Organizational Behavior - Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is one's ability to recognize emotions and emotional states and to name them.

Emotional Intelligence • Emotional Intelligence is a critical dimension of a person’s makeup required for productive adult work and life. • Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is one's ability to recognize emotions and emotional states and to name them. It also includes the ability to control one’s emotions appropriately and to recognize them in others and make interventions such as calming or redirecting them in useful ways. EQ is one of the important “soft skills” now recognized as critically important for managers to master.

EQ vs. IQ • Calling abilities “intelligence” has the positive effect of raising the status of abilities other than classroom success, so that those who are able to do well on traditional IQ tests are not considered to be somehow “more gifted” than the rest of the class. On the other hand, since intelligence is popularly considered to be an inborn property, the idea of EQ may tend to make people think they have no control over their strengths or weaknesses in this area. • However, it is clear that EQ can be learned and improved upon over a lifetime, indeed, some may argue that EQ is just what used to be called “maturity,” a naturally increasing quality of life.

Four Categories of EQ (1) • Self-Awareness: This includes the ability to “read” one's own emotions and recognize their impact; the ability to assess one's own strengths and weaknesses; and a sound self-confidence in one's real capabilities.

Four Categories of EQ (2) • Self-Management: The ability to control one's emotions appropriately and to use emotional reactions positively and effectively. Selfmanagement includes self-motivation and a sense of efficacy in life and work.

Four Categories of EQ (3) • Social Awareness: This is the ability to extend self-knowledge towards other people: empathy, or understanding others’ emotional states and points of view; group dynamics, or clarity about how organizations and communities work; and an orientation to service, or making the situation better for others, not only the self.

Four Categories of EQ (4) • Relationship Skills: The fourth area is that of influencing individuals and groups through one's well-developed self and social awareness. Relationship skills allow the emotionally intelligent person to manage conflict, help others develop in his knowledge and skills, provide appropriate leadership, and facilitate teamwork and collaboration.

Case • Shaadikarle.com contains four particular individuals who tend to cause restlessness in the organization. After viewing their respective cases, we shall use Emotional Intelligence to enhance their standing in the organization.

Enhancing Emotional Intelligence Case(1) • Vikrant has just joined shaadikarle.com after graduating from a prestigious B-school and is finding it hard to adjust with his co-workers. • As an individual worker he’s excellent, but since all the work is done in teams Vikrant never speaks or contributes to the team. • The team finds him a liability and often tease and pick on him on his extreme shyness.

Enhancing Emotional Intelligence Case(2) • Jiya has been working for shaadikarle.com for a year now, she is very emotional about her work and frequently displays outbursts of pent up emotions regarding abusive customers. • She sometimes takes her negative emotions home, causing outbursts aimed at her parents and peers. • She is very docile and simple and extremely kind and friendly, but when she comes across abusive clients she normally ends up in tears and fights with her fellow workers.

Enhancing Emotional Intelligence Case(3) • Saurav has been working for shaadikarle.com for two months now as a phone operative. He is a prompt and hard working individual but is over-zealous and too ambitious in his approach towards the clients, often ignoring their cultural and ethical backgrounds. • Saurav has repeatedly had problems with clients as he was unable to decipher their wants and ended up giving wrong and culturally discriminative advice.

Enhancing Emotional Intelligence Case(4) • Shruti is a hardworking file manager who is both prompt and quick in her decision making skills. • The management recently promoted her to a team leader position and has a team of 4 under her tutelage. • Sadly her performance has diminished and her team members are failing to follow her. They claim that she isn't strong enough to influence them.

How to Grow in Emotional Intelligence (1) • Anyone can improve in these areas if a commitment is made to growth and learning. Reflective analysis of past incidents where emotional reactions played a critical role can help to provide material for study of one's own EQ and the areas in which one may wish to develop further. At each level, self and social, awareness and management, anyone can find a wealth of personal anecdotes to reflect upon.

How to Grow in Emotional Intelligence (2) • After fully remembering the incident itself, try out alternative responses or emotional management techniques in the imagination to find ways that may seem more mature, intelligent, or wise for dealing with the usual conflicts and incidents of life.

How to Grow in Emotional Intelligence (3) • Reflective analysis and imaging of alternatives, if practiced on a regular basis can contribute substantially to increasing your emotional intelligence, or EQ.

Learning Emotional Intelligence (1) • Human emotions spring up in response to stimuli that may or may not be relevant to the job at hand. Even if relevant, the emotional reaction is not necessarily proportional to the importance of the stimulus that caused it. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to maintain awareness of emotions and their relative strengths without allowing them to take control.

Learning Emotional Intelligence (2) • Using reflection and analysis, one can increase one's ability to become aware of the nature of emotional reactions when they occur; to regulate the translation of emotional reaction into action, to respond more empathetically to others by recognizing their emotional states and to intervene in emotionally charged situations to provide leadership towards positive outcomes. Thus, Emotional Intelligence is one of the characteristics of a successful leader in any arena of life.