EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS

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1 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS Éva Fenyvesi 1 - Judit Vágány 2 Judit Daróczi, Kárpátiné 3 1 college professor, Budapest Business School, Faculty of Commerce, Catering and Tourism Department of Economics, 1054, Budapest, Alkotmány u Phone: / , e- mail: dr.fenyvesi.eva@kvifk.bgf.hu 2 college professor, Budapest College of agement Department of Business agement, 1114 Budapest, Villányi u Phone: , vagany.judit@avf.hu 3 college senior lecturer, Budapest College of agement, Department of Business agement, 1114 Budapest, Villányi u Phone: , daroczi.judit@avf.hu SUMMARY It is a serious issue to build up and maintain the competitiveness of the Hungarian small and medium sized enterprises during the economic recession we have been facing for years. Dismissals have become general. The personal carriers of the potential employees have become more important than the future of the company or the success of the Hungarian economy. Experts have been investigating the question for years which those competencies are with which managers can reach outstanding results and which should be taken into consideration by a manager during selection of employees. Results show that developing emotional intelligence should be one of the key parts of management development besides their specialized expertise. The result of our research shows that the managers of small and medium sized companies have recognized the important role of EQ among the competencies of organizational members. EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) ONTO PERFORMANCE There are authors (Carrol, 1993; Herrnstein-Murray, 1994) who consider to be proven the utility of IQ tests in the discussions about the impact of intelligence onto performance but there are also a fair number of authors (Gardner, 1983; Ceci, 1990;) who do not consider it well-reasoned enough. Overrated scores deflect the attention of the many aspects of mental abilities by the opinion of those who criticize the reliability of IQ tests. A lot of new approaches have been introduced to consider these elements. Such is the multiplied intelligence model (Gardner, 1983). Gardner had defined seven intelligences which are independent from each other: linguistic, musical, logical, mathematical, spatial, body, kinetic (motion), personal (intrapersonal) and social (interpersonal) intelligences. Another intelligence model is the emotional intelligence (Solovey-Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1997), one of its modified versions distinguish four element of EQ (self-consciousness, self- management, social consciousness és relationship management) and there are additional nineteen subgroups. EQ elements determine the performance at workplace vitally according to Goleman (Boyatzis at all. 2003). Among the intelligence model the EQ has most probably the highest role in helping the organization members get more cooperative. Numerous researches have already verified this (Lopes, 2006). Hereafter this is why we are focusing on the opportunities of practical application of EQ.

2 HYPOTHESIS AND METHODOLOGY In our research we want to get answer to the following questions: (1) How do the interviewed persons perceive those EQ elements, where the role of trust is dominant, in their professional life (2) Is there any difference between male and female, (3) staff and managers, (4) different age groups and (5) groups having different level of educations. We started the selection the elements of our research from research of Kovács (2010), and studied those social competencies which are determining from the point of view of cooperation. Kovács has expressed in his study, that role of trust is not equally important in different elements of EQ. Those elements where this relationship is proven to be closer are in the first table in italics. So my empiric research focused only these elements: influencing, communication, relationship building and cooperation. 1. Table. Personal and social competences of individual s emotional intelligence. Structure of emotional intelligence Personal competence Social competence Self-awareness Self-regulation Motivation Empathy Társas készségek emotional selfawareness others understanding self-control achievement drive influence accurate selfawareness trustworthiness commitment developing others communication self-confidence conscientiousness initiative service orientation conflict management adaptability optimism leveraging leading diversity innovation political awareness change catalyst building bonds collaboration team capabilities Source: Goleman, 2003: 58-61, in Kovács, 2010 Data for analyzing the hypothesis were gathering by questionnaire. 135 organizations were included, and 180 persons filled in the questionnaire. Each question has 4 or 5 answer from which the most preferred answer had to be chosen by responders. RESULTS OF EMPIRIC RESEARCH Influence is such an ability of successful persuasion which helps other to take sides with us. It is enable us to generate sympathy and feeling of resemblance. More than 80% or the responders (70% often, 13,8% fully) feel that they are basically able to convince their colleagues about their own opinion ( 1. diagram). This ability is important because the interpersonal procedure around us and their out-come can be understood easily with it. In possession of this element we are able to fit in a given group, cooperation with colleagues. The interviewed managers feel themselves much effective than theirs direct reports. Men seems to be more effective in the respect of influence as there was nearly twice as much fully respond among the male than among female ( 9% versus 5%). Those who are often successful in convincing others are also men. Analyzing the answers, males had 30% higher result (41% versus 29%) comparing to females. There is no significant difference by age groups. (Diagram 1.)

3 7 78,0% ,3% 13,8% 17,0% ,0% 89,0% 17,0% 79,0% 5,0% Employee 29,0% Fully Often Sometimes Diagram 1. Conviction of associates about a given topic in the total group ( and by age (, position ( and gender ( (Own research) Communication. Communication is an important tool of influence. Everybody thinks that can communicate, however, the mismatch communication is behind the most of the conflicts at workplace and in privet life. 1,0% 68,0% 18,0% 78,0% 71,0% 62,0% ,0% ,0% 72,0% 3,0% 5,0% Emloyee 63,0% 32,0% 1 1 3,0% 12,0% 6 69,0% Diagram 2. Characteristics of solving the problematic situations by direct communication in total group ( and by age (, status ( and gender ( (Own research) Direct communication is a fundamental element of effective implementation of tasks and sharing the tacit knowledge. Outcomes of the research indicate that direct communication is considered a frequently used tool for problem solving at workplace. Survey shows that those who feel to be able to influence their colleagues easily but get the worst of communication according to their own admission. The two results are in parallel only at males. (Diagram 2.) Fully Often Sometimes Never

4 1,0% 59,0% 29,0% 71,0% ,0% 17,0% 28,0% 38,0% ,0% 5,0% 5 3,0% Employee 53,0% 3,0% Diagram 3. Parameters of work related information, ideas and resource-sharings in the total group ( and by age (, status ( and gender ( (Own research) Cooperation. It means the sharing of plans, information and resources, and provide the right balance between solving tasks and managing personal relationships. Even there is only 1% of responder who does not share information with colleagues it is surprising that such answer can be in any community at a workplace. Another surprising result is the difference by age groups: ability of cooperation has been tapering off until age of 40. There was no significant difference between males and females. (Diagram 3.) 12,0% 24,0% 33,0% 55,0% 63,0% Fully Often Sometimes Never 15,0% 62,5% 22,5% 68,0% 9 43,0% 43,0% 13,0% 28,0% 1 Should be better 67,0% Emloyee Quite good Excellent Should be better Quite good Excellent 67,0% Should be better Quite good Excellent Excellent Quite good Should be better Diagram 4. Characteristics of associates s relationship in the total group ( and by age ( status ( and gender (. (Own research) Interpersonal relationship, personal attitude to work and workplace have great importance in all aspects of successful human cooperation. The ability of relationship building qualifies the person to build up the contact network.

5 Persons having this ability cultivate their relationships, moreover they liaise friendships gladly beside the professional contacts. Members of the organization having such strong allurement help the communication, cooperation and also solving of conflicts. agers of small and medium size enterprises who filled in the questionnaire adjudge their relationship with colleagues very good. Only 6% of them feel that it is not appropriate. There is no significant difference between genders at this aspect. We can state that quality of the relations is improving with age. (Diagram 4.) EPILOGE If in an organization performance of associates is unsatisfactory, researchers contact it with emotional intelligence in many cases. Cooperation, trust and EQ are walking hand in hand. In our opinion, these are the elements which have determining role in becoming more cooperative. In synergy, they can have a huge impact on the cooperation ability of the person, or on the competency of cooperation, if you like it. Coming to the front of EI does not mean that there is no more need for high level analytical and logical thinking, merely that the associates having higher EI can be mobilized more easily. Outcomes of the survey are promising in the matter of that the managers in the sector of the small and medium size enterprises attach important role to surrounding themselves with associates who are emotionally intelligence. IRODALOMJEGYZÉK 1. Carroll, J. B. (1993): Human cognitive abilities: A survey offactor-analytic studies. Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge Press. 2. Ceci, S. J. (1990): On intelligence more or less: A bioecological treatise on intellectual development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 3. Gardner, H. (1983): Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligence. New York: Basic Books. 4. Hermstein, R. J. & Murray, C. (1994): The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. New York: Free Press. 5. Kovács, T. (2008): A bizalmi és viszonossági kapcsolatokat meghatározó személyiségjellemzők. In: Csukás, Cs. (Ed.), Pro Scientia Aranyérmesek IX. Konferenciája (pp ), Kaposvár. ISBN Kovács, T. (2010): A bizalom szerepe és helye az érzelmi intelligenciában. Periodica Oeconomica 3 (2), Lopes, P. N. Grewal, D. Jessica Kadis, J. Gall, M. Salovey, P. (2006): Evidence that emotional intelligence is related to job performance and affect and attitudes at work. Psicothema Vol. 18, supl., pp Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. D. (1990): Emotional intelligence. Imagination. Cognition, and Personality 9,