AN EVALUATIVE STUDY OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AT WORK PLACE

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1 KAAV INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW, FINANCE & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS A REFEREED BLIND PEER REVIEW BI-ANNUAL JOURNAL KIJLFIR/JAN-JUN2017/ VOL-4/ ISS-1/A40 PAGE N ISSN: IMPACT FACTOR (2017): AN EVALUATIVE STUDY OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AT WORK PLACE 1 MR MUKESH KUAR YADAV 1 Manager Rajasthan State Warehousing Corporation Jaipur (RAJASTHAN) 2 MS BABITA DEVI 2 Research Scholar, Institute of Management Studies, BHU, Varanasi ABSTRACT- Look deeply at almost any factor that influences organizational effectiveness, and you will find that emotional intelligence plays a role. These are the intense needs that face all organizations today, both public sector and private. And in virtually every case, emotional intelligence must play an important role in satisfying the need. For instance, coping with massive change involves, among other things, the ability to perceive and understand the emotional impact of change on ourselves and others. To be effective in helping their organizations manage change, leader s first need to be aware of and to manage their own feelings of anxiety and uncertainty (Bunker, 1997).Organizations increasingly are providing training and development that is explicitly labeled as "emotional intelligence" or "emotional competence" training. However, the guidelines presented here apply to any development effort in which personal and social learning is a goal. This would include most management and executive development efforts as well as training in supervisory skills, diversity, teamwork, leadership, conflict management, stress management, sales, customer relations, etc. Ideally, efforts to develop emotional competence would include all the elements we have identified here, but we realize that it often will not be practical to do so. Fortunately, the effect of adhering to the guidelines is multiplicative and synergistic: the more guidelines that trainers can follow, the greater and more lasting will be their impact. If the current interest in promoting emotional intelligence at work is to be a serious, sustained effort, rather than just another management fad, it is important that practitioners try to follow guidelines based on the best available research. Only when the training is based on sound, empirically based methods will its promise be realized. KEYWORDS- Employees, Organization, Work Place. Emotional Intelligence, IQ. 1. INTRODUCTION- Current interest in "emotional intelligence" has raised the question of whether it is possible to improve the social and emotional competence of adult workers. Research in training and development, sports psychology, and behavior change suggests that it is possible, but the typical approach used in corporate training programs usually is flawed. Social and emotional learning is different from cognitive and technical learning, and it requires a different approach to training and development. Emotional Intelligence (EI) must somehow combine two of the three states of mind cognition and affect, or intelligence and emotion. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while other claim it is an inborn characteristic. A number of testing instruments have been developed to measure emotional intelligence, although the content and approach of each test 195

2 varies. If a worker has high emotional intelligence, he or she is more likely to be able to express his or her emotions in a healthy way, and understand the emotions of those he or she works with, thus enhancing work relationships and performance. Emotional Intelligence is not about being soft! It is a different way of being smart - having the skill to use his or her emotions to help them make choices in the moment and have more effective control over themselves and their impact on others. Emotional Intelligence allows us to think more creatively and to use our emotions to solve problems. Emotional Intelligence probably overlaps to some extent with general intelligence. The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: Identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions. The term Emotional Intelligence is only a few years old. It originally developed during the 1970s and 80s by the work and writings of psychologists Howard Gardner, Peter Salovey and John Mayer. EI first appeared in 1985 in a doctoral dissertation by Wayne Leon Payne, which he entitled A Study of Emotion: Developing Emotional Intelligence. His thesis on emotional intelligence included a framework to enable people to develop emotional intelligence. Payne asserted that many of the problems in modern civilization stemmed from a suppression of emotion and that it was possible to learn to become emotionally intelligent. Later it was coined by Daniel Goleman, who wrote the pioneering book on the subject. He actually co-authored it with his wife, Tara, triggered by sitting through many frustrating business meetings with her. Emotional Intelligence then appeared in a series of academic articles authored by John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey (1990, 1993). These publications generated little attention. Two years later, emotional intelligence entered the mainstream with Daniel Goleman's (1995) best-seller Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ and subsequent articles in USA Weekend and Time Magazine (October 2, 1995). More recently, Goleman's latest book, working with Emotional Intelligence (1998), has caught the attention of human resource practitioners. Although the term emotional intelligence was not used, it is evident that the groundwork for the research was set in motion long before any official work on emotional intelligence. Recognizing and understanding of the issues in the organizations on the basis of the results organization can choose a strategy and actions to improve the performance of their employees. 2. NEED FOR THE STUDY Emotional Intelligence helps the employees to increase their emotional self-awareness, emotional expression, creativity, increase tolerance, increase trust and integrity, improve relations within and across the organization and thereby increase the performance of each employee and the organization as a whole. Emotional intelligence is one of the few key characteristics that give rise to strategic leaders in organizations. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in the organization and becomes an important criterion of evaluation for judgment of an effective employee, increases productivity and trust within and across the organization. 3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The objectives of the study are as follows as To examine the determinants of emotional intelligence of employees at work place To know extent of employees awareness towards emotional intelligence 4. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:- Since 1980 new theories of intelligence have been introduced and are gradually replacing the traditional theory. The whole child has become the centre of education not only his reasoning capacities, but also his creativity, emotions, and interpersonal skills. The Multiple Intelligences theory has been introduced by Howard Gardner (1983), and the Emotional Intelligence theory by BarOn (1985), Mayer and Salovey (1990) and Goleman (1995). IQ alone is no more the measure for success; it only counts for 20%, and the rest goes for Emotional and Social Intelligences, and luck (Goleman, 1995). Emotional Intelligence: It is being able to monitor our own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this to guide our thinking and actions (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: Identifying, using, understanding, and regulating emotions (Mayer and Salovey, 1993). According to Goleman (1995) emotional intelligence consists of five components: Knowing our emotions (self-awareness), managing them, motivating ourselves, recognizing emotions in others (empathy), and handling relationships. Achievement: it is refers to the student ability and performance; it is multidimensional; it is intricately 196

3 related to human growth and cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development; it reflects the whole child; it is not related to a single instance, but occurs across time and levels, through a student s life in public school and on into post secondary years and working life (Steinberger, 1993); and also achievement is the quality and quantity of a student's work. This second definition is the one that more or less applies to this research, the former being too exhaustive. What we need here is the quality of the students work; we need to calculate the mean of their overall grades during the first semester of the current year. Sánchez-Ruiz, Jose, Carlos, Prez-Gonzlez and Petride (2010) Trait emotional intelligence profiles of students from different university faculties had examined that the trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self-efficacy) profiles of 512 students from five university faculties: technical studies, natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, researchers hypothesised that (a) social sciences would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (b) arts would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (c) arts would score lower than technical studies in Selfcontrol, and (d) there would be an interaction between gender and faculty, whereby female students would score higher than male students within the social sciences only. Several other exploratory comparisons were also performed. Results supported hypotheses (a), (b), and (d), but not hypothesis (c), although the differences were in the predicted direction. Nelis, Quoidbach, Mikolajczak and Hansenne (2009) Emotional Intelligence Interventions to Increase Student success focused on the construct of emotional intelligence (EI) which refers to the individual differences in the perception, processing, regulation, and utilization of emotional information. As these differences have been shown to have a significant impact on important life outcomes. This study investigated, using a controlled experimental design, whether it is possible to increase EI. Participants of the experimental group received a brief empirically derived EI training while control participants continued to live normally. The researchers found a significant increase in emotion identification and emotion management abilities in the training group. Follow-up measures after 6 months revealed that these changes were persistent. No significant change was observed in the control group. These findings suggest that EI can be improved and open new treatment avenues. Hopkins & Bilimoria (2008) in his study Social and Emotional Competencies Predicting Success for Male and Female Executives explored the relationship between emotional and social intelligence competencies and organizational success. The study illustrates not much of differences between male and female leaders in their demonstration of emotional and social intelligence competencies and also found that when it comes to competency demonstration most successful men and women were more the same than different. However gender did play a reasonable role in the relationship between the demonstration of these competencies and success. Further male leaders were considered to be more successful, even though male and female leaders demonstrated the same level of competencies. The four competencies that divided the most successful male and female leaders from their typical counterparts were Self Confidence, Achievement Orientation, Inspirational Leadership and Change Catalyst. Koman, E. S., & Wolff, S. B. (2008) Emotional intelligence competencies in the team and team leader: A multi-level examination of the impact of emotional intelligence on team performance. This study examines the relationships among team leader EI competencies and team performance. The study was conducted on 349 aircrew and maintenance military team members participated representing 81 aircrew and maintenance teams. Results shows that team leader EI is significantly related to the presence of emotionally competent group norms (ECGN) on the teams they lead, and that ECGN are related to team performance. The authors also provide three suggestions. Firstly, Employee leaders with better EI competencies not only increase their own personal performance but also of the teams they lead. Secondly, by developing or hiring emotionally competent managers. Finally by developing emotionally competent first line leaders, organizations should develop emotionally competent executive leaders because each individual on the executive management team influences the development of ECGNs on the teams he or she leads. Carmeli and Josman (2006) The relationship among emotional intelligence, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors this research suggests possible connections between emotional intelligence and positive performance in the workplace. Researchers say that even though research suggests that there is a connection between emotional intelligence and positive performance in the workplace, it is typically based on self reported assessment and it overlooks that work performance is actually 197

4 multidimensional. Research suggests that possible connections between emotional intelligence and positive performance in the work place. Authors noted that task performance may not reveal the completeness of a leader s work role. Other behaviors like maintaining civil relationships and helping subordinates with issues would also influence the work performance. Researchers explored two essentials of the leader: altruism and general compliance could be the reasons that maintain the leader s respect from subordinates and could, therefore, impact subordinates willingness to conscientiously perform work for the leader. Researchers conducted a study on 215 employees in different 66 organizations in Israel to see if there was a connection between emotional intelligence with both altruistic behavior and compliant behavior. Data was collected from subordinates and supervisors, as well as the participants, themselves. Their findings suggest that both altruism and compliance were related to task performance. Researchers also found that three elements of EI (appraisal and expression of emotions, regulation of emotions, and utilization of emotions) were related to task performance and to altruistic behaviors, but only partially to compliance behaviors. 5. ASSESSMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE A number of assessments have been developed for measuring both individual and team Emotional Intelligence.One of the oldest and most validated assessments is the EQ-i (mentioned above) developed by Reuven Bar-On, a self-report measure of fifteen different factors divided among five realms that Bar-On has delineated to define Emotional Intelligence. Other assessments purport to test Emotional Intelligence abilities through a presentation of emotion-based problems. A number of other assessments, mainly of the self-report type, have been developed and are widely available. Whatever assessment is used, the purpose for measuring Emotional Intelligence in most arenas is the idea that people can indeed learn ways to enhance their own skills and competencies not only to improve their scores but to be more successful in their personal lives and in achieving their goals in the workplace. The game, Creating An Emotionally Intelligent World, was designed and developed to provide an experience that will provoke participants to understand how their own levels of Emotional Intelligence influence their everyday actions, reactions, and interactions and thus their success. A Model of Emotional Intelligence The Model of Emotional Intelligence, which provides the framework for the game, draws on existing models and research (including Bar-On, Goleman, Freedman, Salovey and Meyer, Cooper and Sawaf) but specifically addresses the workplace and behaviors that contribute to achieving success in the workplace. The model consists of five dimensions: Awareness of the Self Actions of the Self Awareness of Others Interactions with Others Resilience Awareness of the Self: The ability to identify emotions in yourself and to perceive the impact you have on others. Selfawareness is the foundational building block of Emotional Intelligence. The first step in enhancing Emotional Intelligence is achieving a healthy level of self-awareness the ability to identify emotions in the self and to perceive the impact you have on others at home, in the workplace, within the local community, and beyond that if you happen to have a wider sphere of influence. Being self-aware means that you are realistic in appraising your own behavior, that you are able to recognize how people perceive you, that you are aware of how you respond to people in a variety of situations, and that you can identify your intent and attitude as you communicate with others. Sample scenarios demonstrating Awareness of the Self in the workplace: Strength: During a company budget meeting, Jonathan speaks with enthusiasm about the current needs of his department, but after five minutes, he notices that at least half of those at the meeting are no longer listening to him. Needs Development: After putting in twelve to fourteen-hour work days for weeks on end, Michelle is surprised one morning to find herself flat on her back with muscle spasms as she tries to get out of bed. Actions of the Self: The ability to manage your own emotions, especially in the midst of strong negative emotions in yourself or in your environment. Individuals who are strong in this dimension are able to manage their own emotions. They can express a range of feelings appropriately and plan how to manage strong 198

5 emotions in a given situation. They have developed ways to cope with those emotions that are perceived to be negative and thus maintain their equilibrium. People are sometimes surprised to learn that they can successfully manage (not control ) even quite dramatic emotions such as anger, jealousy, and sadness. Being aware of your emotions is a good first step in learning to manage them. If you can identify what it is you are feeling, you can learn to acknowledge the emotion, understand how it may be expressed in your physiological state, and plan a way to manage it if it involves negative consequences. Awareness of Others: The ability to accurately perceive and understand the emotional states of others. At the lower end of the range for this ability, individuals have a difficult time identifying and understanding what others are feeling whether through their words, actions, facial expressions, or body language. At the upper range are those individuals who are alert to what others are experiencing emotionally and are able to empathize with them. The skill of listening to others to the meaning of their words and to their intonation and tone is a necessary aspect of awareness of others, but the ability to read how people are feeling by observing their facial expressions, their actions, and their body language is also part of such awareness. If you are unable to read how others are reacting or feeling, you will find it more difficult to communicate and to influence others. Interaction with Others: The ability to utilize awareness of others emotions to build relationships, teams, and support networks. The ability to successfully interact with other people builds on an individual s awareness of others emotions. An individual who is strong in this dimension utilizes that awareness to build strong relationships, teams, and support networks. Such an individual is capable of empathy and compassion in interactions with other people. If you develop techniques for accurately evaluating the emotions of those you interact with, you will be less likely to make negative judgments and more likely to empathize to put yourself in the shoes of those individuals and to be able to develop relationships that are productive and satisfying. This ability is also important for building successful teams and organizations. Resilience: The ability to maintain equilibrium despite the inevitable changes that occur both internally and externally in an individual s life. Several other factors such as optimism, flexibility, the ability to learn from mistakes and to recover from setbacks are also significant aspects of Emotional Intelligence. In this model, they are combined in a dimension called resilience. It is resilience as much as any other aspect of Emotional Intelligence that is the foundation for an individual s ability to maintain equilibrium and balance amidst inevitable changes and even crises that one encounters over a lifetime. Resilience is important in the make-up of the emotionally intelligent individual. This dimension is what fuels an individual s day-to-day motivation as he or she encounters internal changes joy, sadness, boredom, love, intellectual curiosity, and anger to name just a few as well as external changes that run the gamut from seasonal and weather changes to geographic re-locations to emotionally charged environments in one s personal life or workplace. These inevitable changes are more successfully handled if an individual is flexible, optimistic, and prepared to cope with and learn from disappointments and setbacks. All of these abilities are aspects of resilience. 6. CONCLUSION Organizations increasingly are providing training and development that is explicitly labeled as "emotional intelligence" or "emotional competence" training. However, the guidelines presented here apply to any development effort in which personal and social learning is a goal. This would include most management and executive development efforts as well as training in supervisory skills, diversity, teamwork, leadership, conflict management, stress management, sales, customer relations, etc. Ideally, efforts to develop emotional competence would include all the elements we have identified here, but we realize that it often will not be practical to do so. Fortunately, the effect of adhering to the guidelines is multiplicative and synergistic: the more guidelines that trainers can follow the greater and more lasting will be their impact. If the current interest in promoting emotional intelligence at work is to be a serious, sustained effort, rather than just another management fad, it is important that practitioners try to follow guidelines based on the best available research. Only when the training is based on sound, empirically based methods will its promise be realized. 199

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