Question:
Discuss the emotional intelligence the theories and emotional intelligence and its effect in business domain?
Answer:
Introduction
Emotional intelligence, also referred to as emotional quotient or EQ, is defined as the capability of an individual to recognize the emotions of others, to behave in a manner that would not offend the feelings of their peers and to differentiate between a wide ranges of emotions and act accordingly(Boyatzis et al.).
According to actor-producer David Caruso “emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence” nor is it a “triumph of heart over head”, but an “intersection” between these two oppositely oriented feelings (Lawsociety.bc.ca). Such theories are also supported by a school of clinical psychologists, who consider emotional quotient to an essential element to thriving in the business domain (Malouff et al.). This report aims at providing an insight in to the theoretical aspects of this concept. Besides this, discussions would also provide discussions on how the emotional quotients of individuals allow them to perform well within organizational structures.
Emotional intelligence: the theories
The term ‘Emotion Intelligence’ or ‘emotional quotient’ was coined by Michael Beldoch in his research article: however the concept gained popularity through the work of science journalist and psychologist Daniel Goleman (Zeidner et al.). In this section of the report, a discussion has been made on the various theoretical models of ‘emotional quotient’, so as to develop a better understanding of the concept.
Emotional quotient models:
There exists no formal definition of emotional intelligence: while one school of psychologists consider emotional quotient as the ability to relate to the emotions and feelings of others, yet another group considers people, capable of utilizing emotions to enhance their thought process and improve interpersonal dynamics, to have higher levels of emotional quotient (Karimi et al.). These disparities in the perspectives have led to the development of several models to be used for measurement of emotional quotient (Barbey et al.).
The Ability model
The ability model, as designed by the Mayer and Salovey, considers emotions as those sources of information that can utilized for acting in accordance to ones social environment (Van Deursen et al.). The model discriminates people on the basis of their ability to process emotional feelings and to relate such feelings with a larger spectrum of cognition.
The ‘ability model’ considers the following abilities to be the core elements of emotional quotient:
- Perceiving emotions: The ability to perceive the emotional components present in the environment and to decipher them is considered as the corner stone of emotional intelligence (Malouff et al.). The ‘ability model’ emphasizes on this particular ability as it determines the extent to which such information would be processed and utilized.
- Using emotions: The next steep, after the emotional components a recognized and deciphered, is to use the information while maneuvering in the social environment (Sheldon et al.). According to the ability model, people are capable of harnessing the emotional feelings of the others (and themselves) in achieving success in any task are considered to have higher levels of emotional quotient (Zeidner et al.).
- Understanding emotions: The ‘ability model’ also puts emphasis on the ability to understand the complexities of emotional feelings and to acknowledge the relationship between these emotions and the behavioral aspects of individuals (Sheldon et al.).
- Managing emotions: Last but not the least the model recognizes the capability of regulating emotions to be one of the greatest traits of an individual (Di Fabio et al.). According to this model, an individual having high levels of emotional quotient would be able to harness the strongest emotions, even the most negative ones, and successfully complete the tasks or activities for which he or she has been responsible (Austin et al.).
The Ability Model of emotional quotient has been largely criticized for its lack of validity in the day to day operations of an organization (Alfonso et al.). However, the very same model has been useful in comparing the EQ of individuals to a standard sets of performances, thus quantifying the level of emotional intelligence on has.
The Mixed model
The mixed model, originally developed by Daniel Goleman, emphasizes on certain skill and traits while measuring the level of Intelligence quotient of an individual (Goleman et al.). This model considers the following 5 traits to be essential for people who aim to be in the leadership positions:
- Self-awareness: Self-awareness or being aware of the strengths, weaknesses, values and abilities that an individual and how these attributes effect the others the working environment is considered to be one of most essential traits that a leader must have (Sadri). A self evaluation and acknowledgement of the fact that the emotional attributes of each individual affects the workplace environment as a whole, facilitates the process of organizational decision making.
- Self-regulation: Self-regulation, on the other hand is essential for redirecting the negative or disruptive impulses or emotions that on has, so as to adapt oneself to various changes in the work place environment (Castro).
- Social skill: Efficient social skills facilitate the process of maintaining emotional bonding with the peers and managing them properly (Côté).
- Empathy: Empathy can be defined as the trait of considering the perspectives and feelings of others while taking decisions.
- Motivation: Motivation or the internal drive for gaining success is yet another emotional trait that helps in achieving success within a work environment (Lopez-Zafra et al.).
Goleman further argues that no individual is born with the above mentioned traits: on the contrary, these traits are gained through experience (Giorgi). Besides this, Goleman also emphasizes on the fact that individuals should make continuous efforts towards improving these gained capabilities so as to function with excellence in a working environment (Goleman et al.).
The Trait model
The trait model is one the most recently devised models in the field of emotional quotient: proposed by Petrides, the model has brought about a change in perspective in the manner which considers ‘emotional quotient’ to be an ‘ability’ (Siegling, Petrides and Khatuna).
The proposed model considers that all human beings to have certain self perceptions and emotional characteristics as an inherent part of their personalities (Lopez-Zafra et al.).Furthermore, the model also considers measuring these traits on the basis of the self-evolutionary reports generated by the very same individual who are being assessed.
Figure 1: The trait model of emotional quotient
(Source: Siegling, Petrides and Khatuna, pp-105)
Emotional intelligence and its effect in business domain
In the recent past, the concept of emotional skills has been found to be the center of attraction of various business reports and research studies (Lawsociety.bc.ca). Most of these research studies were aimed at reveling the effects and utility of emotional quotient or EQ in the domain of business (Ashkanasy, William and Waldman). In the following sections of the report, a detailed discussion would be made in this very context: the discussion would shed some light in those areas of corporate business which require the efficient utilization of emotional quotient. Besides this, the various effects of having high and low EQ levels, on the working environment of an organization, would be discussed in the following sections (Boyatzis et al.).
Emotional intelligence and its use in organizational activities
Emotional intelligence and management of workforce
As depicted by the well used statement “IQ gets you hired, EQ gets you promoted”, a high level of emotional quotient is considered as one of the most essential and key elements of leadership. According to Günsel, Ayşe, and Atif, the concept of emotional quotient is associated with one of the most important aspects of organizational management: the management of the work force. The effective management of the human resources of an organization is an essential part of efficient leadership: a leader must be capable communicating with the subordinates in such a manner that they remain comfortable and relaxed around him The core thought behind such a concept is that a stressful work culture would essentially redu(Crowne). ce the productivity of the organization as a whole. A happy and comfortable workforce, on the other hand, would be much more productive and would come forward with ideas or suggestions that might be beneficial to the organization as a whole (Houghton et al.).
Emotional intelligence and the concept of participative management
The concept of ‘participative management’ is steadily gaining importance in corporate organizations. Business houses, in the very recent past, have started incorporating changes in their working environments, in order to incorporate dependencies between work groups. Such being the situation, the leaders who are capable of listening to the problems of the others, incorporating their inputs within the operational functionalities of work groups and respond to the emotional requirements of their team mates are considered as the most successful at helping their teams (Goswami and Talukdar). Researchers are of the opinion that leaders having high levels of emotional quotient are the ones who can foster social relationships and bonding with their teams: such relationships in turn provide much more control over the entire team. Thus, it can be said that high levels of emotional intelligence is necessary for managing the participation of the resources in team activities (Webb).
Emotional intelligence used for confronting problem employees
Confrontation of problem employees is yet another area of management which requires leaders to utilize their emotional intelligence (Killgore et al.). The extent to which the leaders are capable of communicating with those employees, who are not capable of performing according to the expectations of the management, depends largely on the capability of the managers to take unbiased and sensible decisions. It is essential that such situations are managed by assertive people, as they have the unique capability of conveying messages to people in the least destructive manner (Boyatzis et al.). Needles to say, the leaders would also require to utilize their emotional abilities in such situations, in order to relate to the problems being faced by the subordinates and find solutions to such circumstances.
Emotional intelligence and change management
Devising plans for coping with the new changes being introduced within an organization calls for the ability to anticipate the problems that might be generated due to the incorporation of the said changes. Such situations are best judged by people who have the capability of realizing the problems or issues that the operational teams might be having and provide best fitting solutions to these scenarios.
Resistance to change is one of the most crucial risks associated with any change management activity. Researchers Houghton et al. are of opinion that most often than not, employees resist the incorporation of new changes within the organizational structure due to the preconceived notion that they would not be able to cope up with said changes. This is yet another domain of management which calls for the effective utilization of emotional intelligence.
The fear of being subjected to some unknown or new environment and not being able to cope up with the changes generates an immensely stressful situation for the existing employees of an organization (Crowne). The stressful conditions in turn discourage them from accepting the changes. Such situations can only be managed by leaders having the capability of understanding the emotional turmoil such employees go through: a successful implementation of the change management process would only be possible when fears and anxieties of the employees are properly addressed to (Boyatzis et al.).
Emotional intelligence and customer satisfaction
The financial success of any organization depends largely on a single factor: the customer preview (Lopez-Zafra et al.). In this section of the report, a detailed analysis of two case studies would be conducted so as to shed some light on the fact that the utilization of EQ abilities can gain economic benefits for an organization.
The higher management of Sanofi-Aventis, a well known pharmaceutical organization had randomly selected a group of employees were then split up into two groups: the control group and the development group (Sanofi.us). The development group was provided with raining programs that ultimately lead to an increase in their level of EQ by 18%. The development team on the other hand, was no subjected to any such training program (Günsel, Ayşe, and Atif).
The financial records of these two groups indicated that the team that had received EQ training had outdid the other (in terms of total profit), by a whopping 12 percent.
Yet another experiment conducted at L’Oreal aimed a comparing the net sales made by two teams of sales persons: one of the teams consisted of members who were selected based on their EQ abilities (Loreal.com). The second group consisted of sales persons who were chosen on the basis of those parameters that the organization itself considers to be important for performing well in the sales department (Günsel, Ayşe, and Atif ). The findings of the research work indicated that the total annual sales revenue generated by the former group was approximately $91,370 more than that of second group.
The abovementioned strategies indicate that the level of emotional quotient is a much more efficient factor in determining the services that sales persons are capable of providing to the customers, as compared to other traditional parameters (Lopez-Zafra et al.) According researchers, happy and positive minded persons, who are capable of capable of harnessing the emotional elements of a specific situation are the best suited for working in sales divisions (Killgore et al.).
In the light of the discussions made in the sections above, it can be concluded high levels of emotional intelligence are beneficial in several sector of business operations, increased sales and profit being the very first one (Ealias, Abi, and Jijo). Besides this, when the leaders of an organization have high levels of emotional intelligence, their ability is reflected directly on the manner which the enterprise conducts the change management processes and mitigates the risks associated with such processes (Goswami and Talukdar). As the utilization of such emotional quotient abilities facilitates the formation of strong social and emotional bonds with the subordinates, leaders having high EQs are capable of guaranteeing worker satisfaction, which in turn results in high rates of employee retention. Besides this, drastic changes in organizational communication are noticed with the utilization of EQ abilities. Needless to say, all these factors are reflected in the overall productivity of an organization (Castro). Thus, it can be said that emotional intelligence plays an important role in the manner in which an organization operates.
Conclusion
The various aspects of emotional intelligence have been described in this paper. A formal definition of the phrase ‘emotional intelligence’ or ‘emotional quotient’ have been provided, along with an in-depth discussion on the various models that are used for the measurement of emotional quotient levels. The three models, namely the ability model, the trait model and the mixed model have been discussed in this paper, along with the description of the organizational activities in which the concept of EQ finds its use. The paper also provides a detailed description of those organizational activities that can be managed well by people having high levels of emotional quotient.
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