with own feelings and feelings of others (Emotional Intelligence Coaching, 2014). Emotional Intelligence Coaching does not focus of giving a person advice about the issues in their private life. This type of coaching is aimed at viewing how various negative impacts influence the client’s performance at work and create limitations or unpleasant environment.
The meaning of emotions should not be underestimated. Emotions are the moving force of all our actions and they are the base of the decision-making process (. This is why it is extremely important for a coach to know how to understand the emotional roots of the client’s workplace problems and be able to express their meaning and show the ways to address this issue.
Skills of a good Emotional Intelligence Coach
Self-awareness.
Ability to model the type of behavior that the coach encourages other to have.
Self-regulation.
Motivation.
Empathy.
Ability to explain and direct.
Carefulness.
Critical thinking.
A good coach is required to be aware of their behavior, watch their emotional state, be able to have a critical look at the situation they have to deal with.
A good successful coach is the one that is able to act as a walking example of the correct emotional behavior – this is the best advertisement of the coach’s professionalism and high level of emotional intelligence.
Besides, the coach needs to know how to address the issues they are having, notice and regulate their own behavioral patterns.
Motivation goes without saying, as this is an essential feature of any qualified specialist.
Empathy is important for the coach to have a deeper view of the client’s problems, their roots and causes.
The coach needs to identify the issue and address it properly, applying individual approach to the client, be clear and descriptive.
Emotional issues are always a very sensitive topic for the clients, this is why the coach needs to be tactful and show careful ethical approach.
Critical thinking is the coach’s ability to not get personally and emotionally involved into the client’s issues, being able to analyze them soberly and effectively. Compassion is important, yet the coach always has to stay objective.
Advantages:
Good outcome for the clients.
Conflict resolution.
Self-development.
Disadvantages:
Clients may feel reserved and refuse to share.
Differences between the person’s self evaluation and the coach’s idea.
The advantages of Emotional Intelligence Coaching are obvious. This type of coaching is very useful and needed as almost every workplace has issues of emotional character between the employees, and the development of their emotional intelligence is the best and quickest way help. This is why among the advantages there is conflict resolution. Besides, working with various types of clients and various issues and situations, the coach improves their own professional skills (Can Coaching Have an Impact on Emotional Intelligence?, 2010).
Disadvantages of working in the field of Emotional Intelligence Coaching are that the majority of the clients will have skeptical attitude towards such coaches, for most people it is not easy to open up to a mentor and speak about various emotional issues that impact the person’s professional performance. Moreover, in many cases even the most experienced coach is unable to break through to the client, because the clients way of self-perception and the coach’s view from the side simply do not match. In such situations the clients will not accept the feedback the coach suggests.
Tips for the coaches
Constantly improve your professional skills and performance.
Master the correct values and views.
Frequent practice of coaching at the workplace.
Deeper conversations in cases where the coaching and training did not help.
Frequent practice and the development of own emotional intelligence is what makes a successful coach. The coach has to always learn and remember – living a life is like riding a bicycle: once you stop moving – you start falling down.
Reference List
Can coaching have an impact one emotional intelligence? (2010). American Management Assosiation. Web.
There are several types of jobs where emotional intelligence (EI) assessment could be effective in personnel selection. Moreover, high EI is necessary for highly demanding jobs (Gardner & Dunkin, 2018). For instance, according to Pelt et al. (2018), lawyers and file clerk, who face a lot of emotional labor during their day-to-day work, may fake their chances of securing a job position or use interpersonal interactions. However, such jobs as accountants and welders, which have little to no emotional labor, do not depend on emotional skills. In essence, medical careers such as nursing or medical practitioners are among the top jobs where EI assessment for personal selection could be effective.
EI assessment could also be effective in personnel selection when it is applied to such jobs as social workers. According to Sherman (2020), high empathy is vital for social workers as they often deal with other people’s life challenges and problems. In this case, since the social worker’s job is emotionally draining because of its high emotional labor, performing an EI assessment for such a job’s personnel selection is important.
HR professionals may not effectively measure or predict EI via testing methods. For instance, on the psychometric test for EI, it is impossible to predict EI as it is a measure of cognitive intelligence rather than EI. According to Campion (2019), the use of practice employment tests is significant in improving recruitment and personnel selection outcomes for highly demanding job positions. Therefore, HR professionals who are ardent about using psychometric tests for EI may discover that they are faced with a perplexing and confusing number of options, making this not an effective method to measure or predict EI.
Testing in Personnel Selection
Personality testing is utilized in a variety of situations. Personality tests, for example, can be used in fields including individual and relationship counseling and psychotherapy, workplace health and safety, and customer relations, such as sales. In this situation, the industry necessitates the development of special abilities in addition to hard skills, making screening for specific roles necessary (Pelt et al., 2018). For example, rather than recruiting someone with the necessary hard skills, organizations frequently teach their staff from the ground up in sales or customer service positions. As a result, before investing the resources planned to educate such persons, Human Resource (HR) experts should ensure that the employee’s personality is capable of handling the job’s responsibilities and are within the scope of job requirements within their specific organization.
Personality is a statistically established predictor of job success, and evaluating a candidate’s behavioral traits in the workplace helps recruiters to determine whether they will be top achievers. However, personality testing, on the other hand, offers both advantages and drawbacks as a method of selection. Personality assessments can help the company recruitment process be more legally sound (Gardner, & Dunkin, 2018). Of course, HR professionals must follow the same rules as any other hiring selection process, which means that as long as the evaluation is job-related, it is allowed to utilize it. It also gives users objective statistics to make optimum decisions. Despite personality assessment’s widespread usage in commercial and therapeutic contexts, validity issues plague personality testing. As a result, not all personality tests are appropriate for hiring. HR may make incorrect judgments or get themselves into legal issues if the evaluation is not psychometrically validated for recruiting and selection.
Orientation and Onboarding
Onboarding from a holistic viewpoint considers how the new worker’s abilities and talents may have a substantial impact on the business, in addition to the firm’s demands. Instead of assimilating the new employee into the agency’s current culture and values, holistic onboarding encourages the new worker to contribute to the creation of unique services, ideas, or technologies. Organizational socialization, for example, describes the process through which new workers transition from being organizational loners to organizational members (Hall-Jones et al., 2018). According to Peacock and Ruppel (2019), human resource psychology research indicates that socialization is a key influence on whether an individual feels like they belong in a new business and, as a result, if they want to stay in their new role. Holistic onboarding refers to the procedure through which an employee obtains the social competencies required to perform an organizational function.
Organizations must establish cultures that encourage cooperation, support engagement and promote demographic compatibility for generations to work effectively together. This allows each generation’s particular capabilities to be exploited for the greater benefit of the entire workforce. For example, according to Peacock and Ruppel (2019), Margie provides unique cooperation with a newbie at the library by emailing Rebecca a checklist as indicated by the HR manager. In the office and the commercial sector, learning how to interact with different generations might help to avoid big clashes and misunderstandings. As highlighted in Peacock and Ruppel’s article, acknowledging the diverse demands of people at different phases of their lives and careers may boost workplace efficiency (2019). As a result, managers must be aware of the peculiarities of different generations in the company, as demonstrated by Margie to Rebecca, and behave appropriately.
Psychological Contract
Organizational socialization, as opposed to onboarding, refers to the overall training and adaptation processes that people go through when they transition to a new function. As a result, new staff socialization takes place at multiple points within the business, notably at the unit or work group stage, and as a result, the onboarding process for new workers of a firm. Even though there may be a conflict between the organization’s willingness to mold and structure individuals to obtain productivity improvements, new staff can still compartmentalize a psychological contract during the organization’s onboarding process (Welander et al., 2020). For example, a person’s drive to fit in and thrive, as well as his or her goal to preserve freedom and self-expression inside an organization, can be adopted by a company’s need for higher uniformity to improve efficiency, as well as its concurrent need for adaptability.
In this sense, organizational socialization initiatives geared at new workers, such as realistic job briefings, formal training sessions, and mentorship, are most beneficial to newcomer integration. Furthermore, research indicates that employers play a significant role in the socialization of new members (Peacock and Ruppel, 2019). According to Peacock and Ruppel (2019), Margie and Rebeca built a relationship once Margie returned to work and got to know one another better. Furthermore, with Rebeca’s email and methodical list of subjects she would have discussed with Rebeca, including Rebeca’s insights into her Generation Y attitude, newbie Margie felt connected to the library. In this scenario, Margie’s connection with Rebecca demonstrated how she was committed to the company via her hard effort and ability to grasp skills by ensuring that Rebecca completed the ONE Boise State induction.
Performance Appraisal Systems on Employee Behavior
Within the public service, performance management is a big challenge. In the private sector, several performance management methods have been established, such as the balanced scorecard theory, although they place more emphasis on financial objectives and a small number of partners. The public sector has a considerably broader set of goals and stakeholders. However, performance measurement based on SSM has been identified in previous studies. In contrast, Zheng et al. (2019), in their research, used a group of internal and external project participants to balance personal interests that were either autonomous, complementary, or competing. Zheng et al. (2019) pointed out various stakeholders and their interests at each stage of an institution using the technique in a case study centered on a Chinese hospital and then emphasized their viewpoints in terms of four aspects: aim, function, stakeholder, ability, and KPIs. As a result, essential stakeholder interests must be examined and balanced.
The balanced scorecard technique is appealing because it offers a variety of options for managing welfare during strategy development. However, because the interests may be discovered and balanced in a variety of ways, particularly for different stakeholders in organizations, further research into how to reconcile the interests in various scenarios is required (Fischer et al., 2020). Furthermore, it is important to recognize that any resources spent on stakeholder involvement and balancing may result in opportunity costs because they cannot be used to enhance efficiency in other ways.
Conclusion
Despite the prevalence of other ethical workplace attitudes that existed before genuine ethics training, ethics in the workplace may be educated and trained among new workers. According to the Peter Principle idea, an employee who is promoted to their maximum degree of incompetence without having the necessary abilities to succeed in their new job has a greater likelihood of failing (Benson et al., 2019; Villegas et al., 2019). For example, Jack, an award-winning salesperson, failed in his role as assistant manager due to his inability to handle the ethical standards of a high-level management position (Villegas, 2021). Jack’s recruiting manager’s failure to establish training, operational, and management objectives for the new position could also have resulted in Jack’s failure in the new role (Villegas, 2021). Consequently, ethical training is inherently required for total skill development.
A range of ethics-violation situations supplements effective ethical instruction. Such breaches give chances for additional training or modifications to codes of conduct. To educate ethics in the workplace effectively, a variety of strategies must be used. Whatever method a corporation chooses to teach its staff the code of ethics, a refresher program should be made accessible (Lubbe et al., 2019). This is done to guarantee that everyone knows the requirements of the code of ethics and has the chance to make a great first impression on their knowledge of the issue. As a result, an organization’s members should employ a code of ethics as daily guidance. Even if it is not used every day, it should be at the center of staff’s minds while making everyday choices. As a result, it should not be a one-time discussion during instruction, but rather a documentation that is used regularly at all management levels.
References
Benson, A., Li, D., & Shue, K. (2019). Promotions and the Peter Principle. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(4), 2085–2134.
Villegas, S., Lloyd, R. A., Tritt, A., & Vengrouskie, E. F. (2019). Human Resources as ethical gatekeepers: Hiring ethics and employee selection. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 16(2). Web.
Emotional intelligence is the adhesive that may maintain relationships together throughout time. In this regard, Bluevine has been coping with a global problem that is related to bad financial strategy services in order to keep its customers. This has lowered productivity and has to be remedied. Hence, the most successful leaders see emotional intelligence as a crucial talent for identifying and resolving team member issues. Therefore, emotional intelligence is a crucial component of several leadership styles. Overall, emotional intelligence is a crucial aspect for leaders and organizations, and a lack of it can derail organizations’ efficiency and ultimately direly affects their sustainability.
Emotional Intelligence and Motivation
Emotional building blocks are the fundamental emotional abilities that comprise a person’s emotional and cognitive ability capacity. Emotional building blocks are essential to any organization’s structural potential to optimize staff members’ efficiency and strengthen job gratification. According to Landry (2019), Self-perception and leadership, emotional self-awareness, self-regard, and self-actualization constitute the most crucial basic building block for enhancing job satisfaction and employee performance. In this breath, self-actualization refers to a person’s capacity for self-improvement and the pursuit of meaningful goals and ambitions (Landry, 2019).
Self-respect is the capacity to accept one’s own talents and faults. Moreover, emotional self-awareness is the capacity to recognize and comprehend one’s emotions and their influence. Self-perception and leadership are a person’s capacity to comprehend their self-image and leadership talents (Landry, 2019). All of these emotional pillars are vitally essential to leadership, workers, and the firm as a whole.
As a motivational technique, positive reinforcement is the incentive for completing a task successfully. This motivational technique may be deployed when a participant’s performance exceeds anticipated. When duties are assigned to a group of workers and the management seeks to foster competitiveness among the team of employees, the administration may also use positive reinforcement. Furthermore, it occurs when workers are awarded incentives for performing specific duties at work. As a motivational tool, negative reinforcement is a punishment for not performing or doing inadequately.
When staff are not executing their jobs adequately, management might use this motivational tactic. When workers are unwilling to comply with mandatory responsibilities, management may use negative reinforcement. Personnel that violate corporate regulations and processes may further be subject to negative reinforcement. When workers are fined for arriving late to work is one example.
Motivation Theory
The explanation of Maslow’s theory is based on the notion that individuals seek to enhance their goals in life and that their demands are valued according to their significance. Derived from Maslow’s hierarchy of wants, material conceptions of work fulfillment focus on workers’ needs and the things that provide them with a satisfactory level of fulfillment (Badubi, 2017). On the basis of the physical, biological, social, and psychological requirements of humans, Maslow created a five-step model that categorizes and emphasizes the fulfillment of a person’s needs (Badubi, 2017). These classifications are physiological needs; safety and security needs, social needs; esteem needs, and self-actualization needs (Badubi, 2017).
Hence, theories that attempt to describe work satisfaction are based on Maslow’s hierarchy of requirements. For example, it is applicable in that Bluevine workers, like everyone else, have demands that must be met. In addition to the requirement for food, housing, and clothes, as well as protection from physical and social damage, they need the acknowledgment and praise of students, colleagues, and parents.
Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills and Decision Making
In emotional intelligence, social skills relate to the abilities necessary to manage and even affect the feelings of others successfully. Accordingly, the critical elements of emotional intelligence might be used to improve the leadership’s social abilities. The crucial ideas of emotional intelligence might potentially be applied to improve the administration’s decision-making effectiveness. These are crucial for the leadership, the staff, and the company as a whole as it strives to enhance its productivity. On the same note, persuasive and influencing skills, excellent communication skills, relationship skills, conflict resolution skills, and collaboration abilities are required for every leader or management position.
Capabilities in persuasion and influence are crucial for having tasks accomplished. This talent may be used by management to convince other managers or directors to adopt investments and other organizationally-beneficial tactics. This ability may also be used to motivate personnel to accomplish jobs with diligence and excellence. Similarly, managers must also possess exceptional communication abilities in the organization. For example, when disseminating information to workers, managers must communicate effectively. It is essential for executives to communicate better so that workers may ensure productivity and avoid confusion while carrying out their responsibilities.
The management must also develop interpersonal abilities. This is vital because management must develop strong links and relationships with workers in order to ensure the organization’s excellent performance. Furthermore, managing conflict abilities are also required for management. This is necessary in order to settle any difficulties in the firm that might result in disagreements and poor efficiency from both management and staff. Equally, the management must possess collaboration abilities in order to collaborate successfully with other managers and workers. Teamwork is crucial since it improves the performance of individuals, management, and the company as a whole.
Effective Teams
Incorporating a successful team is a challenging task to achieve. This is due to the fact that a successful team needs a lot of building components. A lot of team dynamics are required for a successful team to be advantageous to the company. Based on Driskell et al. (2018), defined goals, suitable leadership, balanced duties, efficient communication, reciprocal collaboration, and personal growth are the building blocks and team dynamics necessary to construct a successful team. All of these factors are crucial for assembling a successful workforce. These goals for the group must be jointly concurred upon by all teammates and the team manager in terms of clarity. In regard to this, the whole team must fully comprehend the organization’s objectives. The team participants must be able to participate constructively to attain the team’s objectives.
Strong leadership is essential for every team to operate well. The executives of the group must exemplify qualities of leadership that inspire belief in themselves and the rest of the team.
The team representatives must believe that the leaders are capable of fulfilling their responsibilities. The squad must have confidence in its leaders. Furthermore, the team members must believe that their leaders are leading them effectively.
Balanced obligations as well add positive value to the efficiency of the team. Thus, every team member possesses a particular set of abilities that allows them to execute more effectively in some roles than other team members. Consequently, this component should be utilized to ensure that every team member is assigned tasks in which they can succeed. This is analogous to the scenario of specialization, where tasks are assigned based on abilities. Additionally, commitments should be aligned so that no employee gets overstretched or excluded.
Effective teams, like any business, need clear communication between employees and executives. Communication must be efficient and effective both up and down the team’s hierarchy and within the team itself. In order for discussions and assignments of tasks to be fruitful, there must be effective communication. At the same time, cooperation and personal development are indeed essential components of all good teams. The teammates should not just develop as a unit but additionally as individuals as members, and the team as a whole should be emboldened and developed, and the team’s capabilities and performance rise.
Reward Systems
A successful incentive system is an essential component of a productive company. An efficient incentive system assists in inspiring team members, which in turn increases employee and organizational productivity (Al Rahbi, 2017). A motivated workforce is an invaluable resource for any company. Positive and negative reinforcement should be included in a reward system. Nonetheless, an organization should emphasize positive reinforcement because it does not make workers feel forced to succeed.
Instead, it helps workers feel valued and essential inside the company. Also included in reward systems are both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic incentives are benefits that an individual provides oneself and are motivated by personal interests in the worker’s performance. On the same note, extrinsic incentives are physical benefits that are delivered depending on another person’s perception that a person has performed an exemplary job. However, most firms choose extrinsic incentives because they are simple to administer and cover a wide range of tasks and abilities acquired by workers. The most fundamental and effective incentive systems are year-end bonus rewards and gold star systems.
Depending on its financial resources, Bluevine can merge any two of these systems. Staff are offered stars under the gold star system each time they complete a task admirably and each star is worth a certain amount of money. They may exchange their leads for actual cash at the conclusion of the fiscal year or when they get their wages. There should be guidelines in place that specify when staff are eligible for rewards and what constitutes excellent performance. Employees get end-of-year bonuses that represent a portion of the business’s net profitability. Depending on their accomplishment of the main achievement indicators as per their employment agreements, a specific amount of the net revenue is allocated to the workers and distributed between them. Based on the attainment of key performance metrics, the corporation may additionally award the workers with business shares under this scheme.
Conclusion
Ultimately, to increase the productivity of the Bluevine Company, a few variables are crucial. These elements include developing successful teams, developing an effective incentive system, emotional intelligence and motivation, emotional intelligence and social skills and decision-making. The company should work to develop leadership with these characteristics. Persuasive and relationship-building, communication skills, rapport-building skills, conflict-management skills, and teamwork abilities should all be part of this set of social skills. The success of the business also depends heavily on the effectiveness of its personnel.
Notably, the Bluevine Company has to focus on creating strong teams. These team members each provide a unique set of talents, making for a formidable unit. Equitable roles, excellent communication, and mutual respect are further elements of productive teams. Additionally, Bluevine has to develop a reliable and efficient system of rewards and worker motivation is supported by reward schemes. As a consequence, both the company’s and the workers’ productivity increases.
References
Al Rahbi, D., Khalid, K., & Khan, M. (2017). The effects of leadership styles on team motivation. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 16(2), 1-14. Web.
Performance in work places is not just about completion of tasks assigned to an individual that matters. Work performance is rated on task completion, contextual behavior and ability to make logical decisions (Mersino 2007).
Our focus in this paper will be on the emotional aspects that guide ones decision making ability and other extra behavior that promote mutual interaction between individuals in work places. Emotional intelligence is a significant requirement for team work; there is a coherent link between successes attained in team work to the level of emotional intelligence held by the members of the team (Stough & Saklofske 2009, p. 189).
Research indicates that emotional load in work places varies with the type of work, some jobs have greater emotional load on workers than others. Jobs with high emotional load include; nursing, management jobs and service providers. They involve dealing directly with people of different emotional levels. To successfully work in such an environment, one requires a high level of emotional intelligence.
Recruitment of personnel for jobs with high emotional loads requires the use of proper emotional measuring tools that effectively selects the right individual for the position. Further training on emotional management skills need to organized often for such employees and when a need arises. Motivation should also be used to help and encourage individuals at work places improve their emotional intelligence.
Motivation as pointed out by Stough & Saklofske (2009 p184) is capable of creating loyalty among workers and makes redirect them towards their cause. A persons’ empathy is very important in developing ones emotional intelligence, empathy makes one to reflect on the impact the decisions he makes has on others. It allows one to considers both the positive and negative consequences of his decisions and makes appropriate judgment prior to.
Social skills are very vital for mutual interaction between peers as well as subordinates in work place. A visionary and intelligent thinker must be complimented by emotional intelligence in order to be able to link and work with others in a team.
People who are aggressive and socially engaging are more capable of developing an influential network of relationships than those who are not social (Wall 2007, p. 48). Lack of emotional intelligence is an inhibition to social integration. High IQ alone is not a measure of successful career or professional performance; one requires people skills to be able to work effectively with others.
Emotional intelligence at work places
Emotional intelligence at work places is measured against the following parameters; energy, stress, optimism, self esteem, change, detail and courage (Wall 2007, p. 50). Energy as a measure of emotional intelligence focuses on the physical involvement that an individual directs to the execution process of the job. The energy that an individual directs to carrying out a project tends to vary with the mood as well as the interest that they have in the job.
Self esteem defines the value that we regard ourselves with, people with high esteem attach high value to themselves where as those with low esteem tend to underrate themselves. Self esteem also looks at the belief we have over what we are capable of doing. Those who regard themselves excessively high or have very high self esteem tend to disregard others or view others as lesser beings than them (Stough & Saklofske 2009). Such an attitude may be a hindrance to effective social interaction with others.
Workers like it when factors that compromise their self esteem are eliminated in the work environment so that the work they do is well appreciated by the seniors. Business managers who do not regard their employees with high value are more likely to get poor performance from the employees’ compared to those who appreciate and regard their employees. Stress refers to the way human beings tend to react to situations that undermine their capability. Stress also encompasses the reactions that we have over what we are not willing to accept in our lives
Details refer to ones ability to check and point out the fine details of the job requirement. Some managers are more keen on details where as others apply the hands type of leadership in business. The later manager may be more involved in affairs that would better be left to employees to handle.
This is an indication of lack of emotional intelligence for managers to be too involved in fine details that the workers are supposed to take care of on their own. It is important to be keen to work details and ensure all is going on well as a manager in an organization; however this should be carried out at a moderated level so that the workers are allowed some little freedom to direct themselves.
Managers who on the other hand keep their eyes to the work at a distance and allow the workers to rule and make decisions on their own are more likely to promote carelessness at the work place. Human beings react and adapt to the work environment according to the standards that are set out for them.
A hand off leadership is a show of lack of proper human skills to engage the workers more closely. Change as a parameter of measuring emotional intelligence reflects on ones ability to adapt to new ideas and process in the work place. There are individuals who are used to routine work and quite resistant to changes in the work place. These are classified as the low achievers who can not work hard to adapt to new changes in the routine (Wall 2007, p. 52). Work environments that offer variability and change calls for
Optimism is a measure of the persons’ positive mentality over a given task. A low measure in optimism as pointed out by Stough & Saklofske (2009, p. 179) indicates a gloomy and faulty finding person not able to cope with pressure in crisis. A high score in optimism is an indication of a positive mentality, the problem with very optimistic people is high trust in people that blurs their sense to identify mistakes or problems in what they do.
Courage measures people’s ability to face challenges, demanding positions requires that people take decisions that may hurt some people and favor others. Making a decision that hurts some people requires courage, in organizations, such decisions are inevitable. Even the very best decisions made or proposed will always have a percentage of people opposed to it, when it is made, the people opposed to it feel offended or hurt.
Direction is another important parameter that measures the workers emotional intelligence. Direction describes and individuals’ sense of decision making. There are people who can not make independent decisions on their own. They depend on decisions made in group or from the advice from other people. Decision making is a significant aspect of leadership, leading a group of people involves making decisions for the people and giving them the direction to follow.
People who score highly on the aspect of direction are more comfortable making decisions. (Mersino 2007, p. 12) indicates that those who score extremely high on the parameter of direction have a tendency to make a decision everything. Such people have a problem with delegation and tend to struggle to do everything on their own. It is important to learn how to trust the ability of other people and be willing to work with them.
It also counts to be assertive and tolerant to other people. An assertive person is more reasonable to the demands or requirements that he makes on others. They should be persuasive to convince people to agree to what they want them to do. Skills to solve conflicts are necessary for a person to be rated as being assertive.
Conflicts often arise as a result of differences between the warring parties, solving a conflict requires an assertive mind to make the differing person agree to a common consensus. People with low scores on this parameter; have a problem holding people accountable for their action (Wall 2007, p. 56).
Very high scores on the other hand is an indication of being harsh and repellant. This is more likely to hurt and damage the mutual relationships that one has with others. Tolerance is a measure of ones ability to forgive as well as their patience on issues. Intolerant people are more emotional and their emotions are easily triggered when a crisis hits.
Promoting emotional intelligence in work places
Programs which enhance emotional intelligence should be encouraged in work places for effective team work. It is only by team work that good performance can be realized in an organization. Lack of emotional intelligence in members of an organization, especially the leaders is a major cause of poor work performance and low achievement.
Emotional intelligence, being an aspect of the human character can be developed and changed with time in an individual. This can only be achieved through programs that help individuals change and adapt to desired emotional characteristics. Mentorship programs can be vital programs that organizations can utilize to mentor their employees to adapt desired emotional intelligence.
Most employees endowed with the very best technical skills like engineers score poorly in human skills. Many organizations can not do without this type of employees because of the type of business they deal with. The best such organizations can do is to mentor the identified cases and train them to acquire good interpersonal skills.
Psychological guiding and counseling programs are also vital especially to extreme cases of persons with low interpersonal skills. Guiding and counseling programs are meant to assist an individual considered as a victim of a given behavior to reflect on the possible consequences of the behavior.
After reflecting on the consequence, the individual is expected to do soul searching and come up with possible ways through which he can avoid the consequences or creating the problem. In this case, it is the victim who makes a decision and not the counselor.
There are well established counselors who offer the counseling services and successfully manage to assist individuals to seek solutions to their psychological and emotional problem. The process of referring an employee identified as lacking in emotional intelligence should be done with tact so that such an employee does not feel intimidated.
The working environment should be conducive enough as to avoid eliciting a lot of stress from the workers. Stress as we have discussed hampers a person’s ability to apply emotional intelligence. If the work conditions put a lot of unnecessary demand to the workers, they are likely to react back without applying emotional intelligence. The attitude that the managers have towards the employees also determines how the employees behave towards them.
The first published materials about the subject emotional intelligence were launched into the market in the early 1990s (Salovey & Brackett 2004, p. 33). At this point, the business managers had a belief that success is determined by personal qualities. Such personal qualities focused on ones ability to establish and maintain a trusting relationship with the customers.
The personnel working in sensitive work environment such as manufacturing human and animal drugs and food need to have a high emotional intelligence. This is because the products manufactured in such companies or organizations are consumed directly by human beings or animals. Incase the people handling such products at preparation or packaging point do not have proper emotional intelligence, they can cause a widespread negative impact on the lives of the consumers by poisoning.
Such a typical example is the Tylenol crisis in which an unidentified criminal poisoned the pain relieving capsules with cyanide causing the death of about seven people in Chicago (Cherniss & Adler 2000, p. 1). This crisis caused the company much of its market after its reputation was spoilt following the incidence.
The act was the first of its kind in the history of the company. Business leaders in the company had not anticipated such an action from the workers and did not understand how to handle it.
A series of meetings held in response to coin out a solution to the problem led to the following resolutions; that there was need to develop a statement of our own values, and the need to develop a testing mechanism for the managers of the organization. A lot of changes taking place in the market places such as innovation, globalization, and completion require that organizations endeavor to promote people with a high level of emotional intelligence (Cherniss & Adler 2000, p. 3).
Technical advances have been so rapid in the recent years which require that the workers have to keep upgrading their skills and knowledge so as to be at the same level with the changing technology. Organizations need to have programs that ensure smooth adjustment of the employees to adapt the new skills.
Most business managers now recognize to the fact that success at work places is not just about ones cognitive abilities. In the early years, the American business leaders emphasized simply the individuals’ cognitive abilities in recruiting employees. The testing tools used for recruitment included; the scholastic aptitude test and the graduate management admission test (Salovey & Brackett 2004, p.9). It has since been realized that technical and cognitive skills alone do not qualify a successful employee.
One needs to be equipped by emotional intelligence as well. Learning institutions, even those recognized for producing the finest MBA students do not have programs that enhance their students’ emotional intelligence. They instead believe that emotional intelligence is inculcated in individuals when they are still young. The problem with this has been passing to industries employees who do not have well developed emotional intelligence.
Cherniss and Adler (2000, p. 7) point out that the human brain remains plastic and capable of making new connections with new experiences and requirements on it. This means that there is no limit to the age of learning emotional intelligence. It is not a factor that is inherited but can be learned irrespective of age. The increasing global market brings to companies and organization a variety of customers who demand more of emotional intelligence on those who serve them.
Changing a persons behavior and habits is not easy as pointed out by Cherniss and Adler (2000, p. 8) in their research. The two psychologists allude that behavior and habit change, is hard because the human brain adapts by default to the option of dealing without thought and feelings. It is important for organizations to develop and train their staff on emotional intelligence.
Considerations for creating opportunities of emotional intelligence at work places
This chapter focuses on the possible benefits that companies and organizations are bound to benefit from creating opportunities for emotional intelligence in work places. Business leaders have to understand the behavioral issues of the staff so as to be able to create better teams among the staff.
A staff that is well equipped with emotional intelligence can develop a good social relationship amongst themselves. Good social relationship among staff develops a good social capital. Emotional intelligence makes people to be able to control their emotions and develop ways of dealing with work related stress. It also improves the ability of the staff’s decision making skills especially when they are under pressure.
Besides, emotional intelligence also makes people to be able to adapt easily to the changes in the organization (Hughes & Bradford 2007, p. 57). Current market scenarios call for quick learning and adaptations to the recurrent changes in technology and other ways of transacting business.
Emotional intelligence among the staff enhances the building of a better working environment with. A harmonious and conducive working environment can only be developed by a staff that has learned and known how to apply human skills in terms of emotional intelligence. An energetic and listening team is significant for a business enterprise to succeed in its projects. Better leaders are developed by inculcating aspects of emotional intelligence in the staff on a long term basis (Hughes & Bradford 2007, p. 23).
Changes in the business market are so rampant and rapid and require an adaptive work force that is aware of emotional intelligence and how to apply it. Organizations that emphasize on emotional intelligence are more capable of succeeding in the economic meltdown, able to grow while those that emphasize on cognitive and technical skills only continue to downsize (Mersino 2007, p. 12).
Emotional intelligence in a business organization enables a staff to be able to understand the needs of the clients and be able to respond to them appropriately. Emotional intelligence is important during business negotiations, business is more about negotiations.
Subjects of negotiation in business enterprises include; salaries for employees, their welfare, prices for items between customers and suppliers as well as the workers unions. The business leaders involved in these negations must always maintain high levels of emotional balance during the negations. Lack of emotional intelligence during the negotiation process can easily result into a crisis and stall the negotiation.
Business leaders are constantly tasked with the burden of making decisions on behalf of the organizations board of management. The decisions made are always in favor of some programs that go along to affect some members of the organization positively or negatively. The demand of making such decisions constantly can cause fear and anxiety in the person making them (Salovey & Brackett 2004, p. 35). In our day to day business activities, we often fall short in our job requirements.
Whenever we fail to satisfy the customers’ needs, the customers and other business observers are bound to give their ratings and criticize the work and services we offer. Our response to the rating and critics we get from the people has to be well guarded by our emotional intelligence. If we do not apply emotional intelligence and respond inappropriately, then it is hard to realize our weakness and improve on them.
Learning emotional intelligence
As pointed out earlier, there is no well established curriculum that trains people on emotional intelligence. Not even the finest MBA courses have an aspect of training students on emotional intelligence. Consulting firms have identified this shortfall, and are currently utilizing the opportunity through seminars and workshops. There are different adverts framed with very attractive words on how the consultants can raise ones emotional intelligence in a single day.
Through the workshops and seminars, the consultants claim to make one emotionally competent through the programs they have design. Most of the programs are designed from a motivation point of view to challenge the listener by reflecting on a series of real life examples (Mersino 2007, p.8).
Research indicates that it is possible to help people irrespective of their age to learn emotional intelligence. There are two perspectives in learning emotional intelligence that have to be clearly distinguished for proper learning. The two perspectives are cognitive and emotional learning.
Scientists point out two distinct brain areas from which emotional and cognitive aspects are linked. The distinction is responsible for the interrelatedness between cognitive and emotional abilities in people. The cognitive part of the brain is linked to the cortex where as the emotional and social part of the brain is linked to the circuitry part of the brain (Cherniss & Adler 2000, p. 23).
Cognitive learning is more about fitting new information in already existing brain structures. On the other hand, emotional learning involves changing our habits such as the way we approach people, how we give others feedback and more. In order to achieve this, we need to change the ways we think and reason.
Emotional intelligence defines a person’s identity through actions and thought. Learning emotional intelligence involves discarding the old habits and adapting new ones; the process is not an easy one and is always met with resistance. It is a process that takes quite some time, the one day seminar as claimed by most of the consultants in this field is more unattainable.
Motivation marks the beginning point for the learning process of emotional intelligence. This sets the pace in the learning process and acts as an eye opener especially among the adults who have already learned hoe top relate with others. Before commissioning an emotional training process, the trainers need to carry out a needs assessment for the organization. In this process possible challenges to emotional learning among the members of the organization are identified.
Major challenges to conducting emotional intelligence learning in an organization are dealing with skeptical minds that can not associate the process to the desired results (Salovey & Brackett 2004, p. 51). Before the intended trainees establish a link between the training and the expected results, it is not possible for them to elicit the results.
After carrying out a needs assessment, the next most important aspect to consider is identification of important competencies that are needed for success. It should be noted that every organization has it different work requirements and when designing a training program for them, the focus should be specifically on the competencies required for the job. The training process must be tailored to the individual as well as the industry in which the person works for the person to be able to make a link.
It is important to establish the particular emotional competences that need to be focused on in order to be able to do a proper evaluation of the learning process. The most important competences as pointed out by Wall (2007, p. 56) include; self awareness, and interpersonal relations skills.
The next perspective to look at when preparing an emotional learning program is the assessment of the personal strengths as well as weakness that the people in the focus have. It is one thing that business leaders understand the difficult associated with leading particular groups.
Identifying the particular emotional intelligence aspects that they require to solve the problem is yet another problem. The learning program should be designed to enable the staff identify the emotional competences required of them to go about the problems they encounter while interacting with others.
Just like any learning process, an assessment tool and an enhanced way of providing feedback need to be devised so that the learners can be evaluated and given appropriate feedback. It is a bit trickier in giving back feedback on people’s achievement in learning emotional intelligence. Emotional competencies of a person reflect a person’s real identity as discussed earlier.
It also reflects the persons’ self esteem giving a feedback on these competencies is often responded to in a defensive manner (Mersino 2007, p. 253). A good relation ought to be established between the learner and the trainers so that the learner is able to trust the feedback given to them by the trainers.
If trust is established, learners are more likely to belief the feedback as accurate and work hard on attaining more positive results. Learners of emotional intelligence should be allowed enough time to reflect on the feedback as well as the possible consequences of the said feedback. They should further be assisted to adapt to the desired emotional competencies.
Conclusion
Studies on emotional intelligence have come up very recently and especially how to apply them in the business context. The old business leaders emphasized more on cognitive and technical skills at the expense of emotional intelligence. It has now been realized that high intellectual quotient capabilities must be complimented by emotional intelligence for proper performance at work place (Hughes & Bradford 2007, p. 69).
In this regard, there are tools that have been established to measure people’s emotional intelligence during recruitment processes. This is in the light of realizing the demanding work environment that the current global market presents to business leaders. The demand causes pressure which requires that we learn human skills to be able to interact well in the business and achieve our set goals
There are many benefits for business leaders who are emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence enables both business leaders and employees to be able to understand reasonably each others feelings. It is also important in conflict resolution process as well as negotiations.
Customer care personnel need to be well equipped with emotional intelligence because they interact quite often with customers. Sometimes customers have bitter complains about the organizations’ services or products. Attending to complaining customers requires a sober mind to tactfully convince the customer. The other business departments equally demand emotional intelligence just like customer care department.
Those with poor or low emotional intelligence should be assisted to learn emotional intelligence and be well equipped to interact socially. Contrary to the widely held perception, emotional intelligence can be learned at all ages provided only that the learner is given time and the trainers use well researched modes of content delivery. Good workers in organizations but who have low emotional intelligence should be assisted to develop emotional intelligence and offer the valuable manpower to the organization.
Reference List
Cherniss, C. and Adler, M. (2000). Promoting Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Alexandria: American Society for Training and Development.
Hughes, M. & Bradford, J. (2007). The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Understanding and Developing the Behaviors. San Francisco: Jossey Boss
Mersino, A. (2007). Emotional intelligence for project managers: the people skills you need to. New York: AMACOM.
Salovey, P. and Brackett, A. (2004). Emotional Intelligence: Key Readings on the Mayer and Salovey Model. New York: National Professional Resources Inc
Stough, C. and Saklofske, D. (2009). Assessing Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Research and Applications. New York: Springer
Wall, L. (2007). Coaching For Emotional: The Secret To Developing The Star. New York: AMACOM
