Emotional Intelligence - Essay Example

Emotional intelligence (EI) has emerged as a highly significant and critical aspect of management after studies related to emotional intelligence gained pace in fields of psychology and management.  Leading is an integral part of a manager’s job, which requires the ability to influence others to achieve certain goals.  In general, emotional intelligence may be referred to as the ability to realize or understand the emotions of oneself and others coupled with the ability to put this understanding to use in managing self and others in a manner that produces desired outcomes. Emotions tend to have a mental, social and physical impact on self and surroundings, which makes emotional intelligence a necessity in managing relationships and work.  Though EI has received much attention from various researchers and scholars around the world, the most significant and renowned studies have been that of Daniel Goleman.  Numerous models on EI and its application have been proposed; however, this paper briefly explores EI from Goleman’s (2003) perspective, which identifies four key components namely, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.  Further, a short argument about the most important component will be presented before concluding with findings and opinions.

Self-awareness: Self-awareness is the first component discussed in the EI model, which refers to the ability to recognize feelings and their impact on outcomes or performance. Goleman (2003) asserts that self-awareness helps in identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses, which will further assist the individual in taking right the steps towards goal achievement or bringing an improvement in expected outcomes. Self-awareness also encourages the individual to introspect and seek feedback; such individuals strive to learn from the feedback and also from their mistakes. Goleman’s (2003) studies indicated that most high the performing candidates were high on the self-awareness index. Self-awareness also instigates individuals to assess the impact of their emotions on situations and others as well as on the outcomes.

Self-management: Self-management refers to the process of controlling oneself and not showing too much distress or other extreme feelings (Goleman, 2003). Self-management ability helps the individual to build the focus and achieve desired goals. Such individuals possess the flexibility to adapt to any situation without getting affected by the changes. 

Social awareness: This third component refers to the ability to empathize with others and understand their situation without negatively affecting their emotions. Social awareness skills help in developing others by positively motivating them while understanding their negative or disruptive state of mind.  Higher social awareness drives greater service-oriented behavior, which is a critical quality for effective leadership from customer, subordinate, and situation perspectives.  Social awareness also refers to the ability to understand organizational mood or emotion, which will help in understanding and building interpersonal relationships by exerting the right and/or positive influence on others (Lynn, 2000).

Relationship management: The last component is relationship management, which refers to the ability to influence, motivate and lead others in the right direction. As Goleman (2003) explains, Individuals with high social awareness will be able to manage relationships better as well as foster collaborations and cooperation between other groups/members.  Effective relationship management requires effective communication skills.  Identifying and managing conflicts are also key strengths, which are possible through effective listening, transparency, and honesty.  In situations of conflict, these individuals strive to achieve a win-win situation.

Considering these four components of EI, it would be inappropriate to point at one component as the most crucial one due to the significance of each component in EI.  However, without self-management, it would not be possible for an individual to possess strong social awareness and/or qualities of relationship management. Self-management comes only with self-awareness. Self in inculcating effective habits such as discipline, self-contorted of responsibility, focus, and determination, which are required for earning the trust and confidence of others.  As Goleman (2003, p.34) states, “the trustworthiness competence translates into letting others know one’s values and principles, intentions and feelings, and acting in ways that are consistent with them.”  Sheldon (2010) emphasizes that to be an effective leader, one must learn to lead oneself.  From this viewpoint, Sheldon (2010) asserts that principles and values are the building blocks of strong moral ethics along with focus and other important attributes to effectively lead others.  Therefore, to be an effective leader, self-management is the most important quality, which can be learned through guidance and practice.

Conclusion:

Concluding this explanation of emotional intelligence, it would be apt to highlight that emotional intelligence is the most essential elements of effective leadership.  Leaders need to first understand themselves and then understand others before trying to achieve or influence others to achieve a particular goal.  Goleman’s four-component model of EI provides a comprehensive framework that can be followed as a guide to developing EI through self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.  To develop effective EI, self-management is a pre-requisite quality that will help an individual to provide effective leadership through empathy, connection, focus, motivation, balance, and togetherness.