Category: Emotional intelligence

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify the role and relationship of Guna and Emotional Intelligence with the Work-life balance and Job Satisfaction of Female Professionals. The study will also identify the impact of Work-life balance on Job Satisfaction. The present study is still in process and in paper only few identified relationships will be explained.

Research Methodology: The sample size of the study was 339. The data was collected using both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was collected through self- structured questionnaire. The collected data was analysed using Descriptive Statistics, Smart-PLS and SPSS software.

Findings: The finding of the study indicates that the significant relationship exists among Guna, Emotional Intelligence and Work-life balance. The relationship between the Emotional Intelligence, Work-life balance and Job Satisfaction is still need to verify.

Limitations: The study was gender and location specific. The conclusion drawn could be changed in future due to work-in progress status of the study. Implications: In both research and professional aspect the study is important. The study provides theory based empirical proofs of how Work-life balance gets affected by the Guna and Emotional Intelligence. Hence, the findings of the study provide an accurate and comprehensive lens through which the future researches can be viewed.

Originality/Value: Though there were many studies conducted on Emotional Intelligence and Work-life balance but considering Gunas, Emotional Intelligence, Work- life balance and Job Satisfaction together no literature were found.

Introduction

Work-Life Balance (WLB) has become a target for many women in organizations when it comes to employee engagement and job. Salovey & Mayer (1990) defined Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the division of societal intelligence that incorporates the capability to examine feelings and emotions and to exercise this information to direct individual’s thoughts and actions. Going up the pyramid at workplace require compromises from women with their own personal time. Without jeopardizing the wellbeing, satisfaction and overall quality of life it is a challenge for women employees to achieve balance in their life. Meeting competing demands of work and family to reach the top ladder is not only tiring but can be stressful which can lead to medical problems like heart attacks, blood pressure, PCODs, Cancer, and the list goes on. Women are facing challenges related with work life with affect her career advancements. Work-Life Balance (WLB) defines the balance among personal as well as professional lives. Therefore, Emotional Intelligence (EI) plays a chief role in determining better work life for individual which benefit organization as well as Individual (Shylaja & Prasad, 2017). EI and WLB are two key concepts in organizational environment. Emotions construct the foundation for the emotional balance to empower decision making where Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) are very essential for EI because self-control of mind is embedded in emotional psychological processes (Rastogi & Kewalramani, 2010). Sattva Guna is related with oneness which related with self-awareness, self-regulation and self-direction means which share the core components of EI.

Need of the Study

Industrialization and Globalization had played vital role in changing status and exploring career options for women in India. Indian women are now using their knowledge, skills and education not only to upgrade their societal and professional status but proving them across the world. Study reveals that Emotional Intelligence contributes 80% to an individuals’ success (Ravi Kumar, 2014). Finding a balance between the work and life is a very important point of discussion of every working woman’s life, no matter at what phase of career she is in. The more the line between the work and home is blurred, higher work-life conflict arises which leads to several health issues like mental stress, depression, anxiety disorder, and early ageing (Bakshi & Vyas 2015). The issues related with the work and life imbalance is constantly increasing which results in drop of women workforce participation rate. It is essential to test empirically that whether traits of personality (Gunas) have relationship with the EI and EI has positive role on WLB of Female Professionals or not. Therefore, the study has made attempt in that direction.

Literature Review

Emotional Intelligence and Work life Balance: Shelar (2016) conducted a study to identify the relationship between EI and WLB. In her study she found that higher level of EI indicated better WLB compared to low level of EI. Gupta (2016) explained that people with high EI will get better position in organizations and tend to develop good interpersonal relationship at workplace which also enhances the quality of work life among them. Peter & Bina (2014) concluded in his research paper that EI will increase individual and organizational performance. It also impacts the bonds a person shares inside and outside the organization, employee productivity and WLB. Bakir (2018) conducted a field study to investigate the impact of manager’s EI on employees WLB in Jordanian private hospital and he found that females are much more interested in WLB activities rather than males. He also concluded that managers in the targeted hospital possess emotional intelligence skills and hospitals also provide WLB initiatives to their employees.

Gunas and Emotional Intelligence: The Gunas are mainly accountable for our prime traits, actions and kinds of behaviour. There are three Gunas described in Bhagwat Gita. The Sattva, Rajas and Tamas (Chakraborty, 1987). In the Bhagwat Geeta Lord Krishna explained that when we do any action without expectations of result that is called Sattvik, when we do any action for the expectation of result that is Rajas and when we do any action which will create injury or harm for someday that is called Tamas (Chapter 14, Shloka 16). Sastry (1981) said that person who is Sattvik in nature will grow in their career rather than person who possess Rajasik and Tamasik characteristics. Every human being is composed of all three Gunas. Organizations interested in enhancing enlightened leadership should cultivate Sattvik traits in their employees and encourage them understand the sense of duty (Agarwalla, Agarwalla & Krishnan, 2015).

Participants and Sampling Technique

The sample composed Female Professionals in the Rajasthan region. The sampling techniques used to target the sample were snowball, judgmental and convenience sampling technique.

Reliability and Validity

To ensure construct validity: convergent validity, discriminant validity, nomological validity and face validity must be confirmed. Convergent validity ensures on the basis significance of factor loading and reliability analysis. To ensure the face validity researcher asked few questions to the panel of experts and respondents in a pilot survey like: Do you feel the questionnaire is adequately measure what it should measure? Are you satisfied with the questions framing? After analysing the results researcher found that all the experts and respondents agreed that the questionnaire is measuring what it has to measure. Hence, face validity of the questionnaire was ensured. Nomological validity ensure when a construct correlate with the other construct in a way as it should do. Observing the correlation matrix, the all possible linkages among the constructs found as per the law of nature.

The impact of EI on WLB dimensions was observed to be medium related but significant, while Guna & EI displayed medium size influence. The Guna have three dimensions that sattva, rajas and tamas, where women with Sattvik and positive Rajasik having high level of EI which help in women to balance their personal and professional arena. Women with negative Rajasik and Tamasik Guna have low level of Emotional Intelligence. The results indicate that the female professional have more Rajasik Guna because the size effect among variables is medium which means they are not completely Sattvik.

Conclusion

Individual and organizations have to share common platform to have WLB. This research shows that positive Guna helps in attaining high level of EI and better EI integrate, enhance and provide better work and family life. EI appears as key factor for low attrition rate, high productivity and organization commitment in globalized world. It means employees who possess high EI also have good WLB in their concerned department and offices.

Suggestions

Organizations must ensure a concrete and effective work-life balance policy which meets the need of both organization as well as individual. If organizations don’t have proper policies related with work life than it will increase attrition rate, dissatisfaction among employees and unproductivity. Creating work-life balance policies is not sufficient; organizations need to encourage employees to get benefited by these policies which will create the positive work culture. They should conduct some training programmes and workshops to make them learn about their emotions better which improves their decision making. Organizational commitment depends on the state of mind of the employees and their perfect balance of emotions and intelligence which affect their decision-making process.

Scope for Further Research

The study is still in process and there is lot of scope related with the variables affecting the work-life balance in case of females. There is always a room for improvement and this research is not an exception. Hence, the results of the study can vary in a bigger or lesser sample size. The results will also vary if the types of respondents change. In future other areas will also be included. The study can also be done in different states, pan India or on international basis.

References

1. Agarwalla, S., Seshadri, B. and Krishnan, V.R., 2015. Impact of Guna s and Karma Yoga on Transformational Leadership. Journal of Human Values, 21(1), pp.11-22.
2. Bakshi, S. and Vyas, V., 2015. Emerging trends of green work life balance. Chakraborty, S.K., 1987. Managerial effectiveness and quality of worklife: Indian insights. Tata McGraw Hill.
3. Chin, W.W., 1998. The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling. Modern methods for business research, 295(2), pp.295-336.
4. F. Hair Jr, J., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L. and G. Kuppelwieser, V., 2014. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) An emerging tool in business research. European Business Review, 26(2), pp.106-121.
5. Gupta, S., 2016. Emotional intelligence and work life balance of employees in the information technology industry. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 6(3), p.201.
6. Kewalramani, S. and Rastogi, M.R., 2009. Emotional Intelligence and TriGuna.
7. Moh’d Abu Bakir, S., 2018. The Impact of Managers’ Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Work Life Balance: A Field Study at Jordanian Private Hospitals. European Scientific Journal, SJ, 14(25), p.256.
8. Peter, A.J., Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Work Life Balance–A Global Perspective* Janet Bina Money.
9. Ravikumar, T., 2014. Emotional Intelligence and Work Life Balance of Women IT Professionals in Bangalore. Adarsh Journal of Management Research, 7(2), pp.19-31.
10. Shylaja, P. and Prasad, C.J., 2017. Emotional intelligence and work life balance. Journal of Business and Management, 19(19), pp.18-21.
11. Sastry, A.M., 1979. The Bhagavad gita: With the commentary of Sri Sankaracharya. Samata Books.
12. Shelar, S., 201.6 Conceptual Study of Relationship between Emotional Intelligence & Work Life Balance in Corporate World.
13. Salovey, P. and Mayer, J.D., 1990. Emotional intelligence. Imagination, cognition and personality, 9(3), pp.185-211.
14. Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C.M. and Hair, J.F., 2017. Partial least squares structural equation modeling. In Handbook of market research (pp. 1-40). Springer International Publishing.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. In the class, we spent several week discussing and learning about emotional intelligence and how it affects us in our daily as well as professional lives. The first emotional intelligence activity we did was an emotional intelligence self-assessment that portrayed our emotional intelligence scores based on a few simple questions about ourselves and our interactions. It split emotional intelligence into four dimensions: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self-awareness is understanding and noticing your own emotions while being able to control your emotions is self-management. Social awareness is the ability to recognize and understand other’s emotions and relationship management is using the awareness of our emotions and other’s emotions to manage interactions. My scores were above average in all the categories with relationship management being the lowest score at 29. My highest score was in social awareness. My relationship management is lower because I struggle with sharing my emotions to others. I tend to keep my personal feelings to myself rather than express it to others; however, my social awareness is high because I catch on to how others are feeling very easily through their tone, posture, facial expression, and speech. I enjoy helping others and interacting with them as long as I keep my personal emotions to myself. Even though it is indeed lower than my other scores, relationship management is still higher than the average score. I definitely need to work on expressing my thoughts and emotions, and recently it has improved slightly thanks to some close friends who have also noticed the situation and have been trying to get me to open up a bit. It’s actually kind of been relieving and less stressful since I have someone to talk to and help me out.

Another activity I really enjoyed was the small group discussion on social awareness revolving around negative emotions. The Ted talk and article by Susan David really left an impression on me. It made me realize that keeping my negative emotions in was causing more harm than good. I thought that by avoiding them rather than confronting situations, I would let it pass and not worry about them; however, I realized after some reflection, it was more damaging. The negative emotions were causing stress and discomfort that I didn’t really realize. After a discussion with a friend, I came to the conclusion that avoiding negative emotions was causing avoidable breakdowns. I also discovered I should talk about my feelings to someone rather than writing it down. I tried writing and venting once, and it made me more upset than I was originally. David also further explained that negative emotions are always more prominent than happier ones. It is indeed much easier to bring our moods down from 100% happy to an instant 0% whereas it is much more difficult to bring our sad moods up to happier mood. Therefore, even if it is harder to stay happy, we should embrace the positivity as much as we can. We control our emotions. Our emotions do not control us. Due to the Ted talk, article, and small discussion, I had a deeper understanding about myself as well as the significance of expressing.

Lastly, my favorite activity on emotional intelligence is when we had a guest speaker, Sandra Mayta, come speak about stress management. I think the talk was very helpful in giving me ideas to be healthier and less stressed dominated. It helped me realize how unhealthy I am as an individual because I never eat breakfast or lunch, rarely exercise, and only drink 1 water bottle a week. I tend to replace my water with other fluids and liquids such as soda or juices, which have a small amount of water already in it. My activity level has not been that bad because I used to play tennis in high school and college is keeping me speed walking in order to get to class. Mayta’s ideas and different categories of destressing is very new and seems interesting to try such as spiritual yoga. I am not very good at yoga, so I might just start off with morning stretches. I started to eat breakfast on days I don’t wake up to late. I made a deal with my boyfriend to drink at least one bottle a day and we shall see if I can gradually increase it from there.

Overall, the topic of emotional intelligence has provided me with methods and goals for myself to improve my health and interactions. I have learned more about myself and my good as well as bad habits. I hope to take my newly learned content and apply it to myself and others in the future especially in the real-world professional work force. I want to control my emotions and not let them control me. I will set goals to improve myself, so ultimately, I can be the best version of myself I can be. I appreciate learning about emotional intelligence and how it affects individuals and society as more and more modern advancements are created and generations continue to rely more on the internet. Hopefully, today’s generations can make use of emotional intelligence to solve the emotional outbursts as time continues to change future generations to come.

Empathy is the capacity to know the emotions of alternative persons who will assume or feel with someone else. Empathy includes listening to others, understanding them and communicating them.

Emotional intelligence is yours ability to absorb the feelings. With this we have the power to know what they are saying to you, and to feel how your emotions have an effect on individuals around you. It contains your impressions of others: when you know how they feel, it allows you to manage relationships a lot of effectively.

Emotional intelligence involves a sensitive awareness of empathy, which is less natural and more thoughtful, but after some exercises and an introduction, it can experience empathy if it is not present already. Empathy is a tendency, whereas emotional intelligence is developed through practice and immersion, reflection and understanding, analysis, competence and observation. The person, who sympathizes but lacks emotional intelligence, has the ability to imagine ability, but it may not necessarily be the result of achieving a positive result.

The biggest dissimilarities in emotional intelligence and empathy are that emotional intelligence is actually adopting a human being and inspires them to achieve a goal. Empathy is actually trying to get into a human condition and related emotions. It is secretly understanding other emotional situation and occasionally working in the way of the human being or giving helpful advice. The human deal can help with your situation.

The Emotional Intelligence (EQ) describes the person’s abilities, capability to understand, access and manage the feelings of others and groups. It is to impress yourself, the ability to recognize your own feelings and others, and to manage good feelings in yourself and relationships.

“Your EQ is the level of your ability to understand other people, what motivates them and how to work cooperatively with them. —-Howard Gardner” (Michael Akers , Grover Porter )

Emotional intelligence is that the ability to control stresses, to communicating effectively, to sympathize with others, to overcome challenges and to maintain your feelings in positive actions that to resolve the conflict.

For Example: If you are a teacher and a student was not working hard in studying, it would not be emotionally sensible to accept it directly whether he is lazy to study or not, but instead you should check to find out. That is, there are other reasons, behind this, you may find that he is afraid of making mistakes or you may not believe in his ability. So, we do not get angry to do something that we later regret. Rational thinking will make us more emotionally intelligent before exercising.

Empathy requires a combination of verbal and non-original clues. It really is to see what the interviewer is asking and what the key to understanding, hearing is and to use simple means to make it clear. The purpose of the consultation and interview is to explain the client’s difficulties and issues. They encourage the progress of the client. When they are gives him emotional support and the feel relaxed for the interview. Most of the interview process involves a certain level of skill tests and those skill tests can be based on their professional and emotional capability by validating the point of the interviewee and share positive thoughts with him.

It’s potential to become a lot of attentive to your emotions and to acknowledge and determine the emotions you’re having in order that you perceive what triggered them and learn to manage them more effectively. When discussing emotions, it is important for most persons to realize the range of feelings and decisions that are necessary. Although some feelings are naturally negative, as an anger and persecution, the other can be seen as being negative or positive.

So we can conclude that all these can portray the role of emotions in the workplace. They are part of the working surroundings and are definitely affected. Any positive either negative; it helps to achieve the keys of favorable outcomes and helps to avoid unnecessary results at workplace. So we can also say that an emotionally intelligent person is a consistent and dedicated worker; open to the newest things, even in the most uncertain future and sudden changes. Such person knows the stress as a new opportunity rather than risks for personal safety. Emotional intelligent persons can put the strike in the worst possible state, never surrender and feel nervous, but respond carefully.

As a manager handling emotion is very important in gaining the respect of your employees (Deutschendorf, 2016). When a manager is unable to control their emotions, it causes problems within the workplace such as employee morale, retention and more (Deutschendorf, 2016). Knowing just the right amount to share without being overly emotional, it is healthy for a leader to have some emotion, because they are not a robot and do not have emotions (Deutschendorf, 2016). Managers and leaders must use certain emotions to interact and connect with their employees to build their relationship (Deutschendorf, 2016).

In my workspace, I manage 15 different employees and there are days it can be emotional dealing with reproductive healthcare, because patients are calling upset about their situation and my employees have to control their emotion for the patient’s sake. My team is able to handle emotions well over the phone and if it gets to be too much, they take a break off the phone for a couple minutes and jump right back in. They might need a few minutes to decompress the call they just handled. I had an employee at one time that was very emotional to the point he barged into a meeting I was having with an individual and yelled and cursed at me, then realized he made a huge mistake. I asked him to return to his desk until I closed the meeting I was having with the individual. When he walked out of the room, I asked the individual to excuse me until I handle this situation. When I went to the employees’ desk, I asked him to go home for the remainder of the day to cool off and come back tomorrow with a better mindset and that he is not to speak to me in that manner or tone moving forward. I understood he was frustrated with his job, because he did not feel is was able to use his skills fully because the requirements of the job. I had been trying to manage him and had conversation about this might not be the right job fit for him, but he kept saying he could not go anywhere else. I encouraged him to build upon his skills within the job so he could look for more opportunity within the organization. He could not perform the job functions that were required, and I ended up terminating him about 2-4 weeks later. This was an example of an employee not being able to handle their emotions in the workplace that he took it out of the team and his manager. A good example of someone able to manage their emotions in the workplace is my one representative that has been there for four years. When things do not seem to be going well for her, she comes and has a conversation with me and by the time we are done she is good to go. She manages her composure and respect with me while we are discussing her issues. My staff know I have an open-door policy and they can reach out to me when they feel their morale is running low and they are open about why they feel the way they do, and we discuss how we can change that. This is my management strategy when managing my teams’ emotions in the workplace. How a manager or leader enhances a team emotional intelligent is by being supportive and having an open-door policy to where you can work out work related issues. Just remember you are not their counselor and must give them referrals if it something that does not deal with work.

I see this style as persuasive and to influence staff on how to work with each other and if there are issues to work them between the individuals. If they are unable to work out between each other then bring me in as the mediator. It builds the employees skills of communication with one another and to work on conflict resolution. Most of my staff are able to handle conflict resolution, there are have been a couple times I had to mediate the situation. Two individuals on my team are completely opposites when it comes to communication styles. One of my representatives will say hello and bye, which is my highest performer. She wants to come to work do her job and is not up for friendships and relationships between her and her coworkers. One of my other representatives want to come in and chit chat with their coworkers and do their jobs. They interact with everyone and have an upbeat personality. The one representative that just wants to say hello and do her job without any interruptions or conversating with coworkers could be considered as not being a team player in the other employee’s eyes. However, if they would ask a question of her, she would help the other out. She refers to only deal with her manager and no one else when it comes to coaching and development, where the other is fine with the coaching representative doing their quality. Really one is more introverted and only wishes to really speak with the manager where the other is an extrovert and loves to communicate with everyone. The believe the one that is most dominate would be my one employee that does not take feedback very well and can be aggressive communication style. She was so mad at her coworker and was huffing and stomping around because she wanted to go home at the end of the day and her coworker was still on a call. Her coworker had questions and she was in a rush to leave on a Friday to pick up her cat’s medicine from the vet. This is unprofessional behavior and aggressive.

Yes, the leader’s communication style does affect the team members. The leader must handle everyone with a different communication style, because everyone relates to the same style as another. If someone is aggressive, then the leader must use assertive communication style to make sure the individual knows what is expected and nothing less. As manager or leader it is imperative that you understand different communication styles to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with employees (Derrick). A manager or leader develops these skills over time and become successful is winning and failing different conversations they have with their employees. I know I have had conversation that did not go so well, and I have had some to go very successful. However, I have learned different communication skills that help me now in my everyday communications with me employees to were they trust that I am going to be able to solve their issue they bring to me and communicate effectively with them in return.

References

1. Derrick, L. (n.d.). The 5 Communication Styles Every Manager Needs to Know. Retrieved from W Teamweek Journal: https://blog.teamweek.com/2019/01/the-5-communication-styles-every-manager-needs-to-know/
2. Deutschendorf, H. (2016, 09 14). Five Ways The Most Effective Leaders Manage Their Emotions. Retrieved from Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/3063692/five-ways-the-most-effective-leaders-manage-their-emotions

For the past decades, emotional intelligence has been a debatable and an essential topic in understanding the different domains in human life (Drigas & Papoutsi, 2018). Emotional intelligence is the capability of understanding, identifying, using, expressing and managing the emotions (Kotsou, Mikolajczak, Heeren, Grégoire & Leys, 2018). It has an essential role in both work and relationships among people as well as in their health status.

Aspects and Effects of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is found to be equal or more important than intelligence quotient that is the two are directly linked (Drigas & Papoutsi, 2018). Being aware of not only one self’s feelings but as well as those people around enables a person to manage his or her relationships and behaviors. The different dimensions of emotional intelligence are: a. the ability of a person to gather information from other’s thinking or simplifying notions with emotion, b. the ability of a person to identify emotions in music, pictures, faces and other media or perceiving emotion, c. the ability of a person in managing emotions for both interpersonal and personal development and lastly, d. the ability of a person in understanding emotional information (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso & Sitarenios, 2003). Lastly, motivation and social skills are also some of the well-studied dimension of emotional intelligence (Serrat, 2017).

Upon assessing my strengths and weaknesses, these dimensions of emotional intelligence have helped me understand myself more. Every day I get to receive several stimuli from the environment which affects me emotionally. I believe I am able to manage these stimuli through the application of what I’ve learned about emotional intelligence. I am able to assess the events or things whether they are worth thinking or worrying about. I can also say that I am less vulnerable to stressors and my strengths are even more prevailing.

Advantages of Being Emotionally Intelligent

To what I believe and see, my degree of emotional intelligence is quite high. Fortunately, as I am able to recognize the emotional stimuli, I become aware as well of the feelings of others even if they do not tell it straight-up such as through their voice intensity and body language, hence, I was able to respond correctly and positively. It is really a great skill since I avoid having unnecessary confrontations with the people around me. Also, being self-aware regarding my weakness, strengths, feelings and beliefs has helped me change my thoughts accordingly then my emotions and actions. Lastly, with high emotional intelligence, I am better in working with different people since I am able to be flexible and adjust with changes.

I believe, as of the moment, I don’t have something to change within myself but rather, I want to improve my social skills and self-motivation so that I could learn more.

Developing Self-Motivation and Social Skill

When talking about emotional intelligence, self-motivation means interests in maintenance of good score and that there is a strong aspiration in achieving goals (Goleman 2001 as cited in Issah, 2018). Self-motivation can be developed through training such as setting realistic goals, seeking feedback from others, being committed to the goals and understanding that there are obstacles along the way. On the other hand, social skill with regards to emotional intelligence means the ability to influence and manage other’s emotions successfully (Drigas & Papoutsi, 2018); this consist of teamwork, influence, communication, conflict management, leadership and change catalyst. Although, I am already able to adapt with working with different people, I want to improve it so that I can be more sensitive in negotiations and define the importance of emotional parameters.

The business environment has constantly changed and to enhance project results, and at the same time maximize the use of resources, it is essential and opportune for a project manager to recognize and apply the principles of Emotional Intelligence (EI). The project manager has to create an environment suitable for stakeholders to communicate clearly, handle challenges more effectively and make committed choices in order to act strategically and swiftly. To advance as a Project Manager requires understanding and mastery of emotional intelligence concepts. Understanding and using EI is now critical for success.

It has been hypothesized that on average the competition can replicate and better any technology in a short period. So what is going to differentiate your firm, your project team, and your project deliverables? In this instance it’s not essentially your technology. Your ability to create the correct project environment that will permit team members to be motivated and utilize their potential. To optimize the effects of the environment is categorically crucial to promote emotional intelligence. The workforce today demand different needs that relate to fulfillment and values. It is important for project leaders to understand and accommodate for these differences. If executed well, the result will result in enhanced performance.

Definition

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to sense, understand, manage and apply the information and power of emotions as your greatest source of energy, motivation, connection and influence. Old-fashioned thinking had it that: leave emotions out of it. Today, you cannot. Emotions will always be present and literally nothing great has ever been accomplished minus the power of emotions behind it. By quashing the facts presented to you by emotions, decisions made are with but limited data. Emotions in themselves are neither good nor bad; they are simply information. However, it is how you manage the responses to your emotions that turns out to be good or bad. EI is therefore the ability to deliberately manage emotions in order for them to work for you both professionally and personally. Being able to master good EI in order to reason well and be competitive is therefore very necessary.

Project team members are believed to have Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ) and it can be assessed. Research has proved that teams that achieve and sustain high performance have a high EQ. Current studies further demonstrate that EQ is now considered to be two times as significant as IQ, experience and education, where success is concerned. One can use his/her IQ to make rational decisions when he/she possess a good EQ.

There is a Scientific Basis for EI

Emotional Intelligence is not an oxymoron. The advancement of brain wave scan technology of the late 1980s led to the discovery of the “Emotional Brain”. Reason and emotion has been proved by neuroscience that the neo-cortex and the limbic system, (the emotional brain), are intended to be used collectively. The limbic system offers meaning to our actions and in the absence of meaning it is impossible to align and commit.

You Can Increase Your EQ

In as much as IQ is relatively fixed, EQ for the project team can easily be raised with immediate results. A high EQ will allow you to use your IQ better. An example can be a time when one is angry or jealous. It is not easy to analyze situations and make sound decisions in such a moment.

Emotions are Intelligent

Emotions are resources that cannot be replaced and provide us with important information. Most significant achievements have been driven by emotions, be it relationships, business transactions or the award of a project. Rational decision making cannot do away with feelings as they assign values to choices. Emotions are your source of energy. They are a source of energy for project team members. The driving force behind art, technology, science, culture and all significantly successful achievements is the union of emotions and reason.

Benefits of Increasing EI

Emotions can be used to improve and guide your thinking. Possessing a low EQ mostly translates to reduced performance and remaining in middle management forever. Not everyone with amazingly high IQs make the most out of their abilities they mostly do not have good people skills and do not comprehend their deficiencies. Contrary to those with high EQ who are able to weather storms, avoid being personal on matters that shouldn’t be, can easily network effectively and channel their energy and efforts on identified goals.

Ability to persuade and influence others. With high EI one is able to discover and express his/her authenticity. When one recognize, respond, and respect him/herself the effect is that others will recognize, respond, and respect such a one. This provides the ability to communicate with impact, build relationships and maintain an aligned and motivated project team throughout the entire duration of the project.

The removal of barriers in working with others. The possession of high EQ elevates trust and influence the potential of others to create innovative strategies for increasing shareholder value.

Quickly transform change, the ability to convert problems and conflict into opportunities.

Support the team in producing project success. Ninety percent of the critical success factors (CSFs) for successful project implementation are linked to EI directly. To measure success of a project we consider the success criteria of: (a) on time, (b) within budget, (c) a high quality of deliverable, and (d) a satisfied client, and not forgetting the cost of achieving these. The other criteria that must not to left out is apprehending lessons learned. It is literally indefensible to go on and make the same mistake in a project environment. We can go further than just the use of standard tools and technics by understanding EI and be able to achieve success much easily. It is common nowadays to find employees who seek to be more aligned with their personal values and work. They no longer aspire to self-sacrifice for the project bottom line but rather demand to find more meaning in the workplace.

Introduction

There are number of different types of intelligences which play an important role in one’s life and “Emotional Intelligence” or “Emotional quotient” is one these types of intelligences. In this paper I am going to write about the word “Emotional Intelligence”, its characteristics, history and how it became relevant in the twenty first century. I will also highlight my emotional strengths and weaknesses.

EQ Definition and its characteristics

EQ is the capability to identify and supervise your personal emotions and the emotions of others. It is a unique form of smartness that allows people to be successful both in their personal endeavors and in their professional lives around the workplaces. It is characterized by motivation, empathy, self-regulation, social skills, and self-awareness. The self-awareness is where an individual knows his emotions and the emotions of others and does not allow the emotions to rule him. They understand their emotional strengths and weakness, and they work on them to perform best (Matthews & Roberts, 2014). The characteristics of self-regulation are when a person controls impulses and emotions and cannot allows themselves to be jealous or angry and do not make decisions clearly; they think first before acting. Motivation is an aspect of a person with EQ and they defer immediate results for long term success, they love challenges (Matthews & Roberts, 2014). Moreover, they have empathy and understand the needs of people around them and deal with honesty. Finally, social skills are when people with EQ are team players and help others achieve success by managing disputes, building communication and mastering relationships(Lama, 2017).

The history behind the rise of EQ

The term ‘Emotional intelligence’ was coined by Mayer John and Salovey Peter in 1990, but the term first appeared in a 1964 paper by Michael Beldoch. Daniel Goleman became alert of and Mayer and Salovey’s work and wrote the first book acknowledging that it was not cognitive intelligence that guaranteed business success but emotional intelligence (Lama, 2017).

Why is EQ so relevant in the 21st-century workplace?

EQ is significant in the modern workplace because it allows employees to relate better with one another and hence, improve business productivity (Lama, 2017). It is a different way of being smart, and it is essential in building a balanced life and allows employees to manage conflicts, relate well and maintain mental wellbeing.

Reflecting on EQ concepts and rating it

My philosophy of nursing is to provide competent care to patients as if I were caring for my own family. I became a nurse because I wanted to care for patients, however, working as a novice nurse in an Emergency Department of a busy trauma center, sometimes caring is not found, and I occasionally find myself reacting instead of responding. Once reading articles related to EQ, I knew my ways could and should be altered to provide the best care for my patients. By utilizing the essential characteristics as depicted above, the EQ factor can be applied to my patients in the ED to achieve the best care possible (Hansenne, 2014). I have changed my ways of relating to patients since I read articles relating to EQ and I give it a five-star rating.

My EQ strengths and weakness with evidence and how to improve these areas

My strength is showing empathy which includes understanding others’ feelings and thoughts helping me to connect with others. I do not label or judge easily but I try my best to understand, and it is helping me to build more profound and more connected relationships. My weakness is not being able to think of quick solutions in a tense environment like an emergency department in the hospital setting. Instead, I find myself reacting and not responding. To solve the challenge, I have to pause, strive to control thoughts and think critically before acting (Hansenne, 2014).

References

1. Hansenne, M. (2014). Clinical Perspectives in Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence – New Perspectives and Applications. doi:10.5772/31120
2. Lama, J. (2017). Emotional Intelligence: why E.Q is the new I.Q. 1kkbooks via PublishDrive.
3. Matthews, G., Zeidner, M., & Roberts, R. D. (2014). Emotional Intelligence 101. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success or happiness. Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ by Daniel Goleman was named of the 25 most influential business management books by Time Magazine with 5,000,000 copies in print worldwide and translated into 40 languages. In this book Daniel Goleman expands the model of what it means to be intelligent and puts emotions at the center of aptitudes for living. He brings up the idea that emotional intelligence rather than IQ plays a greater role shaping our success in life.

Emotional Intelligence which is also known as the EQ refers to the ability of a person to recognize their own emotions and able to manage and control his or her emotions, as well as the emotions of other people. In other words, they can influence the emotions of others. EQ also allows a person knowing what feels good, what feels bad, and how to change bad feeling to good. EQ can refers to the emotional management skills that provide competency to balance emotions. It allows people to identify different sensations and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and adjust emotions to adapt to the environment or achieve goals. Daniel Goleman delineates the five crucial domains of emotional intelligence which are the self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.

First, self –awareness, is how aware we are and how accurately we can assess to our emotions. It is our ability to recognize and understand own moods, motivations, and abilities. Also being aware of the impact on others. Goleman says to achieve a fully self-awareness state, one must be able to monitor his emotional state and identify his or her emotions. He also suggests that people with this self-awareness have a good sense of humor, have confidence in themselves and their abilities, and know how others see them.

Second, self-regulation, the next step we may take after managing our self-awareness. We manage our perceived emotions by soothing ourselves and controlling anxiety, depression or anger, and dealing with them to make them appropriate such as shorten the time to move from a negative state to a positive one. People who excel in emotional management can recover far more quickly from setbacks, frustrations, and failures, and move toward goals. Goleman defines emotional maturity as the ability to be responsible for one’s actions, to adapt to change, and to be able to respond appropriately to other people’s irrational emotions or behaviors. For example, if someone yells at you, you know that they are not always angry with you. You can know that they may be angry with a particular situation and you will not be angry with them.

Third, motivation, is about having desire for learning and developing new things and self-improvement. People with emotional intelligent and competent in this area tend to be action-oriented. They set goals, have high requirement for achievement, and are always looking for ways to do better. Their motivations are not limited to external rewards such as reputation, money, recognition and praise. Even when there are obstacles in life, it has the power to keep moving forward. Goleman says that in this domain, an emotionally mature person will always have the initiative and determination to accomplish tasks and perseverance in adversity. For instance, a student fails in a certain class, he or she see this as an opportunity to learn and retake the class without self-doubt. He does not let the failure get in the way of his goal.

Next, empathy, is the ability to understand the feelings of others, to understand what others have to say. It is absolutely critical to emotional intelligence. But this does not only involves identifying the emotional state of others. It also involves your response to that particular person based on this information, and to adapt to the subtle social signals of what he or she need or want. For example, when you feel someone is sad or desperate, it is likely to affect your reaction to that person. Goleman believes that one must be able to understand themselves before they can understand others. When we are more open to our emotions, our ability to read others’ feelings increases. The greater our ability to empathize, the more successful we are in all areas of life.

Lastly, social skills. Social skills are more than just friendliness. It involves managing relationships, building networks, finding common ground and building rapport. Being able to interact with others is another important aspect of emotional intelligence. Goleman points out that emotional maturity in this section defines a person with good communication skills, good time management skills, leadership skills or ability to manage a group of people, and the ability to resolve dilemmas or conflicts through negotiation or persuasion.

Abstract

Many studies exhibit that Emotional Intelligence (EI) improves academic performance (AP) in medical undergraduates and secondary schools. This study aims to examine whether there is a direct link between EI, expected workload and AP and amongst business students. The theory comprises of final year undergraduate students having higher EI in TEIQue-SF and final examination than the 1st and 2nd year students. The study consists of cross-sectional research among 732 (350 females, 382 males) undergraduate students in business doing their 1st, 2nd, and final year in Monash University, RMIT, and University of Melbourne, Australia. Students will be measured doing self-survey on socio-demographic, TEIQue-SF and final examined scores. It was determined that students who have high EI traits help to improve academic performance in final year business undergraduates. Furthermore, it showed that students who have a higher EI showed having a high level of self-regulation and self-awareness helped students to overcome their workload. Higher EI may increase academic performance in final year business students and decreasing the workload task, which helps for future business careers.

In the twenty-first century, the world has become more complicated and more challenging for everyone. Successful people are happier, having high emotion stability, while other people struggle to keep their emotions in check. Becoming a successful person with emotional stability requires a lot of energy and practice, starting with the university. University students who have high Emotional Intelligence (EI) ability perform excessively good, advancing into masters and getting a job. As the competition rises for academic performance so does the emotions to keep up with the workload (Roman & Roman, 2017). Emotions help students to get through academic life.

Academic Performance (AP) depends on various elements: cognitive ability, emotions, motivations, surroundings, peers, family, support, etc. (Agrawal & SK, 2017). Students who are not able to handle their emotions become stressed on academic performance that causes them to feel stressed and depressed (Lewine, et al., 2011).

When studying emotional intelligence, it is important to understand to what extent does it affect Academic Performance. Chew, Zain, and Hassan, (2013) did a cross-sectional study on 1st and final year medical undergraduates studying if EI improves AP and future patient treatment. It was proven that higher EI may help medical students to perform better and improves their skills for future benefit. Ranasinghe, Wathurapatha, Mathangasinghe, and Ponnamperuma (2017) focused on medical students as a whole, determining if EI, and stress effect AP. In the research, it was concluded that people who have high EI especially self-satisfaction have lower stress levels and determining that EI enhances medical student’s AP and lowering stress levels. However, Qualter, Gardner, Pope, Hutchinson, and Whiteley (2012) focused on the school ground, doing a 5-year long term study on secondary students. The researchers wanted to test whether EI traits and ability help to improve school performance. The results for their research showed that 11 graders had higher EI traits especially in boys rather than girls, and it had confirmed that having the emotional abilities and traits does improve students’ academic performance. Maan and Nagar (2015) also focused on primary students but only in 11th grade. The researchers wanted to test if there is a connection between EI with AP. The results showed that from 5 components only 2 components: self-satisfaction and self-awareness, of EI helped to raise the AP, but the student’s romance and state of mind do effect AP.

The studies helped to understand that Emotional Intelligence does improve Academic Performance to some level, but few setbacks researches faced in their research. Most of the studies largely conducted on medical students, and primary school. Where the population was limited and based on one building. Maan and Nagar (2015) study only focused on 11th grade and not the whole primary school and based on one school in India. In comparison Chew, Zain, and Hassan, (2013) focused primarily on medical students in there 1st and final year, and not the entire year course. Additionally, it was based on one university in Malaysia.

This study aims to use the previous knowledge to measure what traits of Emotional Intelligence help improve Academic Performance despite the workload. It is hypothesised that the final year students will have a higher EI than the 1st and 2nd year students overcoming academic workload for greater Academic Performance.

Expected Outcome and Limitations

When the hypothesis is supported, then there is a direct link between Emotional Intelligence (EI) improving Academic performance (AP) in business undergraduates. EI consist of a mix of emotions and intelligence, where it helps students to think and reason logically on a task. EI traits consist of 5 components self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (Roman & Roman, 2017). These traits help students to communicate, enhancing leadership roles, friendships and understanding own strength and weaknesses. AP is where communication, written, logical thinking, and knowledge growth is being assessed and performed (Pamela Qualter a, 2012). Therefore, when a student has a high level of EI then AP will also be high in completing the task. A study conducted by Dubey and Bakhshi (2018) showed Emotional Intelligence rises as the students grow and mature. This experiment shows that EI can increase with age and that the learned experience helps the student to perform better in academics.

When the hypothesis does not support the statement then there is a weak relationship between EI and AP. It means that certain traits of EI do not help enhance the academic performance Maan and Nagar (2015) and show that students are unable to engage themselves in the environment and there is no knowledge being intercepted (Dubey & Bakhshi, 2018). However, if EI does not have any relationship in AP then there might be other factors affecting the students to perform.

The research has a few limitations that were encountered. The study focused on undergraduate specifically and not measuring other potential students. The information will be based on undergraduate Emotional Intelligence with academic achievements. The second limitation is that the research was conducted primarily on business students and neglecting other streams to get more information on EI. Finally, the research was based to measure the direct link between EI, expected workload and AP. For future research, there should be a study to determine the relationship that the family background and situation have a direct link with EI on academic performance in business students.

References

1. Roman, M., & Roman, V. (2017). EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – WHAT IS IT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? International Journal of Communication Research, 7(4), 275-282. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/docview/1989828493?accountid=12528
2. Qualter, P., Gardner, K. J., Pope, D. J., Hutchinson, J. M., & Whiteley, H. E. (2012). Ability emotional intelligence, trait emotional intelligence, and academic success in british secondary schools: A 5 year longitudinal study. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(1), 83-91. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.11.007
3. Dubey, C., & Bakhshi, P. (2018). A study on emotional intelligence amongst management students. BVIMSR’s Journal of Management Research, 10(1), 31-41. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/docview/2038188488?accountid=12528

Importance of Emotions and Emotional Intelligence

Obtaining Emotional Intelligence (EI) allows a person to analyze their own feelings towards others while observing the emotions of those around them to formulate responses to both their emotions and the feelings of others. The brain is composed of two sides: the rational mind that provides justification for decisions and the emotional mind that supplies the drive behind impulsive decisions individuals make (Goleman, 2005). EI is a crucial factor in judgment because, without the emotional mind, humans are formulating decisions logically without taking into consideration the motivation behind the choices they make. Goleman posits that EI should be taught as early as grade school because “emotional competencies are learned abilities” (Goleman, 2005, pp. xv).

There are five concepts that permit somebody to acquire EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills (Goleman, 2005). Self-awareness is defined as being aware of the consequences of a person’s present emotions and their effects on others. If this component is active, then a person has an enhanced decision-making process because they recognize how their emotions will impact those around them. Self-regulation consists of maintaining the feelings a person acquires internally. Obtaining self-regulation allows a person to establish resilience by knowing how to control their emotions and change their moods. Motivation is the energizing force, and often the reason, a person experiences the resulting emotions. The ability to comprehend and accept the emotions of others is described as empathy, which allows a person to gain a better perspective of why a person is exhibiting their emotions. Lastly, the fifth concept in EI is social skills and it facilitates the formation of relationships between people.

What makes EI unique is its ability to be applied to countless real-life situations. EI is essential in resolving conflicts within marriages, especially when arguments center around situations that impact both partners’ emotional well-being. If one spouse is upset, the other spouse can utilize EI to determine why their spouse is distraught and how they would feel personally if they were in their partner’s shoes. EI is applicable within the work environment because being aware of others’ emotions enhances teamwork, cooperation, communication, and listening skills between coworkers (Goleman, 2005). Healthcare providers utilize EI when caring for patients, such as being empathetic toward their clients when they receive life-changing diagnoses. They ask their patients how they can achieve their needs as healthcare professionals in an attempt to comprehend what their clients are going through during their hospitalization.

Even though it is learned, many individuals have obstacles that interfere with the development of EI. For instance, being raised by parents that lack EI may result in their offspring becoming apathetic, emotionally illiterate, and unaware of what feelings they acquire and how their emotions impact others. These children have the potential to develop into bullies due to an inability to understand their feelings, displacing their emotions towards somebody else. Trauma can alter a person’s development of EI because they might associate a certain emotion with a distressing memory or experience. An example of a condition that interferes with an individual’s EI is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a mental health disorder that includes flashbacks and the emotions connected to those memories (Goleman, 2005). Instead of maintaining their emotions, those with PTSD are unable to separate their emotions affiliated with their traumatic past events and cannot regulate their feelings when a flashback occurs. With these factors in mind, school districts are in need of educating their students on EI and how it correlates with success both academically and personally. As a result of emotional literacy, upcoming generations are less likely to develop emotional illiteracy.

There are advantages for nurses who acquire EI, such as “being attuned to the feelings of those we deal with and being able to handle disagreements so they do not escalate” (Goleman, 2005, pp. 149). When nurses evolve into charge nurses, they learn how to handle disagreements other nurses come to them with and guide their peers on utilizing empathy. A prime example of the benefits of EI can be observed in charge nurses when a problem with a dissatisfied patient arises. The prudent charge nurse is self-aware that although their workload may be heavy, this patient currently needs their undivided attention due to their current emotional state. Rather than getting frustrated at the client, the charge nurse self-regulates their own emotions and is attentive to the patient’s grievances. The charge nurse is familiar with the caseload and realizes the client is scheduled for an important procedure, which could be a potential motivator for the patient’s dissatisfaction. The charge nurse empathizes with the client’s situation and is accepting rather than dismissing their feelings. The assigned caregiver of the dissatisfied patient is brought into the conversation by the charge nurse to develop an individualized solution for this client, addressing the patient’s needs and restoring the relationship between the caregiver and recipient of care. As a result, the charge nurse’s utilization of EI prevented further conflict which is a consequence of emotional illiteracy. From a communication perspective, the charge nurse effectively collaborated with all involved parties to formulate a mutual agreement on this individual’s course of care with everybody’s emotions in mind. All in all, nurses who are well versed in EI can lead by example through awareness of the impact their emotions can have on the quality of care they provide to their clients.

References

1. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
2. Association. (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
3. Goleman, D. (2020). About Daniel Goleman. Retrieved from http://www.danielgoleman.info/
4. Goleman, D. (2005). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books